We have a slight problem though. Our GDP numbers since Clinton are cooked. The calculation of GDP was changed so that increase in functionality but decrease in price were counted as net positives in the GDP numbers. So if a TV with a set of features sold for $500 one year, and the next that same TV sold for $300, for each of the TVs sold the second year, it would be considered a $200 boost to GDP. If looking at the prior way of calculating GDP it figures out to be less than 10%. Our GDP has been shrinking for a long time, and when counting in inflation (of which the government numbers are also cooked) you can see the complete erosion of the middle class. The only reason we brought our Debt to GDP ratio down after WW2 is we had a massive inflow of wealth from taking advantage of/rebuilding Europe.

I must say, I strongly favor the check and balance of a high court which can strike down a law. If that is not in the constitution then we need an amendment specifically granting the high court that authority.

Are you kidding me? Judges are not supposed to rule on the constitutionally of a law? They are the last line of defense against laws which run contrary to, and destroy the rights and liberties defined in the constitution. So if the Congress passed a law, which the President signed, which stated that freedom of speech were officially abolished, the Supreme Court couldn't rule on its constitutionality? You're kidding? Please, please, please tell me you're kidding. If you are not joking, then is the only way to overturn an unjust law revolution?

Molog

Ad hominem hostile logical fallacy.

Campaign contributions are bribes and payoffs anyway you look at it. It doesn't matter if it was gambling or education making the bribes. The fact that the politicians are for sale is the negative part of this thread.

Do you really think that Republicans have a monopoly on corruption or bowing to corporate interests? Both parties are equally guilty, and neither party should be supported.

Libel and slander are not criminal offenses. They are civil offenses. Your argument about what would be best for the family doesn't matter. The school should have no rights or authority over a student when not at school or a school event. This is a question of jurisdiction. I'm sure people would like to be tried for misdemeanor offenses by a US court when they do something stupid in Mexico, but it doesn't matter since they were not in the US and thus Mexico has jurisdiction. Here the act was committed off school grounds and not on school time. The school has no rights to enforce punishment.

And I apologize again for the troll comment. I became a little emotionally invested and took it personally. I may not be using the standard definition of a pyramid scheme. A pyramid depends completely on new people joining and making contributions to pay everyone who had joined, and SS does not meet the pure definition of that, you are right.

My belief on the population has nothing to due with where we are right now, but what the trend will look like in 20 years. I may very well be wrong, but judging from the trend in Europe where the birthrates are falling bellow 2%, I believe that our birth rate is headed that direction. IOW I believe that the derivative of our birth rate is negative. If the population does continue to grow at a linear rate, then SS should have no problems surviving. If I am correct that the birthrate lowers to a point that over a 30-40 year period the population has a net decrease the future strain is massive. I believe that may have been major miscommunication in what I had written, that I see this as a likely future problem, not the situation we are currently faced with.

Molog

You spent more time calling me a liar and insinuating that I'm a moron than you did on any inaccuracies that I may have had. I apologize for calling your post a troll as that was a personal attack, which is something I wanted to avoid. So I will promise to not bring any personal attacks against you.

BTW, the IRS and the government call the SS and Medicare deduction from payroll a tax. If the surplus buys US treasuries, that is paying for the rest of the government spending, even though treasuries may be an "investment". I would give both of us 50% on that.

SS pays out more from what is collected from the tax than what it collects from the US treasuries. So more of the money coming in pays to the beneficiaries than what the beneficiaries "investments" are paying to them. That is what makes it a pyramid scheme. I stand behind this belief.

Currently the birth rate in the US stands at 2.1%, which is exactly the replacement rate according to most anthropologists. In 2008, 1,046,539 individuals were naturalized as US citizens. In 2009, the population was estimated to be 307 million, going by those figures we have an addition to the population of 0.3% from immigration each year, which is insignificant and doesn't truly change the figure of the birth rate. I based by opinion from these figures which shows our population to be at the replacement stage right now. A drop in birthrate would mean, according to my understanding, that more people would end up dying than would be replaced over the long term, which eventually in this scenario, would end up with more people leaving the work force than would be in it. Trends point to this being the case. Just because I interpret the data this way doesn't mean I'm a liar. I believe my interpretation to be correct.

You have been the first person to have called me a liar in my adult life. I apologize again for having called you a troll, I shouldn't have done that, but to claim that I am a liar because you do not agree with my conclusions is poor form at best. Brilliant people, and I in no way claim that I am brilliant, can look at the same data and come up with very different conclusions. I read your arguments but still feel long term it is not a sustainable system as it stands.

Molog

You do a very nice job with subtle personal attacks. Very nice troll.

Molog

Social Security is a pyramid scheme. While the individuals paying the social security tax, it is a tax btw, may not have borrowed, the system completely relies on more people paying into the system to pay for those exiting the work force. An unbalanced amount of individuals drawing money from the system (baby boomers) cause the pyramid to crash. If it actually was a trust where money was saved in some account and drew interest, it might have been a real retirement fund. The money is consumed completely each year by paying out to those drawing benefits and government spending on the rest of the budget.

The birth rate in this country is falling. If we hit a net decline in the birth rate, as much of Europe has, the population will have a steadily decreasing work force. Unless we push the benefits drawing age out to the average life expectancy of people in our country, the system will fail.

Molog

You speak as though you fought along side with the confederacy. I agree an accurate portrayal of history should be used, but you did not fight for the south. You did not know anyone who did, as they died before you were born. I bet that you probably have relatives from the north as well, unless you happen to have a family tree that doesn't branch. The truth is, there is no north or south anymore as people have moved, transportation is faster, and everyone has become intermingled.

Your righteous indignation is waited and futile. You have not been wronged by the acts of the civil war. Perhaps some of your ancestors, but not you. There is plenty to be upset about with our current government but spare me the anger over a war that happened over 100 years ago.

Molog

Your point stands, but is off topic to the question. The US court system can not be trusted but that doesn't answer the question if the CCP can be trusted.

Molog

There are certainly problems with "hard currencies" as was seen when private individuals were able to corner markets on physical gold when much of the world currencies were based on the gold standard. However, the argument about how the current Federal Reserve system works in the US right now, is factually correct. All debt, when you count lending by banks to businesses and individuals, as well as government debt, could not be paid off as the debt in total is greater than the money supply. That is just one of the side effects of fractional reserve accounting.

The question is, can the overall system be sustained without succumbing to hyperinflation and collapse. If gradual inflation can be maintained the system is sustainable and the paradox of more debt than can be paid off is not disastrous. If on the other hand the debt grows too large too fast, hyperinflation can set in and the system collapses, resets, defaults, or what ever poison you want to pick.

This leads us to consider if the current pattern employed by our government, and population, in the US has already hit the point where hyperinflation is now inevitable due to the debt load. Going by WWII debt to GDP numbers, it would appear that collapse is not a foregone conclusion. How ever individual debt at that point was not at current levels. The US at that time was a net producer while now it is a net consumer. I myself am not very worried about a collapse. The Federal Reserve owns approximately 50% of the total debt. It is within the authority of Congress to dismantle the Fed and discharge all obligations to it, and I have no doubt that if faced with certain collapse emergency actions would be taken.

Molog

Umm, the drugs you are talking about were developed by the pharma corporations, not a US tax payer funded research lab. If you have an example of something that was developed in such a facility and is patented which you are paying royalties for you would have a very strong counter example. As it stands, you are off topic and missed the point.

Molog