The Velvet Hammer

Let's spend money like water. Let's fiddle while Rome burns. Hell on earth!

My Dad was a mathematician whose specialty was trigonometry and abstract arts that left me fuddled but he taught me math basics. Maybe I should go down to the Hill and explain them. Here are the big (and certainly not all burdens being heaped upon the public backs:

Thanks to http://www.warresisters.org

Total Outlays (Federal Funds): $2,650 billion

MILITARY: 54% and $1,449 billion

NON-MILITARY: 46% and $1,210 billion

Current Military

$965 billion:
• Military Personnel $129 billion
• Operation & Maint. $241 billion
• Procurement $143 billion
• Research & Dev. $79 billion
• Construction $15 billion
• Family Housing $3 billion
• DoD misc. $4 billion
• Retired Pay $70 billion
• DoE nuclear weapons $17 billion
• NASA (50%) $9 billion
• International Security $9 billion
• Homeland Secur. (military) $35 billion
• State Dept. (partial) $6 billion
• other military (non-DoD) $5 billion
• “Global War on Terror” $200 billion
[We added $162 billion to the last item to supplement the Budget’s grossly underestimated $38 billion in “allowances” to be spent in 2009 for the “War on Terror,” which includes
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan]

Public demographics:

Children (people under age 18) made up one-fourth of the US population (24.6%), and people over age 65 one-eighth (12.7%) in 2006. [4]

24.6 children and 12.7 retired people are 37.3%. 100 less 37.3 is 72.7%.

305,186,613 current US population time 72.7% is 221,870,668.

2,650,000,000,000 Federal Budget
850,000,000,000 Mortgage Bailout
700,000,000,000 Bank Bailout
85,000,000,000 AIG Bailout

This makes a whopping $4,185,000,000,000!

If this is divided by adult population of 221,870,668 we get $188,623 per person. Chump change.

Side note: AIG was bailed out but NOT Lehman brothers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4954DL20081007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Richard Fuld, the disgraced head of Lehman Brothers, said he would wonder "until they put me in the ground" why the U.S. government did not rescue the 158-year-old Wall Street firm and claimed regulators knew the full scale of its condition far before its collapse.

One day after Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection, U.S. authorities stepped in to rescue AIG with a plan to lend the insurer up to $85 billion.

Is it because they are Jewish?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95602684&ft=1&f=1017

The bailout did nothing. The move to buy commercial paper did nothing. The fundamentals of the economy are evidently off, says Adam Davidson. Is there a solution? We explore the "heart attack of American commerce."

Now lets put the whole federal debt in the big picture of the financial health of the people who are meant to pay this bill.

Unemployment

Jobs are being lost at a record rate. Jobs that are not coming back. Jobs that are offered mostly are lower paid jobs or part-time jobs and most lack benefits.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/02/business/02usecon.php

U.S. unemployment rate soars

Analysts had estimated so-called continued claims to be 3.55 million. It was the 23rd straight week that claims were above 3 million, in another sign that the slowing economy is making it harder for U.S. workers to find jobs.

6.1% will be 7.1 (or more) by April 2009. Tax time.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-economy6-2008sep06,0,3121791.story

U.S. unemployment rate hits 6.1%, highest level in five years

Employers slashed 84,000 jobs in August, steeper cuts than analysts expected.

By Maura Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 6, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The economy shoved its way to the front of the presidential campaign once again, as the nation's jobless rate shot to a five-year high -- escalating fears that the country is spiraling into a full recession.

The unexpected jump in unemployment -- from 5.7% in July to 6.1% in August -- provided prime fodder for both presidential nominees as the fall campaign season kicked into high
gear. But with a Republican now in the White House, analysts said the news would give Democrat Barack Obama an edge over Republican John McCain.

Uninsured

I work in Insurance. I won't defend everything that they do ever. But it has a role in preventing financial ruin. One serious illness and you can lose everything. My husband was homeless once and several "families" had lost a loved one to illness, could not pay the bill and lost their homes. Families with children.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/333/7567/516?rss

More US citizens lack health insurance

New York Janice Tanne

The number of US citizens without health insurance reached a record 46.6 million this year—an increase of 1.3 million on last year. This is according to the latest US Census Bureau’s survey (www.census.gov/cps).

Almost one in six US residents lacks health insurance. The number of uninsured people has increased by seven million since 2000.

Nearly all the new people without insurance were working adults aged 18 to 64, who might previously have had employer based insurance cover. The proportion of people covered by employer based plans, the most common form of insurance, fell from 59.8% to 59.5% of the population.

Credit Cards

Let us not forget the favorite financial tool - The People's Bank - Plastic. Credit cards. Suddenly most people (85%) are being turned down for credit cards. Most credit cards are extending minimal additional available funds - usually $1,000. Oh, and the rates of interest will be climbing sharply. It's all good.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ike-eze/stay-away-from-me-credit_b_132463.html

Stay Away From Me, Credit Card Crisis
by Ike Eze

In June, consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 6.5 percent to a record $2.459 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported this month. Revolving credit -- the category that includes credit-card debt -- jumped 8.4 percent. Delinquencies and charge-offs are at their highest levels in years.

All this means that the credit card companies are scared out of their mind.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103811/The-915B-Bomb-in-Consumers%27-Wallets

The $915 Billion Bomb in Consumers' Wallets
by Peter Gumbel
Thursday, November 1, 2007

The doomsday scenario would play out something like this: Just like CDOs and other asset-backed securities, credit card debt is sliced, diced, and sold off again as packages of securities. Rising delinquencies would hurt not only the banks involved but the securities backed by the credit card receivables. Those securities would decline in value as consumers defaulted, leading to bank losses as well as portfolio losses in the hedge funds, institutions, and pensions that own the securities. If the damage is widespread enough, it could wreak havoc on the economy much as the subprime crisis has done.

But credit card debt is different from subprime debt in another way: Unlike mortgages, credit card debt is unsecured, so a default means a total loss.

Welcome to the new Depression, darlings! I am recommending "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" as our new national anthem.