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Via IOwntheWorld and SadHillNews; stats from several sources:

Ave. retail gas prices: $1.80 in January 2009; $3.10 today; up 69.5%
Crude oil, barrel: $39/$43 in January 2009; $91/$99 today; up 128/136%
Gold London, troy oz.: $853 in January 2009; $1370 today; up 60.5%
Unemployment rate: 7.6% in 2009; 9.4% today; up 23.7%
# food stamp recipients: 31,983,700 in January 2009; 43,200,900 today; up 35.1%
Failed banks in 2009 to 2010: 140; in 2010 to 2111: 164: up 17.1%
Us Dollar vs. Yen: January 2009: 89.76 January 2011: 82.03 down 6.5%
National debt, in trillions: January 2009: $10,627; January 2011: $14,052 up 32.2%

# long-term unemployed: 2,600,000 in January 2009; 6,400,000 today: up 146.2%!!!!!!
This is how you win 2012 elections and defeat incumbents.
And Obama has 21 months left before we vote.

piss off.

Time out!,..time out!

Bowsinger is pukin' some more numbers.

so we just roll over and quit? there's no doubt it's a steep hill, but you can't climb it until you start.

and there's also no doubt that the only way to get there is to cut spending AND increase productivity in the form economic growth.

No,...we just keep working and working for less and less,...then we get laid off and an illegal gets our job.

Jorge why would you support the government changing the ss age to 75 when I started contributing to the program 20 some years ago it was 65 now they have my retirement age at 67 how is it ok for them to change thier end of the deal? If they want to save money maybe they should exclude people from the medicare program who ruined thier health with poor liifestyle choices. I wonder how much could be saved in medicare costs if overweight alcoholic 2 pack a day smokers were not allowed into the program? No offence but if .gov keeps changing the rules I want to keep my money.

Not for you or me or for that matter most of the folks working today, but they need to and soon develop a date and go from there. jorge

Of course not you idiot, Alvin York was a patriot who did his duty as best he know how and if he "heard" about the war in the "Holler" and that was in 17, I'm sure the "Holler" boys know about all the opportunities for different career fields in the armed forces, not to mention an opportunity to serve their country, although in your case it's that nice, wide yellow streak down your back that's the reason you despise us so much.

Are you familiar with the term FOAD? very appropriate in your case, but hopefully if you keep bar hopping in that little scooter of yours, the world will soon have one less yellow-backed asswipte. I just hope you don't take somebody with you that's worth a damn.

Fuggin' ole' aviator dumbazz?

BOWSINGER,

Back on topic, here's a pretty good presentation on how big a mess we're in, and why we probably won't get out of it unscathed.

www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-economy-flight-666-our-one-way-ticket-zimbabwe-0

You asked for specifics and I think I provided that.

If you don�t think the specifics of �American Solutions� will solve a lot of problems and the future is hopeless go debate Newt.
Be forewarned that one of his position papers is titled:
�Don�t Tell Me It Can't Be Done�

Same goes for Paul Ryan and his Roadmap.
Go tell him where his ideas won�t/can�t work and be sure to provide specifics.

And when you quote/puke your numbers, be sure to include the percentages of GNP

Check out what happened to the Federal Deficit when Newt rode into town.

In 1992 the FD stood at 6342.3 billion and 4.58% of GNP
In 1994 the FD was up to 7085.2 billion but only 2.87% of GNP
And in 1998 the FD was way up to 8793.5 billion but way down to -0.79% of GNP

In 2006 the FD was at 13,399 billion but only 1.85% of GNP.
Then Nancy and Harry rode into town and by 2008 we went to 14441.4 billion and 3.18%
It was �all� G .Bush�s fault�

Then Obama rode into town and the lid came off�
In 2010 the FD has swollen to a hideous 14,624 billion and climbing.
The percentage to GNP stands at 10.64%
Thanks Wikipedia for the puking numbers.

When you have your debate with Newt, he will tell you that 11% of GNP is a huge problem and we are in uncharted waters, but it is time to get started, not give up.

Perot would say ~Get under the hood and get to work~

It is all in the percentages�.

Yeah, tell that to Chuck Yeager, another one from the "Holler" that managed to get a clue. Nice try

Why not you?

About fixing all those entitlements�

"Chuck" Heath, is a retired science teacher and track coach and the father of Sarah Palin.

Sarah has stressed the need for entitlement and public pension reform and protecting those already in the system.

�A pension is a promise.
You can�t take that away from people who have already paid into the system but you gotta stop the bleeding right now and change the system for the new,� Palin said.

I was just answering his question on how to fix the problem, and raising the retirement age at some point is a good solution without affecting those who've paid into it all of their lives. I would have had no problems had they told me say twenty years ago I would not be collecting until later and I would have been fine with that. Besides, if you were to do that for everybody at once, most folks over say forty five or fifty, you'd really be impacting their later years. Personally SS doesn't even play in my retirement plans. If I get it, hey it's nice to have, but if you are the type of person who did not plan for your retirement and is relying solely on SS, well that's not the government's problem. Even though I don't qualify for an IRA because of my pension, we've been saving in after-tax instruments since day one and when the government made the 401 plan called TSP available to military memebers in 2001 I started putting in quite a bit of my paycheck into it. Hope that answers your question.

One of the major problems that I see isn't necessarily Social Security, even though that's ~$17 Trillion in an unfunded liability. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is Medicare/Medicaid. That's more like ~$50 Trillion, and is the largest entitlement Sword of Damocles hanging over the nation.

That and the fact that over 50% of the population has less than $2000 saved for retirement and are counting on Uncle Sugar to support them in their old age.

Exactly and the only way I see to fix that is to make folks pay higher premiums and deductibles (there will always be exceptions of course) and I'm sure there are some of you out there a lot smarter than I that came come up with a formula to keep it from destroyig us.

Leadership and motivation. A person doesn't have to be the smartest, strongest or toughest in the unit to lead it. He does have to have organizational skills and keep his head. A bit of optimism helps also.

Hear-hear to Jorge's post.

Officer class.

SS is a program designed to fail. We all contribute about 15% of our income to it with the promise that it well let us retire in poverty. This is insane. I bet that 99% of us could retire wealthy if we had invested 15% of our income while working.

Our SS dollars should be placed in our own private account so we can invest them and reap the benefit of the money that we have earned. The current system is a socialist disaster.

Here�s one SS�fix� that deserves to be tried.
Complete with �specific� step by step details:

Paul Ryan-Wisconsin 1st District:
TITLE IV: SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM
▫ Creation of Personal Accounts. Beginning in 2012, provides workers under 55 the option of dedicating portions of their FICA payroll taxes toward personal accounts, or remaining in the current Social Security system. Individuals retain the ability to choose shift in or out of their accounts as their tax filing status changes.
▫ Account Phase-In. Gradually phases in accounts equivalent to 5.1 percent of the current 12.4-percent payroll tax over a 30-year period. Allows lower-income workers to contribute a higher percentage of their payroll taxes than high-income workers. Phase-in proceeds in four periods, as follows�


- First-Stage Initial Phase-In. For the first 10 years of the program, workers are allowed to invest 2 percent of their first $10,000 of annual payroll into personal accounts, and 1 percent of annual payroll above that up to the Social Security taxable maximum amount of $147,900. The $10,000 level is indexed to inflation. Taxable payroll also is indexed for inflation, as under current law.

- Second-Stage Phase-In. Beginning in 2022, workers are allowed to invest up to 4 percent of payroll of the first $10,000 (indexed to inflation), and 2 percent of payroll above that up to the Social Security taxable maximum amount (indexed to inflation).

- Third-Stage Phase-In Beginning in 2032, workers are allowed to invest up to 6 percent of payroll of the first $10,000 (indexed to inflation), and 3 percent of payroll up to the Social Security taxable maximum amount (indexed to inflation).

- Fourth-Stage Phase-In. Beginning in 2042, workers are allowed to invest up to 8 percent of payroll of the first $10,000 (indexed to inflation), and 4 percent of payroll up to the Social Security taxable maximum amount (indexed to inflation).

▫ Personal Accounts Deposits. Deposits each personal account contribution into a Social Security Savings Fund, bearing the individual�s name. Converts individual accounts into annuities upon retirement.
▫ Guarantee of Contributions. Individuals who choose to invest in personal accounts will be ensured every dollar they place into an account will be guaranteed, even after inflation. With the recent market downturn, individuals must be assured their retirement is secure. By guaranteeing the dollars you put into an account, individuals can be assured that they are protected against large-scale market downturns.
▫ Property Right. Provides that each account is the property of the individual, allowing holders to pass on accumulated wealth to descendants.

▫ No Change for Those Over 55. Retains the current system for those currently over 55, with no changes.



this is just part of all the details in his plan.