Former Lizard Person
Hrm. According to some finance show my mother was watching a few hours ago, if they don't reach an agreement that raises the debt ceiling in the next 1-2 days, federal student loans/grants won't be disbursed for this coming fall. Pretty sure that would be a bad thing. Just sayin'.
The Atomic Soviet
You do realize that if they do default, it won't do anything right?
ಠ_ರೃ
Emperor of Bronquia
You forget, Canada has a long standing relationship with the Moonmen. When things go to hell here they'll just whisk us away to their lunar paradise.Originally Posted by Mistral
Turn and Burn.
"Provided stimulus funding to boost private sector spaceflight programs".
Now we are spending in the right direction. I want to taste those red rocks.
But for real, this site has some pretty slanted stuff on it. What the fuck has Obama done? Apparently he has basically saved America. You can't really tell yet because shit keeps getting worse, but this stuff will matter pretty soon.
You guy are welcome anytimeWe have bowling and Steak & Shake. Bring beer. I like beer.
Cookie Thief
well, we are getting down to the wire. Have we past it yet? 3 more days until the moon crashes into the earth...
im bi
Cookie Thief
You can't criticse Obama on the internet since a lot of people on gaming forums are liberal and would support Obama, remember how much people hated George Bush online?
Not saying that Bush wasn't bad but people online can be very biased.
Last edited by Tassadar; 31st-July-2011 at 15:00.
C is for Cookie.
Yes we can.
"What the fuck has Obama done?"
Relevant things, I don't know, but we've seen him singing, dancing and eating burgers on TV for posterity. If there's a picture to be taken for popularity purposes, there he is. And Michelle is still the new Jackie, which is cool, cos nothing is more important than that.
50 Shades of Geek
In a "Some people just want to watch the world burn" sort of way, yes, it would be somewhat morbidly fascinating. But for some unknown reason, I do have a weird ethereal connection to this godawful country that I call home, and I hope it does not actually fall apart anytime soon.
Cookie Thief
No media spin there at all.
You're showing your age Cookie.
C is for Cookie.
Liking him is a matter of age?No media spin there at all.
You're showing your age Cookie.
Cookie Thief
Everybody under 21 loves Obama, so yes.Liking him is a matter of age?
This thread has gotten ridiculously off topic.
Bounce Bounce Bounce
My shoes are sad!
Cookie Thief
about the economy, and how if the US doesn't pass this, the world markets will collapse?
Bulba~
Actually, I know a few Americans my age who are rather disappointed with how he has performed thus far. (Sure, we're not under 21, but 22-23 is the same damn thing, really). And quite honestly, I can't think of a single thing that Obama has done that makes me go, "wow, yup, he's a great president."Everybody under 21 loves Obama, so yes.
This thread has gotten ridiculously off topic.
The health care bill? Imposing roughly $500 billion in new taxes on the already struggling American family, and (from the numbers I heard being thrown around during wild allegations and whatnot) added approximately $1 trillion to the national debt. Since I highly doubt it was actually that high, and haven't seen the numbers to back that up, let's cut that in half and call it $500 billion, shall we?
Bailouts? Take the car manufacturing industry. Why were tax dollars spent to bail out non-essential services? I understand the desire to keep American jobs and spending in America, but that means that American companies have to run a business. If they go under, they go under. The government shouldn't be bailing out these companies.
I've yet to fully understand what he his energy policy is at the moment. All I've heard is shutting down drilling. Well, that's all fine and dandy, but... how is that really helping anything? The cost of oil in American has risen, on average, to just shy of $4/gallon. With many people still reliant on oil heating for their homes, it's gotten damn near impossible to afford to heat their homes during the winter months in some of the colder, northern States.
And to say that most people under the age of 21 support him doesn't really mean anything, when you look at the some of the more recent polls that have come out.
For his first term, I have to admit, I was excited. Even though I'm not American, I share a border with them and some of their national policies do end up effecting Canada in subtle ways. Now... I'm not so hopeful. Really, what's going to determine his re-election will, more likely than not, be decided by who he is running against, and not on Obama himself.
That's putting a lot of assumptions on the United States being the center of the universe.
The biggest implication of not raising the debt ceiling is to America itself. In an overly simplified example, think of the United States debt like a credit card. They have spent $14.5 trillion (ish) using their credit card, at an interest rate of 5%. (Made up number, just using it for the example). Say they raise the debt ceiling. That's like calling the credit card company and striking a deal saying, "Hey, I can't pay you guys back right now, but I will start to pay you back whenever I can. Until that time, would it be okay if I keep borrowing more money?"
Now, this makes the United States look bad to creditors. So the creditors will, essentially, end up saying, "Okay, fine, but we're going to have to raise the rate of interest on the initial amount owed, and everything you borrow from here on out. Let's raise it to, say, 6%. Just one more percent point, shouldn't be too bad."
To give you an idea of how bad that is: on just the initial amount of 14.5 trillion (not including any additional spending), the United States, at the imaginary 5% interest rate, are accumulating $725 million dollars in additional debt every year. At 6% interest rate, they'll start to accumulate $870 million in additional debt every year. That's a fairly significant figure, especially when you hear projections of the United States debt hitting approximately $28 trillion in ten years time.
It won't destroy the world economy, but it won't help Americans at all. If you want to see an extreme example of what will eventually happen if they continue this practice every time they are faced with defaulting on their debts, look at Greece. That could, potentially, be America in about twenty to thirty years, if this problem isn't resolved.
It also doesn't look promising for outside countries to do business with America when they are looking for a new market to break into. However, with the vast majority of the world's populations residing in India and China, there are plenty of areas for the market to shift towards. Provided businesses learn how to adapt, this won't be the end of the world. It just won't reflect great on the United States, who are used to being the center of the universe.
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