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"The $53 trillion asteroid"

Oliver

Penultimate Amazing
Oliver
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
17,396
Glenn Becks article about the 53 trillion Dollar Social Security asteroid certainly is an interesting read, but those numbers sound a little bit exaggerated:

Glenn Beck: The $53 trillion asteroid
Story Highlights:
  • Medicare trust fund will become insolvent in the year 2019, report says
  • Paulson: "Rising costs will ... threaten America's future prosperity"
  • Expert: Unfunded debt is "an IOU of around $455,000 per American household"
  • Beck: Our financial deficit is only dwarfed by "deficit of trust" we have in our leaders
  • $200 billion is the approximate total amount of write-downs announced so far as a result of the current credit crisis.
  • $14.1 trillion is the size of the entire U.S. economy
  • And $53 trillion is (drum roll please) the approximate size of this country's bill for the Social Security and Medicare promises we've made.
Full article: http://us.cnn.com/2008/US/03/26/beck.deficit/index.html
Click to expand...


So what are the factual numbers?
 
Oliver said:
Glenn Becks article about the 53 trillion Dollar Social Security asteroid certainly is an interesting read, but those numbers sound a little bit exaggerated:

Glenn Beck: The $53 trillion asteroid

So what are the factual numbers?
Click to expand...
He posted it on the internet. It is thus an unassailable source. :rolleyes: What is the problem, not enough YouTube for you?

Glenn Beck has a talent for, shall we say, hyperbole.

DR
 
Glenn is entertaining. Anyone who says different is a hater. But when he talks economy I zone out.
 
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Oliver what is the difference between a flow (income) and a stock (wealth or debt)?

If you have a mortgage of EUR400,000 and an income of 100,000 are you in trouble? No it just means it will take you at least 4 years to pay off your debt.
 
I know all of that and agree with all of you - but the question remains: What are the factual numbers concerning the costs of the democrats plans in light of a regularly declining Dollar?

Quite surprising that the Republicans didn't use it yet in the battle for the White House - they're probably waiting until the Dems have their candidate...
 
gtc said:
Oliver what is the difference between a flow (income) and a stock (wealth or debt)?

If you have a mortgage of EUR400,000 and an income of 100,000 are you in trouble? No it just means it will take you at least 4 years to pay off your debt.
Click to expand...


I understand - but if your mortgage is doubling thanks to inflation and thanks to "new implemented mortage policies", wouldn't it be interesting to know what's going on at the financial horizon?
 
Well, that's $53 trillion over the infinite life of the program. So I propose a solution. We put $50 dollars in a bank account at 2% interest, then simply take a dollar a year out over the next 53 trillion years. That solves the problem neatly.
 
Hmmm. It sounds like it's a Ponzi scheme whose endgame rapidly approaches.
 
shemp said:
On behalf of myself and my fellow morons, I must ask you to retract this statement, or we shall be forced to file a lawsuit for defamation of our intelligence and good character.
Click to expand...
Very well, I retract my statement and offer my sincere apologies to you and your organization.
 
Cincinnatus said:
Glenn is entertaining. Anyone who says different is a hater. But when he talks economy I zone out.
Click to expand...

He was entertaining when he started. He seemed to want to present a conservative viewpoint without the usual hysterics. But now he is as bad a ranter as any right wing talk show host.
And his economic views are pure Woo much of the time.
And Yes, I do NOT find him entertaining. And I am getting sick of this crap of fanboys labelling anybody who does like the object of their worship a "hater". There are somethings ...uberhack director Michael Bay for instance....of which I would be proud to be labelled a hater.
 
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Let me guess...Oliver thinks Ron Paul has the answer to this, as Oliver thinks Ron Paul has a solution for everything.
 
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Yeah, I get the feeling he wants to refute the Democrats' plan so that Republicans win the presidentials...

and then by magic McCain dies of a heart attack and Ron Paul takes over.
 
dudalb said:
Let me guess...Oliver thinks Ron Paul has the answer to this, as Oliver thinks Ron Paul has a solution for everything.
Click to expand...


Actually ... nope. Quite the opposite: Dr. Pauls ideas of a welfare state are pretty lousy from a social point of view.

On the other Hand: In light of of a non-welfare Constitution, I really can't blame him either. But that's off-topic concerning the question about what will it cost - and is healthcare sustainable under current conditions and in light of the democrats plans if they get the White House?

Keneth E. Thorpe is a professor of health policy at Emory University who worked in President Clinton’s administration and who has evaluated several presidential candidates’ health plans. He might know more about the answer, but I didn't find any of his published papers about the issue yet.

In the meantime I take a look at the Cato institutes publications:
http://www.socialsecurity.org/
 
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Unfunded debt is "an IOU of around $455,000 per American household"
Click to expand...

Whack01 said:
53 trillion is 176,000 per person in the US. Glenn beck is blowing smoke
Click to expand...


Let's see- if 53 trillion is 176,000 per person, and the claim is that it's around $455,000 per household, that would mean the average would have to be around 2.59 people per household.

Let's see what the average could be:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14942047/

Sept. 21, 2006

The average number of people living in U.S. households has dropped...

A baby born some time this October will be the 300-millionth American...

When the 300-million milestone is reached, that number will be at a new low of 2.6 people per home—parents, offspring and extended squatters included...
Click to expand...


So it seems that 176,000 per person works out to about 455,000 per household. Maybe Beck's not the only one that can blow smoke.
 
It's all garbage anyway. The right just wants to destroy Social Security. They know they can't just go in and trash it without a huge outcry, so they have to ratchet up the "doomed" rhetoric.

I will believe the GOP is interested in saving Social Security when they present a plan that is better that doing nothing.
 
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