As the debt ceiling debate fills all available media time, much of it falls on talks of the deficit.  Deficit reduction is inherently tied to debt reduction)(or at least, debt management), for the debt is nothing more than the cumulative sum of all deficits.  Run a deficit, the national debt (and thus the required debt ceiling) increases; run a surplus and the debt falls.  To talk of the debt and ignore the deficit is impossible, for the debt is the child of the deficit.

Given this I thought it would be instructive to take a new look at just how big the deficit really is.  And I thought I would do it in a way I've never seen before.

Most here know that I am in manufacturing; specifically, I work in the audio field, designing, building, and selling loudspeakers - woofers, midranges, tweeters, that sort of thing. Those cars that drive by at night pounding out bass? That's my fault. Those ultra-loud concert and club setups? Guilty as charged. Yes, I design and build speakers for a living. And until 2007 I was doing it inside the US. But I stopped, for several reasons and moved overseas. And an action this week by a Federal judge - brought about because of the actions of the Federal Government against another manufacturer - brought it all back to light.

The current economic nightmare facing the US - deficits greater than any BUDGET prior to 1996, deficits greater than the GDP of Canada - is, in this author's humble opinion - the greatest threat to the nation at this time. It is not a social issue, it is not a foreign relations issue - it is purely economic in nature. If we do not get this situation under control, and do so within the next 2 years, it will not matter where we come down on social issues or foreign relations; the fate of the nation will be sealed and the demise will be assured. It will be slow in coming, but inexorable and unstoppable.

This is not the time for timid politicians; a President who shirks from the tough stand is to be abhored not lauded. What would I envision a courageous President would do? Read on on to find out...

He had a good run, for nearly 70 years.  World domination, the most important in his circle.  What everyone else aspired to be. While ailing over the last few years, he still had vigor in him, was able to hold off the upstarts and retain his crown.  However, over the last 3 months the inevitable happened - the cancer growing inside him was too much, and alas - is now on life support.  His reign was historic, but appears to have come to rest as his minions have shown little willingness to raise him - or a successor - back to his prominence...  The King truly is dead.

On a thread at True Blue Freedom, a liberal member of TBF linked to a blog post that made the too-hard-to-believe (for rational people, at least) claim that "More Private Sector Jobs Created In 2010 Than During Entire Bush Years".

So I went digging, specifically from that blog's own source, the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And what did I find?

Yes, the call is no longer for a dime, but for literally tens of thousands of them - 64, 930 of them to be exact.  What is this big number for, and why do I need it?  For the same reason you need it.  As does your neighbor, each of your friends, and everyone who lives around you.  Where did this come from?

The following is a guest commentary about one person's experience with the Canadian Health Care system, so often used as a model of efficiency and low costs, and what the US should seek to emulate - Shanghai Dan

Health care systems beware; Canada’s system is not all it’s made out to be. We don’t have Canadian government health insurance so we have to pay for everything, but that’s OK and we came on our mission expecting to do so. In fact, we haven’t been to a doctor for years except for a medical every year or two and we didn’t expect to need one on our mission. Wrong!

On a site I frequent, the recent article from Kurt Hauser came up and succinctly stated the empirical fact that the Federal Government gets about 19% of the GDP.  Higher tax rates don't increase the Federal Government's take; it still gets 19%.  So the focus for those looking to raise revenue (something that should be questioned strongly, and acted on only after spending is cut back significantly) should not be increasing taxes (since it doesn't work - Hauser's Law) but growing the GDP.  And as expected, a person on the political left simply couldn't understand the logic.  So I explained...

Today saw the release of the draft proposal to deal with our insane deficit (currently around $1.3 trillion, but final numbers won't be available for a little while).  Just 4 short years ago, FY2007 saw a $162 billion deficit, and it's now 8 TIMES that level.  In FY2007 Federal receipts were $2.6 trillion, and for FY2010 they were about $2.2 trillion - meaning a $400 billion loss in receipts, considerably less than the $1.2 trillion bloom in deficit!  The deficit is now 10% of the total GDP - a level that is completely unsustainable for even a few years, let alone the decade that the Obama Administration is predicting.  Especially in light of the $13 trillion in total debt the US currently carries, and not including the estimated $50 trillion in underfunded long-term commitments (Medicare and Social Security).  So what did this committee suggest?  Read on...

Healthcare - I've written about it before (here, here, and here), but now we see the true extent of the abomination that has become known as Obamacare in the way it will seriously cripple - if not outright destroy the engine that creates jobs in this economy, small business.  It comes from a little-mentioned-during-debate clause about that most innocuous of IRS forms, the 1099.  And it has the power to seriously damage our economy, not to mention be an insidious first step towards a VAT-style tax in the US.

Summer of 2010 is in the books...  For at least the time I was here in Seattle (I was in Asia for 6 weeks), summer never seemed to arrive - cold, rainy, much more Fall than summer.  But no, this article isn't about weather (although that would be a much more entertaining and ultimately happier topic), it's about the wonderful Summer Of Recovery our esteemed leadership has wrought.

There's a big push in some corners of the US transportation industry to "bring high speed rail to America". Visions of relaxed, latte-sipping trips over the nation, no lines for security, low cost trips are certainly heady ideas, but do they bear out? Let's take a critical, cold, calculating look at the reality of the situation.

The "independence" of the CBO has been a foundational claim of the Pelosi/Obama/Reid triumvirate as they continue to pitch ever-increasing expenditures and desired bills.  The CBO is above taint, it is independent, it can be trusted.  But can we really trust it?  Isn't it just a tool of Congress?  After all, the CBO can only do what Congress directs.  And we see that in it's latest "report", the CBO claims that the Middle Class--Not the Rich or the Poor--Pay Majority of Federal Taxes.  Wow, shocking, no?

For decades, we've heard the call of "peak oil", that we're facing an ever-decreasing supply of oil.  The US simply cannot maintain it's current usage of oil because we are on the verge of a collapse of apocalyptic proportions because the last oil in the ground is being used right now.  Makes wonderful news copy, and is a great way to castigate the energy industry and justify entire reworking of the economy, but there's a problem: it's not true.

Seven Hundred Thirty Six dollars.  Nearly a week's wages at $20 per hour.  Three months lease on a new Volkswagen Passat.  Enough for a round-trip ticket to Paris from most major US cities.  More than most Haitians will earn in an entire year.  Nearly $3,000 for a family of 4.

That's your share - and the share of every man, woman and child within the US.  Share of what?  

On this holy day, I wish you and yours a Merry, peaceful, rejuvinating, relaxing Christmas!

As the Copenhagen climate summit gets underway, the fever pitch talk about the impending climate doom reaches a crescendo.  And once again we're reminded that the ice will all melt, and - as the data irrefutably states - we will be submerged below the seas, a Waterworld as apocalyptic as any ever imagined.  A truly sobering reality except for one little thing - the data does not support the conclusion.

Many have asked what I fear is the worst issue confronting these United States; after reflection and tought, I have concluded a rather unique, but I believe ultimately correct, answer:  The politicization of science.  Yes, science has become a political minefield, and the results are the catastrophic effects we are seeing today.

There's a cute little set of pictures that purport to "lay it out" about the health insurance debacle in These United States.  It's well drawn, and well written, the scripting flows great.  In fact, it's a really nice presentation in all ways except for the fact the fundamental basis for that little artwork is flawed:

The news is giddy - green shoots in the economy, it's turning around, we've stopped the slide, things will get better.  Our President says so, Rep. Pelosi and Sen. Reid assure us it's the case, and the media faithfully tell us over and over again: we have no concerns, the economy is starting to run again.  All sounds wonderful except for one little fact: they're all wrong.

On one forum I visit frequently, there are more and more threads started about "Communist China", "Red China", and of course, Rush Limbaugh's favorite term, "ChiComs" (short for Chinese Communists).  When most conservatives learn that I - a radically right-wing conservative - live and work half my life in "that hell-hole of Communism" they are shocked.  And when I state "I like it" well, let's just say the floor has many different jawlines imprinted.

As many have come to expect, I typically deal with financials and numbers.  I am not an economist or CPA or even MBA by trade; I am an engineer, so I actually understand numbers, rather than merely pushing them around.  And most of the last editorials have been about finances, but I felt it was time to take a short respite and address a different topic for today.

Recently, as I prepared for another jaunt to my second home in Shanghai, China, a friend of mine asked about the population of that nation.  I answered it was somewhere beyond 1.3 billion people at the time, and that China, India, and Southeast Asia together combine for just over 3 billion people.

And so it becomes apparent; Congressional Democrats and the media are officially fiscal ostriches.  A very important milestone was reached in July, one with disasterous consequences for these United States, yet nary a peep was uttered, or should I say a feather ruffled?

The tipping point: the point at which a system becomes unstable and falls down.  See the US in 2009.

or How I learned to stop worrying and understand it's the big Mr. Fusion in the sky.

The current "consensus" is that climate change - what used to be known as Global Warming, until it was found that the globe, in fact, was not warming - is a result of man. Our use of fossil fuels is the problem. Our use of electricity via hydro/wind/solar is the problem. Our mere existence is the problem.

The Obama Administration rightly states that the solution to our economic meltdown is job creation.  We need to get more people working to get the economy rolling again.  That should be self-evident, and is one of the few things that I agree on with the Administration.  But which jobs are to be created is where the Administration simply gets it wrong.

Remember back in the heady, giddy early days of the Obama Administration?  Much was made over the promised tax cut for the middle and lower classes.  It was a full $13 per week for the average worker.  This was going to save the economy, rebuild America, and bring prosperity back to the shores of these United States!

But this isn't the $13 I'm talking about...

Nationalizing health care is the latest push of the Slavery Party; and with the haste being applied, it is quite apparent they want this not for the benefit of society, but for their own controlling agendas!  Because if you take a look at the real data behind this debate, you'll see they have nothing to stand on.

On a forum I frequent, we were discussing nationalize health care.  A poster (of the liberal bent, but a very nice fellow altogether) made the following statement:

If access to health care is a fundamental right,

This was meant as a means to support the nationalization of health care inside these United States.  For if the supposition is true - health care is a fundamental right - then clearly it would be within the purview of the US Federal Government to nationalize and control the administration and delivery of that health care!

On a forum I frequent, we often talk of politics.  A question came up about how so many are disappointed with the actions of the current Administration as far as the economy goes (and in general, that seems to be echoing with the general population as well).  The poster asked "what would you do to get things moving again".

As most could guess, I am no fan of the Obama Administration's handling of the economy (that phrase should not even exist; a Presidential Administration should NOT be involved in the economy to begin with, but I digress), and would favor a free-market based approach.  And you would of course guess right.  My approach is rooted in a very straightforward and easy to understand plan.

Here's what I would do: