I rate this post 12 milliTimeCubes.

3 x 6.6 is over 19.

This is Iraq trying to screw the US for a  bonus $19 bn payout.

Al Jazeera is about as unbiased as Fox News.

Largest theft was orchestrated by Goldman Sachs, the missing money in Iraq isn't even in the same time-zone by comparison.

katsung47 wrote:

They spend the money in this way.

Quote, "$12 Billion For Them - 1.5 Million Homeless For Us

Lilith
- 7 days ago - rense.com

Does anyone possess a clue as to why our U.S. government spends $12 billion every 30 days in Afghanistan and Iraq while 1.5 million of our citizens remain homeless and 13.4 million American children live in poverty?

http://www.care2.com/news/member/503332866/2840575

The poor and homeless have always existed and always will; even in communist societies where everyone is assigned a home and food based on need the poor and homeless exist.

These things will never change.

Decadence wrote:

peco wrote:

Al Jazeera is about as unbiased as Fox News.

So I hear from every-body who can-not actually be bothered to read Al Jazeera.  Personally, I do not see the resemblance.  But, as Stephen Colbert pointed out, the truth does tend to have a liberal bias.

I read al-jazeera all the time, but it reads like as much bullshit... well, ok, not quite as much bullshit as Fox, but close.

Al-J has as much of an angle as Fox.  They're no more interested in truth than Fox.  Just as much as Fox wants to blow sunshine up the arse of everything the USA does, Al-J wants to tear it down.

If Obama ordered that every man, woman, and child be given a gold bar from the US treasury and an immediate end to all hostilities in the middle-east, Fox would report that the white house had been taken over by commies, and Al-Jazeera would run two stories: 1) Us troop pull out leaves thousands unemployed; and 2) US social program causing widespread civilian back injuries due to heavy lifting.

The difference is that everyone would call Fox for the bullshit that it is, and most people would commend Al-Jazeera for telling "the truth".

New debt ceiling deal (8/2/2011)

The debt ceiling negotiation reveals one truth, that this nation is controlled by a covert dictatorship which represents the interest of a rich people group, and the so said law makers don't represent the voters any more.

1. The tax cut law was proposed and carried out by former present Bush. It is proved being a failed policy. In Bush's eight years term, the national debt raised from 6 trillian to 12 trillian. His tax cut law contributes big in debt increasing. Yet, when Obama wanted to recover the tax rate on rich people, the law makers resisted. It proves they are now working for a little group of rich people not for the majority of Americans.

2. War in Iraq and in Afghanistan is another factor to the deficit of the budget. US military expense and war expense add together almost equal to the total expense of all other countries in this world. That's an extra heavy burden of the American tax payers. The strange thing is nobody dares to speak out. No media, no politician dares to finger at it. It's another proof the US has become a covert dictatorship. In it media and politicians all are controlled by the Inside group. They no longer are the voice of people.

3. The victim of the new balance deal will be the American people. More people will lose their jobs and welfare aid in new budget. They will have less money to spend. How could economy recover in this foundation? The economy of US will continue remain in stagnation if not going worse.

4. The result of today's situation is people can't elect their own representatives. The government insiders have controlled the intelligence and the media. They select politicians of their own through rigged election. (because they control the intelligence) They justify the election result through the fake poll of the media.

Who damage the economy?

When Clinton left the W.H. the Federal benchmark interest rate was 6.5%. In Bush's term, the rate drammatically dropped in 2001. Then to the bottom of 1%  in 2003 and 2004.  It's the low interest rate that pushes up the economy. You could see the result from income tax revenue chart that the Federal income tax started going up from 2003, 2004, but it also created a big bubble - the housing bubble. That bubble broke out in 2007, (You could see it's the peak of income tax revenue). It also caused the financial crisis next year.(2008)

Real estate industry is an important factor of GDP. The housing bubble is still hurting the economy right now. Even now they low the interest rate to nearly zero, they can't recover the housing industry. (Because of piled up fore-closured houses from that bubble)

It's evident that Bush created the housing bubble that damaged the US economy. That bubble is still there, continuely erode the economy.

3. Bush’s legacy is still hurting economy (10/24/2011)

Some people say that after three years, Obama can’t blame Bush on economy failure any more. But the housing crisis still hurts economy and looks like will continue to damage the economy for several years. The problem he left for this country is huge and long-lasting.

The main expense is to bail out the firms too big to fail, especially the mortgage giant Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. The program to help unemployed, incentive to promote car sale and house sale, program to help the home owners whose house value now are underwater. Here is the real expense, that's the real hole you try to avoid of. Three years after sub-prime loan crisis, the roof is still leaking. Here is the some recent "leaking" result:

Fannie Mae Posts $8.7 Billion Loss, Requests More Fed Aid

WASHINGTON -- Mortgage buyer Fannie Mae reported a loss of $8.7 billion for the January-March quarter, and asked for an additional $8.5 billion in federal aid.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_858812.html

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Seek $3.1 Billion Amid Improved Earnings
QBy Lorraine Woellert - Feb 24, 2011 9:01 PM PT

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...-earnings.html

Fannie Mae needs another $5.1 billion in aid as more loans sour
.Date: Friday, August 5, 2011,

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...1-billion.html

Bank Of America To Cut 30,000 Jobs As Part Of Restructuring Plan
9/12/11

Bank of America stock was up 2 cents at $7 at midday. The stock has lost half its value this year, largely over problems related to poorly-written mortgages it acquired with its 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. The bank faces lawsuits from investors and regulators over the sales of mortgage-backed securities that lost value after the housing boom collapsed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/1 … 58432.html

Three years after the break-off of the housing bubble, it still hurts economy and causes unemployment.

katsung47 wrote:

4. How Bush blew up the Housing bubble.

Here is a Federal bench interest rate in Bush's term.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/200 … ph.190.gif

you can see how the interest rate dropped to the bottom from 6% to 1% in his first year administration. That low interest rate created a housing bubble. Bush boasted in his administration, America developed an ownership society. The fast growing up bubble without any restriction was finally boken up in 2007, caused the financial crisis in next year. It is still hurting the economy and likely will continue for years.

End of the ‘Ownership Society’
Oct 10, 2008

Bush pushed new policies encouraging homeownership, like the "zero-down-payment initiative,"  More exotic mortgages followed, including ones with no monthly payments for the first two years. Other mortgages required no documentation other than the say-so of the borrower. Absurd though these all were, they paled in comparison to the financial innovations that grew out of the mortgages—derivatives built on other derivatives, packaged and repackaged until no one could identify what they contained and how much they were, in fact, worth.

As we know by now, these instruments have brought the global financial system,

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2 … ciety.html

One thing else you can see from that interest rate chart. Clinton left his a nice interest rate tool to control the economy. The interest rate was 6%. With that interest rate tool, Bush did push up a economy. But he didn't regulate the economy, loosen the bridle of housing loan for his homeowners' society, that caused today's foreclosure problem. What did he leave for Obama? The Federal interest rate was below 1% which left little space for obama to operate. Without that tool, Obama had to borrow money, or do QE (quantitative easing) to push the economy.
Clinton left for Bush a surplus budget and a nice financial tool. What has Obama got from Bush?

Kathy, this comment makes sense.  I'm so proud of you!

Bush increased the national debt not only with his “Tax cut law”, but also with his two Mid-east wars. The war cost is another heavy burden to the US tax payers.

U.S. cost of war at least $3.7 trillion and counting

By Daniel Trotta
NEW YORK | Wed Jun 29, 2011

Reuters) - When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he referred to a $1 trillion (622 billion pounds) price tag for America's wars.

Staggering as it is, that figure grossly underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the U.S. Treasury and ignores more imposing costs yet to come, according to a study released on Wednesday.
The final bill will run at least $3.7 trillion and could reach as high as $4.4 trillion, according to the research project "Costs of War" by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. (www.costsofwar.org)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/2 … 6R20110629