Copy Commentor.... The banks are insolvent. Maybe Obama's first act will be to provide transparency and tell us the truth. The $10 trillion is the low-low end of what the segment of the bad debt in the USA alone. Add to that $15 trillion or more in US wealth lost in the past 4 quarters on several asset classes (by no means all), plus all other debt out there, commercial real estate drop down the line, plus, plus, plus... Two, three, four times GDP? Where does it end? Really, losses could be $40-$50trillion at the end of all of this, then we put, on top of that, the $trillions of debt the government is putting on our heads. All roads lead to Rome. http://seekingalpha.com/article/115011-the-rise-of-an-epic-financial-crisis ................................................................................... What can turn it away from Rome ? Here is my broken record.... Deeply cut government spending.... Reduce taxes....ie 10% Consumption tax only Enhance a new direct access worldwide stock exchange with true universal direct access internet accounts.... The old brokerage model can easily be replaced with a few well designed web pages....all in the language , currency of choice.... .................................................................................... Unfortunately no where in sight in the current proposal morasse.... Roads are being built to Rome ....not away from Rome....
Well, you commented that "all roads do NOT lead to Rome"... we're curious as to which you think do not.
Some roads lead to Argentina, others to Germany, others to the USSR. And precious few roads continue to lead to the United States.
Buffett's Road.... One of them.... In effect, our country has been behaving like an extraordinarily rich family that possesses an immense farm. In order to consume 4% more than we produce--that's the trade deficit--we have, day by day, been both selling pieces of the farm and increasing the mortgage on what we still own. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/11/10/352872/index.htm