Scenarios: Obama's options if no deal on debt ceiling hike Reuters
USMCPatriot wrote:I don’t know what kind of scholars think there is a 14th Amendment reach around in this current situation, but their isn’t! Nothing within the 14th Amendment relieves Congress of it’s capacity to authorize funds for the payment of a given debt. Much of the 14th Amendment should have been repealed decades ago as certain aspects of it were created solely to deal with specific issue that existed following the Civil War, and that includes the payment of debt clause.
There is no point in this country attempting to continue to do what it has been doing for the last several decades, because the system of financing the government is broken. Conceptually it just cannot work. The madness cannot continue as there is no possible way the GDP is going to be growing at a rate of 3.5%, or better, with an aging workforce that is retiring at the rate of 10,000 per day. There is mathematically nothing to support a continuance of what we have been doing and that means a severe downsizing of government. There is no alternative.
The outsider behind the debt debates
The outsider behind the debt debates. He's not an elected official and he may have the biggest impact on the debt debate.
The Debt Free America Act (aka the 1% Transaction Bill)
Have y'all heard about this? I received an email rumor, so decided to check it out.
Basically, it concerns HR-4646, a bill that has been introduced a number of times since 2004 by Pennsylvania Rep. Chaka Fattah. It would create a 1% transaction tax (to be used to pay down the government debt) as well as phase out the federal income tax. Its referred to as The Debt Free America Act. No other legislator has signed on as a co-sponsor and its never gotten out of committee. HR4646 has died, but is now back as HR1125. The email slams Obama, but I took deleted that part of it in the excerpt below. Not that I care much for him, but from what I have read, he had no part in creating the bill... although I am sure he'd take advantage of it if it ever did actually pass!
Here is the excerpt from the email I received, which describes it in more detail:
~The transaction it refers to is every single time a financial transaction takes place, a 1% fee would be imposed. this includes all transactions at any financial institution - banks,credit unions, savings and loans, etc. Any deposit you make, or even a transfer within your own accounts, will have a 1% tax charged.
~If your paycheck or your social security or whatever is direct deposit, it will get a 1% tax charged for the transaction.
~If your paycheck is $1000, then you will pay $10 just for the privilege of depositing your paycheck in your bank. Even if you hand carry your paycheck or any check into your bank for a deposit, 1% tax will be charged.
~You receive a $5,000 stock dividend from your broker, the gov't takes $50 just to allow you to deposit that check in the bank..
~If you take $1,000 cash to deposit at your bank, 1% tax will be charged.
Think this is no big deal? Go back and look at the transactions you made on one year's banking statements. Then add the total of all those transactions and deduct 1% from that. Still think...
