Robert J. Samuelson on whether America could go broke - Washington Post: Op-Eds
() The idea that the government of a major advanced country would default on its debt -- that is, tell lenders that it won't repay them all they're owed -- was, until recently, a preposterous proposition. Argentina and Russia have stiffed their creditors, but surely the likes of the United States, Japan or Britain wouldn't. Well, it's still a very, very long shot, but it's no longer entirely unimaginable. Governments of rich countries are borrowing so much ... Full Story »
Posted by Elsbet Roed Brosky - via Fair Spin (Right), Opinion Source, NewsRack (Recession)
It's a frightening outlook. What it means is that rich countries, where the richness is in a few 'pockets' of private persons or companies. This must leave the governments 'poor' and unable to provide for education and health care for its populations, who will in high numbers become uneducated and not healthy. This part of the population is what we call the poor. I am not an economist, but it seems that to much of the socalled financial investments are speculative. This must mean that they are not even the paper those transactions are written. But is it not exactly what we have experienced, that a few companies (banks and investments companies) have 'operated' as so bloated predators that they have become too big to fail and the governments have to bail them out, which means that they take citizens money to fill the 'holes' in big financial institutions. If this behavior is to continue, then we, as I understand it, will go broke as a country. Is it this the goverment is trying to fix through regulations so the richest of the rich cannot operate under 'rug' of the governments.