According to Mutt:

Top philanthropists in the United States, not as a % of income/worth

1. Bill Gates
2. Warren Buffett
3. Leonard Lauder (in artwork to MOMA)
4. Mark Zuckerberg
5. George Soros
6. Michael Bloomberg
7. Walton Family - Walmart
8. Gordon Moore
9. Chuck Feeney
10. Pierre Omidyar eBay

The clown of Donald Trump you need vote for he for Make America Great Again.

The US economy is as strong as ever check the Euro is nearly a US dollar, not so much war, not so much enemies in the world, the war bring down te US economy remember Bush?

America needs donald trump for make america great again, the USA is great already.

Donald Trump don't give a fuck about America check his donations.

There's something fishy about Donald Trump's charitable donations There's something fishy about Donald Trump's charitable donations - Business Insider

You have to be naive to believe in his words.

I think he just wants to dabble into losers' (those who want to rob evil rich and "redistribute" to lazy poor) vote market. Take some votes from democrat pool.
Another smart move.

You are probably right on that.. if they had a quick easy way to pay it off, they would just spend money even faster. I'd be all for a one time tax on everyone if it were used to pay off the debt with a fiscally responsible budget set in place which wouldn't allow it to get that big again..

However we all know no one in govt can stop spending..

No, I think History has shown that pretty much all the things our govt. has been doing over the past few decades have led to 18 TRILLION dollars in debt, bad trade deficits, and many wars.

Just because a bunch of bureaucrats pretended to know what they were doing and fucked everything up for our entire lifetimes doesn't mean that's the "right" way.

I listened to what Trump said in his speech. And he correctly pointed out that he has a top team of financial negotiators who are far superior to what our govt. has.

And he very clearly said exactly what he would do to bring jobs back and get trade negotiations with other countries that are favorable to the United States instead of us getting screwed all the time.

Maybe it's time to give other ideas a chance. The shit we've been fed as the "right way" since I was born has put us in the shitty position we are in today.

100% correct.

http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/ima....21/chart2.png

I think you need to look deeper into the problem.

Tax imports by 10% and the tax raised is $24 billion a month. $288 billion a year. 20% and the US, plus EU starts to dig itself out of the hole it dug for itself. The EU shows the irony of this, look at who their biggest suppliers are. Try and sell your goods to China.

The problem is your biggest market for online porn is the US. So every $ you spend in China, is a $ less spent in the US. That effects your incomes. So Barry can buy something cheaper in China, and then can't sell his product in China, and loses sales in the US because of the money he spent in China.

Add to that the coming problems of the strife poverty will bring and the eruption is coming.

I noticed no one commented on my point about the taxes paid and services demanded. With that extra disposable cash, how much is spent outside the US. And how much of your tax dollars are spent inside the US?

Then stop voting for parties that promise to give you so much. Ruled by lobbyist from big business.

That's the problem with democracy. To get votes and politicians have to make lots of big promises they can't keep, and the voters have to believe them.

And then two parties with very opposing ideologies have to get them through Government. So they usually end up a mish mash.

Trump's about to learn this. He can promise to tax the rich, does he have the executive power to get that through the two houses?

This is where the money's spent.

http://images.dailykos.com/images/78...jpg?1397620572

Cut military spending and arms factories, soldiers, support people, local shops and communities all suffer.

That can apply to any domestic spending, cut down wars would be a good idea. Until terrorists are knocking on your door again.

Tax imports by 10% and many goods from over seas might be cheaper to produce at home, more people employed, paying taxes, not needing benefits, etc. 20% and the problem starts to solve itself.

Why don't they?

Because those who like to spend their money on cheap imported goods, won't vote for them. and the big businesses effected won't fund them. And a politician loses a job. :Oh crap

Don't buy US debt ...

The US can sell debt -- why? If the problem is so,so,so critical:

• Why can the USA continue to sell it's debt and primarily to US private citizens and US corporations?
• Why do foreign central banks own (and continue to buy) a strong stake in the US debt?
• If our debt is so fuckin' bad why does the world buy it up?

You should try to think past silly internet charts ...

********** I think you can add Pres. Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, and Obama to the pic of Bush 2.

And then add in every slimeball Senator and Congressman who have turned our country into a huge funnel for money to the military industrial complex and worldwide wars with huge debt. :(

I personally don't think that ANY of these "business as usual" politicians are what we need. Republican and Democrat politicians in power have held hands for 50 years to fuck this country up.

I think we should REALLY "clean house".

Their ideas on both sides of the aisle are the same exact ones that we keep trading back and forth every 8 years or so. And they never work.

US Debt by President: By Dollar and Percent

Good Gods the facts hurt :P

You have to keep in mind the following things as well. Each President and Congress has been steadily doing things that have led us to the current place we are at.

The wars, the economics, all have to do with their "work".

Even when we had a great economy thanks to the internet boom during the Clinton years...congress and the President were busy enriching themselves and their cronies the whole time. :(

@robbie: I don't see the "great conspiracy" to rip off the American public I see the work of fools borrowing money to cover their fuck ups in basic economic policy. If you look at the big percentage increases notwithstanding wars they were to cover the aftermaths of war spending -- war related recessions. Reagan's recession (1981) was inherited from Nixon and Carter -- the post Vietnam War and the Oil Shock economic wars that followed. Obama inherited a recession from G.W. Bush's crash of 2007 resulting from the most recent Middle Eastern Wars.

This is why I say global trade and less military conflict is good. You don't bomb your trading partners :2 cents: There is little we can do but either ignore or war with people like ISIS (ISIL Daesh) -- it is a moral and political decision. We have to protect global trading partners like the Gulf oil producing states -- it is in world economic interest. Without oil we grind to a halt.

But if this war debt was debt was for R&D we could pay it off if the R&D succeeds in progress. If the R&D expense fails we are just stuck with the debt just like we are now with little benefit.

If we don't accrue any debt, can we as a nation do anything but stagnate? The alternative is to enact a 10% income tax increase on everyone to retire this excessive debt. That's a big tax increase! But that is the alternative ...

It would take 10 years paying an additional 10% of your AGI income to reduce the national debt to more workable levels.

That might be like $20K to $40K per AVERAGE taxpayer over 10 years.

I am sure a soak the rich policy would be popular among Trump's angry white man voters ... Sort of paradoxical that a billionaire would advance such a policy ... Trump is not advancing this policy today. He is advancing a xenophobic and anti trade policy -- didn't Hoover do that too with Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 and made the recession of 1929 become the Great Depression. Populists can set themselves up for a fall. My maternal Grandfather lost the family farm in the Great Depression -- ironic as the farmers wanted these tariffs and Hoover pandered to them just like Trump is pandering toward the 'angry white man' today with his anti-immigrant and anti-trade rhetoric.

It's no "conspiracy" nor are they fools.

They are very smart and know exactly what they are doing. It's "business as usual" with unlimited funds to hand out in the way of contracts to the military industrial complex and every "program" that they can think of.

People get filthy rich from it. And IF anything they do actually helps the American people...it's totally unintentional.

It's the normal way in Washington D.C. (deficit spending).

That's why every President that I can remember has campaigned saying that "Washington is broke and I'll fix it".
Then they get into office and...business as usual.

And look where it's landed our country. War after war after war. Occupying other countries. Invading them without declaring war. National Debt at 18 trillion and growing.
Jobs lost to other countries. Lowest percentage of adults in the work force. More people on foodstamps than ever before. Getting searched at airports. Police militarized and killing unarmed citizens.

No, there isn't a "conspiracy". And the lifetime bureaucrats who live like Kings and Queens are not "fools" either. They know exactly what they are doing and the federal gravy train just keeps on rolling even though the country is in horrible debt. :(

Uh...the link you gave says this very clearly:
"However, the general view is that while it had negative results, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff was not one of the main causes of the Great Depression because foreign trade was only a small sector of the U.S. economy."

Also the world was much different in 1930.

In 2015 the world needs us far more than we need them. That is what Trump has been saying in his speeches.
He's not wanting to isolate us. He's saying that his team of negotiators have the experience and skill to play all of OUR cards in trade deal negotiations instead of making bad deal after bad deal as the amateurs in Washington D.C. have been doing for decades.

The same reason they bought prime mortgage debts. And we all know how that ended.

It all goes well, like a train until it hits the wall. The trick is jumping ship before it hits the wall.

Agree for many countries in the West. The problem is how to fix it and stay in power.

US debt is 71.8%, according to the CIA World Factbook, or 104.5%, according to the IMF

UK debt is 90.6% of GDP. Both pulled from Google so might need adjusting.

To halve them over 10% years requires we pay more taxes. Or everyone lives on less. Which damages spending which has a knock on effect Or we import less and export more. Which means few can fill their homes or wardrobes with un-needed stuff.

Spot on.
The West has a huge card to play with the Third world. But as much as you sell, or we will block goods. Now look around you and find a "Made in......" label. Half or more of them will disappear or cost more, because they were made in the US by someone on a Western wage. Is consumerist Western Culture ready for that?

A phrase I heard a long time ago. "If you desire changes, one must first change."