Current Events Enrichment Materials War-Taxes and Debt
All support documents in Adobe PDF
Third Saturday Seminar 2011-2012
Return of the Elders, Unleash your Wisdom
9:30AM til 12:00 noon
3200 College Park Drive – Conroe, TX – 77384 – 936.273.7000
(Note we are back is our regular venue – B-102)
A couple of weeks ago Charlie Lindahl forwarded this chart to me and suggested I contact Col Chauret and see if he would be interested in talking to the Third Saturday Seminar.I did. And, Colin said he would and he will be our speaker Saturday. Since Retiring from the Air Force in 1973 after a career of 31 years of flying the venerable P-51 and many other fighter aircraft. Colin has become a very active commentator on the state of things and has been published and interviewed many times because of the points he makes. He has already received numerous responses to this chart. He points out that you can find all the data on the Internet. (I’ve put links to a couple of sources in the following.) You can “Google” “Colin Chauret” and find lots of his barbs. Here’s a nice collection here
Salient Chart Points Are:
1. The National Debt, the “RED LINE”, depicts cumulative deficit spending from 1913 of $3 billion to the present date of $14.9 trillion.
A. From the $3 billion of 1913 to the $1 trillion of 1981, a total of the first 68 years of the chart, equates to an average close to $15 billion a year deficit, which we now accomplish in only four days time.
B. From the $1 trillion of 1981 to the $14.9 trillion of the present date equates to a yearly average deficit close to $450 billion for the last 31 years of the chart, with the last four years over $1 trillion a year. That $13.9 trillion increase equates to 93% of our national debt accrued in only the last 13% of nations history of 235 years.
2. The Top Tax Brackets, the “BLACK LINE”, depicts the top tax brackets from 1913 of 7% to the top bracket of today at 35%, with varying increases and decreases through the chart’s 99 depicted years.
A. WW 1 top tax bracket was 73%, WW 2 was 94%, Korea was 92% and Vietnam was 77%, paying our way as we go. During the Cold War, it went down to 28% for millionaires and billionaires due to the Reagan Tax Code of 1986, becoming effective from late 1980’s into the early 1990’s. (At this time, the middle upper class were paying at least 31%) Results of the Reagan tax cuts were huge deficits. Clinton raised it 11.6% to 39.6%. Results were the last FY Clinton was in office, our deficit was only $18 billion for the entire year. Bush 2 came into office, cut the top rate down to 35%, started two wars and his last FY in office saw the deficit spending increase to $1 trillion, $62 billion, 59 times larger than Clinton’s last year. Along comes Obama, inheriting a runaway freight train to a financial disaster.
B. “Morale of the Facts”: You don’t cut taxes of the very rich to where we become fiscal irresponsible and start wars at the same time. We are living the good life as we pass a very expensive bill on to future generations. We are facing a highly possible depression that will make the crash of 1929 look like a “Sunday Afternoon Tea Party.” We must be responsible for our way of life and raise taxes on we who can afford it, me included.
Colonel Colin J. N. Chauret,
USAF Retired, 31 Years Active Duty, 1942-1973
cjnchauret (at) aol.com
I suspect that among our membership there will be a mixed responses to the above “issues” that may become apparent as we proceed. Actually, we’ll mostly agree that they are “issues”, but opinions about how they should be resolved will vary to say the least … Agree or disagree, come join us on Saturday add to your wisdom
For those that like to “read ahead:
The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It
( Debt Held by the Public vs. Intragovernmental Holdings )
The US Debt Clock
scroll to the middle of the page
World debt comparison (The Economist)
The global debt clock
Our interactive overview of government debt across the planet
TIMELINES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
This makes a very good narrative to Colin’s chart. It starts in the 1920’s, Fills in many of the historical blanks.
1945 The top tax rate is 94 percent. It will stay at least 88 percent until 1963, when it is lowered to 70 percent. During this time, America will experience the greatest economic boom it had ever known until that time.
Tax Policy Center – to see the actual tax Brackets from 1944 to the present
War Is A Racket (1935)a short book By Major General Smedley Butler
Awarded two congressional medals of honor:
Capture of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1914
Capture of Ft. Riviere, Haiti, 1917
Distinguished service medal, 1919
Major General – United States Marine Corps
Full Text in popular digital reader formats
“Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”
Super Committee News (Don’t hold your breath…) two of many articles.
One Day After Doubts, Lawmakers Put on Brave Face for Super Committee Deal, Nov 14, 2011, | FoxNews.com
Super committee: 9 days to deadline and no deal imminent – CNN.com
8 hours ago – Partisan politics still divides super committee members 10 days before the deadline for an an agreement.
Curt’s two cents — Things I (still) see.
- Stagnant savings and money market accounts because the Federal Reserve is printing and pouring money into banks at Zero percent interest. There is now 1.55 trillion dollars sitting in the member bank accounts at the Federal Reserve for which there is no demand. Strangely, that amount seems to match the amounts in the Qualitative Easing (QE) programs.
- Planned inflation to make it easier to pay America’s debts (and destroy savings)
- A Congress and Senate who only care about their petty differences and nothing about their responsibility to the people of common sense. How can they expect us to take them seriously?
- Affordable health care that keeps getting more expensive.
- A financial industry that insists that it must be allowed to take unreasonable risk and still be bailed out by the taxpayer.
- Plans to dismantle social security and medicare to make up deficits when it is the only financially solvent program in government. Nor will they stop medicare fraud, nor work up a realistic plan for paying Doctors so they will willingly treat medicare patients.
- Everybody seems to be content to sit back waiting for “the government” to pull a political, social and economic rabbit out of a hat and return us to paradise. Wake up folks. Governments don’t solve problem they cause them, often by refusing to protect the rights of citizens from the assault of special interest groups. At the moment the Fed is calling the shots, and doesn’t seem to notice that nothing it has done has had a positive effect, yet it doesn’t know how to let go. It is the people that make an economy work, not government, not Wall Street, not corporate oligarchs. Are we a nation of laws that treat and protect everyone equally, or does our government enforce laws more equally for some than for others?
- The president has an important job, but there is no divine mandate.
- Etc.
What would you add to the list?
It is about time we took our lives back and that means “Unleashing our Wisdom!”
How about a Crowd of Wisdom?Let’s Talk about it Saturday!
Current Events: As usual we will start out with 45 minutes of current events…. Greece, Italy, Football and the rule of law
The Lone Star College Montgomery ALL Program:
Academy for Lifelong Learning Program Description
A.L.L. Fall 2011 Course Schedule(PDF)
Map of campus and parking lots
Third Saturday Seminar
To refer to an ancient Chinese saying, our world is in interesting times and individual citizens are assaulted with a blinding array of propaganda from every conceivable source. The Third Saturday Seminar is about demystification of what is going on around is. Time will also be spent on current events. 3 Sessions. No fee.
Lone Star College-Montgomery BI02
S 9/17-11/19 9:30 a.m. – Noon Gibby
Spring Session TBA
Come, join the discussion! Let’s see if there is hope!
Public Service Announcements: Here is another ALL Course you may want to attend….(Wednesday)
Science/Philosophy/religion
The Roots and Enduring Legacy of the Enlightenment
We will discuss how a few men, from Copernicus to Newton to Voltaire to Beethoven totally changed western civilization resulting in the Renaissance and Enlightenment, encompassing the Scientific Revolution, and overturning centuries of dogma based on Aristotle and the church.
1 Session. No fee.
Lone Star College-University Center at Montgomery
16053 W 11/16 11 a.m. – 12:50 p.m. Haydel
See you Saturday — Thanks for your support!
Curt Gibby
P.S. As usual if anything in this notice doesn’t make sense, please let me know. (You won’t be the first, I will appreciate it and say, “Thank you,” Curt)