As a follow up to our post about the U.S. National Debt, here are some interesting things to chew on-
The $5,027,761,476,484.56 in additional debt that the U.S. government has taken on during the 39 months that President Obama has been in office is more debt than the federal government accumulated in the first 219 years of the Republic
The total federal debt did not exceed $5,027,761,476,484.56 until March 14, 1996, when President Bill Clinton was in the last year of his first term in office. It now stands at $15,654,638,525,397.64 and counting.
Somewhere Keynes is smiling and laughing and Jefferson is rolling over in his grave…
Hard to believe, but this is actually an old picture, when the debt was a measly 12 Trillion
Every time we see the market surging, and we think we are out of the words, we are always reminded of a website out there. It is USDebtClock.Org, and if you don’t know about it, you should definately keep it bookmarked. It is a reminder that no matter how good things may seem at the surface, beneath the surface remains this huge anvil that weighs down the U.S. economy more than anything.
VentureBeat Examines Lack of Chinese Innovation
We were struck by a very insightful piece in the technology blog VentureBeat recently. They interviewed Xu Xiaoping, one of China’s top Angel Investors, to hear his thoughts on the future of business and innovation in his homeland. Not surprisingly, he expressed many of the same views that we have taken in this blog for years. Chinese entrepreneurship is predicated on copycats (and a key advantage of having a government that blocks foreign entries into the market), and lacks the passion and innovation that makes the U.S. the pinnacle of business success.
Here are Xu’s three main points:
- China has a culture of education first, at the expense of passion
- Chinese products and services need more soul
- Innovators are discouraged by giants that want to crush them
Read the full article here
The current long-term dividend tax rate of 15% is set to expire next year, and the uncertainty is hurting dividend stocks and dividend investors. The tax on dividends is set to jump to over 43% next year, with dividends taxed as regular income at the max 39.6% rate, plus a 3.8% tax as part of the mammoth healthcare bill of 2009. It will be interesting to see how the debate plays out, if at all, during the presidential election. As we all know, it isn’t just the “rich” that pay taxes on dividends. The majority of dividend income is actually derived from public pensions.
Government Inflation Numbers B.S.
Every month we hear politicians and economists talk about the modest inflation that we are experiencing, and the need to maintain low rates. We call B.S!
Anyone who has been to the store or the pump recently knows that we are in an inflationary environment. Inflation numbers reported by the government do not take into account food, gasoline, child care, prescription drugs, household prducts, and other daily products that American purchase. Instead, it focused on big ticket items, which ordinary Americans don’t purchase. We all know inflation is over 8%, it’s just up to the talking heads to finally admit it.
Client Login
