So if the USA defaults August 2nd, what will happen?

[Aprilgold]

And I'll be in Canada when shit drops here, why, because Canada is peaceful and won't get invaded. Other reason, because THATS where a Extra Credit guy works, so I can statistically live near him, which would be NEAT-O!

 

[Merkavar]

im hoping that the US splits into 2 or more countries. i heard that might happen somewhere. it would be interesting to see a world with out a USA

maybe the US should have a "civil war" and then claim to be under new management and all there debts belong to the unites states of america but now they are called the commonwealth of america.

 

[TheNaut131]

Proceed to not give fuck.

Yup...love living on the Moon.

 

[WolfThomas]

Hey that's my Birthday. Not much more to add to the discussion.

 

[scar_47]

Stop fighting someone else's wars in the Middle East.

Until you stop wasting so many billions of dollars on that, you are not entitled to complain about how fucked up your economy is.

And stop fucking around with taxing the rich - bleed those motherfuckers dry.

So we should allow all the countries that supply the worlds oil to blow themselves up were their to ensure that oil production isn't hurt while regime changes occur, were also attempting to provide a stable society for those people it ain't cheap and no other country is willing to step up and do it so it falls to the US we've been cleaning up other countries messes for some time it isn't fun but the alternatives are worse. As for taxing the rich really yes lets hurt the producers the people who create sustainable jobs and can easily move their money and businesses elsewhere when they feel taxes are too high. The rich alread pay 40% income taxes along with the other tax revenue they generate by being investors how much do you thin their willing to bear before they up and leave. The US needs to drastically reduce spending in every area higher taxes hurt the ecomony because you leave people with less disposable income which means less spending and a slower ecomony. Look at what Regan did it worked Obamas spending us out of a recession clearly doesn't who the hell tries to jump start the ecomony by creating jobs that don't last ans taking on more debt to sustain bad programs and create more of them?

 

[aussiesniper]

Stop fighting someone else's wars in the Middle East.

Until you stop wasting so many billions of dollars on that, you are not entitled to complain about how fucked up your economy is.

And stop fucking around with taxing the rich - bleed those motherfuckers dry.

So we should allow all the countries that supply the worlds oil to blow themselves up were their to ensure that oil production isn't hurt while regime changes occur, were also attempting to provide a stable society for those people it ain't cheap and no other country is willing to step up and do it so it falls to the US we've been cleaning up other countries messes for some time it isn't fun but the alternatives are worse. As for taxing the rich really yes lets hurt the producers the people who create sustainable jobs and can easily move their money and businesses elsewhere when they feel taxes are too high. The rich alread pay 40% income taxes along with the other tax revenue they generate by being investors how much do you thin their willing to bear before they up and leave. The US needs to drastically reduce spending in every area higher taxes hurt the ecomony because you leave people with less disposable income which means less spending and a slower ecomony. Look at what Regan did it worked Obamas spending us out of a recession clearly doesn't who the hell tries to jump start the ecomony by creating jobs that don't last ans taking on more debt to sustain bad programs and create more of them?

Look at this link [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms#Gross_federal_debt].

Notice that under Regan, the debt went up by 20% of GDP? And before him, it had been steadily going down since 1945, almost unbroken?

Yeah. Regan did a fine job with the economy.

 

[aussiesniper]

Double post.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

I'm not completely sure. Either nothing or the fucking rapture from what I've been hearing.

Here's some answers.

Cut down on unneeded spending.
Cut down on government corruption.
Legalize and tax drugs.
CUT OUR FUCKING DEFENSE BUDGET!!!!
STOP BORROWING SO MUCH GODDAMN MONEY WE CAN'T PAY OFF!!!

Do you mind if I play a little Devil's Advocate?

1) What is needed to some is unneeded to others. It would be nice if we could determine what was needed and unneeded, but since this American politics, we can't determine anything.
2) Unless someone walks around with a sign that says "HA HA! I'm corrupt!", cutting down on corruption is harder than you think. Congressmen often protect their own, and lobbyists seem to run DC. They aren't going anywhere.
3) Even if drugs like marijuana was legalized, the intake from drugs that were taxed would be so minimal it would barely put a chip in our debt. Plus, there would no doubt be a black market that was not taxed that many people would go to. And asking people to do the right thing for the betterment of the country is harder than you might think.
4) I'll agree with you here. It needs to be cut, but not completely or even significantly. As much as I hate our world police persona, I do find our military somewhat necessary.
5) Don't really know the circumstances of this, so I can't really say anything.

EDIT: To the "bleed the mother fuckers dry" poster: as much as I'd like to agree that the rich need to be taxed, I don't think that solves the problem. When you think rich, you think of the dudes with five yachts, yes? The government sees the rich as anybody who makes more than (I believe) $200,000 a year. That not only includes the aforementioned five yacht club, but most small business owners, the people that hire the middle and lower class. If they get taxed, they don't have the money to hire someone else. This doesn't create jobs, which means more people can't pay their taxes and need to go on welfare, which drains money. A very, VERY generalized explanation, but this is how I understand it.

 

[Harlief]

You'll have a massive tourism boom because suddenly the US dollar will have a favourable exchange rate to many overseas countries.

 

[Akytalusia]

i heard they'll stop sending out social security checks starting on august 3. that's gonna hurt alot of people right off the bat, then it's all downhill from there.

 

[lacktheknack]

Some bad shit.

So, anyone know a good, relatively wallet-friendly university in another country?

Try Canada. I was kind of stunned to find that a term at the University of Alberta (where I am) cost about 10% of Yale or other Ivy League schools. TEN PERCENT. And it's not a bad education, either.

 

[aussiesniper]

I'm not completely sure. Either nothing or the fucking rapture from what I've been hearing.

Here's some answers.

Cut down on unneeded spending.
Cut down on government corruption.
Legalize and tax drugs.
CUT OUR FUCKING DEFENSE BUDGET!!!!
STOP BORROWING SO MUCH GODDAMN MONEY WE CAN'T PAY OFF!!!

Do you mind if I play a little Devil's Advocate?

1) What is needed to some is unneeded to others. It would be nice if we could determine what was needed and unneeded, but since this American politics, we can't determine anything.
2) Unless someone walks around with a sign that says "HA HA! I'm corrupt!", cutting down on corruption is harder than you think. Congressmen often protect their own, and lobbyists seem to run DC. They aren't going anywhere.
3) Even if drugs like marijuana was legalized, the intake from drugs that were taxed would be so minimal it would barely put a chip in our debt. Plus, there would no doubt be a black market that was not taxed that many people would go to. And asking people to do the right thing for the betterment of the country is harder than you might think.
4) I'll agree with you here. It needs to be cut, but not completely or even significantly. As much as I hate our world police persona, I do find our military somewhat necessary.
5) Don't really know the circumstances of this, so I can't really say anything.

EDIT: To the "bleed the mother fuckers dry" poster: as much as I'd like to agree that the rich need to be taxed, I don't think that solves the problem. When you think rich, you think of the dudes with five yachts, yes? The government sees the rich as anybody who makes more than (I believe) $200,000 a year. That not only includes the aforementioned five yacht club, but most small business owners, the people that hire the middle and lower class. If they get taxed, they don't have the money to hire someone else. This doesn't create jobs, which means more people can't pay their taxes and need to go on welfare, which drains money. A very, VERY generalized explanation, but this is how I understand it.

The tax on the >200k group can indeed hurt small business, but it's irresponsible to let the executive board of Goldman Sachs and such only pay as much as they do (~40%) when the US Government itself is dangerously close to default.

Although, they may just use one of the many loopholes in the tax system (no tax on trust funds!) to dodge paying anything much.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

Edited for Space.

The tax on the >200k group can indeed hurt small business, but it's irresponsible to let the executive board of Goldman Sachs and such only pay as much as they do (~40%) when the US Government itself is dangerously close to default.

Although, they may just use one of the many loopholes in the tax system (no tax on trust funds!) to dodge paying anything much.

So the problem, then, is the line set by the government, yes? Would it be better if we changes the definition of rich to someone who makes over a million a year? Or maybe even THAT is too low. I'm not really sure.

As for loopholes, I really don't know.

 

[crudus]

What I hope will happen: We will do what is necessary, find a way to recover, and learn from our mistakes.

What will probably happen: We will cut spending by a lot (no Social Security and the like), recover by shear luck, and learn nothing.

The entirety of Congress is taken out back and shot and we bring in a new congress who will fix everything

This should have happened 4 years ago.

 

[aussiesniper]

Edited for Space.

The tax on the >200k group can indeed hurt small business, but it's irresponsible to let the executive board of Goldman Sachs and such only pay as much as they do (~40%) when the US Government itself is dangerously close to default.

Although, they may just use one of the many loopholes in the tax system (no tax on trust funds!) to dodge paying anything much.

So the problem, then, is the line set by the government, yes? Would it be better if we changes the definition of rich to someone who makes over a million a year? Or maybe even THAT is too low. I'm not really sure.

As for loopholes, I really don't know.

Well, the real issue is that once you earn enough money to really be considered super-rich, it's cheaper to hire a team of lawyers and accountants than to actually pay your tax. Maybe the ideal situation would include a tax break for small business owners, and a new tax bracket for people earning >500k or 1 million. Then again, those people tend to have enough power to influence politicians, so this probably won't happen.

 

[DarkRyter]

We're gonna have to sell Utah to the Chinese.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

If the USA was even close to defaulting, they'd raise taxes, cut spending or, you know, just move out of Iraq.

That's assuming that the Big Businesses that own the politicians and government would allow them to.


My guess is that the world will switch the currency on which world transactions would be based, the Euro would be my bet. The focus of the world will switch to the EU and Americans will be pitied by all the better off nations. None will offer much in the way of help.

 

[aussiesniper]

If the USA was even close to defaulting, they'd raise taxes, cut spending or, you know, just move out of Iraq.

That's assuming that the Big Businesses that own the politicians and government would allow them to.


My guess is that the world will switch the currency on which world transactions would be based, the Euro would be my bet. The focus of the world will switch to the EU and Americans will be pitied by all the better off nations. None will offer much in the way of help.

Unfortunately, the Euro is looking pretty weak right now, what with Greece and such. If the US defaults, it could mean serious damage to the EU. The world's favourite currency also cannot be the Chinese Renminbi, because the Chinese government fixes their currency to be worth some constant fraction (1/6, I think) of a US dollar.

Then again, according to wikipedia, China has been setting itself up to start trading the renminbi freely, instead of fixing it at a certain value. So who knows? Maybe it WILL be Chinese currency as the next international standard.

 

[KarmaKing93]

OCEANIA SHALL RISE FROM THE PACIFIC AND BECOME THE NEW WORLD LEADERS!
Kangaroos for all!

 

[Thaluikhain]

What are the chances of this actually happening though?

Small...nobody wants it to happen, but it's a very useful bargaining chip.

"Give me X, or I'll doom us all!"...nobody how much they want X, they don't want to be doomed. There will be alot of frantic negotiations, and then the hostage (the US economy) will be released more or less unharmedish.