If you or I as individuals go into debt, we would suffer the consequences.
But governments play by different rules than you and I do.
Governments often use a variety of tricks to spend more money than the taxpayers have given them to spend.
The American government is the undisputed biggest spender in the world.
I am not an economist and I do not pretend to understand national or international economics.
I do know how to balance my own checkbook.
If I spend more money than I have, I will go into debt.
But I cannot continue to spend more money than I have coming in.
If I did continue to outspend my income, then my credit rating would suffer.
I would soon be forced to cut back and find some way to live within my means because my creditors would cut me off.
Apparently the same rules do not apply to nations, at least not to powerful nations.
If you have a dispute with your neighbor or a stranger you have no legal right to declare war on him and invade his home and kill him and his family.
You can't just come up with some lame excuse such as you thought he had weapons in his house, so you had to strike at night in a preemptive attack.
Then if it turns out that he had no weapons in his house, you may try to spin a new story about how you had to do it "for the children" because your neighbor was abusing his kids, or some other whimsical fabricated story to justify why you massacred his family as they slept in the middle of the night.
After he is dead, you will be the one telling the story.
You can demonize him.
You will get in the last word since he will no longer be capable of telling his side.
You can make up any story you like.
If an individual did such a thing, he would be hunted down killed or at least sent to prison.
But governments seem to be able to do such things like that on a national scale and get away with it, and even declare themselves as "liberators and heroes.
"In fact you might not want to break into your neighbor's house in the middle of the night if he actually does have a gun.
But let's imagine that we already had somebody in his house to look for weapons and we are pretty sure he is unarmed, then it would not be so dangerous to kick in his door with guns blazing as we liberate his abused children.
It is not our fault that his kids were caught in the crossfire.
He shouldn't have resisted!It was entirely his fault.
Those damned terrorists are always hiding behind children! America is not doing so well in international public relations these days.
We seem to be locked into the roles of "world policeman" and aggressors in the international war on terror, whether we like it or not.
Since we are already in this deep there is no turning back now.
It would seem logical to continue to do what America does best, which is telling the world what to do and using force to insure that they do as we say, not as we do.
Maybe this is the answer to America's overspending.
It is hard to cut back and learn to live with less.
We have become accustomed to enjoying the good life and easy money.
America has the best military in the world.
America has a commanding technological lead over all other nations.
America can easily manufacture the world's best quality military equipment and munitions.
No nation on earth can come close to matching America military prowess.
Why give up the lifestyle we have become accustomed to? While we are at it, we can do what other great nations have done all through history.
We have the military might to take what we need.
Again reverting back to the personal and individual level, you or I cannot just take what we want from others, but strong governments can.
Here is a formula that might keep America from having to face the music and live within their financial means.
Step 1.
Come up with an excuse to invade a country that has easily extractable wealth, such as oil, gold reserves, or other some easily convertible precious commodity or property.
Step 2.
The rest of the world will not fall for America's propaganda in any event, so never mind them.
Focus the propaganda on the American public.
Sell the "proles" on the idea that this invasion was a good thing.
Wave flags and promote nationalism.
Label dissenters as "un-American" or sympathizers, or cowards, or terrorists.
Step 3.
Brutalize the people in the invaded country traumatically.
This is tantamount to gangsters breaking bones or otherwise brutalizing someone who does not pay what the mob demands.
Send the message that we do not play around.
Mess with the bull, you get the horn.
When gangsters do this it is a bad thing, but it is perfectly acceptable behavior for governments, as long as they have the power to stay on top.
Step 4.
Loot the invaded country.
Cripple and hobble the country so it will be many years before they can muster the strength to be a threat to America again.
It would also be a good idea to create a situation where civil war is inevitable to further destroy what little is left that we did not already destroy.
Devastate their economy and install a puppet government that the people will despise to insure civil war.
Leave a broken country, a demoralized population, and plant the seeds for further destruction after we are finished looting their country.
Engage in a "scorched earth" policy.
Step 5.
On the home-front, keep up the propaganda and keep spinning the story.
If the propaganda does not seem to be adequately suppressing criticism, then establish an Orwellian "Department of the Ministry of Truth" style agency to help stamp out dissent.
Give this new agency a benign name such as "Homeland Security.
"Establish a network of secret prisons.
Spy on the American people looking for signs of "Thoughtcrime.
" Insure that no one is being "un-American.
"Change the laws so that dissenters have no legal rights, and can simply disappear and never be heard from again if they are suspected of any un-American activities, such as openly supporting an independent candidate.
Keep waving the red white and blue.
Continually reinforce the mantra that "War is Peace", "Ignorance is Strength" and "Freedom is Slavery.
"And throw in a new one "They hate us for our freedoms.
" Step 6.
Start manufacturing evidence to support attacking another nation.
Before hitting the next victim (opps, I meant the next "terrorist nation") with smart bombs, hit them in the wallet.
Declare their government and financial institutions terrorist entities.
Seize all their international assets that we can get our hands on.
Freeze all their bank accounts and try to provoke the "terrorists" to take the first punch.
Then it might be an easier sell to get the American public to support going to war again.
Then repeat the cycle of steps one through six again and again.
If the same actions were done by gangsters we would use terms such as extortion, the protection racket, armed robbery, home invasion, theft, and murder.
But none of those nasty terms apply to nations, especially strong nations.
Using "The Newspeak Dictionary" we call it liberation or nation building.
Americans have the power do pretty much whatever they want, and call themselves heroes while they are at it just for good measure.
The rest of the world my not like it, but they are just going to have to learn to lump it.
Waging war is not cheap, but paying our bills is not cheap either.
The trick is to stay at the top of the heap, king of the mountain.
America is already the pariah of the world.
We are already in too deeply to turn back now.
If we go soft now, there will be war crimes trials and we will be the ones on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The international war crimes tribunals and prosecutors will be busy if we are stupid enough to put down our guns now.
We've got a tiger by the tail.
Chairman Mao's most famous quote was "Power comes from the barrel of a gun.
"America has the power.
The war on terror can go on for generations.
Americans can continue to live high on the hog.
There is no need to live within our means.
What can the repo-man do?
But governments play by different rules than you and I do.
Governments often use a variety of tricks to spend more money than the taxpayers have given them to spend.
The American government is the undisputed biggest spender in the world.
I am not an economist and I do not pretend to understand national or international economics.
I do know how to balance my own checkbook.
If I spend more money than I have, I will go into debt.
But I cannot continue to spend more money than I have coming in.
If I did continue to outspend my income, then my credit rating would suffer.
I would soon be forced to cut back and find some way to live within my means because my creditors would cut me off.
Apparently the same rules do not apply to nations, at least not to powerful nations.
If you have a dispute with your neighbor or a stranger you have no legal right to declare war on him and invade his home and kill him and his family.
You can't just come up with some lame excuse such as you thought he had weapons in his house, so you had to strike at night in a preemptive attack.
Then if it turns out that he had no weapons in his house, you may try to spin a new story about how you had to do it "for the children" because your neighbor was abusing his kids, or some other whimsical fabricated story to justify why you massacred his family as they slept in the middle of the night.
After he is dead, you will be the one telling the story.
You can demonize him.
You will get in the last word since he will no longer be capable of telling his side.
You can make up any story you like.
If an individual did such a thing, he would be hunted down killed or at least sent to prison.
But governments seem to be able to do such things like that on a national scale and get away with it, and even declare themselves as "liberators and heroes.
"In fact you might not want to break into your neighbor's house in the middle of the night if he actually does have a gun.
But let's imagine that we already had somebody in his house to look for weapons and we are pretty sure he is unarmed, then it would not be so dangerous to kick in his door with guns blazing as we liberate his abused children.
It is not our fault that his kids were caught in the crossfire.
He shouldn't have resisted!It was entirely his fault.
Those damned terrorists are always hiding behind children! America is not doing so well in international public relations these days.
We seem to be locked into the roles of "world policeman" and aggressors in the international war on terror, whether we like it or not.
Since we are already in this deep there is no turning back now.
It would seem logical to continue to do what America does best, which is telling the world what to do and using force to insure that they do as we say, not as we do.
Maybe this is the answer to America's overspending.
It is hard to cut back and learn to live with less.
We have become accustomed to enjoying the good life and easy money.
America has the best military in the world.
America has a commanding technological lead over all other nations.
America can easily manufacture the world's best quality military equipment and munitions.
No nation on earth can come close to matching America military prowess.
Why give up the lifestyle we have become accustomed to? While we are at it, we can do what other great nations have done all through history.
We have the military might to take what we need.
Again reverting back to the personal and individual level, you or I cannot just take what we want from others, but strong governments can.
Here is a formula that might keep America from having to face the music and live within their financial means.
Step 1.
Come up with an excuse to invade a country that has easily extractable wealth, such as oil, gold reserves, or other some easily convertible precious commodity or property.
Step 2.
The rest of the world will not fall for America's propaganda in any event, so never mind them.
Focus the propaganda on the American public.
Sell the "proles" on the idea that this invasion was a good thing.
Wave flags and promote nationalism.
Label dissenters as "un-American" or sympathizers, or cowards, or terrorists.
Step 3.
Brutalize the people in the invaded country traumatically.
This is tantamount to gangsters breaking bones or otherwise brutalizing someone who does not pay what the mob demands.
Send the message that we do not play around.
Mess with the bull, you get the horn.
When gangsters do this it is a bad thing, but it is perfectly acceptable behavior for governments, as long as they have the power to stay on top.
Step 4.
Loot the invaded country.
Cripple and hobble the country so it will be many years before they can muster the strength to be a threat to America again.
It would also be a good idea to create a situation where civil war is inevitable to further destroy what little is left that we did not already destroy.
Devastate their economy and install a puppet government that the people will despise to insure civil war.
Leave a broken country, a demoralized population, and plant the seeds for further destruction after we are finished looting their country.
Engage in a "scorched earth" policy.
Step 5.
On the home-front, keep up the propaganda and keep spinning the story.
If the propaganda does not seem to be adequately suppressing criticism, then establish an Orwellian "Department of the Ministry of Truth" style agency to help stamp out dissent.
Give this new agency a benign name such as "Homeland Security.
"Establish a network of secret prisons.
Spy on the American people looking for signs of "Thoughtcrime.
" Insure that no one is being "un-American.
"Change the laws so that dissenters have no legal rights, and can simply disappear and never be heard from again if they are suspected of any un-American activities, such as openly supporting an independent candidate.
Keep waving the red white and blue.
Continually reinforce the mantra that "War is Peace", "Ignorance is Strength" and "Freedom is Slavery.
"And throw in a new one "They hate us for our freedoms.
" Step 6.
Start manufacturing evidence to support attacking another nation.
Before hitting the next victim (opps, I meant the next "terrorist nation") with smart bombs, hit them in the wallet.
Declare their government and financial institutions terrorist entities.
Seize all their international assets that we can get our hands on.
Freeze all their bank accounts and try to provoke the "terrorists" to take the first punch.
Then it might be an easier sell to get the American public to support going to war again.
Then repeat the cycle of steps one through six again and again.
If the same actions were done by gangsters we would use terms such as extortion, the protection racket, armed robbery, home invasion, theft, and murder.
But none of those nasty terms apply to nations, especially strong nations.
Using "The Newspeak Dictionary" we call it liberation or nation building.
Americans have the power do pretty much whatever they want, and call themselves heroes while they are at it just for good measure.
The rest of the world my not like it, but they are just going to have to learn to lump it.
Waging war is not cheap, but paying our bills is not cheap either.
The trick is to stay at the top of the heap, king of the mountain.
America is already the pariah of the world.
We are already in too deeply to turn back now.
If we go soft now, there will be war crimes trials and we will be the ones on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The international war crimes tribunals and prosecutors will be busy if we are stupid enough to put down our guns now.
We've got a tiger by the tail.
Chairman Mao's most famous quote was "Power comes from the barrel of a gun.
"America has the power.
The war on terror can go on for generations.
Americans can continue to live high on the hog.
There is no need to live within our means.
What can the repo-man do?
Source...