Bernanke to Congress: We're Much Closer to Total Destruction Than You Think

[bobbyw24]

Official Congressional budget estimates understate the peril of rising debt, Fed chair Ben Bernanke told the Budget Committee on Capitol Hill today.

Warning that our nation's fiscal health has deteriorated appreciably since the onset of the financial crisis and the recession, Bernanke called upon lawmakers to confront the long term fiscal challenges sooner rather than later. If lawmakers don't confront them, they'll find themselves confronted by them.

From Bernanke's prepared remarks:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41491193

 

[stu2002]

Wow

 

[Seraphim]

Wow some truth from The Bernake..that actually tells me that either 1) he cares (but too deluded to see that he is part of the problem) and/or 2) the collapse is VERY close (in relative terms. for example, 1-2 years is VERY close).

 

[pmbug]

This is just so he can say, "see, I told you so." later. How the heck everyone with working synapses can't see this for themsleves I'll never understand. Rand Paul's $500B "modest proposal" doesn't go far enough. Even with that, GOP leadership are acting like twats.

 

[japes]

Wow some truth from The Bernake..that actually tells me that either 1) he cares (but too deluded to see that he is part of the problem) and/or 2) the collapse is VERY close (in relative terms. for example, 1-2 years is VERY close).

I think he's worried about killing the golden goose. You see we care about the future of our children, not selling them into slavery through debt. The Bernankenstiens of the world care about the future of their children, owning our children. It's a fine balance and not just anyone can pull it off.

 

[Seraphim]

Agreed. The budget needs to be cut in half, at the very least. The military budjet needs to be cut by 75%...in ONE YEAR.

This is just so he can say, "see, I told you so." later. How the heck everyone with working synapses can't see this for themsleves I'll never understand. Rand Paul's $500B "modest proposal" doesn't go far enough. Even with that, GOP leadership are acting like twats.

 

[Seraphim]

HAHAHAH touche my friend, touche.

I think he's worried about killing the golden goose. You see we care about the future of our children, not selling them into slavery through debt. The Bernankenstiens of the world care about the future of their children, owning our children. It's a fine balance and not just anyone can pull it off.

 

[raystone]

This is just so he can say, "see, I told you so." later.

this

 

[Matt Collins]

This is scary as hell on a variety of levels to hear him say something like this for a variety of reasons.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Sustained high rates of government borrowing would both drain funds away from private investment and increase our debt to foreigners, with adverse long-run effects on U.S. output, incomes, and standards of living. Moreover, diminishing investor confidence that deficits will be brought under control would ultimately lead to sharply rising interest rates on government debt and, potentially, to broader financial turmoil. In a vicious circle, high and rising interest rates would cause debt-service payments on the federal debt to grow even faster, resulting in further increases in the debt-to-GDP ratio and making fiscal adjustment all the more difficult.

Massive budget cuts, like the ones required, will also cause economic problems, but basically in the relatively short term. The longer you wait to try to tackle the problem of budget drficits, the more difficult it becomes to deal with- and it is already at an extremely difficult to deal with stage today. As I have mentioned before, if you want to balance the current budget with just cuts, you can get rid of every single department of the governement except for about $200 billion and just barely balance the budget. If interest rates go up, you will probably have to cut 100% of every department to balance it (due to higher interest payments on the debt). Every year this will get worse.

 

[Sola_Fide]

America will collapse in the year 2012.

 

[Seraphim]

Dec 21 by any chance?

America will collapse in the year 2012.

 

[Johnnybags]

Of course Bernanke is a complete liar but he has to be. He is charged with delivering to congress the inflation tax receipts to keep the critters in office and let the military run the globe as well as enrich a chosen few. Odds of congress confronting a problem before it rears its ugly head is zero and the answer for critters is print more til the emergency explodes and then come up with a new currency(world) which buys 50 percent or so less.