What I saw tonight canvasing tonight

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andrewk78

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I really really underestimated the knowledge of some of the general public I actually got a few question asked that I couldn't answer. And I am turning to you all for some help.

1.
One of them was even though the national debt is at 9 trillion plus, how much of that is actual dollars and how much of that is estimated debt, inflation ect ect?
I didn't really know how to explain how the national debt was figured, and I was asked this a couple of times.

2.
Another was if we do take a non intervention stance with the rest of the world will we beef up security at our borders since we wont be fighting the "terrorists" overseas?
One the above issue I explained how the current foreign policy was the case of the "terrorist" and if we hadn't put ourselves in this position to begin with we wouldn't be in this position, and then much like Dr. Paul I rolled it into the economy, the welfare state, and how it is affecting education. I actual got this person to agree with me on this, but they said while that is all true what will we be doing to stop extremists from attacking us here rather then there in the mean time. This person said that while these are great ideas it will take at least a generation for people to stop hating America for the policy that is currently in effect.
To this I really didn't know how to answer other then to say that Dr. Paul believes in a strong national defense.

Quite a few other issues were brought up ad I was able to speak to most of them, but these two I was really at a loss.
 
1. 9 trillion dollar debt is actual dollars as of todays dollar value.


2. Absolutely, those soldiers will be at our borders.
 
Re #2, RP has said US troops, including border guards, should come home to defend America's borders, coastline, etc., that defense will therefore be stronger. The notion that US troops are defending other countries rather than America is what boggles the mind. There's no way that the country's defense could be weaker by bringing the troops back to US soil. It can only become stronger.
 
Sey.Naci said:
Re #2, RP has said US troops, including border guards, should come home to defend America's borders, coastline, etc., that defense will therefore be stronger. The notion that US troops are defending other countries rather than America is what boggles the mind. There's no way that the country's defense could be weaker by bringing the troops back to US soil. It can only become stronger.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%, but did not want to say something that I thought to be true only to find out that I was wrong. I think it is far better to say I don't really know then to make up something and have that person find on their own that I lied.
 
As for question #1, the actual dollar debt we owe is technically 9 trillion, however if you add in all the entitlements the government owes people its actually 50+ Trillion dollars they owe.

Question #2, fighting "terrorists" overseas with regular military formations only brings more terrorists to the fight against us (blowback). If we spent a chunk of

That trillion dollars a year on foreign policy on border security I doubt we would have to deal with any terrorist acts on U.S. soil. In fact a sizable chunk of our

border guards and the people who train borders guards and national guardsmen defending the border are being sent to Iraq instead of protecting us. So how

does that make us safer. The problem of getting people to stop hating us now is very easy to answer. Technically only 2 foreign terrorist attacks on U.S. soil have happened

in our history both by Osama and both at the World Trade Center. All the other attacks have been on foreign soil against U.S. targets, mainly our troops. Our

troops being on foreign soil = recruits for extremists. But also gives them ready made targets. Do you really think Al-Qaeda has the wherewithal to create

another attack on America? If we spent the money at home, recruits would dry up, and it would be that much harder for them to try and get into the U.S.
 
9 Trillion is the actual debt. If you look at it from an accounting point of view is is closer to 42 Trillion. The 9 Trillion does not count our liabilities or our future debt. Like all the money this country is obligated to spend on things like social security and medicare in the future with no new sources of revenue and no plans to cut spending in other areas.
 
well, as far as the debt is concerned, i wouldnt be the best to answer that. however with the national defense, it only makes sense that bringing home our troops will make us safer. we wont be spreading our intel, navy, army etc.. around the world. they will be here, protecting this country. we would still have intel like the CIA working at a level of capacity to ensure we'd know of a possible imminent attack.
 
I actual got this person to agree with me on this, but they said while that is all true what will we be doing to stop extremists from attacking us here rather then there in the mean time.
Click to expand...

Ask them how many times extremists have attacked the US in the last five years?
 
9T is just a goverment debt. Total debt on all mortgages, credit cards, goverment is about 60T. And it's all owed to Fed. Unless we reform the Fed it will collapse and ruin everything. I'm not certain yet that there is still a chance to save this country.
 
1. The national debt is over $9.2 Trillion....grows everyday. That isn't an estimate...it is actual debt. This link might answer some questions for you:

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resources/faq/faq_publicdebt.htm

2. Withdrawing from hostile areas will alleviate some of the animosity, but there is still a small possibility that people hostile to the US would try to attack us. However, Dr. Paul favors a strong defense, including gathering intelligence. So, it isn't like we'd have our guard down. Actually, we're totally unprepared NOW...our troops are overextended and our borders are porous. Bringing troops home would provide for better defense.
 
Remind people that the USA's de(of)fense budget is 47% of the defense budget spent by every nation on the planet. That kind of puts it in perspective a bit..
 
andrewk78 said:
I really really underestimated the knowledge of some of the general public I actually got a few question asked that I couldn't answer. And I am turning to you all for some help.

1.
One of them was even though the national debt is at 9 trillion plus, how much of that is actual dollars and how much of that is estimated debt, inflation ect ect?
I didn't really know how to explain how the national debt was figured, and I was asked this a couple of times.
Click to expand...

It is all money owed either to the Fed, US citizens, or Foreign Nations. For instance we borrow $3 Billion a day, plus print money to cover the deficit.
2.
Another was if we do take a non intervention stance with the rest of the world will we beef up security at our borders since we wont be fighting the "terrorists" overseas?
One the above issue I explained how the current foreign policy was the case of the "terrorist" and if we hadn't put ourselves in this position to begin with we wouldn't be in this position, and then much like Dr. Paul I rolled it into the economy, the welfare state, and how it is affecting education. I actual got this person to agree with me on this, but they said while that is all true what will we be doing to stop extremists from attacking us here rather then there in the mean time. This person said that while these are great ideas it will take at least a generation for people to stop hating America for the policy that is currently in effect.
To this I really didn't know how to answer other then to say that Dr. Paul believes in a strong national defense.

Quite a few other issues were brought up ad I was able to speak to most of them, but these two I was really at a loss.
Click to expand...

Paul would be fighting the Terrorists. In fact, he's one of the only candidates saying he would actually go after them. What he wants to stop is the wasteful occupation of countries and attacking countries that haven't attacked us.

Paul has a 3 pronged FP.

1. Go after the Terrorists.
2. Wipe out their Reinforcement/ Supply lines by removing the motivation. This is the basics for anyone who is in the Military. Every great leader in a fight knows the wisdom of this move. (I don't argue about blame and all that. This is more of an intelligent Military Strategy than anything else)
3. Strong National Defense. Bring many of the troops home in phased steps according to what Military leaders deem is prudent. Bring home National Guard, so that States might be able to defend their own borders again. We have a much stronger military if 500,000 of them aren't babysitting Democracies around the globe. Their paychecks being spent here would be a huge boon to the economy, like nothing these "stimulus" packages are offering. Restrict Student visas from nations that support terrorism. Enforce the border.
 
driller80545 said:
Is 9 trillion equal to the amount of new money printed?
Click to expand...

No. 9T is the Accumulated shortfall from every year we are in the Red as a nation. Every year we run in the red, we have a Deficit. We have to either borrow or print the shortfall. It's hundreds of Billions every year, and then there's the Billions that go directly to War Supplimentals that are never shown in the Budget.
 
Highstreet said:
No. 9T is the Accumulated shortfall from every year we are in the Red as a nation. Every year we run in the red, we have a Deficit. We have to either borrow or print the shortfall. It's hundreds of Billions every year, and then there's the Billions that go directly to War Supplimentals that are never shown in the Budget.
Click to expand...

So how do we know how much has been borrowed and how much has been printed. I would think this should be fairly important.
 
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