From: bfrg9732@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Brian F. Redman)
Subject: Bankruptcy 1995 (part 3)
Summary: The approaching fiscal Armageddon
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 00:12:58 GMT
Keywords: treachery trickery deceit deception



Bankruptcy 1995: The Coming Collapse of America & How to Stop It.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

by Harry E. Figgie, Jr.
with Gerald J. Swanson, Ph.D.

About the authors:
-- Harry E. Figgie, Jr. is the CEO of Figgie International Inc., 
a diversified *Fortune 500* operating company. He was co-chairman 
of President Reagan's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, also 
known as the Grace Commission.
-- Dr. Gerald J. Swanson is an Associate Professor of Economics 
at the University of Arizona.

"Any profits from this book have long since been assigned to 
charity. We make no profit whatsoever from it." (p. 25).

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
*                                                               *
* The United States has a problem that is easy to understand,   *
* but whose effects are difficult to comprehend. Its solution   *
* is simple to prescribe, but hard to implement. This problem   *
* is more insidious than drug addiction, more pressing than     *
* recession; it is crueler than poverty and illness and more    *
* hazardous than a hole in the ozone.                           *
*                                                               *
* This problem, which is of our own making, will precipitate    *
* an economic nightmare that will dwarf the Great Depression    *
* and turn the history of America into one of history's         *
* closed chapters. This problem has a name. It is *government   *
* debt*.                                                        *
*                                                               *
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

--------------------------- part 3 ------------------------------

		     -- How it Happened --
                          (continued)

"The present debacle had its beginnings during Lyndon Johnson's 
presidency." Normally, up until the time of Johnson's presidency, 
the United States had routinely gone into debt in order to 
finance its wars. Throughout its history, the U.S. had always 
repaid these debts when the particular war had ended. But Johnson 
tried to run two wars simultaneously: the war in Viet Nam *and* 
another war against poverty in America.

"The government had never financed a war *and* launched expensive 
social spending programs simultaneously. The resulting deficits 
were huge by historic standards."

One of the results of the war against poverty was the creation 
and expansion of entitlement programs. Because these programs, 
once created, are not subject to annual review (in the words of 
the authors, "they are subject to neither vote nor veto") they 
have a tendency to grow. Entitlement programs "...now consume 65 
percent of all government spending on everything except interest 
on the national debt."


     Total Deficit Grouped According to Presidency
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

President                              Total Deficit
=========                              ===============
Lyndon Johnson (5 years)...............$  44.8 Billion

Richard Nixon (6 years)................$  67.0 Billion

Gerald Ford (2 years)..................$ 126.9 Billion

Jimmy Carter (4 years).................$ 226.9 Billion

Ronald Reagan (8 years)................$1034.0 Billion

George Bush (4 years)..................$1004.0 Billion


     Total Deficit Grouped by Year
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Year                                   Total Deficit
====                                   =============
1964...................................$   5.9 Billion
1965...................................$   1.4 Billion
1966...................................$   3.7 Billion
1967...................................$   8.6 Billion
1968...................................$  25.2 Billion
1969...................................$  (see below [1])
1970...................................$   2.8 Billion
1971...................................$  23.0 Billion
1972...................................$  23.4 Billion
1973...................................$  14.9 Billion
1974...................................$   6.1 Billion
1975...................................$  53.2 Billion
1976...................................$  73.7 Billion
1977...................................$  53.7 Billion
1978...................................$  59.2 Billion
1979...................................$  40.2 Billion
1980...................................$  73.8 Billion
1981...................................$  79.0 Billion
1982...................................$ 128.0 Billion
1983...................................$ 207.8 Billion
1984...................................$ 185.4 Billion
1985...................................$ 212.3 Billion
1986...................................$ 221.2 Billion
1987...................................$ 149.8 Billion
1988...................................$ 155.2 Billion
1989...................................$ 153.5 Billion
1990...................................$ 220.5 Billion
1991...................................$ 268.7 Billion
1992 (estimated).......................$ 399.7 Billion

[1] In 1969 the government ran a surplus of $ 3.2 Billion.


[The authors make note of a phenomena which I have noticed, the 
so-called "liberation" of women caused a vast number of them to 
enter the work force and compete with their male counterparts for 
jobs -- especially in areas where before there had been little or 
no male/female competition. ==> Please Note <== I am *not* saying 
this was wrong. I am just saying that there was a sudden increase 
in the supply of labor. B.R.]

The authors contend that once the various entitlement programs 
were in place, most politicians did not dare to touch them or to 
call for a cutback in their funding. [Don't agree *entirely*... 
politicians are often calling for so-called "welfare reform"... 
still, by and large I agree. B.R.] In fact these programs (such 
as Medicare and Medicaid, Aid to Families with Dependent 
Children) tended to grow. [Note: The authors are not saying that 
these programs are necessarily wrong, they are just saying that 
they are costly. The authors also fail to mention (in this 
chapter) so-called "welfare for the rich," "corporate welfare," 
etcetera, as examples of enormous budget costs. B.R.]

The authors point to the massive arms buildup during the Reagan 
years as a further drain on the budget. "Reagan, like Johnson, 
tried to supply both guns and butter." The result was a further 
erosion of our economic strength.

"Ronald Reagan ran the country's credit cards *almost* up to 
their limits. George Bush is finishing the job that Reagan began. 
No wonder the American people are angry and *know* that something 
is terribly wrong."

Besides the presidency, the Congress has also contributed to the 
current crisis. Elected representatives and their staffs "...have 
also become captive to the most well-financed and effective 
lobbying groups that ever brought influence to bear on any 
legislative body anywhere at any time."

These lobbyists who are buying votes so as to control legislation 
by *no* means represent only domestic groups. "Foreign countries 
and foreign corporations... have spent millions of dollars to 
hire ex-government officials at huge salaries to represent their 
own special interests. They've done so very effectively, and 
these lobbyists and their bosses don't give a damn about the 
United States."

We are right on the edge of a cliff. By 1995, "...the rest of the 
world will have figured out that the United States is going to 
default on its debt. That's when and why our country and lives 
will come apart."

"We are tight up against a fiscal Armageddon."


------------------------- end part 3 ----------------------------

You can do a lot of good by taking this article and posting it to 
other areas besides "alt.activism." You can also post this or 
upload it as a file to a local BBS. This would help give the 
people of this nation an alternative to the "fluff" and 
propaganda posturing as hard news which they are currently 
getting from the major networks.


Synopsis/Review by Brian Redman
"Ah yes, Armageddon. I remember it well."
End part 3




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