These Are Scary and Troubling Economic Times……

• However, before the pundits, bloggers, and media drive you into frustration, please take 15 minutes to watch this slide show.

• The show is not meant to dissuade the entrenched but to give some straight forward facts to the open minded

• Americans need to know what has really been going on with federal spending and who has been doing what for who for the last 30 years that has gotten us where we are.

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Our High National Debt

&

How We Really Got There

Where Did All This Debt Come From?

• WW II- Cold War - Korean War-Vietnam War• Continued Increasing Military Spending Beyond the Cold

War period• Iraq/Kuwait War ’91-Iraq War ’03-10-Afghan War 03-10• Decreased Federal Revenues due to tax cuts resulting in

less debt pay down • Runaway Entitlement Programs• Near U.S. Catastrophic Financial Failure• Labor & Mfg Out Sourcing • Runaway Healthcare Costs• High Personal Debt – Minimal Personal Savings• Deregulation and Lack of Congressional Oversight

Wars Are Expensive….Especially The Cold Ones

• WW II cost $2.3 Trillion

• Cold War cost $12.8 trillion 1945-91

• Korean War cost $111 Billion

• Vietnam War cost $584 Billion

• Desert Storm War cost $54 Billion

• Iraq War has cost $742 Billion to date

• Afghan War has cost $326 Billion to date

Summary Of War Debts….

• We owed $14.1 Trillion debt from WW II and the Cold War between 1945 and 1980

• We Accumulated Another $695 Billion from the Korean and Vietnam Wars

• Amazingly enough though, by 1980 we had paid off over $13.2 trillion of our total federal debt and had less than $1 trillion to go!

You Mean We Were At The Finish Line Paying Off The Debt When ..

• The Tax Act of 1981 was enacted wherein the top marginal income tax rates were reduced by 20%

• Followed by Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 that borrowed almost $1 Trillion to offset the tax cut of 1981 due to a shortfall to the budget

• Followed by the Tax Reform Act 1986 that further reduced the marginal tax rate from 50% to 36% which paved the way for debt pay down shortfalls due to….

• 39% annual increase in military spending for 7 yrs• Both of which resulted in increasing the debt to $3 trillion

from 1982-1988 …. This was Reaganomics at its best! • Leaving debt pay down to be set aside for the next

administration – which did not happen

Who Really Benefitted The Most From These Tax Cuts

• The wealthy got to keep 50% more of their earnings

• Millionaires increased 3 fold; there were 574,000 millionaires when Reagan took office; 1,500,000 when he left

• We had 38,000 deca-millionaires and over 100,000 when he left

• We had one billionaire when Reagan took office; 51 when he left

Bottom Line

• The wealthy went from paying 70% income tax in 1980 to 36% in 1986

• The income for the lowest 10% dropped 11% from 1977 to 1990

• The average wkly earnings of non-supervisory workers went from $274 in 1980 to $259 in 1989.

• The average hourly wages fell from $7.78 in 1980 to $7.52 in 1989

So Who Ended Up With What…..

• The top 2% of the people got to keep $190 Billion more in 1982 than they did in 1980 or $1.9 Trillion through 1992

• The bottom 98% got to pay for more interest on the debt (no debt pay down) and receive 5% less wages

• Don’t forget the 2 million folks that moved below the poverty level

• Most of all – de-regulation was introduced which was to be our undoing over the next 26 years

Debt Summary 1980 - 1992

• We had less than $1 trillion debt when Pres. Reagan took office

• Tax cuts reduced margin rates from 70% to 36% for the wealthy resulting in a revenue shortfall

• Military spending was increased 39%• Pres Reagan left office with $2.6 trillion

additional national debt• And the debt further increased to $4 trillion

under H.W. Bush

Debt Under Clinton & G.W. Bush

• Under Clinton, the National Debt decreased 9.7% from 1992 thru 2000 to $3.6 Trillion

• Most of Clinton’s reduced debt was due to 16.7% reduction in military spending and fiscal responsibility

• The National Debt increased 27.1% 2001 - 2009 to $10.6 Trillion under G.W. Bush.

• Most of Bush’s increased debt due to 31% increase in military spending, Iraq War, and tax cuts that led to reduced payments of the debt

• Bush returned the $400 Billion savings made by the Clinton administration to the people in cash

Summary Debt1980 - 2010

• Total Debt was just less than $1 Trillion in 1980

• Debt increased to $4 trillion 1980-92

• Debt decreased to $3.6 trillion by 2000

• Debt increased to $10.6 trillion by 2008

• Debt increased to $13.1 trillion by 2010

Pay Down of Our Debt 1945 – 2008

• 1945-2008, the debt decreased 67.4% under Democrat administrations due to high tax revenues used to pay down the debt and moderate defense spending

• 1945-2008, with the exception of Eisenhower, the debt increased 46.5% under Republican administrations due to reduced revenues from tax cuts and increased defense spending

Lets Look At Where Our Money Is Going Today

• 2009 Budget

Then Lets Look At What Money Is Coming In

• 2009 Revenue

We All Knew The Govt Was Over Spending ….But So Were We

• $3.518 Trillion needed for the budget• $2.105 Trillion in revenues• We have a $1.413 Trillion budget shortfall• $405 billion annually interest on debt • And our personal savings as a nation was -3.2% of our

earned wages• Our credit card debt is $15,788 per household or $2.42

Trillion for our nation

$2.1 Billion Additional Debt Since 2008

• $375 Billion for TARP bailout was added to the Bush debt

• $787 Billion for Stimulus

• $405 Billion for interest on the $10.6 Trillion 2008 debt left by Bush Admin

• $595 Billion additional military spending

• $350 Billion Social Security and Medicare adjustments

Current Military Budget$965 Billion

• Military Personnel $129 billion• Operation & Maint. $241 billion • Procurement $143 billion • Research & Dev. $79 billion• Construction $15 billion • Family Housing $3 billion • DOD misc. $4 billion• Retired Pay $70 billion • DOE nuclear weapons $17 billion• NASA (50%) $9 billion• International Security $9 billion• Homeland Secur. (military) $35 billion • State Dept. (partial) $6 billion • Military (Non-DOD) $5 billion• “Global War on Terror” $200 billion

Global Distribution Military

Global Military Spending….

Annual Entitlements

• 7% or $155 Billion for Federal Pensions

• 14% or $484 Billion - Safety Net Programs

• 20% or $708 Billion for Social Security

• 21% or $468 Billion Medicare & Health

• 13% or $60 Billion of Medicare funds are lost due to fraud

Lets Get Back To Solvency and Paying Off The Debt….

• Increase the tax for those making over $2 million a year to 40% until the debt is paid

• Pay back all the funds borrowed from the SS program

• Rein in all entitlements programs• Freeze federal worker pension programs

to 50% annual wages• Limit military role as world policeman and

cut spending by 50%

Back To Solvency cont…….

• A 40% tax for those making over $2 million would be $490 billion a year

• Cutting military spending by 50% would result in another $480 billion

• Overall savings from entitlements would results in another $200 billion

• Resulting in just over a $1 trillion pay down a year for 14 years

Lets Try To Understand How The GOP Is Going To Fix This….

• GOP controlled congress 1994-2006

• GOP had the White House 2001-2008

• And during this period…..

• GOP started a war in Iraq that cost $742B

• GOP allowed 7-9 million jobs to be outsourced overseas

• GOP increased military spending by 31% for 8 years

More On Understanding The GOP

• GOP silently allowed annual health costs to soar by 18 to 28% annually w/ 35 MM uninsured

• GOP was silent and allowed gas prices to increase by 250% 2006-08

• GOP rewarded the Investment Bankers that caused the financial failure with $350 billion TARP bailout

• GOP doesn’t seemed concerned about the debt when they increase it nor the $405 billion to maintain it

More On Understanding The GOP

• GOP opted to focus military solution in Iraq; not in Afghanistan from whence the 9/11 attack on the WTC originated.

• GOP left New Orleans to dig their own way out of Katrina

• GOP spent us into $6.9 Trillion additional national debt from 2001 to 2008

• Remember, the only debt pay down from 1981 to 2008 was during the Clinton Admin…there was no debt pay down by Reagan, H.W. Bush, or G.W. Bush ……only $9.9 trillion addtl debt

We Were Blessed To Have Dodged The Bullet…….

• Those that were in power still haven’t apologized for their lack of oversight, invading Iraq, and the reckless financial meltdown

• Economists agree that creating a $787 billion stimulus bill did put the brakes on the train before going over the cliff after 2008 financial meltdown

• The Stimulus Bill kept the unemployment rate from going below 6% of work force; it did go to 27% during the Great Depression

• Creating a Healthcare Plan for the 35 million Americans without insurance is going to rein in the insurance companies and reduce costs

• Passing a Bank Reform Bill is not a magically elixir but it is a start to changing the way banks and investment companies that are too big do business

If The GOP Returns To Power; The Real Winners Will Be…….

• Major U.S. corporations that will return to business as usual as soon as the GOP gets in

• The wealthy will be guaranteed tax cuts to protect and increase their wealth

• The military complex will continue to grow• Major health insurance companies and

pharmaceutical companies will continue to prosper

• And healthcare will be back at zero

The GOP Created The Wealthy In The USA Today

• The number of millionaires has increased from 574,000 in 1988 to 9.3 million in 2010

• The number of billionaires has increased from 51 in 1988 to 793 in 2010

• The tax cuts in 1982 that returned $190 billion to the wealthy would now be 16 times that amount or $3 trillion annually

Liberal vs Conservative

• Upon reviewing the Republican spending spree over the last 30 years, one cannot help to wonder exactly what the Republicans mean by “conservative” or when they will start caring for the main street American as much they care for the wealthy, power hungry, and big businesses

• And the Democrats …. they too are guilty of spending too much money on programs that benefit the have nots and wishful; but where will they draw a line? If they do not help that part of us that is unable to help themselves, who will?