<p>If the debt gets too bad, we’ll just claim Canada has WMDs and invade them for their precious Canadian trees.</p>
<p>How’s that manageable? Bush has NO plan on how to manage the national debt, he evidently has NO knowledge that there IS even a national debt (from his spending patterns), and we’re probably stuck in Iraq for a while, so we don’t see spending going down anytime soon. This is like having maxed out 4 credit cards, then getting a fifth and starting to write checks against that card to pay off JUST THE INTEREST on the other 4 cards while continuing to spend the way that got you into that ridiculous spiral of debt in the first place. That’s not manageable…that’s out of control. Not to mention the current account deficit. If you ask me, the US government can use some debt counseling.</p>
<p>By the way, your family’s share of the national debt: somewhere in the $95,000 range.
US GDP per capita: ~$44,000.</p>
<p>Does that sound manageable to you? It sure as hell doesn’t to me.</p>
<p>Ahhh, nothing like a nice rant.</p>
<p>USA: 70% (Debt as a percentage of GDP)
Japan: 176%
Germany: 68%
Italy: 108%
UK: 42%
France: 65%</p>
<p>We’re doomed.</p>
<p>Hm…I wonder how this will affect tourist industry in Canada…</p>
<p>^ Canada has a tourist industry?</p>
<p>Yeah, they have a tourist industry… it’s called “their drinking age is 19.”</p>
<p>haha.. That made me really lol.</p>
<p>^In Alberta and Quebec the drinking age is 18. This is one reason why McGill is in Playboy’s “Top 10 Party Schools” in North America.</p>
<p>Canada? What state is that?</p>
<p>It’s not a state. It’s Michigan’s third big hunk of land.</p>
<p>Toronto’s garbage is sent to Michigan.</p>
<p>Yeah, but we get money, which helps to keep us from spiralling into debt. The people here are willing to pay higher taxes, but the conservatives are basically saying, “No, of course you don’t want more taxes! Whaddya mean you’re okay with taxes?” They won’t approve Granholm’s budget, and now the state is basically shutting down.</p>
<p>Yeah, the state is screwed up, but it still p00ns Texas (n00b).</p>
<p>The problem with conservatives in America is that they think they can have their cake and eat it too. If they’re not going to tax as much, they need to eliminate government programs. Just get rid of social security, welfare, medicare, and a million others that people don’t <em>really</em> need. Then the free market will really kick in and things will take a turn for the better.</p>
<p>Still, the socialism in Canada and Europe is no better. Ideally, we would all be libertarian, but… well, a guy can dream, right?</p>
<p>I’m Canadian, but I wish I could be American just long enough to go join the republican party and vote for Ron Paul. If America actually operated in a way that reflected the spirit of the constitution, I’d immediately concede that the US is a way better country. Instead, Americans pick a dictator every four years, and who in turn picks a bunch of his friends to be overpaid bureaucrats paid to mess up your country (and a number of other countries too).</p>
<p>Canada’s tourism also comes from 0% tax on casino winnings, and fully nude strippers (Apparently they have to keep their bottoms on in Michigan).</p>
<p>Nah. Clinton was fine. Bush really screwed things up.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thereby cutting life expectancies in half and allowing the rich to buy the country, literally and figuratively. Brilliant, eh? In reality, there is no free market. Even Smith admitted that enforced regulatory measures and welfare were necessary to some extent. I think the Gilded Age was bad enough.</p>
<p>I think it’s funny that people talk about how great Ron Paul is. Yes, let’s get rid of the PRINCIPLES the country was founded on and replace them with the RULES the country was founded on, even though the PRINCIPLES do not contradict the RULES. 
(hint: read the Constitution)</p>
<p>fortunately, the debt doesn’t mean much considering we owe practically all the money to ourselves.</p>
<p>just because I live in America doesn’t make me an “American”…think about that. owe it to ourselves…pshh</p>
<p>
First, you’re wrong. About half of our debt is owed to other countries (with Japan having the most and China having the second - see <a href=“http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/mfh.txt)%5B/url%5D”>http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/mfh.txt)</a>.</p>
<p>Second, even if it was true, that doesn’t make the debt unimportant. That doesn’t impact what the debt means AT ALL. It’s not like we can say “Well, the debt is owed to ourselves so we’ll just cancel it”. Well, we can say that. Only, it would cause a worldwide depression greater even than the Great Depression.</p>
<p>This conversation is pointless, pointless in that it’s populated by provincial, arrogant idiots who are still dwelling in their own little dream world. Home sweet home.</p>