OT: US National debt

[Starhawk]

Wouldn't that cause a "great depression" that everyone is afraid of? Or was that just a joke you were making?

It's hard to tell sometimes

[tesco samoa]

well you would be able to pay off your mortgage as your purchase price would be around the cost of a loaf of bread...
if you go full out turtledove inflation.

[Fyron]

Raging Deadstar said:
I'm unsure but from that fact I think it was because by the time his second term was up it was World War 2, Bad idea to switch governments in that time. This is something that is worrying many of us Europeans, What happens if the the United States is "Officially" at war with a country during an election year?

"Official" as in there has been a formal declaration of war, unlike the situation in Iraq.

Suspending the processes of democracy during a war is definitely a bad idea... Temporarily turning the nation into an oligarchy just because of a crisis makes the whole concept of that democracy paper-thin and destroys its credibility and legitimacy. Elections were not suspended during the US Civil War. Lincoln refused to do so, even though most people would have been supportive of suspension... Neither were they suspended during either of the World Wars. Elections in New York were not suspended during the aftermath of 9/11. Elections during the middle of the Vietnam War were not suspended. The presidency transitioned from Johnson to Nixon, and the war effort was not catastrophically affected (it was in fact eventually ended by Nixon...). Continuing the regular practice of democracy during a crisis demonstrates its strength. If new people are elected to various offices, so be it. They can work with the outgoing officials up until the time the switch occurs to ensure a smooth transition. It is not as if the entire government switches immediately to the newly elected officials without any period of transition...

[Azselendor]

The one thing I liked about Lincoln was his critics. Lincoln let his critics bash him left and right and insult him all the time and didn't suppress speech (too much, I know he censored a few papers). Then when Lincoln died, his critics stopped for a minute and looked at what Lincoln was actually saying and trying to do and said to themselves, "He was a better man than us"

But I totally agree, democracy should never be suspended in time of crisis. Hell, if 2/3rds of the US state and federal gov't was wiped out by some freak disaster, I hope they hold emergency elections instead of declaring martial law. After all, Martial Law has never been declared by a sitting president. I hope this one holds to that tradition at least.

[Renegade 13]

parabolize said:

Asia would fall as fast or faster then the USA but... Europe? I think the EU would be fine this time. South/Central America wouldn't do to well.

I doubt that. There's a reason why it's called a "world economy". No part of the world would be spared in the event of a second great depression, not the EU, not Asia, not North America. It's simply a question of how badly any given country is affected. Some would undoubtedly be worse than others.

For instance, during the Great Depression, the Soviet Union did fairly well, since they were barely industrialized, and were not exporting hardly anything. Therefore, the "global" disaster didn't really affect them a lot. Of course, the same thing could not happen in the event of another Depression, since the same situations no longer exist.

[Karibu]

Klvino [ORB] said:

Hell, if 2/3rds of the US state and federal gov't was wiped out by some freak disaster, I hope they hold emergency elections instead of declaring martial law.

Heh, you should read Tom Clancy's Lion and Hyena's. Great book where happens just that.