Heartburn of the Day

They have two broken legs and the US only has one.

The US does also have massive unfunded pension committments. Not all of them are currently government pension funds. There are many company plans that are not properly funded and can't be supported by current incomes. As they fail the burden is placed onto the federal government via the Federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

The figures for the "national debt" can't really be trusted because of the way it is accounted for. The debt only includes those bills that have come due and the government had to borrow to pay. It doesn't include all of the bills that todays actions will cause in the future. If they order 100 aircraft, for example. All governments hide the true extent of the debt (with the posible exception of China). Some may be doing a better job of hiding it.

Doesn't really matter where the retirement money comes from; they'll get it and put it back into the economy.

What about the US pension funds? We hear all sorts of horror stories about those.

The population is aging, but not severely. Economists are quite relaxed about the situation.

robert

LOL- no, I do not ignore the realization of my "own" incompetence, of possibly criminal proportions, that is directly responsible for my "plight" which is soooooo bad that possibly the only reasonable recourse left is euthanasia. But I continue to recognize the massive corruption in the corporate sector.

Actually it does matter in that it moves the money from one place to another. Private insurance systems that are funded will move money from the stock market into the service sector. This will push the prices of stocks down more than a government run system which should have a wider funding base.

There are a lot of unfunded private pension dollars that will disappear but the government will take over quite a lot of the load.

Why would you trust the economists? You really need to find a one armed economist so he can't say "but on the other hand".

Ah, the joys of democracy:

"Let's all vote on what everybody's favorite color is!"

"It doesn't matter how wrong you are, as long as you have a lot of company." ;-)

Cheers! Rich

Jeez Jim, you're getting slow! He stated "median" salary, then, compares it with "average" salary. Who knows what definition of "median" was used in Bob's reported statistic. Stadistics can be a dangerous tool. BTW, in some countries, 140k could feed a family of 40 or more.

What's with the Canadian $ being on par with the US$ these days. That's making my vacation more expensive!. Lousy US currency!

Spend your money at home, where it'll be appreciated ;-)

...Jim Thompson

qrk wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

In India, sure, in your colony, Iraq, definitely.

I didn't compare. I just posted numbers.

Who knows what

Median can only be one thing, the point at which equal numbers of candidates are above and below the median value. Average on the other hand, can be determined many ways. (sum N / N, min+max/2, etc.) Note that in any well ordered sample median and average are pretty close. If there is a discrepancy, then you have a distorted bell curve.

It's gonna get a lot worse unless you stop burning it.

You must be a liberal/leftist weenie... make up numbers to fit your argument:

My remembered number of $140K seems to be dead-on.

...Jim Thompson

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

So die already, You are just an uglly fat american for making such an unfounded accusation.

try

This has it at over 200,000 for mostr specailities.

Or

or

which says Physicians? incomes are much higher in the United States than they are in other OECD countries. In 1996, the most recent year for which data are available for multiple countries, the average U.S. physician income was $199,000. The comparable OECD median physician income was $70,324.

I'll let my numbers stand.

John Fields wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Good for you, I try to use public transport when I'm in town. but I wasn't only alluding to oil prices. The deficit the US is running up is staggering.

noones forcing you to join, however if you want access to the green...

Bye. Jasen

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I didn't realize you were a proctologist. I thought you were an engineer.

I know a bunch of doctors in the USA too. I dated one for a few years. She now practices in Baltimore, MD. One of my cousins is a doctor, too. She practices in upper NY state. I have a good idea of their disposable income. It is greater than the gross pay of 80% of all american families.

Maybe because he's not a crotchety old fart.

Take your numbers and shove 'em where you will. I know, personally, many doctors in the USA. They're struggling, because of government meddling and below-par Medicare payments.

I suspect your numbers are for a _practice_, not the individual's take-home after overhead.

I'll have to ask my next-door neighbor, an anesthesiologist, why he washes his own car.

I don't ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Oh, yeah? Try putting "$0.00" for "tax owed" on your IRS form, and see what "force" actually means...

Good Luck! Rich

It's not realistic, as an individual, to defend yourself against an ICBM. Or even a tank... and let's not even start down the road of biological weapons...

Even Ayn Rand's objectivists believe in having a military, although I seem to recall they believe that an all volunteer army will do.

I think the objectivsts suffer from the same sort of blind-sightedness that you might, Rich: It's one thing to say that everyone will be well-informed and diligent and act based on a balance between their own best interests and those of the country they're a part of, but in acutality there are far too many people out there who are evil, corrupt, or just plain apathetic who'll spoil it for everyone without a little government oversight. When modern communists claim that communism has never actually "failed" because there's never been a "true" communist country, I think they're 100% correct... what they don't realize is that there never will be one either!

Richard The Dreaded Libertarian wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@example.net:

so you want access to the green but you don't want to pay....

Spoiled Brat.

How, exactly, does the presence of 140,000 soldiers/marines/etc in Iraq and who knows how many in Afghanistan and Basra, defend me against an ICBM?

Same question.

And why would anybody want to attack us anyway, except as retaliation for some atocity that the US has committed with its military might?

It's the US invasions all over the place that are the _motivation_ for "terrorism" and the bomb threat. North Korea and Iran want nukes so that they're not caught defenseless when whatever lunatic is in office decides to go on another crusade.

Thanks, Rich