Ace of Spades HQ

June 14, 2011

We're Not Boned.
We're B O N E D [ArthurK]
— Open Blogger

Says here that our future deficit numbers are worse than you've heard. I'm not talking about the 10s of Trillions of far future unfunded MediSocialSecurity. I'm talking about the next 10 years.

1. Interest-rate payments and underestimated: They will cost $5.4 trillion more than the current estimate over ten years.

2. Future economic growth rates are overestimated: The president’s budget predicts a growth rate of over 4 percent, which is unlikely...

3. The cost of the health-care law is grossly underestimated, by $1 trillion ...

Higher Expenses, Lower Revenue. Other than that, peachy.

I suggest we copy the strategy of the Byzantines when they ran into this problem - more chariot races!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:24 PM | Comments (59)
Post contains 130 words, total size 1 kb.

1 more chariot races!
Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:24 PM
I knew those horses would come in handy some day!

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 14, 2011 07:26 PM (yrGif)

2 typo courtesy of veronique

Posted by: A.G. at June 14, 2011 07:27 PM (r1N2K)

3 Double posted in the sidebar? AoSHQ, pioneering new fields in blogging!

Posted by: nickless at June 14, 2011 07:27 PM (MMC8r)

4 Pay no attention to the seemingly duplicate entry in the sidebar. I was Hacked! by an ATM!!!

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at June 14, 2011 07:28 PM (BxtCd)

5 more chariot races!

In completely unrelated news, NASCAR President Mike Helton announced the new longer NASCAR season, running not only Sprint, Nationwide, and Truck, but will include a station wagon, SUV, and minivan class and lengthen their season to 10 months. They are currently seeking sponsors for the new cups.

Posted by: MikeTheMoose at June 14, 2011 07:31 PM (GE1+K)

6 Hey, wait a second -- wasn't the Byzantine solution to set far-flung satraps against each other and, when both were debilitated by war, seize all their women as slaves?

Posted by: cthulhu at June 14, 2011 07:31 PM (kaalw)

7 We're Not Boned.
We're B O N E D

I think the word your looking for is

DOOM

Posted by: MikeTheMoose at June 14, 2011 07:32 PM (GE1+K)

8 I'm an 1:30 into the conference referenced in the above piece and all these people are saying that they agree there is a problem, but there is (unsurprisingly) no consensus on the solution. In spite of that, the financial talking heads believe that this is all going to be worked-out because we have no other choice.

Posted by: Miss'80sBaby at June 14, 2011 07:33 PM (ITYRW)

9 I suggest we copy the strategy of the Byzantines when they ran into this problem - more chariot races!

They had their NASCAR bubbas, too, I guess.

Posted by: nickless at June 14, 2011 07:33 PM (MMC8r)

10 6 Hey, wait a second -- wasn't the Byzantine solution to set far-flung satraps against each other and, when both were debilitated by war, seize all their women as slaves? Posted by: cthulhu That was before they lost the farm lands of Anatolia to the Muslims. After that it was all smoke, mirrors and chariot races.

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at June 14, 2011 07:34 PM (BxtCd)

I suggest we copy the strategy of the Byzantines when they ran into this problem - more chariot races! Bubonic plague.

Posted by: Cicero at June 14, 2011 07:34 PM (Txl/u)

12 In America, "shitfaced" does not mean you have shit on your face.

Posted by: AlphaBase1 at June 14, 2011 07:36 PM (dQjrF)

13 Talk about automation, the rate at which government can piss money seems to automatically go up, in an exponential stream.

Posted by: t-bird at June 14, 2011 07:36 PM (FcR7P)

14 > 8 ... In spite of that, the financial talking heads believe that this is all going to be worked-out because we have no other choice. Posted by: Miss'80sBaby Yeah, Emperor Constantine XI said much the same thing...

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at June 14, 2011 07:37 PM (BxtCd)

15 2 and 3 are mostly correct, but 1 is overstated. And the reference to the Byzantines is comically ignorant.

Posted by: TH at June 14, 2011 07:38 PM (nyHxK)

16
more chariot races!
Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:24 PM
I knew those horses would come in handy some day!
Posted by: Hrothgar at June 14, 2011 11:26 PM

-------------
You're not nearly imaginative enough.

Posted by: Swedish Chariot Team at June 14, 2011 07:39 PM (elBGR)

17 Goddamn fucking robots!

Posted by: Yes We Can Crush teh Mechanical Menace, 2012 at June 14, 2011 07:40 PM (wRzrt)

18 > 15 ... And the reference to the Byzantines is comically ignorant. Posted by: TH Ah, come on. I read a book about 'em.

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at June 14, 2011 07:41 PM (BxtCd)

19 Dancing on the ONT/OOT, genius.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at June 14, 2011 07:42 PM (qaU+h)

20 Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine sports. Chariot racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse as they frequently suffered serious injury and even death, but generated strong spectator enthusiasm.

Posted by: Internet confirmation at June 14, 2011 07:47 PM (ldUCK)

21 You know the solution... Attack the ATM's! No more touch screens! AAAGGGHH!!11!!!1

Posted by: Luddites at June 14, 2011 07:47 PM (jGXQI)

22 I got an idea! How about a decades long war all over the Near East!

Posted by: Heraclius at June 14, 2011 07:51 PM (aGYmX)

23 Tax reductions work. Jack Kennedy in the '60's, Reagan in the '80's, Bush in the 00's. Combine with reducing regulations and, voila, you have economic growth and an increase in tax REVENUE to the Gov. Prove it worng, Dems/Libs. Every time it's been implemented, it's resulted in growth. When Gov increases taxation and regulation, you get a choke hold on growth. Prove it wrong, Dems/Libs.

Posted by: Russkilitlover at June 14, 2011 07:54 PM (9K0yF)

24 The Byzantines (actually, the Eastern Roman Empire) survived 1000 years. Beset on all sides, by Bulgars, Russians, Normans, Persians, Arabs, Turks, Venetians, etc. etc., they maintained civilization in the face of almost overwhelming challenges. They never resorted to "bread and circuses". If not for a penchant for dynastic instability among the Great Houses and the Arab onslaught they might be with us today.

Best readable history on the Byzantines is in three volumes, by John Julius Norwich (The Early Centuries, The Apogee, and The Decline and Fall). Best histories in general are History of the Byzantine State by Ostrogorsky and The Byzantine Empire by Vasiliev.

Posted by: TH at June 14, 2011 07:54 PM (nyHxK)

25 Does this go all the way to midget-Asian-tranny chariot races? With cheerleaders?

Posted by: 141Driver at June 14, 2011 07:54 PM (/E3ql)

26 That was before they lost the farm lands of Anatolia to the Muslims. After that it was all smoke, mirrors and chariot races.
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at June 14, 2011 11:34 PM (BxtCd)

Uh-huh....and how many hundreds of years was it before that?

Posted by: cthulhu at June 14, 2011 07:54 PM (kaalw)

27 As a conservative Texan, I'll let you in on a little secret: Do NOT get excited about Rick Perry. You'll be disappointed.

Posted by: Brisco_County at June 14, 2011 07:54 PM (XnIt1)

28 I got an idea! How about a decades long war all over the Near East! Posted by: Heraclius

How about we justify 2 more? Except we're still opposed to the first 2, because we're full of pissy leftism that has never touched a realistic version of human nature? How about that one?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at June 14, 2011 07:54 PM (qaU+h)

29 pcc jr. and I watched "Eat the Rich" by Bill Whittle http://tinyurl.com/4mxx9ru Immediately after he proclaimed he/it/the vid was "full of shit". Needless to say I was stunned. It totally mapped out the total degree of DOOM. It didn't sink in. He is 19 and I don't know his IQ but for sure he would easily rate MENSA standards. I am from "The Hood" and had to literally fight to stay alive and out of "the joint". Because I have worked 2 and sometimes 3 jobs, everything has been handed to him. As a father I feel I have been blessed. All this boy/young man does is study (and stays out of trouble). Cisco network savant at 17. He is well on his way to a chemical engineer degree. He is on the Dean's List. I could go on and on. I have told him more than once that for someone so smart he is really fucking stupid. At this point, I simply cannot talk politics with him. Liberals proclaim "tolerance" yet when someone with vastly more life experience and knowledge contradicts their "wishful thinking" all hell breaks loose. Sigh.

Posted by: political correctness czar at June 14, 2011 07:55 PM (UPNlB)

30 Dear Internet Confirmation: congratulations on your quote. It has nothing to do, however, with Byzantine state policy. The Byzantines did NOT, EVER, substitute a fondness for chariot races for paying attention to the deadly struggle for survival that went on every single day on every border of the Empire.

Posted by: TH at June 14, 2011 07:56 PM (nyHxK)

31 Do NOT get excited about Rick Perry. You'll be disappointed.
Posted by: Brisco_County

And President Mitt Romney gets you buttered up for a lobster dinner?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at June 14, 2011 07:58 PM (qaU+h)

32 > 26 That was before they lost the farm lands of Anatolia to the Muslims. After that it was all smoke, mirrors and chariot races. Posted by: Comrade Arthur at June 14, 2011 11:34 PM (BxtCd) Uh-huh....and how many hundreds of years was it before that? Posted by: cthulhu Well, without looking it up (that would be cheating) I think a bit over 200 years. They were REAL GOOD at the old smoke and mirrors routine. At least once an unstoppable Muslim army was at the gates and they pulled some diplomatic wizardy and the army had to pull back to deal with the new threat back home.

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at June 14, 2011 07:59 PM (BxtCd)

33 At this point, I simply cannot talk politics with him.

Tell him that thinking he has any idea how the world works at the age 19 is a sure sign that he's wrong.

Posted by: Brisco_County at June 14, 2011 08:03 PM (XnIt1)

34 Without looking it up. Battle of Manzikert 1074. Fall of Constantinople 1453. In between, however, it was not all smoke and mirrors and chariot races. The fatal decline really only began in the late 14th century.

Posted by: TH at June 14, 2011 08:04 PM (nyHxK)

35 And President Mitt Romney gets you buttered up for a lobster dinner?

Perry has enough flaws and skeletons to make this either a yes or simply a tough question to answer.

Posted by: Brisco_County at June 14, 2011 08:08 PM (XnIt1)

36 Boy did we hold the line on that filioque shit!

_{Right until the Turks stomped the fuck out of us, I mean.}

Posted by: Byzantine Retards at June 14, 2011 08:09 PM (wRzrt)

37 Well, without looking it up (that would be cheating) I think a bit over 200 years. They were REAL GOOD at the old smoke and mirrors routine. At least once an unstoppable Muslim army was at the gates and they pulled some diplomatic wizardy and the army had to pull back to deal with the new threat back home.
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at June 14, 2011 11:59 PM (BxtCd)

Try again. Fall of Constantinople: 1453; Islamic invasion of Anatolia, 1068 (or thereabouts). 400 years, bitchez!

Posted by: cthulhu at June 14, 2011 08:11 PM (kaalw)

38 Full disclosure: Battle of Manzikert 1071 (after my post above, I looked it up).

Posted by: TH at June 14, 2011 08:13 PM (nyHxK)

39 Hey, where all da Greek wimmin at?

Posted by: The 4th Crusade at June 14, 2011 08:13 PM (Txl/u)

40 620s, Heraclius destroys the Persians. 630s, the Arabs take over almost everything Heraclius had won back. 660, Constans II decides Constantinople itself is a lost cause and moves to Syracuse. 668, Constans assassinated. Long slow process of consolidating Greece, Sicily, and Anatolia as the basis of the Byzantine Empire. 715, Constantinople defended from Sulayman The Arrogant Cockstrangler um, ibn AbdalMalik. Then a century or so of treading water until Basil the Bulgar Buggerer and a few other guys who cudda bin contendahs. Then Manzikert.

Posted by: Zimriel at June 14, 2011 08:15 PM (VEKIJ)

41 @Brisco_County thanks for the tip. I have tried that (and more). I guess since I do not speak/write fluent Mandarin/German and Russian I don't know what I am talking about.

Posted by: political correctness czar at June 14, 2011 08:17 PM (UPNlB)

42 Constans II decides Constantinople itself is a lost cause and moves to Syracuse.

That's Sycacuse, peasant.

Posted by: Emperor Obama I the Munificent demonstrates his spelling prowess at June 14, 2011 08:17 PM (wRzrt)

43 Time to apply the Mencken quote at the very top of the page!

Posted by: Adjoran at June 14, 2011 08:20 PM (VfmLu)

44 Chariot racing in the Byzantine Empire also included the Roman racing clubs, which continued to play a prominent role in these public exhibitions. By this time, the Blues (VÃ©netoi) and the Greens (PrÃ¡sinoi) had come to overshadow the other two factions of the Whites (LeukoÃ) and Reds (RoÃºsioi), while still maintaining the paired alliances, although these were now fixed as Blue and White vs. Green and Red.

Posted by: Stuff I read at June 14, 2011 08:26 PM (ldUCK)

I suggest we copy the strategy of the Byzantines when they ran into this problem - more chariot races!

Agreed, but only if we can have those cool, Ben-Hur-like spinning blades on the wheels! Good times!

Posted by: theCork at June 14, 2011 08:29 PM (aIj35)

46 "In the long run, we're all dead" -- Iōannēs Keynesemēmnos

Posted by: cthulhu at June 14, 2011 08:29 PM (kaalw)

47 And to think everything was fine until the 'white' man invented those racist ATMs and stole all the jobs away from folks of colored! Now class, we will watch ROOTS as a documentary on how innocent OJ Simpson was.

Posted by: Politically Correct Professor at June 14, 2011 08:33 PM (weLAL)

48 Add in the sunspots-going-on-hiatus hoopla, and we're more boned than that.

Major cooling cycles track falling empires fairly well.

Posted by: Al at June 14, 2011 08:34 PM (MzQOZ)

49 Perry has enough flaws and skeletons to make this either a yes or simply a tough question to answer.
Posted by: Brisco_County

Then how about Perry enters the race at some wishful point, and we grind the shit out of the O-minstration? Sounds fun to me. That much more fun than any other candidates course.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at June 14, 2011 08:37 PM (qaU+h)

I'm thinking,

Rib bones..dry rub,,with special spices...3 days in da frig..off-set BBQ..or QX3..start early on the day and sssssllllow cook for 6 or 7 hours..Beer...Friends..bringing sides...enjoying...m..mm..good

Posted by: Richard at June 14, 2011 08:45 PM (N/wjH)

51 @Brisco_County thanks for the tip. I have tried that (and more). I guess since I do not speak/write fluent Mandarin/German and Russian I don't know what I am talking about.

He'll probably grow out of it. It usually takes a disillusioning experience. Give him a copy of Radical Son by David Horowitz. Ironically, even my liberal friends like that book.

Posted by: Brisco_County at June 14, 2011 08:48 PM (XnIt1)

52 If he's a math geek, explain that government is fundamentally "NP-Hard", which is why every plausible venue for restricting government to strictly 'oversight' and 'courts' should be taken.

Posted by: Al at June 14, 2011 09:03 PM (MzQOZ)

53 Re: 19 yo boys... I had an experience with my friend's recent HSgrad kid and his friemd who came over to weeds from the edge of my arena fence and move farm junk into a dumpster. They were completely unaware that untill recently all teen boys did job s like this starting at 15 and having such tasks as weeding and cleaning out barns mastered by the time they got to eighteen. They were stunned that I was surprised that I had to show the, what to do, and as a handicapped woman with a bum ticker, I was still faster and stronger at it. They actually PROTESTED that this was back breaking labor. So I got down on my kness and did more in 3 minutes than they had in half an hour. Kids these days are so sheltered they have no idea in most places in most times life is full of toil to feed yourself and family...even for children. The lives of young americans are an anomaly. they are so blessed they are almost cursed by this good fortune by being made soft and helpless.

Posted by: gushka at June 14, 2011 09:10 PM (u5dUW)

54 nice artical

Posted by: wholesale polo shirts at June 14, 2011 11:47 PM (JNEfM)

55 If not for a penchant for dynastic instability among the Great Houses and the Arab onslaught they might be with us today.

Don't forget me!

Posted by: Enrico Dandolo at June 15, 2011 02:58 AM (c2ici)

56 All we need is more and higher taxes. The government must steal from the people so that the democrat insiders/crony capitalists can continue their high off the hog graft.

Posted by: Left wing chorus at June 15, 2011 04:37 AM (0fzsA)

57 As a conservative Texan, I'll let you in on a little secret: Do NOT get excited about Rick Perry. You'll be disappointed.

Can you elaborate on your concerns, tiny authoritative person living inside my flat-screen?

Posted by: toby928™ at June 15, 2011 06:35 AM (GTbGH)

58 Liberalism is a mental disorder. So is compassionate conservatism. Thanks Bush.

Posted by: SFGoth at June 15, 2011 07:15 AM (dZ756)

59 In our daily life, we pay more attention to our dress-up and life taste. In 2011 summer, we don't need to worry about it because summer clothing is always stylish and charming. However, we often feel annoyed in winter because those winter coats in general are heavy. Thus, we cannot show our personality and style during the winter time. However, when the canada goose label comes into our sights, we know that everything would be all right. It is because Canada goose clothing can bring us a stylish and charming look even under the brutal conditions.(yang)

Posted by: canada goose at June 15, 2011 07:45 PM (+Yddc)

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