Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => The Coffee Corner => Topic started by: Slobodan Blagojevic on July 24, 2011, 10:17:17 pm
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A visualization of US debt:
http://www.wtfnoway.com/
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Holy shit! as Robin might have said.
Rob C
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Unfortunately it has flow on effects:
"Sydney is now the sixth priciest city in the world, up from 32nd place two years ago, while Melbourne has jumped from 38th to seventh."
Story here (http://www.smh.com.au/money/sydney-melbourne-among-worlds-priciest-cities-20110707-1h496.html).
Cheers,
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Thanks, Slobodan. One might hope a graphic presentation like this would be an eye opener for some. Unfortunately, visualizing the debt in terms of physical mass masks the actual effects of the debt. I suspect a far too frequent response is, "Well, that's really bad news, but it's bad news for somebody else -- like the banks or the 'market.'" Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect a fair number of people, perhaps even a majority, don't see government debt affecting their own lives. What a shock it'll be when the truth comes out, which it will no matter how much our politicians work to prevent it. How many people nowadays know the history of the Weimar Republic?
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Thanks, Slobodan. One might hope a graphic presentation like this would be an eye opener for some. Unfortunately, visualizing the debt in terms of physical mass masks the actual effects of the debt. I suspect a far too frequent response is, "Well, that's really bad news, but it's bad news for somebody else -- like the banks or the 'market.'" Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect a fair number of people, perhaps even a majority, don't see government debt affecting their own lives. What a shock it'll be when the truth comes out, which it will no matter how much our politicians work to prevent it. How many people nowadays know the history of the Weimar Republic?
Look on the bright side, Russ: for a little while, at least the printers will be happy!
Rob C
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A visualization of US debt:
http://www.wtfnoway.com/
Gee, just the thing for a photography forum. Thanks so much.
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I would classify those visuals under Landscape/Future/Scary.
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There is an interesting article I came across on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
The article shows the spiral of the debt over time, beginning at about the time of the last depression. The authors attribute the increasing debt to the spread of federally paid social programs and wars. Of course they also cite several presidents who have done everything in their power to evade paying for the very programs they promoted. That long term irresponsibility is the core issue confronting us today.
What the growing public debt represents, is the will of a series of presidents and congresses that can’t resist using what amounts to the national credit card to sometimes solve problems but to mostly buy votes, but who largely refused to take the steps to pay down the debt and instead, made it the problem of the next president/congress.
Roughly 80 years of US history shows that people want the .gov to provide ever more goods and services, but the same people will do everything they can to evade paying for it.
The article is very educational.
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There is an interesting article I came across on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
The article shows the spiral of the debt over time, beginning at about the time of the last depression. The authors attribute the increasing debt to the spread of federally paid social programs and wars. Of course they also cite several presidents who have done everything in their power to evade paying for the very programs they promoted. That long term irresponsibility is the core issue confronting us today.
What the growing public debt represents, is the will of a series of presidents and congresses that can’t resist using what amounts to the national credit card to sometimes solve problems but to mostly buy votes, but who largely refused to take the steps to pay down the debt and instead, made it the problem of the next president/congress.
Roughly 80 years of US history shows that people want the .gov to provide ever more goods and services, but the same people will do everything they can to evade paying for it.
The article is very educational.
Sounds just like the good old UK! And every other modern country in the western world.
The survival trick is to lose/win elections by turns, and that way you can always blame the previous government. Neat. Just what most of us deserve.
Rob C
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Wikipedia..... The authors attribute.....
This is the peril of Wikipedia. People can use it to suggest their personal opinions are facts.