What was the main reason for the fall of the Russian empire?

Individuals might say the Korean War, the Viet Nam war, the Russian invasion and occupation of Afghanistan or the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Although all those contributed to the fall of Russia's dominance of norther Europe the main reason was they bankrupted themselves. During the first years of the Reagan Administration, Reagan increased the size of military spending five fold. The Russian leadershiip tried to keep up with the American buildup and simply ran out of money.

Reagan increase the size of the military and the Russians did the same. There was one main difference: the US could afford the increase in cost because of our huge economic base. When the Russians increased the size of their military they didn't have the money to feed and arm their new troops. In the far stretches of the Russian empire, some military groups had to sell arms on the black market to feed themselves. Foreign (non Russian) conscripts became disillusioned with Russia and left their post in the thousands.

My reason for this post: What has happened to the US in the last 7 plus years. Our national debt has increased from $5.3 trillion to $9.3 plus trillion dollars (US). The Bush43 policy of "I haven't seen a spending bill that I didn't like" , hugh military expenitures and the invasion and occupation of Iraq is bankrupting our future. No nation, not even the US can overspend itself almost $600 billion dollars ever year and stay economically viable. (Please note I am not including the balance of trade deficts of $750 billion plus per year for the last 6 years).

The same economic realities that Reagan used to force the collapse of the Russian empire is being used on the US. Ironically, it is not being done by foreign interest. We are doing it to ourselves.

Whomever is elected in November will have to raise taxes and cut spending.

We are selling out our future for present policies.

Respectfully,

wdp

he won't have to raise taxes actually. all he has to do is remove the tax cap. alot will be solved. not everything but alot.

__________________
Marc

I respectfully disagree. We have a $428 billion deficit. This does not include the $86 billion special appropriation for the Iraq police action. This figure does not inclued the bailing out of Stern, Fanny May and other heavy weights in the financial markets.

The true figure, if one uses accepted accounting principles, could be $800 plus.

Secondly, the balance of trade deficit is more than $700 billion in FYE Oct 1, 2008.

These are huge deficits for our children to bear. There is no free lunch.

It appears that the Bush Administration is in a "lets party" mode and doing what the Louis XIV did: leave the bill to the future generations. And please remember what happened when the bill came due to the French. The French Revolution.

I am not saying that Americans will riot. I am saying that Americans will economically riot. The Middle Class will revolt for their high percentage of taxes to income ratio while the wealthiest of the wealthy increase their cut of the GNP total economic pie.

respectfully,

wdp

I agree that the deficit is too high to be fixed by just eliminating the tax cap however we can lower it enough to be manageable for the next few years. of course other tax reforms would have to be enacted several agencies and departments that honestly are obsolete now would have to be dissolved and their budgets redistributed. but the thing of it is, is that it is do-able. we just need someone who is willing to suggest this type of reform in washington and we also need good honorable representative and senators to support it. in a nut shell we need to clean house. there are alot of special departments and projects out there that are either no longer useful or can be put on hold until we can do something about our deficit. this is money racking up our bill on a yearly basis when it could go to things like paying off debts.

__________________
Marc

Cutting programs is just the beginning. With a record breaking deficit (that will continue for at least the next Fy) the US must increase taxes.

I just don't see how cutting programs will put even a slight dent in a $700/800 billion dollar deficit.

Our deficit has increased from $5.3 trillion dollars to $9.5 trillion dollars (US) in the last seven years. If the deficits continue due to allociations already voted on and signed by the President, our deficit will have almost doubled in slightly over 8 years. This is a huge difference from the three continuous surpluses of the Clinton years (89,90 & 01).

Bush has increased the size of government by 20%. This type of leadership must be changed.

Respectfully,
wdp

just trust me when i say that there are alot more programs, departments, and agencies out there that people aren't privy to that serve pratically no function but to earn certain people money through viable budget allocations. if these programs, departments, agencies were to be cut and/or dismantled then we would see a free up of money in the billions.

__________________
Marc

I agree with you for the first couple of sentences, but after that you lost me. Why should we have to raise taxes instead of holding congress accountable for divesting our taxes fraudulently? Why should we be held accountable for whatever many of these idiots deem to be right, whether it be earmarks or aid to governments that despise us? A huge part could start there before any increase in taxes! And GWB is not responsible for 89, 90, 2001, or any other previous planetary disturbance you would like to attribute to him. He has his faults, as does everybody, but I defy anyone to give me some facts on where and when we have been attacked since on the contiguous 48? 57 if you're an Obama fan?

I have no problem with the US not being attacked by radical Muslims. This is and was a priority for the Bush Administration. I salute them for it.

But we must remember that the attack happened on Bush43's watdh. There are so many that seem to blame Clinton for the 9/11 terrorist attack. Bush43 was 20% into his new administration. He was worned about it (I do not in any way blame Bush43 for not acting on the warning about terrorist flying airplanes into "high profile" targets). However, he was worned and decided not to act on that intelligence. He was implementing his new administration and had to prioritize his intelligence. History has shown that the intel was there but was not considered "reliable" . In retrospect, I feel that he acted correctly. But then, I am not the President. The fault of the 9/ll terrorist attack lies at the feet of Bin Laden and his cronies.

If one looks at the total picture however, Bush43's post 9/11 actions were totally wrong. He correctly invaded Afghanistan and after getting 90% of the job done, pulled his best troops out of Afghanistan and sent them to prepare for the invasion of Iraq. Bin Laden is still alive and well. We are bogged down in a $10 billion dollar a month unwinable police action with no definition of victory.

As far as the pork, this is a problem. However, it is just $18 billion a year. This is just a small percent of the budget deficits. Cutting pork is important. It however is not the problem.

It is my opinion that Bush43 will go down in history as the worst Presient in American history.

Respectfully,

wdp