Was heißt das wohl für das GDP im 1. Q ? Könnte das dann so bei – 10% liegen ?

Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout

… The misleading numbers posted by retirement fund administrators help mask
this reality: Public pensions in the U.S. had total liabilities of $2.9 trillion as of Dec. 16, according to the
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Their total assets are about 30 percent less than that,
at $2 trillion.
With stock market losses this year, public pensions in the U.S. are now underfunded by more than
$1 trillion. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=alwTE0Z5.1EA

und passed dazu Merrill Lynch’s Top 10 Earned $209 Million in 2008

und als weiteres Zeugnis für die Weisheit von Politikern noch das hier :

HEARING ON THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET
PROPOSAL FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010

MARCH 3, 2009
SPEAKERS:
REP. CHARLES B. RANGEL, D-N.Y.
CHAIRMAN
REP. PETE STARK, D-CALIF.
REP. SANDER M. LEVIN, D-MICH.
REP. JIM MCDERMOTT, D-WASH.
<snip>
REP. LINDA T. SANCHEZ, D-CALIF.
SANCHEZ: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you, Secretary Geithner, for being with us this
afternoon. I was absent for part of the hearing, so pardon me if I’m
asking questions that have already been answered.
But I know that a lot of criticism has been leveled at this
budget because of a fear of future debt. That’s what we keep hearing.
We can’t burden, you know, future generations. My question to you is
a very specific one. Do we really need to balance the budget in order
to reduce our future deficit — or our future — pardon me — debt
burden, or can we reduce our debt burden while still running deficits,
because some people would have you believe that the two must go hand
in hand?