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Voodoo Economics
Today President Bush announced a plan to pay $160 billion over the remaining months of his presidency. No, this $160 billion is not going to flooding relief along the gulf coast and/or the Mississippi River, this money is to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and 'other areas of operation in the global war on terror'.
But where is this money coming from?
Inflation is unsatisfactory, the economy is shit, where is this money coming from? With a national debt on track to hit $10 trillion, not only does the government borrow against the Federal Reserve Bank, the remainder of that money is lent to the government by individuals and foreign corporations and banks. Even more appalling is that as time goes on, the amount of money we owe has been increasing instead of decreasing.
Apparently this is the proper way to live the American way; buy now and pay later.
I'm not an expert on this at all. But isn't a rampaging national debt a bad thing? And why isn't this a bigger issue on the campaign trail? Either candidate can just deflect questions by saying "I'll balance the budget as president." Negroes please, that's only half the battle; what about repaying The Fed and all those other countries and corporations we are in debt to?
In the period of time labeled the Roaring Twenties, the United States experienced unparalleled economic prosperity. The time was also famous for the introduction of credit that just about anyone could get. People would buy anything and everything they wanted or needed. Buy now, pay later.
Is there an economist in the house?
21 Manifestos:
I ain't no economist but I'm always amazed at the money magazine articles that say: "Shit is bad, really bad- job losses, the housing market sucks, there's a massive credit crunch, gov't spending is out of control etc....but it's PROBABLY not a recession." We as a nation must be as stupid as we look (for re-electing President Junior Jackass in 2004)....
I'm not at all surprised by this latest stroke of genius. I've pretty much just accepted the fact that he'll continue to screw things up between now and the time he leaves office.
I'm getting damn tired of the wallstreet-tards that insist there's no recession when any moron can see the fallout happening in all directions. Everything from groceries to gas to clothing is doubled in price, travel is down, tourism is down, car industry is in a panic, real estate - well, that's a fucking mess as everyone knows (their own damn fault), and businesses are tightening their belts and their pocketbooks. And the dollar sucks. It buys half of what it did just a year ago. Everyone I know is working twice as hard just to maintain status quo. ~grumbling~
Ideologues hellbent on fulfilling ill conceived prophesies are never easy to dissuade. Voodoo economics? Nuh-uh, it's just good old-fashioned, American Manifest Destiny. 21st century style.
Oh yeah, "Happy Canada Day"!
What did you get us, America?
Deficits don't matter.
What did you get us, America?
Global warming. Enjoy the greener grass.
^^LOL!!^^
Don't you mean the browner, weed infested grass?
~ Here, enjoy a nice eco-friendly barrel of overly refined Alberta tar sands oil! No thanks necessary.
there's more dough-re-mi than voodoo in this news
notice that the player here here is "Iraq" --not 'the country formerly known as iraq now under military occupation'.
it's one of the ways the nazis had planned on balancing their books till they ran into an obstacle called the ussr..
you make a good case for a return to the gold standard. historically politicians couldn't fight a war on credit. they needed gold in the treasury.
there are lots of economists advocating a return to the gold standard but in will never happen because politicians are addicted to deficit spending to make people happy short term.
the deficit is really a lot bigger than people think. lots of government spending is capitalized rather than expensed. several ceo's have gone to prison for doing the same thing.
Well the definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth in Gross Domestic Product so people haven't called it a recession because it TECHNICALLY isn't.
The thing is that GDP takes into account spending power of ALL the nations citizens, including the 400 wealthiest who have a combined net worth of 1/10th of the national debt. Rising gas prices and Food be damned they are going to continue to spend and to earn money hand over fist. What I'm saying is that recessions are calculated by averages and there are plenty of people around to throw off the curve because most of this countries wealth is owned by a very small fraction of its citizens.
Yes there is a huge credit crunch and a mortgage crisis, and unemployment is on the rise in many communities but that gets offset by the wealthiest of the wealthy so calling recession isn't always easy. Us common folks always find it hits us hardest and first but isn't that the American way?
Well apparantly the media has been feeding us a lifestyle none of us can afford. To be more specific, (and as I'm sure you already know) the American media's been doing this for quite a while. They did all this to a point where we believe having all those things we CANT afford is normal.
Well... I guess the government got sucked into the whole idea too. As you said... the whole spend now, pay later ideal is even used/accepted by them.
P.S I've only taken a few economic courses... but....... I'm pretty sure the trillion dollars of debt are no good. Economists say millions of dollars of debt CAN be okay as long as they money is being used to INVEST in something that'll reap long-term benefits for the country. Well... unless the "war on terror" is somehow gonna bring our country economic prosperity sometime soon... well then America's kinda fucked.
some numbers behind natalie's assertions
The depression this time around will be even worse, what with peak oil and all that.
Hope the violent protests outside the officies of the credit companies and oil corporations will be televised.
LOL
the violent protests
SAUSAGESAUSAGESAUSAGE!
Paz: Well if it's not it's on track to be one.
Thinker: I'm amazed by the number of countdown timers until his last day in office.
Lakota: I remember loling when I heard the Canadian dollar briefly passed the US dollar.
Omarion: At least Jackson paid up front for his widescale slaughter.
You;ll see.
Trick: Neither does aiming, apparently. Zing!
Thimscool: And daily threats of being bombed for their oil sands.
Omar: We will take 600 million barrel. No more, no less.
Unokhan: Interesting how western oil companies immediately cornered the Iraqi oil market, even snagging temporary no bid contracts. Surely the Russians, another bunch of oil folks, were eying those fields.
BP: I'm not so sure about reverting to the gold standard, or even going to currency being backed by a mix of precious metals and things that don't really devalue. I just don't think there's enough around to fully back the U.S.' hulking mammoth or a global economy. Back when the gold standard worked for the U.S. it was a very different time.
Natalie: You'd think someone somewhere would come up with a GDP equation that worked around that insanely wealthy 10 percent to produce a 'true' GDP.
Svetlana: Exactly, this GWOT thing isn't exactly going as planned. A fantastic investment instead of something like a revitalized health care system, or revamping the nation's schools.
Josh: I don't know man, the last violent riots worth speaking of I heard of were those Stonewall Inn riots in the seventies.
Omar: Exactly! USAUSAUSAUSAGEUSE
fighting back against a police assault may be called a "riot" in the popular media and 'riot' may be memed into some sort of collective pop memory. but fighting back against a police assault is not rioting. it is resistance.
The only American president to balance the budget was Andrew Jackson.
But he had other issues ;-)
I'm with Josh on this one. Peak oil, which has been rearing it's head for a while, is going to really make this a rough motherfucker. I think we'll end up seeing a Depression that'll make the '20's look like a cakewalk, msotly because there won't be a nifty social program to bail us out this go round. Call me a pessimist if you must, but personally, I think we're going to endure a really unfriendly change, one that when dealt won't be something that can be repaired.
The fun part is that it's not just America feeling the heat--read up about the French truck drivers blocking traffic in protest of oil prices for one example. The way things are going, you're not only looking at economic meltdown for the US, but also for those who have kept the dollar as their reserve currency. Subsequently, I think we can probably expect intensified conflict for resources to hit the Big Time while civil unrest will be stepped up as well.
Riots, looting, disease, famine, bankruptcy and cars parked permanently. Can it get any better?
I work two jobs. The first to pay bills and buy groceries. The second to try and pay off my credit card debt. I'm two years into this, and I've probably got another 18 months left before I'm done with it. I wonder what night job the US of A is gonna have to get just to pay off that debt? and how long is it going to take?
There's a reason why the bible said that usary is a sin. Because it makes slaves out of free men.
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