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Well, while recessions are essentially price adjustments, depressions are balance sheet adjustments. So the United States is in the fifth year of a depression. However, the five years have allowed banks, industries, and individuals to do some major housekeeping in their personal balance sheets. If Europe and China had undergone their problems in 2008 as opposed to today, the damage would have been much worse.
Do you think the United States in a good position in comparison to the European Nations and other Asian Markets? I know everything depends on a global economy these days, but I am curious if you all think the US will be better off. Or do you think the US should be just as afraid as any other country? Lets hear your thoughts!
If the US is in a better position compared to Europe, it's only marginally so. America's greatest weakness is we are complacent and don't think anything truly bad can happen to us.
I think being afraid is not very useful, though.
I don't agree with a fair amount of what Naomi Wolfe says (she's too leftist for me), but I believe she's close enough to the truth and she has some practical actions that can be taken:
The U.S is the best place to be if the world economy falls. It'll be painful, just like it will around the world. The U.S is just better suited to weather things.
The U.S is the best place to be if the world economy falls. It'll be painful, just like it will around the world. The U.S is just better suited to weather things.
Since we're no longer Home of the Brave, and we continually outrage our Founding Mothers and Fathers with our sheepish cowardice, I would have to agree.
Until, we can no longer afford an expensive police force in this country!
Interesting turn of phrase. In fact, "weather things" are the kinds of things that will be the crushing downfall of America. Our temperate continental climate requires, over most of the country, either energy-driven heating or air conditioning, if not both, in order to be liveable. The energy demands of climate control are huge and on the verge of becoming unsustainable.
When sources of energy dry up and the costs of energy become unaffordable, life will will greatly favor people living in a climate in which outdoor temperatures are tolerable all year.
There was a reason why civilization began in the Mediterranean and Middle-eastern regions of the world, and spread into the north of Europe only when it became efficient to exploit heating fuels. America was able to develop in the northern colonies only because of the abundance of heating fuels in a virtually endless forest, and then coal was found as a cheap and easy alternative. A similar reason explains why all the well-developed pre-Columbian civilizations were well to the south of the USA.
People, when times are hard, can find a way to llive off the earth, as long as they are not killed by the climate. The best prospects will be in countries where neither heating nor air conditioning are required for a sustainable lifestyle and productivity. Mexico is a good example, along with most of South America.
545 people wield 100% of the power to control our nation [435 congressmen, 100 senators, 9 Supreme Court justices, and 1 president]. 545 human beings out of the 235 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
Where are they leading us?
Our debt load will kill our nation, so are our leaders cutting our debt load? The Farm Bill was nearly doubled just now.
We are being led to destruction.
...
God damn, personal accountability really has died. The food stamp program saw a slight cut in funding, so apparently critical thought joined personal accountability.
Interesting turn of phrase. In fact, "weather things" are the kinds of things that will be the crushing downfall of America. Our temperate continental climate requires, over most of the country, either energy-driven heating or air conditioning, if not both, in order to be liveable. The energy demands of climate control are huge and on the verge of becoming unsustainable.
When sources of energy dry up and the costs of energy become unaffordable, life will will greatly favor people living in a climate in which outdoor temperatures are tolerable all year.
There was a reason why civilization began in the Mediterranean and Middle-eastern regions of the world, and spread into the north of Europe only when it became efficient to exploit heating fuels. America was able to develop in the northern colonies only because of the abundance of heating fuels in a virtually endless forest, and then coal was found as a cheap and easy alternative. A similar reason explains why all the well-developed pre-Columbian civilizations were well to the south of the USA.
People, when times are hard, can find a way to llive off the earth, as long as they are not killed by the climate. The best prospects will be in countries where neither heating nor air conditioning are required for a sustainable lifestyle and productivity. Mexico is a good example, along with most of South America.
Much of North America -- and most of what is now the US -- has been populated for thousands of years.
And it does not really take Buffalo skins, anymore.
[quote=ChiGuy2.5;24892832]Greece is bankrupt, Spain asks for bailout. China's housing demand falls and jobs are lost which leads us to believe they are doing far worse than we thought. The euro is falling behind and the dollar is holding steady. Oil prices drop amid concerns surrounding the european crisis. Dow falls due to a decline in foreign production.
Do you think the United States in a good position in comparison to the European Nations and other Asian Markets? I know everything depends on a global economy these days, but I am curious if you all think the US will be better off. Or do you think the US should be just as afraid as any other country? Lets hear your thoughts!QUOTE]
Your premise makes it sound like long-term international economics are bad and getting worse, as if there's a crisis. If one takes a long-term look back (50-100 yrs.) you'd see the dynamics of the world's economics hasn't changed all that much and today's headlines aren't all that different. A global economy isn't a "these days" issue...it's been around for 100's of years.
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