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Um, I think these are amazingly good times to say the least. If you aren't making it in today's world, I would say that is on you. Believe me, I lived though double digit inflation during Carter, bush's mess with Iraq and more. Things started to turn around during Obama and now continuing with Trump. The US is doing great, but we work way more hours than a lot of the world. Enjoy the great times because we will hit hard times at some point. It is just the normal fluctuations of the economy. My biggest gripe is the US government saves no money to bail us out if we need it, but I guess we can borrow even more. UGH!
bring back jobs from overseas, quit sending jobs and entire companies overseas, stop all legal and illegal immigration until unemployment goes down drastically.
It never cease to amaze me the obsession people have with the 1950's on C-D. No, the economic prosperity of the 1950's was indeed an anomaly brought together by a set of circumstances that have a slim and none chance of happening again. People need to learn to adapt to change instead of sitting on their butts complaining how things were so much better in the past and finding scapegoats like "immigrants" and "globalists" for their personal and society's failures.
I wonder if people were this ineffectual and whiny when the industrial revolution happened and slowly changed agrilculture.
Good post. Blaming others is the exact opposite of personal responsibility. The USA used to take on the world and achieve success, now we shrink from competition and want to take "our ball" and go home?
"Slavery" was brought up. So, how would the folks who are hankering for coal mining jobs and renewed low wage manufacturing jobs fare against slaves?
Ithought that the idea was that "God helps those who help themselves"? Isn't it pure hubris to assume God wants to help us, rather than see globalization build a better world for those in greater need?
Yes, indeed. In the garage I have a 40 something year old American made GE fridge that I inherited from a deceased relative. Thing has run non stop for all that time to this day. Nothing you buy today, even the high end models will last that long. Planned obsolescence is a very real thing.
Planned obsolescence may be a good thing. Have you ever considered what that 40 year old refrigerator costs to run? It might end up costing you much more than if you had just bought a new one.
Would we have more jobs/prosperity (the point of this thread), if everyone still had their 40 year old appliances and automobiles?
Who wants their 16 year old driving around in a car with no anti-lock brakes or airbags?
Just because an item lasts, doesn't mean it is better.
Back to the main point: I am surprised that no one realizes how much population growth is a driver of GDP, which is the measure our our economic success. Is it because the data doesn't support peoples political view that globalization and morality are causative factors?
"A lot of people think back to the 3% and 4% real GDP growth we had in the '50s and the '60s, and think, "Wow, that was really a miracle." Well, at that time, the population growth was pretty close to 2%. Now today when we look at the same numbers in the U.S., since the recovery began we've been averaging about 2.1% economic growth, a full percentage point below the long-term average. Well, when you look at it, it's no surprise the population growth that I mentioned was running, say 1.8%, 1.9%, is now running at 0.7%, or more than 1% less than it used to be growing at, explaining a great deal of the slowing in GDP growth." - Bob Johnson @ M*
But, if you want to get political, and taking into account the idea that all those "acquired" German scientists drove our success, what do people think will be the result of not encouraging, or even discouraging, top quality immigrants coming to the USA?
Bring back jobs from overseas, quit sending jobs and entire companies overseas, stop all legal and illegal immigration until unemployment goes down drastically.
Well, for one thing, there weren't credit cards in the 50s like there are today. There were installment plans for things, but we'd sure have a lot less debt and less bankruptcies than we do now if we got rid of the credit cards. And I sure don't think there were such things as student loans either.
Bomb flat all of Western Europe, much of Eastern Europe, and the entire nation of Japan.
Kill off around 10-20 million people living in nations that could compete with the USA.
Bankrupt the United Kingdom due to fighting two world wars in 25 years while attempting to maintain a world wide empire at the same time.
Leave the US essentially unscathed except for a relatively small number of wartime casualties.
Shut down the vast majority of consumer product manufacturing in the USA for three and a half years - and in Europe for six years - and in the Far East for 10 years , so as to create a massive consumer demand.
Bomb flat all of Western Europe, much of Eastern Europe, and the entire nation of Japan.
Kill off around 10-20 million people living in nations that could compete with the USA.
Bankrupt the United Kingdom due to fighting two world wars in 25 years while attempting to maintain a world wide empire at the same time.
Leave the US essentially unscathed except for a relatively small number of wartime casualties.
Shut down the vast majority of consumer product manufacturing in the USA for three and a half years - and in Europe for six years - and in the Far East for 10 years , so as to create a massive consumer demand.
Piece of cake.
Precisely.
Add to that: minorities and women, even including "white" people like Jews, cannot even enter competition with white males in the highest paying professions and best union working class gigs.
It never cease to amaze me the obsession people have with the 1950's on C-D. No, the economic prosperity of the 1950's was indeed an anomaly brought together by a set of circumstances that have a slim and none chance of happening again. People need to learn to adapt to change instead of sitting on their butts complaining how things were so much better in the past and finding scapegoats like "immigrants" and "globalists" for their personal and society's failures.
I wonder if people were this ineffectual and whiny when the industrial revolution happened and slowly changed agrilculture.
They certainly complained a lot. Labor movement, strikes that turned into para-military battles, the "farmer's revolt," populist party, etc...
While I will agree with you that the device can replace all of those things, that has nothing to do with the service. The $100/month for 2 smart phones on a plan was an estimate for the cost of service, not the cost of the device. I have an old iphone at home that my daughter uses and it does all of those things, but is not connected to a wireless carrier. It just relies on my wifi.
While you do have a point there... It's not all zero-sum. For example, in the 50s it could cost $3-5, the equivalent of $20 today for a single long distance phone call. Now there is no such thing as "long distance" charges.
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