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Their purpose was not and never has been "solving the country's ills". It's rather how to maximize long term power and $$$ for themselves and who they work for.
for me it has always been playing the cards i am dealt . complaining about the hand and the dealer has done nothing for me-ever .
for me it has always been playing the cards i am dealt . complaining about the hand and the dealer has done nothing for me-ever .
Learning about the dealer and how your hand relates can be rewarding. It could be as simple as the hows and whys of interest rates and the stock market.
but that is not what goes on in this forum at all . we have all our monday morning quarterback , economist wanna bees . most think they have it all solved and that things can't play out any other way then their views .
for me it has always been playing the cards i am dealt . complaining about the hand and the dealer has done nothing for me-ever .
Complaining? It's more like figuring out how the game is rigged to the overall detriment of 99.9% of the population. You can still play your cards to maximum effect while working to change the game.
I'm not sure I agree with the assessment that things are horrible overseas. China is starting to address their debt issue, albeit with modest first steps, but that machine continues to purr with mid-6% economic growth. Japan seems to be returning to growth with a very strong account surplus. Abe's machinations are creating quite a government debt bubble, but when you're paying out .02%....why not? S. Korea, Taiwan and Thailand are growing in a nice controlled fashion. India, Malaysia and Indonesia are more shooting for growth
Europe is doing terrific. Overall the EU grew 2.5% last quarter with a combined surplus of $473.7 Billion and a mere .8% of government deficit. Germany's current account surplus for the last 12 months is at a staggering 322.8 Billion US with 2.3% GDP growth in Q1 and a budget surplus. Netherlands is also punching way outside their weight class. Heck, even Greece has throttled back their unemployment rate to 20% and can sell their government issue at 4.58% compared to our 2.96%
The US is still running massive current account deficits and the Federal deficit is now at 4.6% of GDP. Last quarter's GDP of 2.8% is commendable, but I wouldn't say we're running away with the show, especially with 2.8% inflation. The USD is about in the middle in terms of strength.
Basically, the US and Britain are running up debts to prop up the world, China's playing their dominance card, Japan's running their unlimited credit card with a falling population and Germany's getting just fat while the periphery keeps the EU from running up like crazy.
Basically, the US and Britain are running up debts to prop up the world.
Yep, the US is expected to absorb developing countries' excess production, so we give them US$ (with interest) in exchange for goods. That's the main reason why we have fiscal deficits. US$ are in high demand and overvalued as a result. US production and wages are then depressed. Been going on for 35-40 years now.
This is a great scam for companies that can move production overseas. Sucks for most of us though.
Yep, the US is expected to absorb developing countries' excess production, so we give them US$ (with interest) in exchange for goods. That's the main reason why we have fiscal deficits. US$ are in high demand and overvalued as a result. US production and wages are then depressed. Been going on for 35-40 years now.
This is a great scam for companies that can move production overseas. Sucks for most of us though.
We give them USD for goods, and they might decide to exchange the USD for Treasuries.
How does that square with wages not going up at all - and, in fact, buying power going down (and headed down further with higher interest rates, higher health care costs and higher energy prices)???
I think this thread is one of those example of "I can find an article to say exactly what I want"....
What "most Americans think" is total BS. As has been shown many times, 30% of Americans think they are in the top 10%. An amazing percentage of Americans think they will be wealthy someday - but they will not. No way.
Optimism even if it's not accurate does fuel economic growth. I do agree on the Obama and now Trump recovery is top heavy. Most Americans are not really gaining anything but most people who want to be employed are. I do worry that the next severe downturn will be hard to combat. We have too much debt and interest rates are still historically low. We have little ammunition except for making the debt even larger and kicking the can down the road once again.
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Yep, the US is expected to absorb developing countries' excess production, so we give them US$ (with interest) in exchange for goods. That's the main reason why we have fiscal deficits. US$ are in high demand and overvalued as a result. US production and wages are then depressed. Been going on for 35-40 years now. 
