The Economy is dying
- Thread starter ereuben
- Start date
It sucks - really. And I don't mean to be a downer. Just saying - let sentiment absorb all this now - high fuel prices, the 3rd largest free corporate and also best Asian economy facing natural disaster, budget - necessary - cuts domestically here ..... I'm going to say this knowing I may get beat up for this but we're going to see taxes rise once the dust settles republican or democrat at the helm in 2012. Seriously, put the partisan crap aside and the middle class v. middle class mainstream argument crap aside. we want to be competitive after we gut public spending (no private philanthropy will replace what we lose now) we're going to have to raise taxes. And before anyone whines. We are still the most optimistic and exciting country in the world ... but we're going to need to do more than the Clinton highest tax rates of the 90s if we want to rock on in the world. Gear up folks. Sorry to dump this but I'm just saying. I have no further comment, time will prove me wrong or right. I have always believed and remain of the belief that this is the greatest country in the world.
I think people expect too much, they raise the standards of profit too high and then fail. It happens in my buisness, ladies expect a certain quota and when it doesn't happen they get desperate and stoop to unsavory and sometimes dangerous buisness practices.
The key to success is not tricky, work hard, be honest, produce a good product or service and stay within your means.
The key to success is not tricky, work hard, be honest, produce a good product or service and stay within your means.
All things come to an end
Well folks take it from a guy who has been in financial services for a while, the Country is screeeeeewed. there is a lot of talk about a collapse of the dollar and a redistribution of wealth, well guess what checkmate the bankers have taken all the money. there are some interesting videos on the web giving keen insight on how to handle the comming crisis.. try www.maxkeiser.com there is a very intersting video of him interviewing micheal Bentacourt
Well folks take it from a guy who has been in financial services for a while, the Country is screeeeeewed. there is a lot of talk about a collapse of the dollar and a redistribution of wealth, well guess what checkmate the bankers have taken all the money. there are some interesting videos on the web giving keen insight on how to handle the comming crisis.. try www.maxkeiser.com there is a very intersting video of him interviewing micheal Bentacourt
Unless something major happens like a mid east conflict that totally screws the oil production... and with the way dictators are dropping like flies over there it seems likely.... the economy will get better. Not due to any policy or magic dust Obama sprinkles around... but because that's what the economy does after a downturn... it rebounds. It's been doing that along with the market for generations. Then again... a major war (a successful one) is usually best for turning an economy on a dime.
Problem is with all these known dictators falling we don't know what the unknown holds in store for us. And the way most of these revolutions have gone from the October revolution to Castro to the Mullahs to recent democracies like Hammas and Hezbollah in Gaza and Lenenon... we were always better off with the known than the unknown.
Problem is with all these known dictators falling we don't know what the unknown holds in store for us. And the way most of these revolutions have gone from the October revolution to Castro to the Mullahs to recent democracies like Hammas and Hezbollah in Gaza and Lenenon... we were always better off with the known than the unknown.
How bad is bad? Grapes of Wrath bad ? The Good Earth bad ? Soylent Green bad ?
I imagine how bad things could get....tens of thousands of people living in shantytowns, no fresh food, cannibalism, selling organs, begging for scraps, attractive people will survive by becoming a piece of furniture that is included with luxury apartments that the few remaining rich can afford...I would write more but you get the point.
I can write this with complete certainty that I will sooner take my life before being forced in a nightmare existence.
I imagine how bad things could get....tens of thousands of people living in shantytowns, no fresh food, cannibalism, selling organs, begging for scraps, attractive people will survive by becoming a piece of furniture that is included with luxury apartments that the few remaining rich can afford...I would write more but you get the point.
I can write this with complete certainty that I will sooner take my life before being forced in a nightmare existence.
You raise a good point Em. Many, if not most rhetorical questions state a so called truism without actually presenting the implicit comparison with any precision. For example, bad times are always followed by better ones. Well yes, but in a month, or perhaps a millennium (as was the case with the middle ages).
Did you see Earth 2100 on the History Channel?
It chronicles 100 years of the life of a woman named Lucy (deliberately named after the first humanoid I think) who was born in 2009. If you have not seen it I will not ruin the ending but I think it is as close as what the future will be over the next 100 years. I do suggest to hide the razor blades, it is not exactly uplifting entertainment.
It chronicles 100 years of the life of a woman named Lucy (deliberately named after the first humanoid I think) who was born in 2009. If you have not seen it I will not ruin the ending but I think it is as close as what the future will be over the next 100 years. I do suggest to hide the razor blades, it is not exactly uplifting entertainment.
1. Eliminate the middle east's significance by becoming energy self-sufficient by building nuclear reactors (get over your fears, new designs are safe).
2. Become isolationists again. (We were for many years - Monroe Doctrine)
3. RESTRICT immigration. Build walls and guard the wall. Also ... no muslims allowed in. Stay in your own world. You wouldn't like it here anyway. (PS .. This country was founded on Christian principles (whether you like it or not it is fact))
4. Start to operate within our budget.
5. eliminate most welfare. ONly help those in true need.
6. Raise the ceiling on annual contribution to social security. They stop taking money out of your pay once you hit approximately $90,000 a year. Bump that to $150,000 and it would more than likely fix the shortfall and believe me ... the people making that money won't complain if they even notice.
7. start REAL limitation on medical malpractice lawsuits. That is the root to our health insurance costs. There must be real sensible change that will reduce costs. The fact that i have to pay $1400 a month for health insurance is ridiculous.
I know rather simplistic and it will never happen. I wish some politician would have the balls to make some of this happen.
2. Become isolationists again. (We were for many years - Monroe Doctrine)
3. RESTRICT immigration. Build walls and guard the wall. Also ... no muslims allowed in. Stay in your own world. You wouldn't like it here anyway. (PS .. This country was founded on Christian principles (whether you like it or not it is fact))
4. Start to operate within our budget.
5. eliminate most welfare. ONly help those in true need.
6. Raise the ceiling on annual contribution to social security. They stop taking money out of your pay once you hit approximately $90,000 a year. Bump that to $150,000 and it would more than likely fix the shortfall and believe me ... the people making that money won't complain if they even notice.
7. start REAL limitation on medical malpractice lawsuits. That is the root to our health insurance costs. There must be real sensible change that will reduce costs. The fact that i have to pay $1400 a month for health insurance is ridiculous.
I know rather simplistic and it will never happen. I wish some politician would have the balls to make some of this happen.
forgot something
it may seem simplistic to you but many people believe this is th e way we have to go, i'm not one of them. the biggest part of the budget is the military. this is the biggest chunk of our tax money going to blow something up over "there'" ????? well we havent found Bin laden yet. wonder where he is??? shooting at taiban and dodging IED'S .. all while printing money that is backed not by Gold but the "full faith and credit of the good ol U.S.A."
Dammm
we're F@%ked Hard , up the ass no lube.
The sad part is that we dont even make shit here anymore. if we did we could have made some money rebuilding Japan. but once again China will do the honors. someone pass the Ky.
it may seem simplistic to you but many people believe this is th e way we have to go, i'm not one of them. the biggest part of the budget is the military. this is the biggest chunk of our tax money going to blow something up over "there'" ????? well we havent found Bin laden yet. wonder where he is??? shooting at taiban and dodging IED'S .. all while printing money that is backed not by Gold but the "full faith and credit of the good ol U.S.A."
Dammm
we're F@%ked Hard , up the ass no lube.
The sad part is that we dont even make shit here anymore. if we did we could have made some money rebuilding Japan. but once again China will do the honors. someone pass the Ky.
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The eventual goal will be to manufacture everything without any workers. There will be a digtal cable from autocad software running on a PC to a 3D fabricator. And with some help from robotics this will happen. Look at Wal Mart; the only US made goods come from molds that drop into boxes then straight into a shipping pallat. Items like cast iron cookware and cooking containers are made here in the USA within a factory that probably feels more like a warehouse.
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You can't cut the military as much as you would like. First of all ... Our military budget won the cold war without an actual war. We bankrupted the Soviet Union. Second of all ... you would be surprised to know that we are spending almost as much on welfare and unemployment and other entitlements as compared to defense. NOW DON'T GET ME WRONG ... as part of my plan we become isolationists again so we don't have to fund any wars or help any other country out so we will have cuts in national defense just from that.
HOWEVER ... cut the uneccesary welfare and straighten out our mess at home. With a strong economy, money spent on welfare and unemployment will decrease significantly.
Why are we still giving billions of dollars away to people that hate us? OK I get it we are the great USA and we are humanitarians. I would rather we fix our own mess before we clothe and educate the next muslim to fly a plane into a Manhattan skyscraper!
HOWEVER ... cut the uneccesary welfare and straighten out our mess at home. With a strong economy, money spent on welfare and unemployment will decrease significantly.
Why are we still giving billions of dollars away to people that hate us? OK I get it we are the great USA and we are humanitarians. I would rather we fix our own mess before we clothe and educate the next muslim to fly a plane into a Manhattan skyscraper!
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It depends if you count social as federal money. Leaving out social security (which is supposedly it's own pool of funds that the fed should not touch), then defense is over 50%, but that overestimates it because that includes veterans benefits (like health care). Budget cutting is never as simple as people want to believe, for example it often costs money to close military bases (initially), and some expenses are fixed, such as interest payments. Also,people don;t have a good handle on what these numbers are. For example most people think NASA is huge. It's under 1%.
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From RT.com (thre are other sources)
"Defense spending accounts for 58 percent of the discretionary pie, more than a trillion dollars a year all-in, or almost half of what the entire rest of the world spends combined. "
The other way to look at is is via algebra, and subtract social security from the whole, as it should not be viewed as federal revenue or as an expenditure, it is a benefit plan administered by the federal government. In any case there are a lot of programs that need cutting, though I am not one for eliminating social programs overall, I am in favor of cutting many until there is real pain, but where there is no single program to kill to fix these problems, there are many that I question.
For example: What does the federal department of education do, and how many people does it need to do it? Schools are administered on a local level, and funded via local taxes, so where is the Federal role? I'm not asking rhetorically either. If they are simply evaluating the efficacy of various programs, then maybe a staff of 20 clever people can get it done. Similarly for social programs. Perhaps it is possible to set up homeless shelters that are not dangerous? Should welfare provide anything more than 100 square feet of space and a toaster oven for each person? After all, it is right that people not fear the need to live under a bridge, but a fear of living at the lowers levels of the social ladder is a useful motivator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget
"Defense spending accounts for 58 percent of the discretionary pie, more than a trillion dollars a year all-in, or almost half of what the entire rest of the world spends combined. "
The other way to look at is is via algebra, and subtract social security from the whole, as it should not be viewed as federal revenue or as an expenditure, it is a benefit plan administered by the federal government. In any case there are a lot of programs that need cutting, though I am not one for eliminating social programs overall, I am in favor of cutting many until there is real pain, but where there is no single program to kill to fix these problems, there are many that I question.
For example: What does the federal department of education do, and how many people does it need to do it? Schools are administered on a local level, and funded via local taxes, so where is the Federal role? I'm not asking rhetorically either. If they are simply evaluating the efficacy of various programs, then maybe a staff of 20 clever people can get it done. Similarly for social programs. Perhaps it is possible to set up homeless shelters that are not dangerous? Should welfare provide anything more than 100 square feet of space and a toaster oven for each person? After all, it is right that people not fear the need to live under a bridge, but a fear of living at the lowers levels of the social ladder is a useful motivator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget
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The defense budget does need to be decreased. You would be shocked to know how much of that is going towards funding the wars in the middle east which we have to fight. If you took that out of the equation the numbers would be MUCH less. Reminds me of a story of when Clinton was in office (keep in mind I am a Republican Conservative). Sadam made an attempt to kill Bush 41. Nobody knew all the particulars but the secret service let CLinton know it was Sadam. .... Clinton who I think is a bright guy ... listens to suggestions ... what did he do? Put one single tomohawk missile in one of Sadam's palaces killing an adopted daughter I think or a step-child. A message was sent saying ... mess with us one more time YOU will get it. Sadam never got involved with us again or with terrorism. He was WAY too involved with his own fiefdom.
How much does one tomohawk cost? A whole heck of a lot less than 2 middle eastern wars.
By the way ... what happened to all this great stuff Obama was going to do for us. It's been a while and I haven't seen anything. I wish Chris Christy would run. There's a guy who looks like he could get things done. I love what he has been doing to get New Jersey's budget under control.
How much does one tomohawk cost? A whole heck of a lot less than 2 middle eastern wars.
By the way ... what happened to all this great stuff Obama was going to do for us. It's been a while and I haven't seen anything. I wish Chris Christy would run. There's a guy who looks like he could get things done. I love what he has been doing to get New Jersey's budget under control.