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The Deindustrialization of America

Discussions about the economic and financial ramifications of PEAK OIL

Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Xenophobe » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 01:01:35

I agree. While I assume China becomes an interesting counterbalance to the US, I also give them the entire century to do it. Right now...it still isn't fair, and pretending they are going to go leapfrogging by tomorrow afternoon...nah...doesn't work for me.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby SeaGypsy » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 07:45:22

The complete lack of willingness towards austerity does not bode well for slowing either China's rise or the US' demise.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Cloud9 » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 10:00:53

Read Sun-tzu The Art of War. There is a good translation by Ralph Sawyer. That will help you gain some insight into what we are up against. To assume that we do not face a real danger of being surpassed by the Chinese is hubris.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby SeaGypsy » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 11:34:32

You don't need to tell a Chinaman to read Sun-Tzu.

Their morale is huge right now. Even though you can feel and see austerity kicking in around Asia, the humm of China grows in the region as the world, only louder. The Chinese mood is optimistic on the edge of boistrous; they feel this century is theirs and they are busily trying to make it so.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')omplete triumph strategy: subduing the enemy's troops without any fighting. This thinking is very much recommended by modern western strategist. The so-called "subduing the enemy's troops without any fighting" is realized while two armies pit against each other, it is actually a kind of deterrent strategy;

Strategy of combing deterrent with attack: by diplomacy, dividing and disintegrating the enemy, consolidating and expanding our own alliance, so as to isolate the enemy and cut off the enemy from their relief troops, to ultimately subdue the enemy;

Strategy of winning a first victory: he who is well prepared will be victorious;

Deception strategy: attacking him where he is unprepared, appearing where you are not expected;

Strategy of striving for seizing the initiative;

Strategy of turning disadvantages into advantages;

Speedy victory strategy: launching a speedy and sudden attack;

Strategy of victory with ease: attacking the enemy's weak points;

Certain victory strategy: we can concentrate our forces, while the enemy's must be divided, hence we shall be able to use many to attack the enemy's few, and attack an inferior force with a superior one;

Strategy of psychological combat. Avoiding strength: first, avoiding the enemy for the time being when he is strong and striking the enemy when he is tired; second, disintegrating the enemy's morale to shake the army's morale. Psychological attack: seizing the hearts of the enemy's generals, disordering and controlling their thinking, so as to make them in disorder.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby nobodypanic » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 13:49:14

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')yet, i can assure you that there are millions of people that are seriously hurting. just because you have a job and make enough money to scoff at the difference between 2 or 3 dollar gas doesn't mean jack - for some people that's the difference between eating, paying rent, and bankruptcy.


People were hurting when peak oil was declared...in 1919. People are ALWAYS hurting, somewhere, for some reason. Buggy whip manufacturers undoubtedly predicted Doom more than a century ago...why? Because suddenly the invention of cars meant less business, so it was time to evolve, or die. Apply this example across many industries and disciplines, throw in a decent recession, and I completely agree that things are tough.

Just like they have been before. Those of us who lived through the 1979 peak oil and the attendant Jimmy induced economic effects were also suffering. Suffering builds character and experience with the way the world works. I will bet that fewer people will treat their homes like an ATM in the future. Fair bet, or reasonable prediction do you think? I will bet that fewer people will dare "drive till they qualify" if their budget is truly so tight that they can't withstand a $50/month increase in their fuel budget. As though that was more significant than their mortgage resetting $800/month higher. Which do you honestly think was the REAL cause of their economic duress?

so everyone that's getting crushed has or had an ARM mortgage? seriously? look, there are plenty of people who have fixed mortgages that are getting hurt, or people that simply rent. people shoved into your wonderful service economy are extremely sensitive to gasoline price fluctuations, right now, not circa '07 or '08, right now, minus any sort of mortgage.

and hand-waving away that unemployment spike with, 'well there's always people that are suffering,' is something only a smug, spoiled still employed member of the middle class could do - it's the bourgeois equivalent of 'let them eat cake!'

as i said, i understand your frustration in the face of the eternal drumbeat of 'there will be mad-max and zombies over-night,' but , man, you're running nearly as crazy in the other direction.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby rangerone314 » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 14:49:15

Americans like to think that they are special but they are not. They are just another variation of the species that is half-a-step away from poop-throwing monkey. And even if past American generations were special, there is nothing to indicate this is true of present generations, especially ones like the baby boomers who seem to think they are entitled to much more than any generation that either preceeded or comes after them. It is like when you have a football team that was great once decades ago, and now they suck... they play in the same stadium and wear the same uniform but it is different players playing, which is why they suck.

America rose up like Rome in similar ways, in fact had more advantages. Rome really faced one worthy opponent truly capable of ending it, early on (Carthage) just like America (British Empire). They fought 3 wars, we fought 2. (Some how I don't think America could have won a 3rd resulting in American soldiers symbolically sowing salt into the soil of London) Once those opponents were beaten, it was pretty much a romp against really weak enemies. Rome was partially isolated by distance from the most dangerous enemies for a while (Asia would be the main threat)... America just had to contend with Mexico and weak tribes, having the Atlantic Ocean as protection.

Our democratic system was so successful that it resulted in a bloody Civil War resulting in fun stuff such as burning down Atlanta. Notice echoes of Atlanta in Waco, Ruby Ridge, the Bonus Army (1932) and Homeland Security feeling up old ladies. The government and the top 1%ers have only contempt for the rest of Americans: we are just cows to be milked and beaten down or cattle-prodded when we moo too loud.

We had a good run at being a world power because all of the competent cultures (ones which would normally possess more staying power) were mostly bombed out after WWII, and we had a head start over the rest. We set up a nice economic system with the dollar to benefit us, etc. In 1970s with US importing more oil (as US oil production peaked), we see Pres. Nixon dissing gold, and Reagan in the 1980s kicking off the truly large deficit spending (borrowing from the future prosperity to maintain the illusion of a power the US possessed after WWII).

Borrowing from the future is a nice trick, keeps the cows happy enough from mooing too loud without having to use clubs, and the elites get their milk. We live in a culture where the leaders (and the cows under them) could choose between being the ant and being the grasshopper, and they have chosen to be the grasshopper. Well we got a nice Kondratiev winter and also in the future the US credit card strategy will fail after hyperinflation sets in and interest rates go up.

Countries that will prevail will do so because they are the ant that stores food for the winter, not the grasshopper that parties like its 1999.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Xenophobe » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 15:58:28

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', ' ')I will bet that fewer people will dare "drive till they qualify" if their budget is truly so tight that they can't withstand a $50/month increase in their fuel budget. As though that was more significant than their mortgage resetting $800/month higher. Which do you honestly think was the REAL cause of their economic duress?

so everyone that's getting crushed has or had an ARM mortgage? seriously?


You can't say "everyone" because undoubtedly not EVERYONE has the same root cause for their economic circumstances. But certainly there is far less dispute that we had a housing/finance crisis, and this had very little to do with some much smaller increase in commuting costs for Americans. Particularly when 50% of their gasoline use is discretionary.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')look, there are plenty of people who have fixed mortgages that are getting hurt, or people that simply rent. people shoved into your wonderful service economy are extremely sensitive to gasoline price fluctuations, right now, not circa '07 or '08, right now, minus any sort of mortgage.


Define "extremely sensitive to gasoline price fluctuations" please. A majority of Americans drive less than 40 miles a day. A majority of Americans don't drive monster trucks, and require what, a gallon or two of gasoline a day? Median income in America is $30G's a year? Are you seriously suggesting that an extra $1 or $2 a day is crippling to someone making $80/day? Seriously? And when they choose to drive half as much and pay the same old same old, you suggest then that same old same old is crippling?

I don't buy it, the numbers simply don't add up.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')and hand-waving away that unemployment spike with, 'well there's always people that are suffering,' is something only a smug, spoiled still employed member of the middle class could do - it's the bourgeois equivalent of 'let them eat cake!'


You might consider it smug, I consider it a fact. Go back to 2005 during the Boom times. Guess what? People were suffering then as well,Deleted. Stop picking fights

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')as i said, i understand your frustration in the face of the eternal drumbeat of 'there will be mad-max and zombies over-night,' but , man, you're running nearly as crazy in the other direction.


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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Xenophobe » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 16:20:40

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'A')mericans like to think that they are special but they are not. They are just another variation of the species that is half-a-step away from poop-throwing monkey. And even if past American generations were special, there is nothing to indicate this is true of present generations, especially ones like the baby boomers who seem to think they are entitled to much more than any generation that either preceeded or comes after them. It is like when you have a football team that was great once decades ago, and now they suck... they play in the same stadium and wear the same uniform but it is different players playing, which is why they suck.


Interesting observation. Here is a different one: In one country resides the worlds largest economy, the world's largest manufacturing powerhouse, the most powerful military machine the world has ever seen, the only country which has deposited its citizens on its moon, and installed an electrically powered transportation system on the next planet over, a single country which underpins multiple international treaty organizations and by its very presence can be seen as a stabilizing influence.

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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby rangerone314 » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 17:26:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'A')mericans like to think that they are special but they are not. They are just another variation of the species that is half-a-step away from poop-throwing monkey. And even if past American generations were special, there is nothing to indicate this is true of present generations, especially ones like the baby boomers who seem to think they are entitled to much more than any generation that either preceeded or comes after them. It is like when you have a football team that was great once decades ago, and now they suck... they play in the same stadium and wear the same uniform but it is different players playing, which is why they suck.

Interesting observation. Here is a different one: In one country resides the worlds largest economy, the world's largest manufacturing powerhouse, the most powerful military machine the world has ever seen, the only country which has deposited its citizens on its moon, and installed an electrically powered transportation system on the next planet over, a single country which underpins multiple international treaty organizations and by its very presence can be seen as a stabilizing influence.
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Largest economy, to be overtaken by China by 2020. Most powerful military: we spend 46% of the Earth's military budget. Given the struggles with horseback-riding rabble with towels on their heads, I hope we are getting our money's worth. And those expensive carriers we send to Taiwan whenever there is tension: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-270_Moskit. Going to end up being like the Yankees: overpaid and NOT winning the World Series.

Wow, we went to the moon. (A colossal waste of money and resources, even when we had the money and resources to waste). Haven't done much with the moon since then, huh? Multiple international treaty organizations: an attempt to have an American version of Athen's Delian League (funny how arrogance tends to cause you to get bitten in the a$$). I wonder what will be America's Syracuse? (Probably be Iran) Stabilizing influence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d'%C3%A9tat. Ooops I guess Operation Ajax in Iran HAS come back to bit us in the @$$.

If the US goes to Mars, it will probably be on a Chinese rocket, with someone like Snooki from Jersey Shore being passed around the Chinese astronauts like the village bicycle.
An ideology is by definition not a search for TRUTH-but a search for PROOF that its point of view is right

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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Xenophobe » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 17:48:04

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')Largest economy, to be overtaken by China by 2020.


It is unreasonable to base theories on unproven facts. Demand was supposed to overwhelm supply in peak oil..instead we discovered that people can do without extra crude easily. Japan Inc, remember that one? Didn't happen either. 1000 Year Reich? Another dude.

We can afford to wait and see.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')Most powerful military: we spend 46% of the Earth's military budget. Given the struggles with horseback-riding rabble with towels on their heads, I hope we are getting our money's worth.


Struggles? We took over a country the Russians couldn't in a matter of weeks, from the other side of the planet, whereas the Soviet Union bordered the country. We could do it the old fashioned way, but then the same people who confuse people hiding in caves as "struggles" would say how unreasonable killing everyone to get those last 100 people is.

The point being, the only other superpower the world has ever known failed, where the hyperpower of the US succeeded in weeks.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314"
Wow, we went to the moon. (A colossal waste of money and resources, even when we had the money and resources to waste).
[/quote]

Ever use a microwave? Consider it a waste? I sure don't.

[quote="rangerone314', '
') Haven't done much with the moon since then, huh?


No need. Besides, we moved on to Mars. Installed a transportation system, and sent in our exploration miners. Name a country besides the United States which have ever used solar powered mineral prospectors on another planet. Just one, should be easy, us all being the same monkeys, and us Americans being nothing special.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')If the US goes to Mars, it will probably be on a Chinese rocket, with someone like Snooki from Jersey Shore being passed around the Chinese astronauts like the village bicycle.


Could be. I have no doubt the Chinese are going to grow, and do great things. Considering their culture had more than a multiple century head start over America, how did we ever get ahead of them? Maybe Americans really are special?
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby rangerone314 » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 17:57:11

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', '
')No need. Besides, we moved on to Mars. Installed a transportation system, and sent in our exploration miners. Name a country besides the United States which have ever used solar powered mineral prospectors on another planet. Just one, should be easy, us all being the same monkeys, and us Americans being nothing special.

Transportation system? That is kind of overstating the case. Especially considering our own transportation systems and infrastructure is rotting,
and has not kept up with increase in traffic.

I'll put good money on China overtaking the US economy before the US sends astronauts to Mars.

Countries that are wiser than the us don't do the useless-waste-of-money things that we do. Funny, that $14 trillion debt.

I try to imagine what would have happened if Reagan, Bush, Clinton and on had dedicated a sincere effort to getting us off of oil, but it is just depressing.

Our political system is currently incapable of producing great leaders and only produces posturing clowns: witness George W. Bush and Obama.

Our economic system is incapable of producing results that will prevent the terminal decline of the Middle Class (at the expense of the elites in this country and the 3rd world)

You could argue that I lack the coordination to juggle flaming daggers, but I would argue I lack the stupidity to learn such a useless skill. Ditto on producing "exploration miners". Its not like if something was found, we'd be able to do a full-scale mining operation. Expecting dilithium crystals.?

At least they didn't have the thing crawling over the "face" on Mars, although maybe they could have made a buck or two airing it as reality TV.
An ideology is by definition not a search for TRUTH-but a search for PROOF that its point of view is right

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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Xenophobe » Sat 08 Jan 2011, 18:32:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', '
')No need. Besides, we moved on to Mars. Installed a transportation system, and sent in our exploration miners. Name a country besides the United States which have ever used solar powered mineral prospectors on another planet. Just one, should be easy, us all being the same monkeys, and us Americans being nothing special.

Transportation system? That is kind of overstating the case. Especially considering our own transportation systems and infrastructure is rotting,
and has not kept up with increase in traffic.


Maybe that sentence would work better if it was phrased, "and has not kept up with increases in traffic because TPTB want people to move on to the next generation transport so will make the OLD transport systems irritating on purpose".

Besides, last time I drove through Montana the roads were fine, and there wasn't much traffic around. Why cater to the city folk? They can ride the bus.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangeone314', '
')I'll put good money on China overtaking the US economy before the US sends astronauts to Mars.


Maybe. Again, predicting the future is tricky. The Chinese may all decide, way before us Americans do, to stop destroying their environment, develop backyard gardens and specialize in existential thought and staring into their navel's, and cease growth altogether.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')Countries that are wiser than the us don't do the useless-waste-of-money things that we do. Funny, that $14 trillion debt.


Thats just a big number. We have the worlds largest economy as well. Americans, being special, do all sorts of things big.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')I try to imagine what would have happened if Reagan, Bush, Clinton and on had dedicated a sincere effort to getting us off of oil, but it is just depressing.

In 1978 the US consumed some 18.5 million barrels a day of crude. In 2009, the US consumed some 18.5 million barrels a day of crude. America grew by about 75 million people in population in that time, and added at least that many cars.

Our per capita crude use is CRASHING. Seems like a good start for getting off oil to me, and credit could be given to Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')Our economic system is incapable of producing results that will prevent the terminal decline of the Middle Class (at the expense of the elites in this country and the 3rd world)


Our Middle Class should stop causing themselves angst by being fiscally irresponsible, buying more cars than they need, more house than they can afford, not saving any money for retirement, commuting huge distances to get that huge house they can't afford, being surprised when the commodity they depend on increases in price (even though it has been for 40 years) and in general pretending to be the victim every time they are bitten in the ass by their own personal irresponsibility.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')Ditto on producing "exploration miners". Its not like if something was found, we'd be able to do a full-scale mining operation. Expecting dilithium crystals.?


I just want the normal stuff. In 1900, Ghawar was as far away as mining the moon and asteroid belt is now. Okay....Ghawar was farther, we've already got miners to Mars to poke around, in 1900 we couldn't even do that with Ghawar. A macro perspective is not required, but it does come in handy when trying to view these big picture ideas.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby rangerone314 » Sun 09 Jan 2011, 04:40:16

Lets examine those statistics closer, 1978 and then 2007 (since the economy wasn't being obliterated then).
Year--Trans--Indu--Res&Com---EleUtil---TOTAL---POP
1978--9.80---4.87----2.07-------1.75------18.48----222.585
2007-13.90--5.12-----1.03-------0.29------20.34---301,140

Population increased 35%.
Transportation usage of oil increased 42% (despite gains in fuel efficiency technology)

Decrease in Residential & Commercial & Electric Utilities can be explained by substitution (not quite as easy to do with transportation sector which uses liquid fuel, PLUS ability of those 2 sectors to shrink usage further is limited)

Lackluster increase in Industry usage (5%) can be explained by our outsourcing petroleum usage to China to do our manufacturing for us.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Xenophobe » Sun 09 Jan 2011, 12:00:56

Recessions aren't "economy being obliterated", and your timeframes want to include a bubble which we all knew wasn't real. Thats not the year you use, 2009 is, when a more normal behavior pattern was visible.

Fortunately, America has been demonstrating for decades that it can be done. This is a good thing.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby rangerone314 » Mon 10 Jan 2011, 02:16:09

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', 'R')ecessions aren't "economy being obliterated", and your timeframes want to include a bubble which we all knew wasn't real. Thats not the year you use, 2009 is, when a more normal behavior pattern was visible.

Fortunately, America has been demonstrating for decades that it can be done. This is a good thing.

"Normal".

Foreclosures, real unemployment about 16%. Yup.

I hesitate to point out that the first bubble was the "tech bubble", followed by the "housing bubble" (The Greenspan put). Now we have sovereign debt bubble.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby nobodypanic » Tue 11 Jan 2011, 21:51:28

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', ' ')I will bet that fewer people will dare "drive till they qualify" if their budget is truly so tight that they can't withstand a $50/month increase in their fuel budget. As though that was more significant than their mortgage resetting $800/month higher. Which do you honestly think was the REAL cause of their economic duress?

so everyone that's getting crushed has or had an ARM mortgage? seriously?


You can't say "everyone" because undoubtedly not EVERYONE has the same root cause for their economic circumstances. But certainly there is far less dispute that we had a housing/finance crisis, and this had very little to do with some much smaller increase in commuting costs for Americans. Particularly when 50% of their gasoline use is discretionary.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')look, there are plenty of people who have fixed mortgages that are getting hurt, or people that simply rent. people shoved into your wonderful service economy are extremely sensitive to gasoline price fluctuations, right now, not circa '07 or '08, right now, minus any sort of mortgage.


Define "extremely sensitive to gasoline price fluctuations" please. A majority of Americans drive less than 40 miles a day. A majority of Americans don't drive monster trucks, and require what, a gallon or two of gasoline a day? Median income in America is $30G's a year? Are you seriously suggesting that an extra $1 or $2 a day is crippling to someone making $80/day? Seriously? And when they choose to drive half as much and pay the same old same old, you suggest then that same old same old is crippling?

I don't buy it, the numbers simply don't add up.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')and hand-waving away that unemployment spike with, 'well there's always people that are suffering,' is something only a smug, spoiled still employed member of the middle class could do - it's the bourgeois equivalent of 'let them eat cake!'


You might consider it smug, I consider it a fact. Go back to 2005 during the Boom times. Guess what? People were suffering then as well,Deleted. Stop picking fights

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')as i said, i understand your frustration in the face of the eternal drumbeat of 'there will be mad-max and zombies over-night,' but , man, you're running nearly as crazy in the other direction.

deleted
a few points:

1. you should note that i said, 'those shoved into your retail economy.' are you seriously going to tell me that the median income for people working at walmart, target, et al. is anywhere close to 30k?

2. a median population income of 30k implies that half of americans make less than 30k a year. less my man. and of course we're talking gross, not net. so when we start taking out taxes, auto insurance, medical insurance (a killer), rent or mortgage, groceries, utilities and so forth, we're dealing with a lot of people who have things stretched to the breaking (even granting your 80$ a day).

3. define 'sensitive': can't pay your electric bill in full; have to cut back on groceries, can't make that credit card payment (or other loan) any more - the list of possibilities is fairly extensive.

catabolic collapse doesn't just occur to societies, it applies to individual lives as well. those on the margins (and there are many), simply don't have the financial flexibility to be able to adjust to small changes in the demand placed on their finances: they have stretched their resources to the limit in an attempt to hang on to the meager life they have (their BAU), and, for example, a change of as little as $50 a month can tip things into the next lower state, which for those with very little, can be tragic.

take the middle-class colored glasses off and try and see it from the perspective of those millions flirting with the poverty level.
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Xenophobe » Tue 11 Jan 2011, 23:08:29

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')a few points:

1. you should note that i said, 'those shoved into your retail economy.' are you seriously going to tell me that the median income for people working at walmart, target, et al. is anywhere close to 30k?


I don't know what the median wage is for that type of retail. I also don't know that it matters. If, upon the destruction of a bubble dependent real estate position, the only skills you have left are suitable for stocking shelves, then that is what you get. I recommend not planning out a lifestyle dependent on bubble jobs, or being the absolute best at those bubble jobs so when the bubble deflates, you are one of the outstanding few still surviving.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobody panic', '
')2. a median population income of 30k implies that half of americans make less than 30k a year. less my man. and of course we're talking gross, not net. so when we start taking out taxes, auto insurance, medical insurance (a killer), rent or mortgage, groceries, utilities and so forth, we're dealing with a lot of people who have things stretched to the breaking (even granting your 80$ a day).


I would recommend spending less. Or making more. Or a combination of the two. Fortunately, pulling oneself up by ones bootstraps is a time honored American tradition, even if the decades of growth we've had means that many young people never had the opportunity to learn the basics of why being really, really good at what you do, and being an employee someone WANTS to have, rather than HAS to have, is a good thing.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobody panic', '
')3. define 'sensitive': can't pay your electric bill in full; have to cut back on groceries, can't make that credit card payment (or other loan) any more - the list of possibilities is fairly extensive.


Depends on your Starbucks budget. Cable TV. Everything which ISN'T related to surviving. For me, it used to be peanut butter and saltines. I bet youngsters aren't even familiar with lean years, having never seen them before.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobody panic', '
')take the middle-class colored glasses off and try and see it from the perspective of those millions flirting with the poverty level.


versus the millions who were at that level even before the recession came along? Some people seem to insist that the most recent suffering happened only recently, I have news, people were on foodstamps, and on the edge, even during the boom times. The world just works that way, sure it is unfortunate. My recommendation is the bootstrap approach. Maybe a lucky break? Maybe leaving off the dope and body art? A decent college degree? Etc etc?
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby rangerone314 » Wed 12 Jan 2011, 08:52:22

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', 'S')truggles? We took over a country the Russians couldn't in a matter of weeks, from the other side of the planet, whereas the Soviet Union bordered the country. We could do it the old fashioned way, but then the same people who confuse people hiding in caves as "struggles" would say how unreasonable killing everyone to get those last 100 people is.

The point being, the only other superpower the world has ever known failed, where the hyperpower of the US succeeded in weeks.

It took the Russians 3 days from landing the first troops in Kabul, to secure the presidential palace and other government buildings and kill Afghan president Hafizullah Amin.

The rest was a campaign against insurgents, which I might add the US is still fighting (and from which the Russians at least had the sense to finally leave)

Afghanistan is called the Graveyard of Empires for a reason.
An ideology is by definition not a search for TRUTH-but a search for PROOF that its point of view is right

Equals barter and negotiate-people with power just take

You cant defend freedom by eliminating it-unknown

Our elected reps should wear sponsor patches on their suits so we know who they represent-like Nascar-Roy
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Re: The Deindustrialization of America

Postby Daniel_Plainview » Wed 12 Jan 2011, 19:53:43

Who needs mfgr jobs when we have temp, leisure and retail "jobs". ... "In 2010, the BLS reports that the economy added 1.12 million jobs. Almost 60% of these jobs are in one of three relatively low-paying areas—temporary employment (308,000), leisure & hospitality (240,000), and retail trade (116,000)." "America has lost 10.5 million full time jobs, offset by a 2.8 million increase in part time jobs" and that "the US not only lost 478k seasonally adjusted full time workers in November but has lost full time jobs for 6 months in a row, for a total of 1.6 million job losses!"

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