[o2ny]

Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. "Voodoo" economics.

[mmasters]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lee', 'O')ur money system is a faith based system.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Alpaca', 'A')s a result of deficit spending, you increase the likelyhood of inflation and a fall in the value of the US dollar, so when you go to "pay back" this investment, the government is able to use "cheaper" dollars. Reagan used these kind of pyramid schemes in the '80's. Things may have looked good at the time, but he racked up $3 Trillion in dept during his terms. (Just like spending on a giant credit card, and leaving the next guys to worry about the bill)

In a larger sense this is all about the conservatives (i.e republicans) consciously trying to bankrupt the government. Idiologically they believe that the role of government is to provide a military force and to create an economic environment to further enrich corporations and the wealthiest 1%. The way to do this is to "starve the beast" as they've been doing pretty successfully for the past 25 years (with a brief return to some fiscal sanity during Clinton's terms).

If the federal government spends much more than it takes in and goes so deeply into dept (as it now has), they can throw up their hands and say, "we have no money for all these 'descrescionary' spending and social welfare programs!!" That means no funding for education, healthcare, the environment, or any social safety net for the bottom 2/3rds of the population. Right now, the Pentagon and Defence budgets are bigger than everything in the rest of the Federal budget combined.
So, I guess the question becomes...growing US Deficit good for whom?

[nocar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f our money used gold or silver coins, it would not be "faith based" since gold and silver always have intrinsic value.

[Doly]

Gold and silver have about the same "intrinsic value" as precious stones. And are you aware that, since you can make synthetic rubies, the price of rubies has plummeted?
Gold and silver, being elements, would require some radioactive process to synthesize, and I can't see a cheap process in the foreseeable future - but I wouldn't be at all certain that they won't be as regularly synthesized as diamonds, rubies and zircons in, say, fifty years time.

[Kingcoal]

Economic growth is everything, period. As long as the world economy is growing, the dollar, the euro and most other currencies are safe. It tends to be chicken and egg, money is printed to stimulate economic growth and hopefully the world economy grows enough to absorb the extra money. I've noticed that a lot of time the argument centers around that practice. The more conservative economists would rather wait for results before printing more money. Pain is an essential element. The lower classes must constantly be starved slightly to make them keep working, producing value for the ruling classes. That pain is inflation, which depresses real wages, and the ever constant demand for more productivity. This system can be likened to a master whipping a slave, demanding he work ever harder. The more accomplished slaves often invent better ways of doing things and even new technologies, which are then exploited by the masters.

The ruling classes are simply the investors. That would include possibly your grandmother, Warren Buffet, me, you, etc. The working classes would include most of those under the age of 30 who have yet to enter into the world of investing.

[mmasters]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Alpaca', 'A')s a result of deficit spending, you increase the likelyhood of inflation and a fall in the value of the US dollar, so when you go to "pay back" this investment, the government is able to use "cheaper" dollars. Reagan used these kind of pyramid schemes in the '80's. Things may have looked good at the time, but he racked up $3 Trillion in dept during his terms. (Just like spending on a giant credit card, and leaving the next guys to worry about the bill)

In a larger sense this is all about the conservatives (i.e republicans) consciously trying to bankrupt the government. Idiologically they believe that the role of government is to provide a military force and to create an economic environment to further enrich corporations and the wealthiest 1%. The way to do this is to "starve the beast" as they've been doing pretty successfully for the past 25 years (with a brief return to some fiscal sanity during Clinton's terms).

If the federal government spends much more than it takes in and goes so deeply into dept (as it now has), they can throw up their hands and say, "we have no money for all these 'descrescionary' spending and social welfare programs!!" That means no funding for education, healthcare, the environment, or any social safety net for the bottom 2/3rds of the population. Right now, the Pentagon and Defence budgets are bigger than everything in the rest of the Federal budget combined.

So, I guess the question becomes...growing US Deficit good for whom?

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', 'E')conomic growth is everything, period. As long as the world economy is growing, the dollar, the euro and most other currencies are safe. It tends to be chicken and egg, money is printed to stimulate economic growth and hopefully the world economy grows enough to absorb the extra money. I've noticed that a lot of time the argument centers around that practice. The more conservative economists would rather wait for results before printing more money. Pain is an essential element. The lower classes must constantly be starved slightly to make them keep working, producing value for the ruling classes. That pain is inflation, which depresses real wages, and the ever constant demand for more productivity. This system can be likened to a master whipping a slave, demanding he work ever harder. The more accomplished slaves often invent better ways of doing things and even new technologies, which are then exploited by the masters.
The ruling classes are simply the investors. That would include possibly your grandmother, Warren Buffet, me, you, etc. The working classes would include most of those under the age of 30 who have yet to enter into the world of investing.

[lee]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f our money used gold or silver coins, it would not be "faith based" since gold and silver always have intrinsic value.

[Kingcoal]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', 'E')conomic growth is everything, period. As long as the world economy is growing, the dollar, the euro and most other currencies are safe. It tends to be chicken and egg, money is printed to stimulate economic growth and hopefully the world economy grows enough to absorb the extra money. I've noticed that a lot of time the argument centers around that practice. The more conservative economists would rather wait for results before printing more money. Pain is an essential element. The lower classes must constantly be starved slightly to make them keep working, producing value for the ruling classes. That pain is inflation, which depresses real wages, and the ever constant demand for more productivity. This system can be likened to a master whipping a slave, demanding he work ever harder. The more accomplished slaves often invent better ways of doing things and even new technologies, which are then exploited by the masters.
The ruling classes are simply the investors. That would include possibly your grandmother, Warren Buffet, me, you, etc. The working classes would include most of those under the age of 30 who have yet to enter into the world of investing.

[mmasters]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lee', 'I')f our money used gold or silver coins, it would not be "faith based" since gold and silver always have intrinsic value.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', 'E')conomic growth is everything, period. As long as the world economy is growing, the dollar, the euro and most other currencies are safe. It tends to be chicken and egg, money is printed to stimulate economic growth and hopefully the world economy grows enough to absorb the extra money. I've noticed that a lot of time the argument centers around that practice. The more conservative economists would rather wait for results before printing more money. Pain is an essential element. The lower classes must constantly be starved slightly to make them keep working, producing value for the ruling classes. That pain is inflation, which depresses real wages, and the ever constant demand for more productivity. This system can be likened to a master whipping a slave, demanding he work ever harder. The more accomplished slaves often invent better ways of doing things and even new technologies, which are then exploited by the masters.
The ruling classes are simply the investors. That would include possibly your grandmother, Warren Buffet, me, you, etc. The working classes would include most of those under the age of 30 who have yet to enter into the world of investing.

[lee]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mmasters', '1')) it's universally recognised and agreed upon (usually the hardest part)
2) it has an easy to define value.
3) hard if not impossible to fake/counterfiet.
4) the supply of it in the system is properly managed to avoid economic booms and busts

[mmasters]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lee', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mmasters', '1')) it's universally recognised and agreed upon (usually the hardest part)
2) it has an easy to define value.
3) hard if not impossible to fake/counterfiet.
4) the supply of it in the system is properly managed to avoid economic booms and busts

[Zardoz]

Your comments, please:

Housing bubble smack-down

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'i')f we compare our situation to what happened in Japan during the 1990s, we can expect that prices will continue to fall for years to come, perhaps, a decade or more. Many of the slower markets are already showing a decline of 10 percent to 20 percent. This is a trend that is likely to speed up dramatically in 2007 when $1 trillion in ARMs reset. That’s when we’ll begin to see a truly new phenomenon in the US, that is, people who’ve always been solid members of the middle class sliding downwards into the ranks of the working poor.

By 2008, if the present trend-lines persist, housing prices will probably drop to 25 percent to 30 percent of their 2005 value; diminishing equity value by approximately 45 percent to 50 percent for most homeowners.

[Atlantean_Relic]

You know I've come to the conculsion I want things to get shitty sooner rather than later. I don't want to get used to a new status quo when I'm in my 40's. I know that I can adapt to living in hell now, later I'm not so sure.

[Ingenuity_Gap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'T')hat's it. I'm calling my doctor Monday and begging for an anti-depressant prescription...

[TommyJefferson]

"Foreign investments are up $20 billion in one month? Are you kidding me?

So, the smart money is getting out of Dodge pronto; leaving the rest of us behind in a leaky canoe."

Good article Z.

[Armageddon]

2007 is looking more and more like the year it all starts happening. I dont think life as we know it will be the same in a few years from now. I also cant see the world keep letting the US consume 25% of the worlds energy much longer.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Atlantean_Relic', 'Y')ou know I've come to the conculsion I want things to get shitty sooner rather than later. I don't want to get used to a new status quo when I'm in my 40's. I know that I can adapt to living in hell now, later I'm not so sure.