patrick.net

gbenson says

but during WWII the debt to GDP was considerably higher than it is now, so historically speaking, we could spend our way out of the current economic situation and not be in dire straights.

You are forgetting about state, local, and personal debt as well as unfunded liabililties none of which existed during WWII.

Clinton's budget worked fine during the dot.com boom with oil at $10.00 a barrel, but won't work during the housing bust with oil at $100.00 a barrel.

gbenson says

during WWII the debt to GDP was considerably higher than it is now, so historically speaking, we could spend our way out of the current economic situation and not be in dire straights

Before was different.
Right after WWII U.S. was a “Power House”, having 90% of word production output. Rest the world economy was simply destroyed.

BMWMan,

I pretty much agree with everything you said...except this:

"GROWTH in anything, over time, is an exponential curve"

You can have continued growth forever and it's not necessarily exponential. If GDP grows by a dollar a year, it's not exponential...it's only when the amount of growth is proportional to the whole.. (2% annual GDP growth, or even 0.001%)

It's clear, though, that our system that "requires" exponential growth isn't sustainable. Not as obvious that it can't keep going for the rest of my life, though I don't count on it.

Americans that say government debt doesn't matter need to be tarred and feathered in the Public Square before these immoral scum bags destroy our country for good!

REpro says

With so low wages whose is going to buy houses from baby boomers?

NO ONE is going to buy anything from anyone (that is the reality THEY don't want anyone to realise) that's my take.

moonmac says

Americans that say government debt doesn't matter need to be tarred and feathered in the Public Square before these immoral scum bags destroy our country for good!

Oh man, thats CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN mister.

The comments are fascinating. Nothing has changed.

>> but during WWII the debt to GDP was considerably
>> higher than it is now, so historically speaking

That is flat false. Our debt vs. GDP is now higher than ever
before in history. Look at the data. And our GDP is a joke now.
The GDP number includes GOV SPENDING - that is an expense!!!
That is overhead, not revenue. Gov stats are rubbish.

>> we could spend our way out of the current economic situation
>> and not be in dire straights.

Are you brain dead? Does that make any sense to you?
In what Universe? "Spend our way out" ????????????

Let me pose a simple question:
Let's say there are 2 people: one saves all his money, and one spends all his money. Which one goes broke, and which one gets rich?
The answer is obvious to anyone with a lick of common sense.

Do you understand Demographics?
Who spends more and pays more taxes:
- someone age 30-50
- someone age 50-70

There is no growth possible now. Only contraction.
The tide is going out. Employment has been falling since 2000,
and real personal income has been falling for nearly 20 years.

Wow, the mentality of the public is truly scary.
We are in a whole lot of trouble.

moonmac says

Americans that say government debt doesn't matter need to be tarred and feathered in the Public Square before these immoral scum bags destroy our country for good!

Dick Cheney; http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_09/remember_deficits_dont_matter032197.php

The future is pretty bleak for the USA, no question. Our political system is completely dysfunctional and the extremists have taken over both major parties. Our whole suburban living arrangement assumes $20/bbl oil. Our population is aging. We have massive debt which will require currency devaluation and inflation. Our culture considers nothing sacred beyond wealth, money, power, and pleasure: if the next generation must be sacrificed on that altar then so be it.

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

That's right. Billionaire Chindians are going to move in to watch white people starve, kill and eat each other, while they laugh and drink Pabst on their front porches, serene with the knowledge that America is the best of all possible places to raise their families.

There will be lots of openings for au pairs in the fortress neighborhoods, to escape cannibal anarchy.

freak80 says

Our culture considers nothing sacred beyond wealth, money, power, and pleasure: if the next generation must be sacrificed on that altar then so be it.

It is still more humane that soviet gulags aka abortion factories for the living!

Raw says

Surely you did not expect $100.00 per hour jobs for someone with no skills?

I didn't, but all the RE agents and HELOC Ponzis did. And now they are expecting house prices to go back to the bubble-high levels.

Ruki says

Ceffer says

There will be lots of openings for au pairs in the fortress neighborhoods, to escape cannibal anarchy.

As long as they look like this, I'm game:

Romney Is Only Going To Win Because Obama Fucked Up

Dennis, first you need a girlfriend(blind date?). Then somehow you have to convince her to marry you (not the hardest part). Then you have to convince her to have sex with you (harder part) and have children with you (impossible?).

Then you get to write(fantasize) about having an au pair.

freak80 says

We have massive debt which will require currency devaluation and inflation.

Currency devaluation and inflation cannot be done by US only. That will create too much imbalance. Only when bankers around the world sniff each other, be willing and ready, and then it'll happen. Sure, so many countries will benefit with that.

Now,that is what has reduced UE rate from 8.3% to 8.1%? Let me get this right,if we push the mortgage rate to 0.01%,can a low wage earner afford a $1 million mortgage? ...yes? no?

The answer is: No.
Debt to Income will be exorbitant. Ultimately he/she be in very high risk to quit paying down this huge mortgage anytime.

REpro says

he/she

s/he is the most efficient way to write it.

on a side note, anyone who takes headline statistics at its face value is a dumbass. granular data, along with the headline stats, is the meaningful approach. unfortunately, most of America is full of dumbasses.

Call it Crazy says

....""The recovery continues to be skewed toward low-wage jobs, reinforcing the rise in inequality and America's deficit of good jobs," said Annette Bernhardt, NELP's policy co-director. "While there's understandably a lot of focus on getting employment back to pre-recession levels, the quality of jobs is rapidly emerging as a second front in the struggling recovery."

...that is change you CAN believe in baby.

Ruki says

Ceffer says

There will be lots of openings for au pairs in the fortress neighborhoods, to escape cannibal anarchy.

As long as they look like this, I'm game:

Romney Is Only Going To Win Because Obama Fucked Up

The reality I have seen is that most of these babysitters (and that is ALL they are to me) are third world people of questionable origin and background.

freak80 says

Our culture considers nothing sacred beyond wealth, money, power, and pleasure:

But it's all fantasy this sacred view of so-called "riches" that is a large reason why social media is popular amongst an ignorant mass public. Social media and games fuel fantasy ...sick but true. The depressed aspirational moron can waste hours on end hitting "Like" buttons for things they are never ever going to be able to purchase, and in that way they satisfy a need to be part of that world without really being a part of it.

It is all mass mind control.

REpro says

With so low wages whose is going to buy houses from baby boomers?

Oh that is something they do NOT want you to figure out.

Ruki says

But no matter what, just don't think that suddenly the middle class over here will get any relief as a result.

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN

ne5534 says

The tide is going out.

NAFTA? CLINTON

1996 Agreement between the US and Mexican setting a minimum price on vegetables? CLINTON

Result? "Brown claims that the minimum price agreement is not enforced, and that the minimum price has not been raised in 16 years, while the cost of producing the crop in the U.S. has doubled." Source:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/09/06/fla-tomato-growers-we-may-be-out-of-business-in-ten-years/

REpro says

Raw says

Surely you did not expect $100.00 per hour jobs for someone with no skills?

Well, you don’t see the problem. More and more educated people, especially among new graduates the only option is a $9/Hr. job. Recently Bernanke admitted this saying: “It’s a waste of people talent”. They for sure feel to be cheated by the system.

Only if they buy into Obama's view that government has to provide and guarantee this and that. Which ignores that it's the pursuit of happiness that's guaranteed, not happiness (or a job, or a good-paying job).

Raw says

If you are uneducated you will be poor, and low paying jobs is all you will get.

I hate to inform you most college graduates are getting the low paying jobs.

And don't ignorantly presume someone without a so-called formal degree has no skills because I know men (and women) without a piece of paper that could run rings around 99% of current so-called college graduates.

Republican voters: This is what 30 years of conservative dominance gets you.

I hope those who vote republican continue to lose jobs and houses.

Reader says

Raw says

If you are uneducated you will be poor, and low paying jobs is all you will get.

I hate to inform you most college graduates are getting the low paying jobs.

And don't ignorantly presume someone without a so-called formal degree has no skills because I know men (and women) without a piece of paper that could run rings around 99% of current so-called college graduates.

Reader

We have guys at work without degrees who run rings around those of us who have them.

We also have people with BSEEs, BSCSs and MBAs who run rings around all of us. Those are the guys for whom we work.

Has any of this ever been any different?

CrankyLiberal says

Republican voters: This is what 30 years of conservative dominance gets you.

I hope those who vote republican continue to lose jobs and houses.

I've been a Republican since the womb. I've never lost a house or car to the repo man. I attended a state university. My wife attended a state university. We aren't rich but we're making more money than we've ever made in our lives.

What's it to ya?

Reader says

NAFTA? CLINTON

Mexicans snap up ‘Made in U.S.A’

Trade between the United States and Mexico is surging, up 17 percent in 2011 to a record $461 billion, as Mexico vies with China to become America’s second-largest trading partner after Canada.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/middle-class-mexicans-snap-up-more-products-made-in-usa/2012/09/09/27c9d1b4-f212-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html

rootvg says

We aren't rich but we're making more money than we've ever made in our lives.

So you are better off than you were four years ago.

http://economywatch.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/18/13939069-the-47-percent-heres-who-pays-no-federal-income-tax?lite

That 47% are considered poor already.
Let’s consider one example of cost of outsourcing: A man use to make $50K per year as a factory machinist. Factory gets closed and production was moved abroad. For the next 10 years he is out of luck to find a replacement job. Some economists say that cheap outsourcing reduces costs of goods sold in stores. Now a man lost 500K earnings over 10 year’s period. His purchasing power went down dramatically, he pay no taxes to gov., yet apply for federal support. How much he saved on cheaper Chines goods over that time? How much local economy lost?