DailyKos Shadow Government Statistics -- China's trade surplus for 2005 was $102 billion, three times what it was for 2004, and China also happens to hold some $800 billion US dollars in it's reserves. While not wishing to devalue the dollar and subsequently it's own reserves, China has been moving slowly and quietly away from the US dollar and onto other currencies. Throw in the Iranian bourse and the switch from the petro-dollar to the petro-euro and there is trouble ahead. This article is enlightening, if a little melancholic, on the state of America as seen by one American abroad. Pensions are evaporating before the eyes and much of what used to be middle class America is gradually and little by little, tightening it's belt. Even Ford, traditionally a huge employer and as American as Coca-cola, is talking about the 'B-word', albiet to deny it will file for bankruptcy saying that regions outside North America are performing well. Note; outside North America. Makes a person wonder why all those dollars are being blitzkreiged so there will be 'no return to tyranny' (Bush) in Iraq ... or is it Afghanistan? At least the rich are getting tax breaks.
Excellent post. The sad thing, for me, as an American, is that the above doesn't have to be. We all look to the end of the Victorian era as the beginning of the end of the Pax Brittanica, and see in history an ineluctable trajectory - the birth, growth, zenith, waning, and death of empires. I think many would extrapolate from the British example and say that all empires die, perhaps rightfully so. I don't hold this view. I think that it is the choices that regimes make that lead towards, or away from, the further strengthening of national political economies. I do not wish for America's future as an imperialist nation. I wish that my land is a safe, healthy, vital one, for my son's future; a considerate land, that honors his native talents with gainful employment (or self-employment). What I see now is a culture of boors, of cynicism and rampant violence. A pathological individualism where "screw your neighbor" is a trait to be honored, not deplored. A leadership that has shortsightedly pursued some twisted version of capitalism where accountants, and not economists, rule the day; where a balance sheet and not a forward thinking, strategic design guides national policy; where labor is the prima facie pariah, and not lack of company investment in labor's skill or loyalty. Where we have a president who has taken on the world with some kind of Mosaic prescription of justice, with a golden thread to God. He would cleanse the globe, and drag us down with him in doing so. I have always had a strong emotional connection to our shared history; I am deeply proud of what we have accomplished as a people. I have to ask myself - how far does it bend, before it breaks? When is America no longer America? The America of today is nothing of what I knew, or want to know. It is the first time in my life that I have admitted my private thoughts to conscious light, and seriously considered saying goodbye to my land of birth.
The US dollar is a world currency. All Bush have to do if he wants to pay back the debt is to print some extra cash. No big deal.
What middleclass? I've been saying this for years and everyone I know still thinks they are middleclass. They are totally mistaken, they are two paychecks away from broke. I read in Time that this year marks the first year that Americans are actually -.05% in the savings column. As a whole most Americans do not save money in savings accounts, and so they are now minus, mostly because of credit card debt. When it comes down to it, what does the US make that is still valuable? We make a lot of weapons, not very good ones, but we make a lot in bulk and so they are cheap. But you need wars to sell weapons. I guess we need to make sure more wars happen.
He could actually just print a few trillion dollar bills...That would save even more money as he there would be a lot less ink used. Smart thinking latehorn
...reducing taxes on incomes of more than $10 million by $500,000 on average. All of this while we're paying for a few wars! We're going to be paying for this for a long...long time!
you may be misunderstanding this--china moving away from the dollar is a GOOD thing for us. their currency will appreciate and the trade deficit will decline. if anything we want them to move away more quickly.
Hmm, did we file chapter 7 or chapter 13? Excellent sources, btw. DailyKos? Seattle Times? Here's an intriguing question...How do you give the poor a tax break? If you don't make enough to pay taxes in the first place, what's a tax break going to do? Let's see, the poor pay ZERO in tax. Suddenly they get a 10% tax cut. What's 10% of ZERO? http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/060316/15/3zeqs.html US In Vicinity Of Full Employment Hmm, too many jobs? Some of the same people/sources in the first post were trumpeting the worst job losses since Truman. I wonder what the unemployment rate is where you are, mcfox? What's the unemployment rate in France? In Germany? http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/21/D8EKLL602.html Economy Grows at Fastest Pace in 1 1/2 Years http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=avbdgRWxUTFQ&refer=us U.S. Economy: Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Decline http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/04/AR2005050402134.html Tax Receipts Exceed Treasury Predictions Interesting. You can't give the poor a tax break because they do not make enough money to pay a tax in the first place. The poor do not hire people. The rich, DO HIRE people. Give them an incentive TO HIRE and they do. And when they do hire people and put them to work, tax receipts increase, deficits decline and unemployment goes down.
No, I don't think I am misunderstanding it. The US dollar being the 'world currency' means that if America (as a country) wanted more cash all it need do was print some. The cost is simply paper and ink. Literally. The dollars are then traded for goods of value from other countries. If any other country wants to raise revenue it must trade something in exchange, for example, oil, diamonds or some other goods to get dollars, the 'trusted' world currency. Any move away from that status quo, for example, using the euro or the yuan as the main 'world currency' places whoever owns that currency in the position that is currently occupied by the US -- i.e. all they need do to raise more money is print it, not trade any goods or services in exchange. This gives enormous economic power to that country or group of countries and is why America has been in such a powerful economic position for the last 50 years, ever since the adoption of the dollar as the world's hard currency rather than the UK pound which it had been previously (the price America demanded of the UK after the second world war - see Bretton Woods system). Also see fiat currency.
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=506262006 Holy moly! Well, now that America, with 4.7% unemployment on 300 million people and a thriving economy is bankrupt, it's only logical we should all pack up and move to Scotland or the UK. Kind of like the dwarf that calls the basketball player short
I don't think we ever denied our economy being a mess ~ but it's thanks to the US we're in it too... But for an FYI http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=uk+unemployment+rate http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=us+unemployment+rate
Nor did you call out your economy as being bankrupt and noting 14 and 18% unemployment rates. It was probably the patriot act that caused all that turmoil I'll stick with the 4.7 and a thriving economy, thanks
We can all pick and choose the stats to support our conflicted opinions. The short term cyclical changes have nothing to do with the substantive structural changes taking place in the American economy. America took over from Britain as the Lender of Last Resort and sustainer of the world financial structure over the course of the last century. We have continued to play that role. But I think that there is a growing chasm between the ability of America to float on its historical inertia as leader of this Imperium, and the reality of our essential political economic strength. Continuing on this road, I do not believe we will be able to play the arbiter role we did in, say, the Asian currency crisis of 1997 and the subsequent monetary/currency shocks that resulted. The structural changes, some of which were included in the links posted by McFox, signify a shift in America from what it was. I also think "bankrupt" is a helluva lot broader than unemployment reports for FY 2006.
Don't bother we're fucked as well. UK has the biggest personal debt (loans, cc etc) Jamie (from da UK)