Posted on 01/22/2008 5:29:53 AM PST by Perdogg
The Carter years were not a “full-blown depression” or even a “partially-blown depression.”
That word—Depression—has a specific meaning.
Al Queda is Sunni like Saddam.
About 50% of all households in the US have some exposure to the stock market(s).
One of the problems with the claims of “low savings rate” of the US populace is that those who do “save” aren’t putting it into savings accounts, CD’s, etc. They’re investing it - and that doesn’t count as “savings” as far as the government pinheads are concerned.
If there is not recession or inflation, how come every person I know is having financial problems now?
If there is not recession or inflation, how come every person I know is having financial problems now?
Think you have that backwards. AQ were blowing up shiites left and right for a while.
I hadn’t heard that.
^^^^^
Big media is trying to act as if McCain is the only viable Republican candidate. They wish Romney would disappear, and are using the same techniques of avoidance that they use for any good news about GWB.
Having the Phillie teams win in ‘76 is like having the Boston Red Sox win in the year that Kerry was trying to become president. Boston got their gift from the Bosox (and the Yankees.)
I had a premonition that if the Bosox won, Kerry would lose, so I was holding my breath during that entire seventh game!
Absolutelly! Bush tried, and it should be tried until it succeeds.
Home equity doesn’t count either when Pundits compare our “poor” savings rate with their idealized European countries - who do not have the same level of home ownership as we have in the US.
Yes, and in the case of the US “Great Depression” what people must remember is that once it got going (brought on the the banking melt-down in 1930 to 1931), we were in a deflationary environment, not an inflationary one. We’re still seeing inflation; given the banking environment just now, this isn’t a bad thing at all.
Things could be MUCH worse. We’re seeing banks tighten lending standards and hoard capital. These are two very important actions that helped start the deflation of asset valuations during the Great Depression. I have yet to understand why the Fed is so worried about ‘inflation’ when it is clear we’re watching a deflation in house prices pick up speed pretty quickly - and that with sufficient stupidity on the part of the banking system, this deflation could start to spread.
Central banks can do almost nothing to stop deflations. They can make borrowing attractive, but they cannot force people to borrow. They cannot force companies to float a bond and expand. For the Fed during the Depression, once the deflation got started, monetary policy changes were like pushing on a rope.
People who have not read up on the Great Depression need to do so to understand that, as you say, that word has a specific meaning. We’re nooooowhere near a Depression. We might be in a recession - might be, not certain yet - but we are NOT in a Depression and there has not been anything like a Depression since, well, the Depression.
The Carter years were miserable because Jimmah wasn’t inspiring as a leader and we had high unemployment and high inflation - something the Keynesians tell us shouldn’t happen at the same time. While it was a really unpleasant situation, it was NOT a Depression. Not even close. Banks would still lend money — they wanted your first born for the interest rates, but they would lend.
What about land. A classic basis for wealth.
Shoot, you are right.
Iran is Shiite, Saddam was secular Sunni, Al-Queada are psychotic sunni nihilists, like Saudi Arabia.
Al-Queada = Sunni and Wahabbis. They are strictly confined to Sunni areas for this reason. The Iraqi Shia are certainly NOT tolerant of foreigner Sunnis in their areas; the Iraqi Sunnis are bad enough. Iraq’s Shia are beset by Iranians aka the Al Quds, Mahdi and Hezbollah -all are Shia.
Average MISERY INDEX under Jimmy Carter: 16.27
Average MISERY INDEX under George W. Bush: 7.96Yes.
But,
the Average MISERY INDEX under Slick Willie: 7.80!
I'd say that is all true up until 1991. After that Saddam added "Allah akbhar" to the flag and built one grand mosque per year.
He also had no problem letting psychotic sunni nihilists like Abu Nidal come into the country for medical treatment and stay.
As opposed to Saudi oil money supporting global terrorism?
One reason for all the uncertainty about the U.S. economy is that the nation-building campaign in Iraq has barely even begun.
Just think about that while your standard of living declines in the next 20+ years.
20 years? you mean now?
Are you talking about this guy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Nidal
Home values aren't counted in the inflation figures; instead, the "rental equivalent" for homes is used in this calculation.
There are good reasons for this, and there are interesting aspects to this that come into play. For one thing, many people who used to complain that the Federal government was underestimating inflation during the run-up in residential real estate will now see that the Federal government was right all along. Massive increases in the prices of homes was not indicative of inflation at all, just as the ongoing slide in home prices is not indicative of deflation at all.
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