Posted on 08/29/2011 12:20:07 PM PDT by jazusamo
it’s the OBAMACARE, stupid!
Ditto that. I am of similar age. I am probably about 2 years behind schedule where I would like to be with retirement. So it is save more, spend less. My lifestyle hasn't changed drastically, but I do a little bit less of everything..
Which, of course, indicates that those in power are the dumbest bricks in the pile or that they know they are causing damage and that they are following a destructive course of action knowingly and willingly.
An interesting aside...in the period of the 1920’s through the 1940’s when socialism was really starting to get some traction, one of the big arguments they used to implement central management was that the free-market system (those eeevil capitalists) created an inherently unstable and unpredictable economic environment.
Their argument was that central management would eliminate that unpredictability and create an environment of expectations that could be relied upon.
History has proved that the greater the power of the central managers and the more they try to manage the more frequent the swings in all aspects of the economy and the more wild the swings.
Some would try to explain this as complicated, but it is actually quite simple.
When a handful of people try to dictate to millions what employment there will be, how much it will pay, how much manufacturing can produce, how much they can sell their goods and services for, they are trying to push with a rope. One little snag anywhere along that rope and it binds.
By allowing the market to drive the economy, millions of people pull the economy rope along, when there is a snag, legions jump in to fix that snag and keep the economy towing along.
I don't think that's the entire explanation, however. Let's be honest with ourselves and admit that a majority of Americans are stupid, and that they don't have a clue how the economy works. They don't understand that the economy is actually US, and that central planning or targeted tax cuts or any other load of B.S. won't do a darned thing to help the economy. Americans see the economy as it stands right now and demand ACTION from politicians. Politicians who advocate letting the market correct itself and go through the full process of deleveraging will be savaged. Americans are wimps. They decry socialism while stating that they have an entitlement to receive 3x as much in Medicare benefits as they ever paid in. Medicare is socialism, and it is a failed system. When polled, Americans say that the rich should pay more in taxes. Okay, but they also state that no one should pay more than 15% of their income in taxes. See the problem here? The only conclusion we can draw from this manifestation of cognitive dissonance is that Americans are stupid, and they don't really know what they want. That's why they're so susceptible to being TOLD what they want by opportunistic politicians.
I’ve studied far too much regarding the history of collectivism from the mid 19th century to the present not to think that this is all deliberate and part of a master plan toward an end goal of globalized socialism.
So, your money isn't being pulled out of the economy... unless the government is creating so much uncertainty in the market that banks and businesses refuse to do anything with your money.
Oh, wait...
:-P
Unfortunately, Democrats (and Obama) are congenitally incapable of leaving the economy alone.
I dunno, a command economy could be simple and successful!
Rule #1: Anyone with money (personal or loaned) can open a business.
Rule #2: Business must sell their good/service at prices that net an overall profit.
Rule #3: If demand increases, supply will increase (either by increasing capabilities of existing business, or because new businesses will spring up to meet the gap).
Rule #4: see Rule #3, now flip it to the negative side (ie: if demand decreases...)
See, simple!
:-P
Ministry of Truth.
Re-read that essay “I, pencil”. Realize not one of these “central planners” knows how to make a pencil.
Of necessity. This is his column which is limited to certain space. He has written extensively on economic matters with many books filled with analysis including "contraction".
It’s worse than that.
These central planners loathe not only the production of “the pencil,” but also loathe that the people want and use “the pencil.”
Their real end-goal is to determine what the people should have and to direct who shall be the producers and distributors of that limited set of goods and services (to each according to his needs, from each according to his abilities).
That they fail in the production and distribution of “the pencil” is secondary to their goal of obtaining control over the manufacture, distribution, ownership, and usage of “the pencil.”
The ‘Revolution’ promised “bread and freedom”, they were not too forthcoming with the freedom - so they figured they could at least give out bread.
Bread was cheaper than the grain that went into it. So farmers fed their pigs bread.
Now the pig doesn't care that you ground up the wheat and wasted fuel cooking it, or that you mixed in finer ingredients - they grow just as fat on wheat.
With a “command” economy it is inevitable that such discrepancies will happen - and that people will take advantage of them. And you end up ‘feeding bread to pigs’.
Until he was able to get us into WWII, after promising that he would not.“He also got away with it politically by blaming his predecessor.”
The Depression ended when Roosevelt’s heart stopped beating. He was our version of a leftist dictator. Only the Constitution and the Supreme Court kept us from going completely totalitarian.
Roosevelt had many people so brainwashed, there were soldiers/Marines who, upon hearing of his death, said sorrowfully, "Now the war will never end."He had people thinking inside the box, big time.
My FIL fought in the US Army until the end of the war in Europe. He became an LEO and retired after many years service and was a conservative in almost every fiber of his being.
We were talking one evening and the subject of FDR came up, he worshiped FDR and I was astounded, I would never have believed it if I hadn't heard it from him. I didn't argue the issue because he was a great guy and I believe him going through the depression and his Dad losing most everything he had had a lot to do with it.
I “think” (meaning I’m not sure) the problem may well be twofold, 1) too many are being paid far too much to not work and 2) horrible trade policy has incentivized the offshoring of jobs.
There being little in the way of political talent in the offing, I don’t expect any speedy resolution to this mess. For all practical purposes, this is the “new normal”.
Rich21IE, you're very close. Even Obama' representatives have said that recessions due to financial crises take very long to resolve. IIRC, the average is about 7 years. Bank closures and bank holidays were very common during the Great Depression. The cause was bad debt just like the subprime mess and housing bubble caused this great recession.
Obama took a bad situation and is making it worse with Keynesian deficit spending and more regulations! Add in expensive energy and food. We're going nowhere fast.
My FIL fought in the US Army until the end of the war in Europe. He became an LEO and retired after many years service and was a conservative in almost every fiber of his being.Roosevelt had many people so brainwashed, there were soldiers/Marines who, upon hearing of his death, said sorrowfully, "Now the war will never end."
We were talking one evening and the subject of FDR came up, he worshiped FDR and I was astounded, I would never have believed it if I hadn't heard it from him. I didn't argue the issue because he was a great guy and I believe him going through the depression and his Dad losing most everything he had had a lot to do with it.
Once they swallowed the idea that FDR was doing things for the people, and anything in opposition to FDR was against the people, they were irredeemable.
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