Comments on: 11 Reasons Why The Economy Is Going to get Worse Before It Gets Better http://masteryourcard.com/blog/2008/12/18/11-reasons-why-the-economy-is-going-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better/ The best Credit Card Debt Blog online Wed, 02 May 2012 03:22:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Ames Tiedeman http://masteryourcard.com/blog/2008/12/18/11-reasons-why-the-economy-is-going-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better/comment-page-1/#comment-154580 Ames Tiedeman Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:04:01 +0000 http://masteryourcard.com/blog/?p=619#comment-154580 Lower taxes? Higher taxes? Does anyone actually think being plus or minus 5% on taxes will make a lick of difference for the U.S. economy at this stage in the game? The economy will never again work the way we all want it to work with the current account deficit at 6 or 7 percent of GDP. You cannot get unemployment even under 6% without a credit bubble, with a current account deficit as large as ours. We have not had a trade surplus since 1974. We have been in decline for 40 years and this decline has only accelerated in recent years. We closed 55,000 plants in the United States since 1980. Your politicians won't tell you this because some of them fed you the false promise of free trade. Others don't want to admit NAFTA has been a complete failure for America. Great for Mexico as that giant "sucking sound" Ross Perot predicted has materialized. Clinton and Gore promised the American people ever bigger trade surpluses with Mexico and ten's of thousands of new high paying jobs. Just pass NAFTA they exclaimed! Quite laughable, really. We have gone from a trade surplus of a few billion a year to a trade deficit nearing 100 billion per annum with Mexico. What is equally as laughable or insulting is the trade deal Obama has just signed with Columbia. Do we make anything they can afford? Of course not. Columbia will simply become a new launch pad to make textiles and sell them into America. How about the trade deal Obama signed with South Korea? This is an interesting one. Within the bill on the U.S. side is a provision to provide worker training for displaced Americans. So we are now so stupid that we are signing trade deals that we know will diminish the U.S. labor force. The insanity is just that! Does anyone think the South Koreans would agree to a trade deal if they were not sure to win? Does Obama understand that the South Koreans are fierce nationalists who will never let America win a trade contest? Did my ancestors lead pre-Revolutionary War skirmishes against the British at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and early 1776 only to have America end up how it is today? My blood has been on this land since 1635. How many of my ancestors ever dreamed that America would be so deep in debt and short on ideas? Would any of them ever have thought that such mediocre men would one day be leading this nation? America has done a terrific job of creating a low employment and low wage society, for millions. Quite sad indeed. No civilization has succeeded by consuming more than it produces. We must massively restructure. Until America decides to produce what it consumes you can forget about any long term economic recovery. The financial games all failed. The credit bubble is gone and now the U.S. economy is exposed as the biggest joke of all time. Credit bubbles have a way of masking the real issues. How do we fix the American economy? Start by making every American who has received a Nobel Prize in economics return the award. Why? because they were either 100% wrong or their work proved to be of no benefit to the American economy. Next, round up every economist who advised Nixon that if America left the gold standard and moved the world to a floating currency regime; that America would never, ever, run a current account deficit. And I am very sorry to inform everyone that this would include the late and great Milton Friedman. Sorry Milton, you were dead wrong too! Next, leave the WTO, end NAFTA, and go about setting up country-by-country trade deals that are realistic based on where America stands today. It is not 1955 anymore. The world has either matched us or surpassed us in industry after industry. We have literally become an emerging economy is some industries as we have faltered so badly. Next, move to a flat tax, and end all farm subsidies. Cancel most government social programs like food stamps and deport 100% of the people living in America illegally. Make it a high crime to employ anyone not here legally. Finally, for major industries such as steel and automobiles, move to a must-be-made-in-America policy. No longer allow imports of products in specific industries. They must all be made in America. We must employ our people. We can no longer employ the world via our consumption as so many Americans remain unemployed. We must use our 50 state union to our advantage. We must promote massive trade between the states. We must socialize CAPITALISM to avoid becoming a socialist state! We must reinvigorate the American people. We must manufacture. And who running for office can lead America on this grand and pious endeavor? Who running for office today has the passion of a General MacArthur or the skill of a Chester Nimitz? Who has the energy of a Teddy Roosevelt? The men who command the attention of the electorate in this age of mediocre ambition are all too small to make a difference... Lower taxes? Higher taxes? Does anyone actually think being plus or minus 5% on taxes will make a lick of difference for the U.S. economy at this stage in the game? The economy will never again work the way we all want it to work with the current account deficit at 6 or 7 percent of GDP. You cannot get unemployment even under 6% without a credit bubble, with a current account deficit as large as ours. We have not had a trade surplus since 1974. We have been in decline for 40 years and this decline has only accelerated in recent years. We closed 55,000 plants in the United States since 1980. Your politicians won’t tell you this because some of them fed you the false promise of free trade. Others don’t want to admit NAFTA has been a complete failure for America. Great for Mexico as that giant “sucking sound” Ross Perot predicted has materialized. Clinton and Gore promised the American people ever bigger trade surpluses with Mexico and ten’s of thousands of new high paying jobs. Just pass NAFTA they exclaimed! Quite laughable, really. We have gone from a trade surplus of a few billion a year to a trade deficit nearing 100 billion per annum with Mexico. What is equally as laughable or insulting is the trade deal Obama has just signed with Columbia. Do we make anything they can afford? Of course not. Columbia will simply become a new launch pad to make textiles and sell them into America. How about the trade deal Obama signed with South Korea? This is an interesting one. Within the bill on the U.S. side is a provision to provide worker training for displaced Americans. So we are now so stupid that we are signing trade deals that we know will diminish the U.S. labor force. The insanity is just that! Does anyone think the South Koreans would agree to a trade deal if they were not sure to win? Does Obama understand that the South Koreans are fierce nationalists who will never let America win a trade contest? Did my ancestors lead pre-Revolutionary War skirmishes against the British at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and early 1776 only to have America end up how it is today? My blood has been on this land since 1635. How many of my ancestors ever dreamed that America would be so deep in debt and short on ideas? Would any of them ever have thought that such mediocre men would one day be leading this nation? America has done a terrific job of creating a low employment and low wage society, for millions. Quite sad indeed. No civilization has succeeded by consuming more than it produces. We must massively restructure. Until America decides to produce what it consumes you can forget about any long term economic recovery. The financial games all failed. The credit bubble is gone and now the U.S. economy is exposed as the biggest joke of all time. Credit bubbles have a way of masking the real issues. How do we fix the American economy? Start by making every American who has received a Nobel Prize in economics return the award. Why? because they were either 100% wrong or their work proved to be of no benefit to the American economy. Next, round up every economist who advised Nixon that if America left the gold standard and moved the world to a floating currency regime; that America would never, ever, run a current account deficit. And I am very sorry to inform everyone that this would include the late and great Milton Friedman. Sorry Milton, you were dead wrong too! Next, leave the WTO, end NAFTA, and go about setting up country-by-country trade deals that are realistic based on where America stands today. It is not 1955 anymore. The world has either matched us or surpassed us in industry after industry. We have literally become an emerging economy is some industries as we have faltered so badly. Next, move to a flat tax, and end all farm subsidies. Cancel most government social programs like food stamps and deport 100% of the people living in America illegally. Make it a high crime to employ anyone not here legally. Finally, for major industries such as steel and automobiles, move to a must-be-made-in-America policy. No longer allow imports of products in specific industries. They must all be made in America. We must employ our people. We can no longer employ the world via our consumption as so many Americans remain unemployed. We must use our 50 state union to our advantage. We must promote massive trade between the states. We must socialize CAPITALISM to avoid becoming a socialist state! We must reinvigorate the American people. We must manufacture. And who running for office can lead America on this grand and pious endeavor? Who running for office today has the passion of a General MacArthur or the skill of a Chester Nimitz? Who has the energy of a Teddy Roosevelt? The men who command the attention of the electorate in this age of mediocre ambition are all too small to make a difference…

]]> By: Sophie http://masteryourcard.com/blog/2008/12/18/11-reasons-why-the-economy-is-going-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better/comment-page-1/#comment-134858 Sophie Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:33:09 +0000 http://masteryourcard.com/blog/?p=619#comment-134858 Wow, thanks Ames - that's a very detailed summary! I think one of the most important ways we can counter the economic recession is by taking individual action to live more frugally. If we take a few basic steps like <a href="http://carinsurancecomparison.com.au" rel="nofollow">comparing car insurance policies</a> before we buy, we can all spend a little less and ease off on the economic pressure. Wow, thanks Ames – that’s a very detailed summary! I think one of the most important ways we can counter the economic recession is by taking individual action to live more frugally. If we take a few basic steps like comparing car insurance policies before we buy, we can all spend a little less and ease off on the economic pressure.

]]> By: Ames Tiedeman http://masteryourcard.com/blog/2008/12/18/11-reasons-why-the-economy-is-going-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better/comment-page-1/#comment-134744 Ames Tiedeman Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:26:53 +0000 http://masteryourcard.com/blog/?p=619#comment-134744 The nightmare we are living with regard to the economy is 40 years in the making: “The United States of America has not had a trade surplus since 1975. We have not had a trade surplus with Japan since April, 1976. Every year since 1983 we have been in deficit with Europe. The last time America had a trade surplus with both Russia and China was a very brief period during the Cold War. We have been running ever increasing trade deficits with South Korea since 1998. Our 1993 trade surplus with Mexico is now a 100 billion a year trade deficit. In the 1970’s, 80’s, and much of the 1990’s our trade deficit was never more than one half of 1% of GDP. We now find ourselves with a trade deficit of between 5% and 7% of GDP depending on how you count. From 2002 to 2007 the trade deficit exploded. The only reason unemployment stayed well under 6% is because of the credit bubble. 63% of all jobs created from 2000 to 2006 were housing or credit bubble related. We did not feel the destructive affects of the trade deficit because of this credit bubble. I have concluded from work I have been doing that America will never get unemployment even under 7% with a trade deficit of over 3% of GDP, without a major credit bubble. The U.S. Economy has actually stopped functioning like a real economy. We literally need a credit bubble to function. America must move from the ideology of free trade to the economic policy of balanced trade. Until this structural shift takes place you can bank on the American economy being the laughing stock of the world economy.” -Ames F. Tiedeman The nightmare we are living with regard to the economy is 40 years in the making:

“The United States of America has not had a trade surplus since 1975. We have not had a trade surplus with Japan since April, 1976. Every year since 1983 we have been in deficit with Europe. The last time America had a trade surplus with both Russia and China was a very brief period during the Cold War. We have been running ever increasing trade deficits with South Korea since 1998. Our 1993 trade surplus with Mexico is now a 100 billion a year trade deficit. In the 1970’s, 80’s, and much of the 1990’s our trade deficit was never more than one half of 1% of GDP. We now find ourselves with a trade deficit of between 5% and 7% of GDP depending on how you count. From 2002 to 2007 the trade deficit exploded. The only reason unemployment stayed well under 6% is because of the credit bubble. 63% of all jobs created from 2000 to 2006 were housing or credit bubble related. We did not feel the destructive affects of the trade deficit because of this credit bubble. I have concluded from work I have been doing that America will never get unemployment even under 7% with a trade deficit of over 3% of GDP, without a major credit bubble. The U.S. Economy has actually stopped functioning like a real economy. We literally need a credit bubble to function. America must move from the ideology of free trade to the economic policy of balanced trade. Until this structural shift takes place you can bank on the American economy being the laughing stock of the world economy.”
-Ames F. Tiedeman

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