Alphameister

The Glide Path Option

A superb overview of our troubling situation, John, and the painful choices before us. I agree with you that we seem to be following the Japanese in our approach to resolving the problems resulting from the bursting of economic bubbles.

I agree with you that we are likely to get a value-added tax here, but I can't imagine it being accompanied by a reduction in business taxes generally that would more than offset the negative effects of the VAT on our global competitiveness. More likely, companies will shift even more of their operations oversees, leading presumably to new restraints on their ability to do so.

With a younger generation that has a sense of entitlement increasingly divorced from any commitment to excellence of performance, I cannot imagine them accepting graciously the burdens foisted upon them by older profligate generations.

(In your first paragraph about unemployment, I believe you intended to say that employment was reported down by 190,000 instead of unemployment being down by that amount.)