LCACM

Time to Make Saving and Investing Fashionable Again

Eeveryone says we should save, but the question is how? Since the begining of the Greenspan era, up until now the interest rates have been so low that families and other potential savers have not had safe places to put their money to grow. The problem is not that Americans are not saving, rather that Asians are producing goods far in excess of their spending capability and choking Western markets with the excess goods. Asian spenqding capability is low, because of absence of minimum wage laws. High population density in Asia tends to keep wages at an extremely low level, as a result of which the Asian Consume Market is tiny compared to it's population. The solution lies in requiring all countries who are members of WTO to follow an enforceable global minimum wage as a prerequisite to joining WTO. Otherwise, the current painful economic scenario will keep repeating in the future and keep getting worse.

Good Finance Gone Bad

Excellent article that points out the problems with the current deregulation mindset. When President Reagan got elected in 1980, the taxes and regulations were excessive and required some scaling back. I remember losing a sizable portion of my Graduate Student Teaching Assistantship as income tax to support President Carter's welfare state. However, each successive Administration after President Reagan has taken the deregulation idea to extreme levels that are highly detrimental to the American society. Unfortunately the Financial Deregulation Lobbying Complex is firmly entrenched and will continue in producing their Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction.

Housing Sales, Durable Goods Orders and Signs of Economic Recovery

Current trade policies that allow Communist China to keep dumping their products on the World market are a source of huge income to the owners of Walmart and other stores. These super rich are great contributors to the ploitical campaigns of both Republican and Democrats. So changes in trade policies by the Obama admin are unlikely, unless the people who voted for Obama demand it, in a more cohesive manner.