Greame H

Wal-Mart Does Not Save Families $3,100 a Year

In general the "mom&pops" were an abomination of poor selection, high prices, poor choice, dated product etc . If they were good and had redeeming attributes, they would still be in business!! Not everyone shops just for the lowest price. How come all the high end stores thrive? Debate about Walmart tends to be 90% ideology and only 10% economics.
Btw, I very rarely shop Walmart but for other reasons . I appreciate their role and importance to the overall economy however

A Global Problem with No Solution

Waaaaaaaaaaaay too much common sense in these comments. The great masses dont want to hear this message and nor do the politicians ( hmm, they may just be irrelevant ! ) Someone mentioned above about "small drops".....yes, to some extent thats true. The old capitalist adage about self help, take care of yourself first, ........at the mega level, it does work. But until people get really scared and get off their duffs and start working and innovating again, the structural changes needed to put the economy on a new sustainable path, just wont hppen. And, if we let the currency debase too much and the inflationary seeds grow, then coming out of this will be SO MUCH worse. Suck it up people and bite the bullet.


On Nov 06 04:53 PM user396040 wrote:

> Structurally, we need a much better educated work force. We also
> need a value added tax to give our industry a level playing field
> in the international market. Why not adopt a value added tax and
> go to the Japanese system of school 12 months a year taught by teachers
> paid 6 figure salaries.

Tighter belts = thicker waists: With less cash to spend, consumers are turning to high-fat fast food and canned goods. Still, America's march to obesity began long before the great recession.

we have to have another government program for this. Its outrageous that the productivity challenged members of society should have to eat unsatisfactorily. A tax on business lunches over $5 would be a starting point.

Beware 'Dr. Doom', Pay Attention to the Dollar

show me one shread of evidence that the US political system has the capacity to reign in the explosion of government spending.

Chart of the Day, Hours-Worked Edition

and when we turn to look at the potential social aspects of this issue, it is equally sobering to wonder how well the "large swathe of the working classes" will react to prolonged unemployment and substantialy lower real incomes. Throw in future input cost inflation from a debased US dollar and then the middle classes will also start feel the same real income pain. The US has made its bed and I dont think its going to enjoy lying in it.

Chinese Housing Datapoint of the Day

Felix, for once I think you have let your North American preconceptions get the better of your insightfulness. I agree with several of the posts above that its a radically different culture and structure in China ( and Asia in general) The house is vital and will be one of the last things a family will ever let go of. Its a store of value. Broadly speaking I do believe the numbers.

Obama's Trade Battle Explained

And let's not forget the likely social problems caused by declining real earnings. Much of the so called "new competitiveness" will be absorbed in the form of productivity and technological inputs, thereby doing little to provide employment for the "20%" unemployed. Decades of poor education and attitudes have made this group unattractive assets, but how will they react to the remaining 80% of the population who will survive or even thrive? Not well I suspect, and this opens the door to politicians with nasty redistributive social policies.

Over Half a Million Strategic Defaulters in 2008

Are you joking? Thats way too simple a concept !


On Sep 21 04:24 PM Carlos Lam wrote:

> The best way to ensure a minimum of strategic defaults is to require
> a higher down payment on a loan. On a $100K house, a lender could
> require $20K to $30K down. This means that the home would have to
> first fall by 20% to 30% (and thereby "eat up" the owner's equity)
> before a strategic default was logical.

The Depressing Income and Poverty Data

this is part of the end game of globalization, where the USA has failed to adapt and properly come to terms with the consequences of its excessive consumerism and "me-ism`.

I fear it will get worse, and the permanent underclass gets larger. Obama is making it worse with his focus on redistribution rather than re-energization.

Who will get hurt the most as the dollar depreciates and input costs rise in dollar terms? The insane debt levels throughout the economy need fixing with similar toughness that Volker used in the 70's to break the back of inflation, and thats only a part of the picture. depressing?. Indeed.

Consumer Deleveraging Datapoint of the Day

If you are REALLY on top of your financial situation, and managing properly, then your credit score doesnt matter all that much ( as long as you keep it above the average)


On Sep 09 09:52 AM rrtzmd wrote:

> ...something that angers me is that the current system actually penalizes
> people who try to pare debt...cancel credit cards or pay off balances
> and next thing you know you get 20 points clipped off your "credit
> score"...

Has Capitalism Failed?

Big well entrenched government is like a cancer. Starve it of the "blood " it needs to survive and grow, and it can be controlled.

Fisher Price Deflation

While the procession of logic makes sense on the face of it, I do feel it's essentially a static analysis. I don't think you can ignore the
tidal waves of government spending , nor the money supply and velocity. Tipping points can occur and a deflationary vortex can change quite quickly into an inflationary spiral. Keep debasing a currency and see which outcome prevails !

The Economics of Shopping Malls

Enclosed Mall overhead costs are just too high now....only a few retailers are able to absorb these costs which is why every enclosed mall now looks like a clone and its increasingly hard to do much variety shopping in the Malls. Hence consumers are making fewer visits. I agree , their economics are going to be severely squeezed.
However keep in mind ownership is in the hands of large corporate real estate corporations with deep pockets and often institutional backers with very dep pockets and long time horizons ( pension funds etc ). This also serves to keep the pace of change at malls glacial.

U.S. Economy: Now Comes the Hard Part

points well taken. To answer your final question---with our present democracy, we won't. Way too many dumbed down voters


On Aug 22 08:41 AM perceptions_now wrote:

> Let me put it this way, there is a small dilemna within the current
> economic/banking system!
>
> It REQUIRES exponential growth, within a finite environment!
>
> We are now in the final stages of proving that the current system
> is not working & is actually unworkable, over time.
>
> Recent increases in leverage, in the financial sector & the Peaking
> of 2 of the 3 major growth drivers (Population & Oil) of the
> last 200 years, are now conspiring, to bring economic growth to a
> shuddering halt!
>
> What proceeds from there, may not be pretty, but nor will be the
> final judgement of historians.
>
> Innovation, is now the final frontier for economic sustainability,
> the exponential growth fairy is dead, but in the long run, we are
> all dead.
>
> The "facts" are now changing, what we do or don't do with this new
> paradigm, over the next 5-10, will set the course of humanity, for
> the next 200 years.
>
> We must now go, where there is no path and leave a new trail! <br/>
>
> We can, the $64 Trillion question is, will we?

How the Fed Second-Guesses Its Own Independence

The very fact that we are having this discussion means that de facto, Fed independence is a chimera.