This is typical cheerleading. The U.S. no longer lives in a Superiority Vacuum, able to rely on its internal dynamism to continually reinvent itself. Globalization is destroying the U.S. for precisely the type of "Everything's O.K." cheerleading propagated by people like this author over the past 30 years. Even if the U.S. "stands still" (which it isn't as it's actually rapidly going backwards) its citizens will still face decreased living standards and long term economic hardship as other countries advance in leaps and bounds. The U.S. economy is a gigantic Ponzi-scheme and, yes, contrary to the author's mocking dismissals, "the Government" is indeed "in bed with the Federal Reserve", with Goldman Sachs, with the "too big to fail financial institutions" and with Big Oil and Big Business. These are precisely the reasons why U.S. living standards have dropped dramatically and will continue to do so.
The U.S. is slipping down the ladder in every socio-economic category, in percentage of global patents registered, in the Wealth Gap, in the U.N. Human Development Index and even in "Economic Freedom". How many Hamburgers you could buy 50 years ago is irrelevant. The U.S. manufacturing base has shrunk 60 % since the end of WWII, now constitutes only 10 % of GDP, and consumers are totally dependent on foreigner manufacturers just as their Government is totally dependent on foreign aid and on its own printing presses.
Such articles do the nation a huge disservice, because they discourage the strong measures ($5 gasoline tax) needed to put the country through the Cold Turkey it desperately needs. Why should Americans complain about $ 3 while Europeans are happily paying the $ 5/gallon that forces them to save, improvise and create?
What an arrogant statement and fatuous recommendation!
No, it is you who don't understand modern money. I recommend you read Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson's "The Ascent of Money", or even Charles Kupchan's "The End of the American Era" (Washington Post "Best Book of the Year") which is a brilliant macroeconomic and geostrategic analysis of the U.S.'s current plight.
I repeat: Analyses like yours do an incredible disservice to your nation through thoughtless cheerleading. You must be earning good money in your exalted Wall Street job. Put yourself in the place of millions of destitute and unemployed Americans scratching for ever-decreasing jobs in a disappearing manufacturing sector. Then compare their plight with that of Germans, Japanese, Brazilians, Indians, Turks and Chinese who all have a future to look forward to.
And you claim that I "don't understand modern money" when your own job epitomizes the income and job disparities and the self-centred Supply-Side Economics that are destroying the U.S.! "Modern Money" is precisely how I described it earlier, i.e., a Ponzi-Scheme for sharks and Banksters.
Wake up S&P: The U.S. Can't Default on Its Debt [View article]
I think your argument against S&P is too theoretical. Yes, the U.S. prints its own currency, but if foreigners refuse to continue lending vast sums to the U.S. Treasury to finance that nation's spending addiction, the result will be hyper-inflation as the U.S. prints more and more money to finance imports and finance growth, and this deadly spiral will eventually bring the U.S.A. into a situation like the Weimar Republic which also printed its own money and therefore should have been safeguarded against any loss of confidence in the DMark.
Putting a Damper on the Big March Job Report Celebration [View article]
Dean, I'm with you all the way and I believe that cheerleading, as demonstrated by Cliff Wachtel in a parallel piece praising the jobs statistics, does a disservice to the nation.
Realism is in short supply in the good ol' U.S. of A..
Mr Ayles, I find your entire article offensive, by which I mean offensive to common sense and to all those people whose suffering you deny or dismiss. Everyone and everyone's grandmother knows statistics can be manipulated and/or used selectively. Are you aware that the true U.S. Unemployent rate is around 23 % (U1 - U9 and excluding the hilarious Birth-Death rate!)? And this in spite of record low interest rates, record low mortgage rates and massive QE subsidies? Did you know that House prices have another 30 % to fall before they revert to the historical mean?
You must know that Consumers (who include those who buy what you sell) account for an unsustainable 72 % of GDP?
I'm sure none of the above 23 % unemployed "understand modern money". If they did they would be selling shares to the Greater Fool instead of seeking jobs producing thngs that people actually need and reducing the nation's reliance on foreigners.
February Personal Income and Outlays: Not So Pretty [View article]
Superb article. I am continually amazed by the focus on Eurozone problems, which are at least recognized by European leaders who have introduced stringent austerity measures, and the contrasting nonchalance of U.S. leaders who appear to be "fiddling while Rome burns".
There will be massive financial dislocation later this year when the U.S.'s smoke-and-mirrors polices are exposed and foreigners disinvest in droves. The U.S. no longer has a Divine Right to foreign investment, and at some stage it will have to finance its own deficits.
I never predicted the end of society, merely the continual degradation of the United States as it falls further and further behind its rivals. This will lead to civil strife eventually, probably sooner rather than later. Great Britain became an also-ran in the early 1900s. It didn't disappear and still wields some influence. This will be the U.S.A.'s fate this century.
I'm amazed at the morbid, paranoid focus on Greece when California is a much bigger problem, not to mention the anemic state of the U.S. economy which would suffer negative growth in the absence of astronomical military spending.
The U.S. media delights in hammering Europe, which just means that when the lid is finally removed from the U.S. current account deficit kettle (and the trillion dollar off-book liabilities) we will witness Euro blast-off. Greece, representing 2 % of the Eurozone, will be ignored and eventually forgotten in the mad rush to get out of the Dollar.
I cannot wait for the 'official end' of QEII and the 'unofficial commencement' of QEIII once Unemployment heads back up towards 10 %. The U.S. Government has done absolutely nothing while the nation (slightly bigger than Greece!) burns; no austerity measures, zero financial regulation, derivatives at pre-crash levels, smoke-and-mirrors TBond/TBill issuance, zero investment in SMEs and infrastructure (but huge bail-outs for the too-big-to-fails), and so on.
Oh, yes, but Europe has Greece to deal with ................
Why Germany's Economic Fortress Could Come Toppling Down [View article]
What a miserable, sour grapes article. It reeks of jealousy. If the U.S. had the same massive trade surpluses, historically low unemployment, high savings rate and healthy housing market enjoyed by Germany, the same author would be praising the U.S. to the Heavens.
But because it is Germany the author has done his level best to argue that the 3/4 full glass is 3/4 empty.
The author should be focussing on the U.S. economy which exhibits the same macroeconomic imbalances, weaknesses and wealth gaps that preceded the 1929 crash. The difference this time round is that the U.S. has lost its technological lead and famed internal dynamism. All that's left is $ trillions of National Debt and $ trillion annual deficits as far as the eye can see.
And why does the author over-emphasize weak consumer spending when German growth is far less dependent on consumer wastefulness than is the U.S. economy?
"Germany ...... toppling down"??? Then how would you describe the U.S.: "Dead and Buried"???
German DAX Crushed As Deutsche Bank CEO Offers Truth On Banks [View article]
Actually, the Germans have found the ideal combination of regulation, welfare and freedom. Germany is the shining economic light which the U.S. once claimed to be. The U.S. economy has deteriorated beyond recognition because it took free-market Capitalism to extremes, especially from 1980 onwards, encouraging excess and and rewarding greed. The explosion in debt was caused by total deregulation, cheer-led by financial lobbyists and immoral financial institutions that broke up the U.S. economy for a quick buck.
GE paid virtually zero taxes last year on $ 14 billion gross profits, by using lobbyists and tax shelters, a common phenomenon that has created an inter-planetary gap between the health of U.S. corporations and that of U.S. workers.
Unbridled Capitalism is no match for the German Model. The use of the derisory 'Socialist' label to describe a nation in balance merely highlights the attitude of those that still believe in the superiority of the bankrupt U.S. model.
Friday's Jobs Report and Its Effect on the USD: Key Market Considerations for the Coming Week [View article]
I think you should read Dean Baker's piece today (Putting a Damper on the Big March Job Report Celebration) which puts all the cheerleading in perspective: weak manufacturing, stagnant wages, etc.,.
Your comment that the reported jobs growth will help tax revenues raises at least 2 questions:
1. What quality of jobs is being created in the private sector when manufacturing output is declining? Could these be just Hamburger-flippers?
2. How much tax revenue will be raised from these additional 216,000 jobs to offset the projected $ 1.5 trillion budget deficit (some are already projecting $ 2.5 trillion as the Government raised the projection by a 'mere' $ 500 million in January alone and there are many more months to go)?
Finally if, as you claim, the Dollar is going to soar, what do you think this will do for exports and inflation? You cannot have it both ways.
The Collapse, Death, And End Of The Euro [View article]
... and the U.S. is responsible for countless wars and assassinations of democratic foreign leaders, all in pursuit of mercantilist policies, so please don't act so Holy when criticizing Europe.
The End of America? Not Quite [View article]
The U.S. is slipping down the ladder in every socio-economic category, in percentage of global patents registered, in the Wealth Gap, in the U.N. Human Development Index and even in "Economic Freedom". How many Hamburgers you could buy 50 years ago is irrelevant. The U.S. manufacturing base has shrunk 60 % since the end of WWII, now constitutes only 10 % of GDP, and consumers are totally dependent on foreigner manufacturers just as their Government is totally dependent on foreign aid and on its own printing presses.
Such articles do the nation a huge disservice, because they discourage the strong measures ($5 gasoline tax) needed to put the country through the Cold Turkey it desperately needs. Why should Americans complain about $ 3 while Europeans are happily paying the $ 5/gallon that forces them to save, improvise and create?
The End of America? Not Quite [View article]
No, it is you who don't understand modern money. I recommend you read Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson's "The Ascent of Money", or even Charles Kupchan's "The End of the American Era" (Washington Post "Best Book of the Year") which is a brilliant macroeconomic and geostrategic analysis of the U.S.'s current plight.
I repeat: Analyses like yours do an incredible disservice to your nation through thoughtless cheerleading. You must be earning good money in your exalted Wall Street job. Put yourself in the place of millions of destitute and unemployed Americans scratching for ever-decreasing jobs in a disappearing manufacturing sector. Then compare their plight with that of Germans, Japanese, Brazilians, Indians, Turks and Chinese who all have a future to look forward to.
And you claim that I "don't understand modern money" when your own job epitomizes the income and job disparities and the self-centred Supply-Side Economics that are destroying the U.S.! "Modern Money" is precisely how I described it earlier, i.e., a Ponzi-Scheme for sharks and Banksters.
Wake up S&P: The U.S. Can't Default on Its Debt [View article]
Putting a Damper on the Big March Job Report Celebration [View article]
Realism is in short supply in the good ol' U.S. of A..
The End of America? Not Quite [View article]
You must know that Consumers (who include those who buy what you sell) account for an unsustainable 72 % of GDP?
I'm sure none of the above 23 % unemployed "understand modern money". If they did they would be selling shares to the Greater Fool instead of seeking jobs producing thngs that people actually need and reducing the nation's reliance on foreigners.
February Personal Income and Outlays: Not So Pretty [View article]
There will be massive financial dislocation later this year when the U.S.'s smoke-and-mirrors polices are exposed and foreigners disinvest in droves. The U.S. no longer has a Divine Right to foreign investment, and at some stage it will have to finance its own deficits.
The End of America? Not Quite [View article]
Greece: It's Not Lehman [View article]
The U.S. media delights in hammering Europe, which just means that when the lid is finally removed from the U.S. current account deficit kettle (and the trillion dollar off-book liabilities) we will witness Euro blast-off. Greece, representing 2 % of the Eurozone, will be ignored and eventually forgotten in the mad rush to get out of the Dollar.
I cannot wait for the 'official end' of QEII and the 'unofficial commencement' of QEIII once Unemployment heads back up towards 10 %. The U.S. Government has done absolutely nothing while the nation (slightly bigger than Greece!) burns; no austerity measures, zero financial regulation, derivatives at pre-crash levels, smoke-and-mirrors TBond/TBill issuance, zero investment in SMEs and infrastructure (but huge bail-outs for the too-big-to-fails), and so on.
Oh, yes, but Europe has Greece to deal with ................
Why Germany's Economic Fortress Could Come Toppling Down [View article]
But because it is Germany the author has done his level best to argue that the 3/4 full glass is 3/4 empty.
The author should be focussing on the U.S. economy which exhibits the same macroeconomic imbalances, weaknesses and wealth gaps that preceded the 1929 crash. The difference this time round is that the U.S. has lost its technological lead and famed internal dynamism. All that's left is $ trillions of National Debt and $ trillion annual deficits as far as the eye can see.
And why does the author over-emphasize weak consumer spending when German growth is far less dependent on consumer wastefulness than is the U.S. economy?
"Germany ...... toppling down"??? Then how would you describe the U.S.: "Dead and Buried"???
We've Had a Large Trade Deficit and High Unemployment for 2 Years, So Why Worry Now? [View article]
German DAX Crushed As Deutsche Bank CEO Offers Truth On Banks [View article]
GE paid virtually zero taxes last year on $ 14 billion gross profits, by using lobbyists and tax shelters, a common phenomenon that has created an inter-planetary gap between the health of U.S. corporations and that of U.S. workers.
Unbridled Capitalism is no match for the German Model. The use of the derisory 'Socialist' label to describe a nation in balance merely highlights the attitude of those that still believe in the superiority of the bankrupt U.S. model.
Initial Jobless Claims: +43K to 474K vs. 410K consensus. Continuing claims +74K to 3,733,000. [View news story]
The Countdown Has Begun for the Eurozone Breakup [View article]
Friday's Jobs Report and Its Effect on the USD: Key Market Considerations for the Coming Week [View article]
Your comment that the reported jobs growth will help tax revenues raises at least 2 questions:
1. What quality of jobs is being created in the private sector when manufacturing output is declining? Could these be just Hamburger-flippers?
2. How much tax revenue will be raised from these additional 216,000 jobs to offset the projected $ 1.5 trillion budget deficit (some are already projecting $ 2.5 trillion as the Government raised the projection by a 'mere' $ 500 million in January alone and there are many more months to go)?
Finally if, as you claim, the Dollar is going to soar, what do you think this will do for exports and inflation? You cannot have it both ways.
The Collapse, Death, And End Of The Euro [View article]