jtareen

U.S. Empire In Decline, Makes Way for China

I think if enough people bang the drum of China's ascendancy and America's decline. Alas we will all start shifting our capital there and indeed make this self created prophecy come true. The economy is all mental. As Americans our mentality has become of defeat because like someone said we are not getting the quick gratification any longer. Folks let's invest back in America and create real capital instead of massive liquidity in the system which only creates an imbalance in the system. If everyone gives up on America then indeed it may be true that our greatest days are behind us.

Thanks

U.S. Empire In Decline, Makes Way for China

Hahaha. People who make these predictions have no understanding of China. China is potentially the most imbalanced nation in the world in terms of wealth concentration. Hence a communist country that does not allow any free thought and free discussion. The coast where most of the wealth is concentrated has traditionally been under the influence of the west. The western capitalist interest wield more influence in China than what meets the eye. Today's China is a result of large amount of foreign direct investment from the west, precisely because it was a closed society with power concentrated in few hands. This allows for less environmental and labor regulations and cost. Lower the labor cost, higher the profits. US and European interest chose China to be the world producer of goods. Up untill 1970's and 1980's China was one of the poorest nations in the world.

Wood Energy: The New Renewable?

According to a latest magazine, I happened to browse through at a local book store, 53% of total energy is lost and never used. This includes oil, gas, electricity etc etc. To me it seems that we need to focus more on efficiency and energy optimization as well.

Small Business Lending: Why the Programs Need to Change

Where is the private sector now and why is it not lending?


On Jul 19 01:11 AM PastTense wrote:

> I see no reason the federal government should be involved in lending
> money to small business (or big business for that matter). This is
> a function of the private sector.

Commodities, Globality and the Next Billion Customers

Nanotechnology will take care of a lot of these shortages in commodities and infrastructure. Google "catoms". US will dominate the world in the next 200 years.


On Jun 20 06:37 PM Vuke wrote:

> Next billion? How about the next three billion? All over the world
> Asians, Africans, East Europeans and South Americans are vying for
> commodities for building, transportation and a better life.
>
> Think of the hundreds of millions of scooters, bikes, cars, generators,
> refrigerators, air conditioners, fertilizers and so on required.
> Then think of the lack of investment in commodity production and
> decide on the direction of commodities pricing.
>
> Currencies too, are impacted, as nations print more to get their
> share. Gold and silver will rise because of this.

Aftermarket Auto Parts: Growing Online Trend Benefits Consumers

Hmm, interesting I am thinking about starting a similar online service that you mentioned in your articles. I am at a data gathering stage right now. Do you have any additional revised comments on this article? I noticed it was written in 2007.

Roubini the Revisionist

This article reminds me of a story: I used to have a co-worker who would religiously play the Texas lotto every week and believed that he could win. I used to tease him by saying every week religiously that i would guarantee he wouldn't win. He would ask me how can you guarantee it? I would say I just did. That's all it takes to make a prediction is to come out and say it. Every week I was proven right consistently, but he kept playing. No matter how much we know, we always make decisions based on emotions. Using math and history to forecast the stock market is a joke and everyone knows, because we may think rationally, but we always act out of desires. Keeping that in mind I predict the stock market crashes within 3 months. Big Time!!!

AutoNation: GM Dealership Closings Will Have No Impact

No impact for auto groups who have stock listings on Wall Streets, because their stock prices will go up, because under performing assets are made to disappear. The real losers are the employees and owners of the small to medium size individually owned stores. These stores not only generate employment, but for many are the only assets the owners have and not to mention the tax revenue they generate for local cities and towns, and also not to mention the little leagues they support.

There Won't Be a Recovery

I thought the rant was relevant. There is another term for societies without equity: Third World Countries. We are possibly headed there. May be that is the master plan. The institutions that shape world events and policies are all in the west and value western hegemony over the rest of the world as their only leverage. Instead of allowing third world countries to build capital, the strategy always has been to keep their economies depressed, their govts and citizens dependent on western aid. This strategy is the remnants of the colonial mindset that America inherited from Britain but candy coated it in the form of World Bank, IMF and United Nations. After all, if third world countries were allowed to build their own capital they wouldn't need western aid, therefore free to make their own political and economic decisions. This could possibly lead to an enormous wealth building in those countries resulting in a dramatic power shift away from the Western Hemisphere. To mitigate this there has to be a plan to control the world financial blood stream and that can only happen with a introducing a single world currency, but this would not be acceptable to the American public, for this will require relenting a large amount of say on the part of the American public regarding their own monetary policies and that is why my friends there must be inequity across the political and economic landscape of this nation. A precursor to finally stripping America from its freedom to modulate its own monetary policies. That's my rant and I am sticking to it.

So, How About That Stimulus?

The giant stimulus was not a stimulus at all but another hidden sleight of hand bailout for the Big Banks. The money is probably sitting in these banks as deposits for them to shore up their balance sheets until this financial crisis goes away. Remember the reason we have booms and bust not because all of the sudden people stop consuming, but because banks lent out way more than they hold in demand deposits and loans go bad. Every loan is an asset and a liability, so if the loans go bad you subtract your assets, but cannot subtract the liabilities and need liquidity from the govt lest the shareholder equity is wiped out. This whole stimulus charade plus the TARP, plus the FDIC raising deposit insurance to 250,000.00 is all done to save big banks to shore up their deposits, less consumer spending also helps. All this is done to prevent from wiping these big banks off the map.

It's an Economic Reset, Not a Recession

I agree here, however on the other side lies a whole new world. There might be slow growth here, but greater growth overseas. The only way to ensure American prosperity now is to sell the rest of the world our innovation and new technologies to build a more efficient world instead of selling them jet planes and missiles and various war machines.

The U.S. Trade Deficit and the Dollar

I agree with the assessment provided in the article above. The US economy is the most dependable, efficient, and believe it or not, most accountable compared to the rest of the world. We are still a nation of relative justice and economic transparency although some of our so called business leaders and Wall street crooks do everything they can to take advantage of the system. Our govt has not been so cleaned either for the last 16 years. Nevertheless the rich people of the world and large multinational corporations will in my opinion continue to look towards the US for relative financial stability. Our infrastructure as it may be today still the world's best and our political system as corrupt as it may be today still the most changeable. Evidence: After Bush, we chose Obama.

A GM Collapse Would Signal Hope for Robin Hood

Let us assume for a moment that GM fails and vanishes. Who is going to warranty repairs on their new cars?There must be tens of millions of GM cars and trucks out there which are still under warranty. Does anyone have a view on this?I guess same would be true for Ford and Chrysler.

The (Non) Crash of 2008

I recommend George Soros' latest book: "The New Paradigm for financial markets". It is a small read and will explain the current uncertainty to most readers.