jerry
11th February 2015, 02:22
Taking a step back outside of our predetermined schools of thought and simply looking at the world versus where we were say 20 years ago and OMG what a difference 20 years can make. For instance you wouldn’t know what OMG meant 20 years ago and you wouldn’t have google to figure it out. But more seriously 20 years ago we were on the precipice of the longest stretch of world peace the world has known in modern history. We were on the precipice of the first US budget surplus since abandoning Bretton/Woods. We were on the precipice of the only period of true economic growth we’ve seen since the 1970′s. We were on the precipice of the period that would see American’s standard of living higher than ever before. We were also on the precipice of implementing the foreign and monetary policies that would end up being the catalyst for a perpetual state of global meltdown.
Years from now students will only read about a time when the world had increasing real incomes, positive interest rates, debt used for investment rather than for consumption, employment was assumed to mean full time, welfare was a temporary relief for only the most unfortunate, disability was given only to those disabled, a majority of kids were born into two parent households, America did not lead the world in imprisoning its citizens, the police actually served and protected the public, money had both time and intrinsic value, news was verified, the Constitution was a nation’s supreme mandate, democracy meant a self governed people, freedom didn’t come with chains, war wasn’t peace, lies weren’t truth, earnings growth came from operational expansion rather than operational contraction, productivity gains meant the same amount of workers generating more output rather than less workers generating the same output, production was the manufacturing of something you could touch, climate change meant taking a vacation, wars were approved by congress and fought against aggressor nations not disagreeable concepts, banks were pillars of commerce rather than wrecking balls, and you could take your family to the movies for less than a week’s wages.
Listening to the news today is absurd in the context of recent history. Our nation is bankrupt. By every definition known to accounting and economics our nation is bankrupt. Meaning we will never, no matter what happens, ever be able to pay off the amount of liabilities we’ve amassed. That is not debatable, it’s not arguable, it’s not conjecture, it’s not anything but absolute cold hard fact that cannot be denied by any politician, economist, macro analyst, anyone. The sun will come up tomorrow and America is bankrupt; these two propositions are equally probable. Ok has that sunk in then? Great.
the rest of the story : http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/a-look-at-the-15-years-before-and-after-2000-omg/
We must begin to heed all of the warning calls that are now echoing off the walls. The universe always provides warnings of danger but we so often fail to observe them. It is why poisonous fish are brightly coloured, why rattle snakes have a rattle and why bankers and politicians are so flamboyantly obnoxiously arrogant. These things make it easy for us to spot danger but only so far as we are willing to acknowledge them.
Years from now students will only read about a time when the world had increasing real incomes, positive interest rates, debt used for investment rather than for consumption, employment was assumed to mean full time, welfare was a temporary relief for only the most unfortunate, disability was given only to those disabled, a majority of kids were born into two parent households, America did not lead the world in imprisoning its citizens, the police actually served and protected the public, money had both time and intrinsic value, news was verified, the Constitution was a nation’s supreme mandate, democracy meant a self governed people, freedom didn’t come with chains, war wasn’t peace, lies weren’t truth, earnings growth came from operational expansion rather than operational contraction, productivity gains meant the same amount of workers generating more output rather than less workers generating the same output, production was the manufacturing of something you could touch, climate change meant taking a vacation, wars were approved by congress and fought against aggressor nations not disagreeable concepts, banks were pillars of commerce rather than wrecking balls, and you could take your family to the movies for less than a week’s wages.
Listening to the news today is absurd in the context of recent history. Our nation is bankrupt. By every definition known to accounting and economics our nation is bankrupt. Meaning we will never, no matter what happens, ever be able to pay off the amount of liabilities we’ve amassed. That is not debatable, it’s not arguable, it’s not conjecture, it’s not anything but absolute cold hard fact that cannot be denied by any politician, economist, macro analyst, anyone. The sun will come up tomorrow and America is bankrupt; these two propositions are equally probable. Ok has that sunk in then? Great.
the rest of the story : http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/a-look-at-the-15-years-before-and-after-2000-omg/
We must begin to heed all of the warning calls that are now echoing off the walls. The universe always provides warnings of danger but we so often fail to observe them. It is why poisonous fish are brightly coloured, why rattle snakes have a rattle and why bankers and politicians are so flamboyantly obnoxiously arrogant. These things make it easy for us to spot danger but only so far as we are willing to acknowledge them.