Inflating our way to a government controlled economy

[nobull]

My latest "investment" was a DPMS Panther Tactical Law Enforcement AR-15 Rifle and 1000 rounds of .223 ammo to go with it.

I would bet my Panther and its 1000 rounds of "shut your pie hole" that I feel like more of a badass holding my investment than either of you do holding yours.

Thats a pretty good bet...I would have to go along with you on that one..

doug

 

[nobull]

So you made a trip to the "hardware store", I see. Very nice piece of equipment, GenSen. I don't have an AR, but I have plenty of .223 ammo for barter.

I am really partial towards the well-built AK-47s. The damn things are indestructible.

I just spent a little time out at my backyard shooting range, after a long cold winter. Nothing like running a few 30-round mags through our Norinco AK-47, to shake the rust off.

Truth ..I agree the AK-47s are indestrctible..but as a former Marine, I just can't bring myself to buy one..Here in Texas we all own many guns...

regards
doug

 

[TruthSeeker]

Truth ..I agree the AK-47s are indestrctible..but as a former Marine, I just can't bring myself to buy one..Here in Texas we all own many guns...

regards
doug

The way I figure it, just about everything else we buy is made in China, so why not have a Chinese-made AK-47 and SKS?

Thanks for your service to our country, nobull. As I'm sure you are well aware, there is no such thing as a "former" marine.

Not only that, but you live in Texas, the place where death row has an "express lane". Texas will be "ground zero" when the United States falls apart and begins to rebuild. I'm very envious!

 

[Hobo1]

Getting back to the original subject, the key question in my mind is "where is our competitive edge?" First, I consider Europe to be in the same mess as we are, so my comments relate the Western developed countries to the rest of the world.

Consider that our wages are by far the highest in the world (even adjusted for the weaker dollar). Our housing costs are still extremely expensive. And food, and vehicles, and gasoline, and electricity, and everything!

Yet, thanks to the WTO and treaties like NAFTA, we trade on an equal basis with countries like Mexico, China, and the rest. The cost of living in all of these countries is much lower than ours... the cost of labor is cheaper, the cost of land is cheaper. Of course they are going to import things cheaper.

If you take your dollar overseas (not Europe), your US dollar is still amazingly strong. It is not as strong as it used to be before this recession, but the dollar still has some abstract intrinsic value. I guess people think the US government is stronger than other countries - so they assign a higher value to the dollar.

What we are seeing now, and I think we will continue to see in the future, is a falling value to the dollar. Or put another way, the assigned value of our assets (in dollars) will continue to fall. There is no reason why the cost for a medical operation in someplace like India or China should be 10 times cheaper than in the US. There is no reason why the cost to produce Nike shoes should be 10 times cheaper in China than in the US.

As the world globalizes, the purchase power parity should start to equalized. That is, for a given "basket of goods and services" every currency should buy the same amount of stuff. Right now a U.S. dollar exchanged and spent in India will buy more haircuts than a dollar spent in the United States! (To use a simple example). I see no compelling reason why the US dollar is as strong as it is.

I see the US dollar continuing to inflate (ie, loosing value), and anything that can be traded on the international market (like food) will continue to become more expensive.

 

[Dr.Who]

Getting back to the original subject, the key question in my mind is "where is our competitive edge?" First, I consider Europe to be in the same mess as we are, so my comments relate the Western developed countries to the rest of the world.

Consider that our wages are by far the highest in the world (even adjusted for the weaker dollar). Our housing costs are still extremely expensive. And food, and vehicles, and gasoline, and electricity, and everything!

Unfortunately, in a global economy market forces will bring down our wages. There is little that can be done to counter these forces - to use an analogy, if we squeeze the baloon at one spot the air will expand the baloon at another. Fortunatly, the wages in other countries will be coming up too. And that is something we can have some control over. The more we demans that slaves and workers are treated well in other countries the more their wages will rise.

We need to accept that our wages will fall and we need unions to accept it too. Fortunately unions only represent less than 12% of the work force.

One way to accept falling wages is to realize that if wages fall, say 10% but prices fall 15% we are stil ahead. For several years now we have had falling wages and prices. However, now debt driven inflation is working its ugly magic in a horrible way. Wages will fall while prices go up until the economy is in equalibrium again. I would prefer an adjustment that we can all see and understand - but debt driven inflation operates by stealth, hidden from the view of the average man who continues to vote for the politicians who created it to begin with.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Unfortunately, in a global economy market forces will bring down our wages. There is little that can be done to counter these forces - to use an analogy, if we squeeze the baloon at one spot the air will expand the baloon at another. Fortunatly, the wages in other countries will be coming up too. And that is something we can have some control over. The more we demans that slaves and workers are treated well in other countries the more their wages will rise.

We need to accept that our wages will fall and we need unions to accept it too. Fortunately unions only represent less than 12% of the work force.

One way to accept falling wages is to realize that if wages fall, say 10% but prices fall 15% we are stil ahead. For several years now we have had falling wages and prices. However, now debt driven inflation is working its ugly magic in a horrible way. Wages will fall while prices go up until the economy is in equalibrium again. I would prefer an adjustment that we can all see and understand - but debt driven inflation operates by stealth, hidden from the view of the average man who continues to vote for the politicians who created it to begin with.

I would be happy if the federal government would be honest with their unemployment and inflation/cost of living statistics.

How can our government NOT include the prices of food and fuel in their cost of living statistics, and publish near-zero inflation numbers with a straight face?

How can our government NOT include millions of unemployed people not collecting unemployment checks, NOT include millions of people working part-time jobs because they can't find full-time jobs, NOT include people who are severely under-employed, and NOT include people who have given up looking for a job and are on the government dole, and publish their unemployment statistics with a straight face?

 

[Hobo1]

I would be happy if the federal government would be honest with their unemployment and inflation/cost of living statistics.

How can our government NOT include the prices of food and fuel in their cost of living statistics, and publish near-zero inflation numbers with a straight face?

How can our government NOT include millions of unemployed people not collecting unemployment checks, NOT include millions of people working part-time jobs because they can't find full-time jobs, NOT include people who are severely under-employed, and NOT include people who have given up looking for a job and are on the government dole, and publish their unemployment statistics with a straight face?

That is politics in a democratic country. I was in politics as a city council member. When hard questions came up, politicians run for cover. Where are we going to put the next landfill? We need to make our roads four-lanes wide to accommodate future traffic.

And all the voters scream, "we don't want the landfill in our town, we don't want more traffic". But no one is willing to use 100% decomposable/ recyclable items so we don't generate trash. No one is willing to not use their cars - or even pay for systems which help reduce traffic.

So the politicians dodge, dance, hide and ignore the truth - and the people vote them in for a second term. I told the truth and was swiftly voted OUT of office. FINE! I didn't like the job of spending many nights on the phone, or people stopping me on the street to tell me their troubles.

The lessons for the learning are 1) don't expect the politicians to make things better; and 2) the little guy is going to get screwed because he has the least power.