I was always told to never spend more money than I had.
" If it's not in the piggy-bank, don't spend it" Simple, timeless advice from parents that came through the "dirty thirties" --when unemployment was standard, men and their families were put out on the street and desperately migrated any place they could go to find work and food. A time when the very will to survive, for many, determined whether they survived or not.
The question is now not whether individuals will survive, but whole nations --Ireland, Greece, Spain --all in financial trouble, playing with "bailouts" --and now the USA.
Big trouble is afoot-- and in July, --yes, THIS July, --in the next few weeks it will be pretty much determined if the US hits the wall or not--with 15 Trillion dollars in debt, give or take a few billion, a "few" very pricey wars on the hotplate and a struggling political battle in Congress doing it's best to kill off any progress--what will occur? Will the US default on it's loans, or will it just print trillions of paper dollars and inflate the debt away--destroying the economy with hyperinflation? Will the 'debt ceiling' just be arbitrarily raised to "extend" the deadline and "put off" the big collapse?
It seems to me economics in North America is going to have to be re-invented. It is not working, let's face it. Big corporations and CEO's collect tax breaks and multi-million dollar bonuses while shareholders collect little or nothing for their investments; taxpayers foot the bill for bailouts, and end up in worse shape than the trillion-dollar banks that continually siphon the cream off of every sector of the economy--and all the while creating yet more financial disaster so the taxpayer can foot the bill to fix it. The banks OWN North America. The banks OWN your government and tell it what to do. The US federal reserve is NOT run by your government.
Change is due, and soon. Real soon. IN the old West, they would "hang'em high" and leave the vultures to clean up the mess. In today's economic world, we have it backwards; the financial vultures are happily creating the mess.
August 4th is D-Day.
Standard& Poors notes that the US default on on it's payment for August 4th.....the US will drop rating from " AAA" to a dismal "D" ranking.
The global economy is at stake and world markets will react "badly". A real barn-burner. The Grapes of Wrath are ripening.
It's going to be a tough one. Hang onto your hats.
that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I don't keep following the US economic reports much, but am quite aware of a lot of financial mess that the country is in. Usually what I also hear is 'What is President Obama doing about it?' Sometimes I can't help but think that he came in at the worst possible time when the scenario had already crashed and reached rock bottom. I'm not speaking for or against him, but what I'm trying to say is that there has been a lot of corruption going on for decades and decades that has brought the country to such a position. Political parties have made hay when the sun was shining upon them and like you have mentioned, the banks and big corporations have manipulated the system to work in their favor. Where does common man stand? One tells another "Get up and do something about it?" But then, sometimes there is just so much common man can do. His resources and skills are limited when he does not have the means to nurture his skills and train himself for a profession worthy of dignity. North America is known for its rich Talent Pool and this coupled with the large amounts of Natural Resources make for a great combination. Alas.... the circuits of reasoning are all cross-wired and signals messed up. All this has to be cleared up and new strategies worked upon. And like you mentioned, Raymond, 'economics in North America is going to have to be re-invented'.
ReplyDeleteMandy, your comment "the circuits of reasoning are all cross-wired and signals messed up" is probably the best observation. Governments have totally forgotten what their real mandate IS, and that is to provide good governance and do collectively for it's citizens what they cannot do individually for themselves. Government mandate has has been distorted to the sad state of self-entitlement for politicians and their friends; repression of all people by laws convenient to power and money, and total displacement of the concept of economic fairness. "economics in North America is going to have to be re-invented" is an understatement by far. The system is close to collapse. NOTHING can expand forever, as we are about to see. Thanks Mandy.
ReplyDeleteWe have to get rid of any and all career politicians who get rich, big-headed and power hungry whilst they grab our money through unreasonable taxing the toss it around like confetti just to remain in office as "Do-gooders". THAT has to stop first before we can tackle this horrible situation. Live within your means ain't so tough to do if you have a brain...the one thing woefully lacking in DC.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, Glory, the "powerful" know exactly what they are doing. "Brains" are not lacking, but they ARE using their brains to GUT the economy, dumb-down North American economics and civilization to a 3rd world status and make it EASIER to establish one-world government --which THEY and their friends shall run, of course. Is that an outrageous conspiracy theory? I don't think so. Corporations THINK they own the world and can do anything they "like" without consequences. The "powers" and the "politicians" are actually using YOUR own tax money to promote their own wealth-garnering agenda --and are using it against the very people paying for all the "perks" and self-entitlements they commandeer and enjoy in the process. Thanks, Glory!
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me is that now the people are supposed to pay for the excess spending that took place before and how we are supposed to live within means. What would happen if I told the bank (if I had one) that I needed it to raise my debt limit (if I had one) because I mismanaged my funds?
ReplyDeleteI rarely comment on politics. Not because I don't think or understand the workings - I actually have a degree in political administration and at one time worked in government on a local level - but because it opens one up to a lot of mud slinging and trying to be classified as left or right.
Alexandra, the being "classified as left or right" is the OLDEST political trick in the book to make ORDINARY, LOGICAL common sense people feel guilty about criticizing any of the contemporary greedy practices, shoddy governance, governance, and "self-entitlement" these "leaders" of political parties and the powerful are practicing every day. You may be labeled "left or right", Liberal or Conservative --but you are calling a spade a spade --which is what we must DO. The truth always comes out.
ReplyDeletethanks, Alex!
The sad thing is, I foresaw all this when Sept. 11 happened ten years ago. THAT kept me up many more nights than the even the scenes on TV did. If I, a nobody, saw this ripple effect coming I wonder why others did not. Others meaning those in power, they went to Harvard - I did not.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it does not take a genius to balance a budget. I had a stint in a finance department to learn first hand, but a 4 week bookkeeping course will do as well.
My personal situation now may be dire, but at least I have established the groundwork for self-sufficiency, despite being in a position where I should be able to access the funds I paid into. Others aren't so lucky who find themselves at the beginning of a long, dark tunnel now.
Alex, don't kid yourself, "those in power" saw what was coming, because they CREATED it and also willfully ignored the horrific effect it is going to have on our lives. They ignored it because they were profiting from the failure all the way, garnering ever more wealth at the cost of everyone else. What has been done to the economic model in North America is unacceptable, even criminal in nature. At some point it will have to be stopped; 'how' is the question the people must answer.
ReplyDeleteIf you have established the groundwork for self-sufficiency, you're way ahead of the majority of people --there are tough times coming. Thanks, Alex.
politics has been a mere spectator sport for me, as the sense of dis-empowerment dug holes into the crust beneath my feet..literally fracking the future of freedoms..
ReplyDeletewhatever example the common man can show is lost within the halls of authority...the divisive nature of name calling--left-right-- does not allow room for difference..anyone is some part conservative or liberal in various degrees..
time to dig out that little box where money is safe from wants and thieves. from impulse or needs...i hope the weather is not too hot on the day speaker B announces that he has not reined in the hounds of bankruptcy..sad example there mister politician.
Nadine, it is promising to be timely entertainment watching political hacks and buffoons at work, shooting themselves in the foot and simultaneously placing both feet in mouth, trying to clean up the sordid mess they have made. Perhaps bankruptcy of the United States of America will wake up the world--as a prime example of how NOT to run civilization. A turning point, to be sure--with no way OUT but "cooperation". How likely is that?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if any of you know what hubris means, but the world politicians have been suffering from hubris for decades. They have just about bent their efforts to doing the things that are the most destructive for their countries. The worst thing about it is they have done all these things in the name of good. Well, the road to perdition is paved with good intentions. The obvious answer is these people just don't understand the realities of how the real world works.
ReplyDeleteThomas Jefferson the writer of the Declaration of Independence observed that the Tree of Liberty has to be fertilized now and then with the spilling of some blood. Maybe it will come to that yet!
John, it seems to me it's worse than just hubris, it's just outrageous arrogance. These people seem to thing their positions in office give them authority to do anything they please-regardless of how it affects the structure of society, the economic well-being of the country, and the environment as well.
ReplyDelete"Good intentions" of today might be broadly interpreted to "lining their own pockets" too, it often seems to be the case. You are so right, they don't understand, or maybe it' just that they don't care to bother trying to understand why their "system" doesn't work, and why it causes so much negative reaction--and even disasters.
Thomas Jefferson may well be right. Even if politicians and the corrupt fail to see it that way, blinded by their own agenda, It IS their abuse of power and corruption of the political system that will make that system self-destruct --by whatever means. Thanks, John.