The clock is ticking for USA....

[sunny001]

Printing more dollars will devalue the dollar, since the USA economy is based on the dollar the USA real GDP will fall, their nominal GDP will rise but all the GDP's of countries that do not use the dollar will rise even more due to their currencies being stronger when stacked up next to the dollar.

Printing out more money hurts the USA more than it hurts China because they will have to pay $50,000,000 to get a barrel of oil. China will actually benefit because they will have a stronger yen.

Good point. Lets agree that its a stalemate between China and US economy wise, until US recovers and pays off its debts.

Can someone tell me if Euro is freely trade-able in open market?

 

[sunny001]

The USA also has the LARGEST trade deficit in the world, LARGEST national debt in the world, and inferior infrastructure compared to most other developed countries.

While Japan has a HIGH national debt, they also have a HUGE trade surplus, thats why nobody is worrying the Japan is going to collapse.

Right now USA is a 6 foot tall bodybuilder that can bench press 700 lbs but he has been diagnosed HIV and cancer.

USA economy may have size, but everybody agrees that the USA is unhealthy especially compared to China in number 2 position who has the highest FOREX reserves and highest trade surplus.

List of countries by current account balance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Funny that bit. May be not HIV, its incurable as yet. I still have hope for US.

 

[Chinaownseverything]

Funny that bit. May be not HIV, its incurable as yet. I still have hope for US.

Some people have powerful immune systems that can kill HIV completely, these people are extremely rare.

'MIRACLE' OF MAN WHO BEAT HIV

'MIRACLE' OF MAN WHO BEAT HIV - mirror.co.uk


USA can repair her economy, but the odds do not look good

 

[sunny001]

Some people have powerful immune systems that can kill HIV completely, these people are extremely rare.

'MIRACLE' OF MAN WHO BEAT HIV

'MIRACLE' OF MAN WHO BEAT HIV - mirror.co.uk


USA can repair her economy, but the odds do not look good

USA went through quite a few recessions before, even depressions. Every time it came out better than before. So, I would keep my faith on it.

 

[Developereo]

I see what you're saying but the west is slowly getting out of its blatantly imperialistic - install dictator and loot mode. they've improved to install democracy and open new markets

Western business will take a consumer market whether it exists under a democracy or dictatorship. Dictatorships are actually preferrable because they tend to be more stable in their policies rather than being up for grabs at every election.

oh, and we weren't caught selling N technology either. nor have we ever sheltered declared enemies of the west.

No argument there; Pakistan is paying for its past policy blunders. It doesn't mean others have been angels, but we get put on the spot while others get a pass. That's life!

Just one question though, do you want presidents to go against the media just to prove your point? What if media was right in all those situations? You wouldn't jeopardize national security just for making a point.

Depends on the programs. Clearly the Civil Rights Act and various other actions would be considered good by everybody. Economists continue to argue the pros and cons of direct government involvement in the economy, so no clear verdict there. And the same is true of wars; some will argue that various wars have been a net positive while others will disagree.

Even with all those presidents just following the media, america seem to have done well for itself. It is the leading nation of the world. Last I recall, it still is sole super power.

Yes, America is the sole super power and will remain so throughout this century despite gloomy predictions to the contrary. People fail to appreciate the resilience and enormous head start that the US has in terms of science and technology, not to mention its soft power.

It is fashionable to chant anti-American slogans, but the visa queues at American embassies haven't gotten shorter. It still is the place to make economic dreams come true and will continue to attract the best and brightest from around the world.

 

[sunny001]

Western business will take a consumer market whether it exists under a democracy or dictatorship. Dictatorships are actually preferrable because they tend to be more stable in their policies rather than being up for grabs at every election.



No argument there; Pakistan is paying for its past policy blunders. It doesn't mean others have been angels, but we get put on the spot while others get a pass. That's life!



Depends on the programs. Clearly the Civil Rights Act and various other actions would be considered good by everybody. Economists continue to argue the pros and cons of direct government involvement in the economy, so no clear verdict there. And the same is true of wars; some will argue that various wars have been a net positive while others will disagree.



Yes, America is the sole super power and will remain so throughout this century despite gloomy predictions to the contrary. People fail to appreciate the resilience and enormous head start that the US has in terms of science and technology, not to mention its soft power.

It is fashionable to chant anti-American slogans, but the visa queues at American embassies haven't gotten shorter. It still is the place to make economic dreams come true and will continue to attract the best and brightest from around the world.

Some very good points Developereo. Nice talk. Just to add a bit about media, I think you would rarely find a media that is so critical to its government policies than american media. It's just not their media but world media follows their politics.

 

[Developereo]

Just to add a bit about media, I think you would rarely find a media that is so critical to its government policies than american media. It's just not their media but world media follows their politics.

That is mostly restricted to domestic issues, because there tends to be greater diversity of views within the media.

But sometimes not even on domestic matters. For example, there are almost no opposing views when some politicians go on an Islam-bashing spree, not even during the election campaign's blatant bigorty of Obama-is-a-Muslim "smear" campaign.

On foreign policy issues, the US media tends to be much more monolithic in its stance, e.g. on pro-Israel or anti-Pakistan coverage.

Most of the American media has decided to ignore the Wikileaks revelations about US forces' war crimes in Afghanistan, focussing almost exclusively on the Pakistan angle. Apparently when US troops are committing war crimes in Afghanistan, the mainstream US media is willing to look the other way because this is the 'good' war.

 

[gambit]

The media in most democratic countries is owned by a handful of elites who decide the course and nature of political debate and state policy.

The corollary to that is in a dictatorship, the media is is controlled by the political elite, aka 'The Party', who make no bones about who is controlling the political debate (none) and state policy.

The classic example of media control is the taboo in Western media to criticize Israel.

The corollary to that is in a dictatorship whatever is taboo is outlined by 'The Party'.

It also invalidates the claim that authoritarian regimes are more warlike. The US invasion of Iraq was drummed up by the media. Just as they are beating the drums for attacks on Iran and Pakistan.

The corollary to that is under a dictatorship 'The Party' drums up whatever it wants to justify any war it wants.

Guess democracies and dictatorships are not so different after all.

 

[TorontoNoctis]

It is absolutely necessary to devalue your currency over time. First money gets destroyed through wear and tear so you absolutely have to print more money. Secondly, as your economy grows you need more money for more transactions. Perhaps the main indicator of a strong economy is not how much GDP a country has, but how much and how fast money is changing hands. Finally, it is impossible to tell exactly how much money an economy needs and if there is too little money it acts as a bottleneck for economic growth. But it is certainly possible to estimate a ballpark which is why the ideal is between 2-5% inflation.

Debt fearmongering is BS. Yes, the USA has a trade deficit, but so what? Consumers can easily cut down consumption of luxury goods. Meanwhile, if your country totally depends on exports for well being whenever a recession or depression hits, many thousands of real jobs are lost when other countries institute protectionist controls or demand just dies. And of course, in terms of national security threat only external debt as percentage of GDP matters. And the USA is far behind other developed countries. For example the UK is at 416%. If you owe money to yourself, well it doesn't really count does it?

If this were any other country, France, Japan, UK, Germany, Italy people would not care. But because it's the USA, people make up extreme stories about debt and state statistics without even a tiny bit of understanding what it means. By the way, USA infrastructure is not ****. The USA still has the most nuclear power plants and nuclear power generation in the world by a huge margin, extremely dense urban centers and the most highly developed higher education in the world. It is the world's most stable economy. In any other country if something like Gore vs Bush happened there would be riots or perhaps even civil war, but not in America; the loser concedes defeat entirely (and doesn't even want to power share). Most importantly as mentioned before the visa lines are not getting shorter and America is still viewed as a land of opportunity, despite possibly the worst turnout of events and Islamophobia short of a war with Iran. Despite the worst possible turnout of events (subprime crisis, war on terror etc.,) America is still the country to emigrate to. Finally and perhaps most important Americans are very independent and hardworking and do not depend on state handouts for success. The individual American on average might not be as smart as a Canadian or European, but what they lack in brains like voting for Bush they make up with productivity. They are the most productive workers in the world because their worldview is that living on government assistance is disgraceful.

People underestimate just how rich the USA is. It is not called a superpower just because it has a strong military. And they also underestimate the quality of American citizens and the ability for Americans to get out of trouble.

 

[below_freezing]

americans, intelligent? are you kidding me? they're burger munching idiots. US high schoolers can't do basic algebra or write a sentence correctly and most college students can't tell if the black wire is + or -. shamed of living on welfare, you kidding? they love welfare and unemployment checks. they have more children to get more of it. they'd rather get unemployment checks than be waiteresses or bus drivers.

yes, their top 1% elite at harvard, princeton, yale, etc. are the top in the world, the rest are just faceless human cattle.

 

[TorontoNoctis]

You obviously didn't read it. I didn't claim Americans were intelligent, only the most hard working. Or perhaps you confuse intelligence with hard work. Sad truth of capitalism is it rewards ambition, hard work, even good looks way before intelligence. But it's a system which works.

As for Americans being welfare bums you of course can find some. But you will never find the kind as in Europe where whole generations of families live off of welfare, students go on strike for 60 hour work weeks and healthcare is considered a right rather than something to be earned. You obviously don't understand Americans if you think the majority are lazy, and in fact the numbers prove they are extremely productive economically.

By the way I would not put so much stock in Ivy League schools. Those are mostly for children of wealthy or the elite. The power of American education is actually in its city colleges and state universities. MIT, CalTech and so on are far better than the Ivy League. In other countries, say China or Japan you must get into the one school University of Tokyo or Beijing University or you are a failure. In America, there are many options for people of any intelligence level and income and that is the difference and where the strength lies.

 

[CardSharp]

The individual American on average might not be as smart as a Canadian or European, but what they lack in brains like voting for Bush they make up with productivity. They are the most productive workers in the world because their worldview is that living on government assistance is disgraceful.

I should have read this a bit more carefully. This is totally wrong.

 

[CardSharp]

By the way I would not put so much stock in Ivy League schools. Those are mostly for children of wealthy or the elite. The power of American education is actually in its city colleges and state universities. MIT, CalTech and so on are far better than the Ivy League. In other countries, say China or Japan you must get into the one school University of Tokyo or Beijing University or you are a failure. In America, there are many options for people of any intelligence level and income and that is the difference and where the strength lies.

What gave you that idea? My dad got his masters from a middle level chinese university then got a scholarship to study in Germany for his PhD. This is all conjecture based on what you think is the case.

 

[TorontoNoctis]

Well if you guys think this is wrong how do you explain:

1. Hatred for pubicly funded healthcare

2. Hatred of new immigrants using social services

3. Hatred of so-called large government

4. Hatred of excessive tax rates

One possiblity is that Americans are simply idiots who hate good health, hate effective government and are all racist. But after meeting many Americans, they are simply more individualistic and hate the idea of paying people money who haven't earned it. Rather than being communal, Americans are individualistic. And that obviously leads to greater individual productivity. You can deny it all you want, but America has figured out a system to reward individual ambition and hard work, allowing those who start out with less or who aren't endowed with as much intelligence to push their way to the top. Obama is perhaps the prime example of this; in no other country could a minority arguably hated and enslaved just 50 years ago become the leader. Obama was not particularly smart -- not a scientist and law doesn't require much intelligence. But he worked hard by waking up at 5 in the morning every day and planned out his life, and now he is President .

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

americans, intelligent? are you kidding me? they're burger munching idiots.

Unnecessary stereotyping there.