What kind of a country are we when we no longer make anything, we no longer produce, we no longer save, we no longer have the ability to provide for ourselves, and we no longer have the capacity to pay back our debts?
Ah, the luxury of being the greatest debtor in the world with the world's reserve currency. People give us their goods, the result of their hard work and labor, and we give them paper and IOUs, which we have no intention or capacity to pay back.
Keep sending us those televisions, those luxury cars, those ships full of oil. Keep building factories, keep working 'til you drop, keep those ships and containers coming. We'll give you this green stuff in return. That's a fair trade, no?
47 comments:
Houston, we have a bigger problem..
Kennedy and McCain are working on the Amnesty bill for Illegals all week. This will be the end of the USA as we know, if it passes. Bush is licking his lips, can't wait to sign it.
www.michaelsavage.com
PTB, are also working on a merger of economies and borders with Mexico and Canada. North American Union. Wakeup or kiss your country, the USA, good bye.
boi boi boi boi boi bye bye
the USA has been hijacked by these perps in this order:
GOVERNMENT MEDIA COMPLEX
MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
REAL ESTATE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
ACLU
LA RAZA
oh, the magic of derivatives!
We buy things, that's what our economy is now based on. And we make money selling houses to each other, not by working or producing
The world has gone insane
Hours of Labor content of a manufactured product should be competitive around the world and they really are, the labor content on a properly engineered new product like a computer or any electronic device is in minutes whether it is made here or over seas, even a total car takes about 20 hours of labor to build, whether I pay someone 1 dollar a hour or 20 per hour it does not make a meaningful difference in the selling price, especially after having to ship the product on a boat to our country. Nope the real reason for out sourcing is the money saved in not having to pay healthcare, social security or state or local taxes in foreign lands also no real-estate taxes on the building or land, most of the countries which swallow our jobs let companies pay no/deferred taxes on their profits (My company got 10 years no taxes on profits after it moved our division of 1200 people to Malaysia) if it trains their local workers. Or stinking politicians worry about Gays and Flag Burning and stem cells. If a stinking country wants to rape their people to take our jobs, put a surcharge on what they are selling to make labor content the only thing which matters and it will promote innovation.
The economies are merging before our eyes, we have found the enemy and he is us!
How easily we sell our country for cheap deodorant and CD players. We have made our forefathers proud. All the American who have died for freedom was in vain.
It turns out NAR has a detailed set of written procedures for dealing with a suicidal or psychotic agent. The documents, obtained this week by The Associated Press, say the agent's managers should bind his wrists and ankles with duct tape, tie him down with a bungee cord and inject him with tranquilizers if necessary.
"Talk with the agent while you are restraining him," the instructions say. "Explain what you are doing, and that you are using a restraint to ensure that he is safe."
Real estate office's medical kits contain tranquilizers and anti-depression, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications.
Regardless, many people were so disgusted by the entire episode, they are rethinking their buying plans.
"When I saw the news about the bubble, I was like freaking out," frequent flipper Kim Pagnottan said. "I was like holy shit. I was like oh my god. It's disgusting!
"Now, it's like I don't want to even go outside, I want to sell my own house. I want to sell every day."
Eddie Rue, a now former agent, agreed.
I never imagined that my RE agent could be such a scoundrel and that he had become so corrupted; I cannot conceive how he could have so pitilessly sacrificed the honor and name of the NAR, exposing me to eternal shame and humiliation. . . .
Yep Keith, this is a beautiful arrangement for the U.S., as long as we can keep it up.
Over and above all the Asian-made goods we are stealing by offering ever-more-worthless fiat dollars, we are really ripping off the oil from OPEC countries, as oil is the ultimate 'non-renewable" resource.
The question, as always, is "How long can this continue?"
The answer is: "Until it doesn't."
Yet, this "Bretton Woods II" arrangement has gone on far, far longer than many astute observers (such as Morgan Stanley's Stephen roach and Roubini-Setser) have predicted.
In fact, there are predictions that this little arrangement could continue for ten more years or so.
However, the "fly in the ointment" is the constant piling up of debt the U.S. is incurring to our Communist and Muslim debt enablers. At what point will our financiers demand a higher interest rate? Or stop lending altogether? Or, God forbid, actually start to sell their treasuries and agencies (now totalling about $3 trillion dollars and rising daily)?
All I know is that I wouldn't want to be a homedebtor, buried in debt, waiting for MY job to be outsourced to China or India.
One day butch the world, especially china, will wake up and realise they've been had, that the US cannot and will not pay them back and that they sent the US all that crap for, well, paper crap.
They'll stop sending the crap, they'll stop wanting our paper crap, and the chinese people, not americans, will start buying and using and enjoying the crap that china makes.
When that will happen, what will be the catalyst, well, that's the big question.
the other question is what will americans do when they can't trade paper crap for real crap? where will they get the crap? they can't make crap anymore, they have no factories, they have no labor. they just buy things.
and one day, there may be nothing to buy
from keith: We'll give you this green stuff in return. That's a fair trade, no?
Because of mass production techniques, we have the ability to produce more than we need. I really do think that you need to create customers through capitol gains and jobs...
Unfortunately, USA today reminded us this morning that over 16 million people in the US live in poverty and over 45 million don't have health insurance-- so, unfortunately, those full "new car lots" and empty houses, etc... are going to waste.
as long as they keep accepting our crappy dollars, then fine.
Nope the real reason for out sourcing is the money saved...
I recently read a book, entitled Deflation, that quoted Jack Welch as saying something like: "the only mistake a manager at GE cannot make is claiming that they didn't know how low our competitor's cost became..."
Specifically, if business wasn't outsourced, the "cost structure" itself would put the company out of business especially because trade with "low wage" countries wouldn't be possible...
Wal-Mart shoppers are ther lowest form of Americ-un low-life uneducated
stupids. People with no self-esteem or history, half-breeds who don't even know who their grandparents are, that transient flotsam who stand for nothing and will stand anything. If this is Americ-un 21st century democracy and liberty, I'm outta here!
Our government doesn’t want us to have access to reasonably priced medications from Canada because they are looking out for our well being from a consumer safety standpoint.
Last Halloween I bought 2 bags of candy for Trick or Treat at Wally World. The candy had familiar names so I assumed it was good to go! I get home and notice most of the candy out of the variety pack was made in Mexico.
This third world cesspool doesn’t have water fit to drink, but it’s acceptable for our candy manufacturers to move there and produce a product primarily consumed by our children. Trade policies serve the corporate interest only!
anon 8:48,
why don't you respond to keith's post rather than sweating over the illegal amnesty thing. get real, the brown people will bail you out of this debt.
I love walmart.There are 7 super walmarts within a 15 mile radius of me here in arizona.Every new commercial development is full of corporate business's.Hardly any new mom and pop shops opening.The only ones who can afford the space rent are corporations.When you go into these places they treat you like a statistic, no appreciation for your business at all.You are simply part of the sales for the day.We have become a nation that watches tv and goes shopping for our fun.Seems like a real sh@tty scenario we have.
"What kind of a country are we when we no longer make anything, we no longer produce, we no longer save, we no longer have the ability to provide for ourselves, and we no longer have the capacity to pay back our debts?"
A colony of lab rats?
What kind of a country are we when we no longer make anything, we no longer produce, we no longer save, we no longer have the ability to provide for ourselves, and we no longer have the capacity to pay back our debts?
This is a valid question. But are the readers of Housing Panic ready for these questions:
Did the voluntary collapse of the USA happen by accident, or was there a master plan? Are we victims of our own stupidity or are powerful forces at work creating a New World Order? Was 9/11 an inside job? Do international bankers really create and fund wars so that they can make money by both destroying and rebuilding civilizations? Will people willingly surrender their liberties to their governments in exchange for protection from government-sponsored terrorists? Was the upcoming worldwide economic crash orchestrated by the ruling class to allow them to enslave the masses? Are most high-level, world leaders practicing Satanists?
We are like some demented veal, stuck in our pens, staring at our flat screen idiot box as we fatten ourselves up for the slaughter.
The Chinese will develop a taste for the white meat sausage that is imported from the States, but they will demand that the suppliers stop using lye to clean the animals. It gets into the skin and ruins the sausage.
If you are insinuating that the American public is decadent, isn't that an indictment of the entire American system?
Well I for one do not have to sit around here and listen to someone badmouthing, the United States of America!
I think the dumping of the dollar has already begun.
Last week gold and silver spiked up huge. There's a big buyer on the prowl or lots of buyers.
This Monday look for a quick rally as soon as the stock market opens as the hedge funds and mutual funds try to convince everyone that things are fine followed by another down day if not a complete panic.
I see no way out of this. This sub prime thing IS the straw that is breaking the camel's back. The last vestiges of hope are draining right now.
The problem is, investors have nowhere to put their money. That's why it's taking so long to kill the DOW. Real Estate is a bust. Bonds are low yield, not even keeping up with inflation. Currency is fake. Only gold and silver are left so that's going to be the next bubble.
Wait, I see a new bubble on the horizon to absorb all this inflated cash, yes, there is it, Tulips!!!
greg swann in trouble
his favorite mortgage company just got busted for fraud and theft
housingdoom.com
i dont want to pay for gregs food when he is jailed
put him in a cell with big bubba the man molestor
and come back in 12 hours
Re:Kennedy and McCain are working on the Amnesty bill for Illegals all week. This will be the end of the USA as we know
A lot of people have big hard-ons against Illegals. Let's face it, it's what keeps our economy going. Big Money knows that it's bad for business to get rid of these workers. Everyone knows that the easiest way to get rid of Illegals is to go after the business owners who knowingly employ these people. But that's bad for business and a big downer....ain't gonna' happen.
Americans workers will need $12/hr to pick our crop and clean our toilets. They'll need full medical benifits and they'll want to Unionize. Again, that's bad for business and a big downer. I'm all for American workers and I'm willing to pay $7 for my broccoli but I suspect that the biggest whiners against Illegals don't want to pay up for the American labor. You can't have both ways....Illegals are here to stay, quit whining.
And a war in Iran will put us further in debt and have 2 billion Muslims even more ticked than they are now at us! We have yet to finish the job in Afghanistan and Iraq!
The U.S. is the ultimate showcase for capitalism. So how is capitalism working out?
Capitalism is a pyramid scheme whose logical result in total monopoly in a "survival of the fittest" game. When the bottom line for all decisions is profit...nobody wins except those at the very top.
There is no "common good" and it shows. Local economies, infrastructure, education, health care, etc. all become secondary concerns. Like a virus infecting a cell, corporations "take over" the host country, buy the government so that laws are rewritten in their favor, buy the media, and remove all obstacles in pursuit of their own greed.
Look at the World Trade Organization. This "boys club" is made up of the worlds corporate/financial elite. They got together for their common good (greed), declared themselves above the law of all sovereign states, and in doing so have sent a message that they consider the laws of a given country as "barriers to free trade". Democracy is inherently "bottom up" control of a country whereas the WTO is trying to impose "top down" control of all countries. Anyone see a problem here?
The WTO elected themselves "world dictator". They are not voted into office and are accountable to nobody. It was a naked power grab. They want a "global village" with no borders so goods/services/people can "flow freely" without those pesky rules/laws that the people of a given country may vote into law to protect themselves against these rapists.
Here is an analogy. The world is comprised of 7 ponds. Big fish (corporations) are happy to eat the smaller fish in their pond until all that remains are corpses and excrement. The pond ends up either dead or severely damaged.
Then the big fish crawls to the next pond, beats the resident "big fish", and the cycle repeats.
In the end the last of the big fish fight over the last pond. But there are a finite number of ponds left to conquer and a crisis manifests itself. In the end even the biggest meanest fish loses as there is nothing left to support its ravenous hunger....
We are there now. Capitalism in its present form is unsustainable and inherently damaging to local economies. And all so that an ever smaller elite can make ever more obscene profits.
This model is unsustainable.....
I remember reading a science fiction story about a future society where consumption was mandatory.
You had a particular quota you had to consume or you'd be penalized.
We may have reached this already.
We have countries now wanting their currency to be worth less so they can continue to produce and export. They want to produce at a loss to enable us to consume.
I'm afraid everything we were taught in school is just plain wrong. Consumption and waste is good. Production and saving is bad.
My own mentality is pretty minimalistic. Besides the bare minimums like food, clothing and medical care, I just want a safe place to live (to own the house), a dependable car and the Internet.
I wonder if I'm representative of a new wave of people who are sick of material things that are more hassle then they're worth. And because there are more of us, producers of junk have to keep lowering prices to get us to buy?
Nah, no way.
If you believe crappy us paper is gonna get crappier, here's a cool new etf. Not investment advice.
I remember reading a science fiction story about a future society where consumption was mandatory.
You had a particular quota you had to consume or you'd be penalized.
We may have reached this already.
We have countries now wanting their currency to be worth less so they can continue to produce and export. They want to produce at a loss to enable us to consume.
I'm afraid everything we were taught in school is just plain wrong. Consumption and waste is good. Production and saving is bad.
My own mentality is pretty minimalistic. Besides the bare minimums like food, clothing and medical care, I just want a safe place to live (to own the house), a dependable car and the Internet.
I wonder if I'm representative of a new wave of people who are sick of material things that are more hassle than they're worth. And because there are more of us, producers of junk have to keep lowering prices to get us to buy?
Nah, no way.
keith said...
We buy things, that's what our economy is now based on. And we make money selling houses to each other, not by working or producing
The world has gone insane
February 25, 2007 9:59 AM
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un huh. and we create financial products these days in the form of derivatives. who says we don't make anything here anymore?
Jr Junky is the only one here who seems to get it. Regulatory arbitrage is the norm these days, and will accelerate with advances in high-speed-low-cost transport and mobile computing.
No amount of jingoistic bluster will put that genie back in the bottle.
Greenspan once said that China has done more to help keep inflation down in America than anyone. That's an incredibly stupid statement and we will see within the next 20-50yrs how much of a mistake that has been made by importing all of their stuff and not making our own. What's the cost to us when all of our former manufacturers are out of work?
I love the cynicism, you nailed it again Keith.
You are not being absolutist and alarmist enough.
What happens when most people realize they don't need any more crap?
The primary reason for shopping for cheap labor isn't to save consumers money, it's to raise profit margins for wall street.
Walmart went Global because it's stock price was suffering and it could lower prices 10% and up profit margins 50%.
Wages in China will rise just as the credit crunch sinks the US consumer. What they lose on our debt will be a small price to pay to totally remake China and it's work force into a manufacturing powerhouse.
Once China gets rich of all their exports that Americans continue to consume at Walmart etc. they can buy up the remaining oil in the Persian Gulf! We are so screwed!
Cornholio Mangus said...
Jr Junky is the only one here who seems to get it.
I get it too. But why don't the politicans?
mnhp said...
Unfortunately, USA today reminded us this morning that over 16 million people in the US live in poverty and over 45 million don't have health insurance--
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Yea, I saw that too but you know what? 16Million is just over 5% of the population. Sucks to be one of the 5% but that means that 95% do not live in poverty (yes, there are degrees, that next one percent is not rolling in $$$)!!!!!!
What percentage of the population is mentally or physically unable to earn a living? Probably a good portion of that 5%.
45 Million do not have health insurance, that is 15% of the population, that means 85% do have health insurance, not too bad.
I happen to think they may have f'd the numbers up some how. individual insurance, good basic coverage, runs about $300/month or 13.5B a month. that is 162 billion a year. Seems like a small amount to keep holding us back from covering the un-insured.
Nice pic!
A bountiful haul of booty garnered by greenbacks! Now, if we had to swap gold for those goods their might be but 5 containers on that thar ship...
greg swann in trouble
his favorite mortgage company just got busted for fraud and theft
housingdoom.com
+++++++++++++
HAHAHHAHAHA
He is not collateral damage, he is part of the ground zero explosion, and he will get what he deserves.
iw
What happens when most people realize they don't need any more crap?
I hit that point last year. I have $22K in stuff in my basement -- decked out gameroom. All purchased from 2003 to 2004-- had a few parties to show off to my friends. But now only use it a few times a year. My house is full of useless junk, most of it purchased by my wife.
In the last year, I've become a need based buyer. I only buy it if I need it. Last week my wife said she is tired of shopping!!! I asked her why? She said its not fun anymore. Again, I asked why? She said because the stores are full of the same stuff we already own--- Nothing new or exciting.
That's when it hit me --- I hate shopping because its not fun anymore.
Keuth we product ad export high-tech expensive products like 777s
The Chinese produce and export cheap trinkets and t-shirts.
So we sell $100B worth of 777s and import $150B worth of crap. Where's the problem?
We export more today than ever. Who cares how much we import?
45 million uninsured is one of those lies that when repeated often enough becomes the truth.
When excluding
a) illegal aliens
b) people temporarily uninsured while changing jobs
c) those who could afford but choose not to get insuarnce (usually the young and healthy)
that 45 million gets reduced to about 5-7 million of truly uninsured Americans or about 5% of the population.
Don't tell that to Hillary though.
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