Is there any hope for our economic system?

[Husky]

Our debt seems unsurmountable and our manufacturing base is all but gone. I hate being a doom and gloomer but looking at what we are up against, I'm having trouble finding any bright spots.

Does anyone here have an optimistic view which I'm missing?

[Wraith]

Ummm............ It's not Raining?

[RJ]

The American People have weathered Wars and Depression before and have come back.

 

Lets see what the People do in November partner! Jimmy Carter's one term put us in the poor house and Ronald Reagan came along, ended the "woe is us" theme that was Carter's lament and belief.

 

The coming election may be the first "Choice" Election in many years. Congress's % in the Polls is stuck at 14% and Obama's is below 40% in the opinion of Republicans, Independents and a growing number of Democrats.

 

Suck it up, we are going to be fine after we vote the Party of No out.

[Gseries69]

Our debt seems unsurmountable and our manufacturing base is all but gone. I hate being a doom and gloomer but looking at what we are up against, I'm having trouble finding any bright spots.

Does anyone here have an optimistic view which I'm missing?

 

 

Yes there is hope. We need to do two things.

 

On the govt front, we need to make the US a more hospitable place to do buisness. We need to streamline the regulatory process and make obtaining required permits quicker and easier. Corp tax rates need be lowered in order to make our products more competitive. The lost tax revenue can be made up by changing the tax code by closing the off shore loop hole and not allowing a full deduction for off shore labor.

 

On the personal front, people NEED to educate themselves. We have shifted to a service sector economy which includes accountants, engineers, lab techs, etc. There is a huge shortage of qualified people to do those jobs.

[fishweewee]

new normal, biatches.

[eddy]

Our debt seems unsurmountable and our manufacturing base is all but gone. I hate being a doom and gloomer but looking at what we are up against, I'm having trouble finding any bright spots.

Does anyone here have an optimistic view which I'm missing?

 

yes. small bright spot.

 

November 2, 2010 and November 6, 2012.

[fishweewee]

yes. small bright spot.

 

November 2, 2010 and November 6, 2012.

 

 

...and the burden (and the blame) just gets passed on to whoever wins those elections.

 

those elections may have some bearing on our runaway gov't spending ... down the road, but the harsh reality is that taxes are going UP.

[Roadrunner]

America has morphed into a country where success is penalized, and failure rewarded. Unless, and until, we reverse, or neutralize, this attitude, nothing will change.

 

Demonizing the 'rich' is not a national strategy for success.

 

I'm too old & jaded to view a resurgent, re-emergent Republican Part as our nations savior, but I'm perfectly willing to be pleasantly surprised. I'm just not particularly hopeful.

[fish'nmagician]

I think as long as partisans insist ALL the problems can be pinned on ONE party we are in trouble.

 

our economic woes didn't begin when Obama was sworn in,

but that is the story I hear in this forum often.

 

Until we can embrace reality,

and accept some blame instead of trying to foist it ALL on someone else,

we will continue to sink.

[Nessmuk]

The problem is not the economic system, it's the political system that oversees it.

 

We seem to have a hard time making the right decisions (policy) on where regulate the economy, and we're completely irresponsible with how much captital we drain out of it for non-productive purposes.

[lichum]

The problem is not the economic system, it's the political system that oversees it.

 

We seem to have a hard time making the right decisions (policy) on where regulate the economy, and we're completely irresponsible with how much captital we drain out of it for non-productive purposes.

 

 

"Bowles said that unlike the current economic crisis, which was largely unforeseen before it hit in the fall of 2008, the coming fiscal calamity is staring the country in the face. "This one is as clear as a bell," he said. "This debt is like a cancer."

 

 

Fertility, realistically estimable economic growth rates, (as opposed to "Rosy Scenario") retirement rates, international trade and global competition dynamics, mortality, etc., are all data that's been available to Congress for years and years.

 

That's why Congress has no excuse for their irresponsible inactions and failure to legislate sustainable fiscal policy.

 

Congress' failure of itself and the country is a failure of Congress' character.

 

Congress has become a damnable institution.

[Nessmuk]

The end of it all is inevitable. Even here, in the USA, we failed to sufficiently limit the power of the government. It is no longer just a service organization, now it decides for it's own short-term interests. With the only term that matters being the political careers of those we elect.

 

The "General Welfare." Two words making up the biggest failure in our history.

[Husky]

What has disturbed me for quite a few years has been the moving of our manufacturing base overseas. Nearly every electronic device we buy is made outside the U.S., as well as most of our clothing.

Remember when Walmart only sold U.S. made products? Now you have to search their stores to find U.S.made products, there.

[Punk Freud]

Our debt seems unsurmountable and our manufacturing base is all but gone. I hate being a doom and gloomer but looking at what we are up against, I'm having trouble finding any bright spots.

Does anyone here have an optimistic view which I'm missing?

 

Are you worried about the DEBT or DEFICIT

I know you said debt but sometimes the two terms get co-mingled.

 

The basic problem with our DEBT is corporate subsidies, military spending,

unfunded wars, and consolidated wealth at the top of the economic food chain.

 

I recently read that corporations are HOARDING about 2 trillion dollars

in CASH, not spending it and Not hiring, WHY To strangle the economy

Watch how corporations spend that money on the next presidential race

Fareed Zakaria, after noting that America's 500 biggest

nonfinancial companies are sitting on $1.8 trillion of cash,

wonders why they aren't

spending it on new plants or

expansion into new product lines:

 

======

 

Huge Cash Reserves

One piece of economic data that has caught the attention of

Byrnes, and others in his predicament, is a fairly staggering

figure that comes out of the Bureau of Economic Analysis:

Despite widespread

unemployment

, the BEA reports that U.S.

corporations,

reluctant to expand in an uncertain economy,

are sitting on $1.6 trillion in cash reserves, a record amount

This *Financial Crisis* has been MANUFACTURED by the Powers That Be.

[Wraith]

I think as long as partisans insist ALL the problems can be pinned on ONE party we are in trouble.

 

 

our economic woes didn't begin when Obama was sworn in,

 

but that is the story I hear in this forum often.

 

 

Until we can embrace reality,

 

and accept some blame instead of trying to foist it ALL on someone else,

 

we will continue to sink.

 

There is the 'problem'. We the 'people' have been conditioned to run away from 'reality', told that nothing 'bad' is our fault, it's always 'someone else'.

 

Responsibility is not 'our' problem, again, it's always that 'someone else'.

 

 

Our Schools, Public and Private, reward 'under achievement' and 'punish' over achievement'. Don't you dare Grade a 'paper' with a Red Pen, don't acknowledge a Students achievement in front of the Class, oh, and games at recess have no 'Winners', can't 'offend' the 'losers, you know............ and then