Does the Deficit Matter?

[scooterbug44]

The majority of the items I buy (except clothes) are made at least partly in the US.

Part of that is where I shop (NOT at Wal-mart), part of it is the brands and shopping habits I was raised with, and part of it is growing up in a company, artisan, and locavore town where employee discounts and a strong customer base made buying local products a no-brainer.

 

[beachFool]

Thanks, Buz. So, the things we are producing are those things that "regular" people don't buy often or at all...so, the perception is that we aren't making many things--because the masses don't buy them or see them...maybe.
And perhaps that accounts for the disconnect we often see between Americans and people from other countries. Those from outside the US see the Deere tractors and construction equipment coming from the US and see us as productive: we here in the US see the Kubota and have a different perception.

I still think that we need more Research and Development for those things that are more innovative...what do you think?

Interesting that much of what's in the list above has to do with military needs.[/quote].

It is what we do best.


As far as innovation goes one of the promises of "green" energy is more jobs in the USA.

Don't forget Subarus are 40% made in the USA.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I agree with the solar/wind/green energy items being a place where we could improve. I have a friend who has been a lobbyist for the Solar Industry for years; she has an almost impossible job because she has to go up against the oil industry's money...
hopefully, that will be changing and Florida can take the lead in something more environmentally friendly.

I wonder if some of the technology that goes into the military productions might not be also used in some more peaceful endeavors...

I love the windmills and think that is such a great way to harness energy. In The Netherlands I am always enthralled with the old wooden ones working right alongside the gleaming silver ones...as we zip past in the train that sometimes goes 200 miles or kilometers an hour!

How I wish the U. S. had high speed trains!


There is so much available in the world that we don't take advantage of here--and yet, as Buz points out, so much where we are the leaders. The point of difference must be the amount of profit that goes to the corporations in charge and the will of the politicians who are "bringing home the pork."

 

[ugabuga]

Recovery Faltering As Shoppers Head to Sidelines

Full story at: News Headlines

If Americans are going to be responsible and stop spending just because they have no money, they'll put the country into an economic death spiral.

 

[futurebeachbum]

We're not the only ones facing a dismal, indebted future

From the Independent in the U.K. "Britain's debt 4x more than previously acknowledged..."

The true scale of Britain's national indebtedness was laid bare by the Office for National Statistics yesterday: almost ?4 trillion, or ?4,000bn, about four times higher than previously acknowledged.

It quantifies the burden that will be placed on future generations, and it is the ONS's first attempt to draw together the "off-balance-sheet" liabilities that have been accumulated by the state. The figures imply a huge "intergenerational transfer" ? broadly in favour of today's "baby boomer" generation at the expense of younger people and future generations.

?4 trillion is about $6 trillion dollars. That is $100,000 per inhabitant in the U.K. (Not per family or per taxpayer...per inhabitant.) A family of four's share is $400,000 today. With an interest rate of 2% and no more deficit spending that family of 4 will owe nearly a half million dollars in 10 years. On top of that, what are the odds that the British government will magically suddenly balance their budget?

A much lower standard of living, inflation, higher taxes, rationing and currency devaluation will ultimately be the way to get out of such levels of debt. Who's up for that?

 

[scooterbug44]

Full story at: News Headlines

If Americans are going to be responsible and stop spending just because they have no money, they'll put the country into an economic death spiral.

Americans being irresponsible and spending when they had no money IS what put the economy into an economic death spiral. :roll:

 

[futurebeachbum]

Americans being irresponsible and spending when they had no money IS what put the economy into an economic death spiral. :roll:

Consumer spending is how we went from a bad little recession in 2002 to a few artificially good years to the disaster we face now.

I still remember the government telling us all to go out and shop in 2002.

 

[TNJed]

The Catch-22 is that if all Americans saved in a responsible manner, it would be bad for the overall economy.

The basic question seem to be
should we spend ourselves out of the bad economy?
or
should we save ourselves out of the bad economy?
??????

Spending or QE (quantitative easing) our way out leads to inflation which saves real estate prices from the dreaded free market. Status quo keepers and Keynesian economists want this as it keeps all indebted.

Saving our way out means deflation. Soup lines and crashing housing prices, but a natural free market where the chips fall where they may.

As someone who believes in Natural Law, the end result will be the same IMO. We can have a crash now or a bigger crash later. I think they're hoping to delay it long enough for 21st century attrition to slow our demand for natural resources.

G'luck out there ;-)

 

[scooterbug44]

I think we should all be very deliberate with our spending to make sure that the dollars we are spending/what we can afford to spend do the most good..................as we let the house of cards tumble a bit so we can rebuild it.

I make a conscious effort to spend my money in certain places - try to eat at different local restaurants 3x a week, buy things locally and spread purchases around the different stores.

Local business purchases and cash transactions add up fast between the multiplier effects, local tax base, and the CC fees.

 

[30ashopper]

As Shopper says, it is a consumer driven economy, but almost all of what we buy comes from somewhere else...our manufacturing jobs will never come back the way they were post WWII IMO; so, who is working on producing innovative "stuff"?

Work forces change over time, we've reached that point where the industrial sector goes into decline. (That's normal IMHO, we're not 3rd world anymore.) We are moving into a new, service oriented economy where we sell our smarts rather than our brawn. That's not such a bad thing, but it does tend to leave folks behind as manufacturing moves to more raw labor freindly countries. Such is life.