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The Biggest Losers Of The Past 5 Years
Tbi ^ | 1-26-2013 | Joe Weisenthal

Posted on 01/26/2013 2:56:56 PM PST by blam

The Biggest Losers Of The Past 5 Years

Joe Weisenthal
January 26, 2013, 9:42 AM

You could argue that economic policy makers have done a disappointing job over the past five years, trying to get advanced economies back on their feet.

Growth is still slow in the US, and job creation is subpar.

But in a sense, the past five years have been a huge vindication for mainstream economic approaches, as these huge experiments in recovery have not had the nasty effects that so many people would have predicted.

Consider all of the people who have spent the last few years talking about dollar collapse, hyperinflation, and debt crises.

We won't name names out of politeness, but we're pretty sure you know who they are.

They've been proven spectacularly wrong.

Here's a chart showing the US dollar, even as the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve has gone bananas. The dollar has stayed in a pretty stable range, while the Fed's QE has taken it into uncharted territories.

And here are US borrowing costs vs. the national debt. The national debt has exploded, while US borrowing costs have remained tame. Gone down, actually.

Readers of these pages have seen all these charts a million times before.

But the degree to which these people who predicted doom at every unconventional policy measure have been wrong is truly remarkable.

Mainstream economics has its flaws, and can't answer everything. But those on the fringes who thought that everyone in positions of power were making catastrophic mistakes have had a horrible time of it.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; gloomdoom; recession; recovery
More and more people seem to be coming to the conclusion that the worst is behind us.

The powers that be are still 'kicking the can' and not adressing the problems. We are still borrowing $1.2 trillion a year.

The jury is still out, IMO.

1 posted on 01/26/2013 2:57:04 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
The mirage is still present. What growth? Debt has fueled everything for over 30 years. When and if we ever 'cut' spending, the obvious financial ied's will start again. This is all we have to show for the trillions added to debt?
2 posted on 01/26/2013 3:03:33 PM PST by Theoria
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To: blam

He who laughs last...not that it will be a laughing matter.


3 posted on 01/26/2013 3:04:28 PM PST by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: blam

This guy is an idiot. We are in the middle of it and we have several years to go before we can make any real judgements as to who was right and who was wrong.

Geez, an idiot.


4 posted on 01/26/2013 3:10:33 PM PST by buffaloguy
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To: blam

The biggest losers? Are the taxpayers. Next are the losers that voted for zero!


5 posted on 01/26/2013 3:13:14 PM PST by tallyhoe
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To: blam

So I guess what this guy is saying is having a jobless recovery isn’t bad. ...pretty low bar concedering how much were spending.


6 posted on 01/26/2013 3:14:57 PM PST by Blackirish (Forward Comrades!!!!!!!!!)
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To: blam

LMBO!!!
(whew!)
It sure is good to know everything is going to turn out just fine, and the economy is on its way to full recovery, thanks to the “economic policy makers”.

Where do the big government rats come up with mice like Weisenthal?

(Thats a rhetorical question of course, as I am well aware that ‘Business Insider’ is the Democrat propaganda version of genuine business publications such as Forbes, WSJ, and IBD.)


7 posted on 01/26/2013 3:21:42 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: blam

If we do not cut spending, we will get to a point where our tax revenue will not pay for our interest payments on the money we borrowed. At the point this illusion will shatter. At a minimum that will be the end of the federal reserve, and the treasury will just print money directly. Then we will start to see all of the effects that have been predicted.


8 posted on 01/26/2013 3:31:37 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: blam
The jury is still out, IMO.

For the jury to convene is for the truth to be revealed. Or, the cards of this house are unexpectedly robust.

9 posted on 01/26/2013 3:34:39 PM PST by VRW Conspirator (Sometimes it takes calamity to lead to serenity - FReeper RacerX1128)
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To: blam

My brother inlaw sells gaming equipment and he has been busy as possible the last 5 years. That’s not so unusual however I spoke with him and his friends last T-day and everyone of them was positive things were getting better and headed up. Not just the gaming market but things in general. They think I am crazy for not being all in on the stock market.

I almost, for a second felt a tiny bit of sorrow for them, but it quickly went away :smile:


10 posted on 01/26/2013 3:51:46 PM PST by winodog (Thank you Jesus for the calm in my life)
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To: blam
Apparently this guy thinks interest rates will stay below 2% forever. I think he's stupid.
11 posted on 01/26/2013 6:43:32 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks blam. Joe Weisenthal:
...the past five years have been a huge vindication for mainstream economic approaches, as these huge experiments in recovery have not had the nasty effects that so many people would have predicted. Consider all of the people who have spent the last few years talking about dollar collapse, hyperinflation, and debt crises. We won't name names out of politeness, but we're pretty sure you know who they are. They've been proven spectacularly wrong. Here's a chart showing the US dollar, even as the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve has gone bananas. The dollar has stayed in a pretty stable range, while the Fed's QE has taken it into uncharted territories... The national debt has exploded, while US borrowing costs have remained tame. Gone down, actually... the degree to which these people who predicted doom at every unconventional policy measure have been wrong is truly remarkable... those on the fringes who thought that everyone in positions of power were making catastrophic mistakes have had a horrible time of it.
The long-term problem with low interest rates has been a lack of capital formation and overexposure to, for example, retail lending. Those factories and other businesses that didn't get built, often for other reasons (labor costs, union malfeasance, idiotic nanny-state requirements), mean a decline in employment and a rise in the population on the public dole.

The Chinese, meanwhile, are rats in a wheel, having to use part of their trade surplus to buy US gov't debt in order to help prop the US dollar vs the Yuan to maintain their exports and continue to industrialize. Meanwhile, they're faced with a rising demand for consumer goods which they can't satisfy by the products of their own factories, so they've been looking for non-Chinese locations to build manufacturing capacity.

The bright spot is, and will be, the increase in US energy production and decline in energy imports.


12 posted on 01/26/2013 6:53:19 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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