Posted on 05/26/2022 3:48:08 AM PDT by MtnClimber
By the time this decade is over, analysts may find that comparisons to the 1970s have grown stale; the challenges we face are on a scale not seen since the 1930s.
Many talking heads have compared the inflation and decelerating economic growth we face now with the “stagflation” of the 1970s. But few have contemplated the full range of consequences these economic headwinds may bear, apart from the obvious: The party out of power, i.e. the GOP, is likely to benefit in the short term by a simple process of electoral elimination.
The 2020s are starting to look like the 1970s in several other important respects, however, and these may determine not just partisan success or failure, but also more fundamental issues like global security, prosperity (or the lack thereof), and the degree to which democratic norms and institutions are respected and upheld.
In purely economic terms, broad-based inflation and slow economic growth were only part of what made the 1970s so challenging. The decade also saw instability in commodity prices (and not just oil), which was highly injurious to the economic performance of many Third World countries, and contributed to a debt crisis that hamstrung these developing countries well into the 21st century. In some cases, the aftershocks are still being felt today.
Likewise, commodity prices have seesawed in recent years, partly because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which produced wild fluctuations in demand. This, in turn, coupled with higher inflation and higher interest rates, threatens to make government finances untenable once again, but not just in the developing world. OECD countries are also treading on thin financial ice.
Imagine, for instance, a fiscal environment in the 2020s in which interest rates rise to 10 percent—a not entirely absurd hypothetical, given that current inflation levels in the United States are touching double figures. In that case, for the U.S. federal government to service our national debt (which approaches $30 trillion), it would have to commit $3 trillion per year just to making interest payments.
To put this in context, the entire annual budget of the federal government for 2023 is expected to amount to $5.7 trillion. In other words, it is conceivable, if not yet likely, that the U.S. government, and other Western governments, could soon be called upon to spend most of their public funds servicing their considerable debts. Needless to say, this would make sustaining normal public spending on social services, defense, and other important priorities impossible—unless, of course, such governments were to print money (or “add liquidity”) even more wildly than they did during the recent pandemic, which in turn would make inflation and interest rates even worse.
In short, as in the 1970s, many world governments could face fiscal and debt crises in this decade. Unlike in the ’70s, though, developed Western countries are carrying much higher debt loads, and public spending is generally higher as well—meaning there is less fiscal cushion and more exposure to the risk of a serious financial emergency, up to and including default.
We can only assume that default would produce, in turn, a depression equal or greater in terms of severity to the one seen in Greece in the wake of that country’s sovereign debt crisis, which began in 2009. Greece saw its GDP plummet by at least 25 percent, a worse performance than in the United States during the Great Depression.
How much damage can whack job wokeists do? This much.
We now know what happens when you cut off fossil fuels (Thanks to the war in Ukraine.)
If the cheating isn’t fixed, we don’t stand a chance.
Do you actually expect the GOPe to do ANYTHING? Damn RINO Cowards!
The difference between the two parties is simple.
Dems heading towards the wall at 200mph.
Repubs heading towards SAME wall at 180MPH.
This is the BS that must stop!
In for one?
We’re there already.
It’s just a matter of how long it continues.
From a stolen election (JFK/Biden) to an international humiliation (Bay of Pigs/Afghanistan), to nuclear saber rattling with the Russians (Berlin and Cuba/Ukraine), and social upheaval and change (the whole zeitgeist) the 2020’s are feeling a lot like the 1960’s. If one compares the halcyon days of Eisenhower, scoffed at by the elites because he was boring, to those happy times with Donald Trump, hated by all the “important people” because he was rude, the pattern starts looking eerily familiar, and “Bumpy” is an understatement.
The incredibly rapid decline of our nation in such a short span of time tells us one thing above all else (well, besides the fact that the political left seeks to destroy our nation) -- the government has far too much power. Its influence over almost every aspect of our society, culture and industry is way too powerful and, by extension, overbearing, and this power resides in the hands of too few people.
I don’t think this guy has been paying attention....
Generation Z - for their zombie-like but trophy-rich idiocy
Conservatives and folks in the Right concentrarte too much energy on what the Left and Democrats do. The ones that are destroying the place are the RINOs, GOPe, Chamber of Commerce excuses for Republicans that we are, sometimes, forced to vote for.
Emphasis on, sometimes.
Perdue may not be #1 on anyone’s roster, but for the people of Georgia to go for Kemp and Raffensberger again is an abomination. Kemp,
If he beats Abrams, can’t run again and I’ll say it here….he will absolutely destroy this state.
Eisenhower, Reagan and Trump.... oh how I wish we had one of these worthies at the helm now! :-/
And a decent Pope would be nice as well....
As long as we keep re-electing Assistant Democrats, it will keep getting worse.
“in for a bumpy ride”? what do you call what’s happened already since 2020?!
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