Economic Chaos Ahead

Townhall.com ^ | February 8, 2012 | Walter E Williams

[LibLieSlayer]

Exactly.

LLS

[MrB]

I just remembered -

“Christian” was a Roman epithet used against the early Christians.
It meant “little Christs”.

I don’t deserve that honor... but I’ll gladly be thought of that way.

[LibLieSlayer]

Check this out... no way we pay off the deficit in 10 times 30 years. Interest is why.

http://governmentgonewild.org/brothercanyouspareatrillion

[CutePuppy]

Greece had 30 years of socialist ("PASOK") governments, it can destroy the nations (Portugal got to the same point in much shorter time, Spain is getting there fast). One third of the Greeks work for the government, even more are dependent on the government.

See The State of Greek Business - FR post #52, 2010 February 10, (GreekCentral, by Tom Mazarakis)

The U.S. also now has the highest index of dependency on government (Kaslin, you could post the article and enlarged chart on a separate thread, if you like):
Dependency Index Surges 23% Under President Obama - IBD, by John Merline, 2012 February 08

If you look at the chart, it shows only two short dependency slowdowns (dips in percentage terms) - one when Reagan was President and one when Gingrich was a Speaker of the House, and one brief dip during the height of speculative housing bubble.

Combination of economic growth, through a mix of accommodating sane tax regime and removal of stifling laws and regulations, and actual cuts or freeze in government spending has always been a true and tried economic solution to these challenges, the problem, as usual, is not the absence of economic solution but the will, or lack of it, of the political class and the people themselves, who are more than willing to be dependent on the "government," i.e., on Other People's Money.

Going back to the "gold standard" is a phony "solution" to the phony and real problems. There have been recessions, depressions, periods of inflation and, even worse, deflation during the "gold standard" in the U.S. and other parts of the world. "Gold standard" has never prevented governments from overspending and running the deficits and doesn't make them economically and/or fiscally responsible. It's a feel-good, ineffective, wrong mechanism to the wrong problem.

"Gold standard" is not much different from the diamond, silver, art or wine "standard" - almost anything can be considered "unit of exchange" and "store of value." Most of Europe is not on gold standard, it's on Euro (€, a "fiat currency") and the eurozone nations have the same central monetary authority - the European Central Bank (ECB). Yet there is a vast difference between economies and fiscal governance of Germany and that of Greece and other PIIGS. Same currency (Euro), which is not tied to the "gold standard," same central bank, but huge difference in the standard of living and government spending and fiscal accountability and responsibility, even after spending $1 trillion on West-East reunification.

See Germany Resists Austerity in Budget - FR, post #29 / WSJ, 2011 November 12
"..... Berlin is enjoying its lowest unemployment in decades and the government is still finding money to spend on infrastructure and income tax cuts ......" -

Switzerland has its own currency (Swiss Mark, SM) and went off the "gold standard" in 2000. Contrary to all "fiat money always depreciates" (against what?) theorists, the Swiss Mark has appreciated so much and recently so fast against the Euro and most other currencies (because it's bought more, as a "store of value" since it is deemed safer) that Bank of Switzerland decided to peg it to the [potentially "unsafe" and depreciating] Euro, as part of general "competitive devaluation" of their currencies that many countries in the world (including the U.S., Japan, China etc.) have engaged in lately.

Obviously, going off "gold standard" didn't create a "common" problem for Swiss Mark because country is fiscally managed better than other countries. Sound government fiscal policies make for sound money, not feel-good gimmicks like "gold standard" (whether it's a "gold specie standard" or "gold exchange standard" or "gold bullion standard") or abolishing / "auditing" central bank.

As long as one can freely trade gold (physical or "paper") one can be on his/her own "gold standard" or any other standard, for that matter.

Really free economies should not be constrained by artificial dependence on the amount of particular metal or substance that can be available at any given time, but neither they should be constrained by the artificial limitations imposed by the capricious and fiscally irresponsible "vampire" governments that drain resources from private economy to benefit themselves and, marginally, the dependent class at the expense of productive class.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“What if Obama made you work for free and then made you pay taxes on what you would have made if you were paid?”

I would thank him for making me do what Jesus wants us to do... (sarc)..

[bert]

That all sounds good but overlooks one supremely important fact.

We have been off the gold standard for only a very few years. The world was on a gold standard for thousands of years.

The current failed system is anomaly. The Gold Standard is the historical standard and the basis for civilization and all world trade uo to the near present.

[CommieCutter]

Unbelievable. So much to take in. I always wondered how Lincoln just issued money, and how that was any different from today’s “fiat” money. The quantity is what matters.
Now it makes a little more sense.

I also knew about the panics prior to the Great Depression and always wondered what the answers would be from the return-to-gold standard types.

It’s also interesting that Peter Schiff is in this. Isn’t he a Gold Standard guy?

What I still can’t seem to wrap my head around is, if Congress borrows money to create as much as they want, then why borrow it? If they have the power to coin money why not just make as much as they want. Wouldn’t that be easier?

[LibLieSlayer]

Without CHRIST... I am nothing... I am HIS to with as HE wills. Good point.

LLS

[Aevery_Freeman]

If they have the power to coin money why not just make as much as they want. Wouldn’t that be easier?

That is the point...Don't borrow the money, just create it. Create it as cheaply as possible so as to not waste money while still limiting counterfeiting. Paper money is good because it wears out.

The issue then becomes quantity of money (think transactional lubricant). There is no national debt created that way and inflation is easily identifiable and has an immediate consequence to the profligate spenders in Washington.

I can't believe that the big money bankers have kept this simple thought from the people. I read the recent biography of Andrew Jackson and was astonished that he was and is considered a kook for paying off the national debt. I live "out of debt." It saves a lot of money.

[De La Marche]

Re: Economic Chaos Ahead

This author and the “experts” he quotes all display an invincible blindness and a lack of any attempt systems analysis.

Adjusting taxes and spending are only two of the means to attack the problems (plural).

Of first importance is the evil twin; our trade deficit and its Siamese twin, the practice of shipping jobs out of the country. Tax revenues come from these jobs, duh!.
Commerce with China is immoral, to begin with. We are getting what we deserve in the matter in trade with China. It is the prime cause of our problems.

Other possibly more important factors are illegal immigration (the wrong immigrants) and their huge net drain on our economy, the declining birth rate,
the deterioration of the family and religions, and the lack of a robust and healthy American tribalism.

Proposing fixing things by the taxes and spending route while not even mentioning these possibly more important factors is simplistic.