People don’t generally learn until they try something and it goes poorly for them. Sorry, but that’s just how it works. In fact, it’s almost illogical at this point not to suck up as much government largesse as possible, because many people have indeed been on the upside of this for a long time. Experience has taught them that wealth redistribution (corporate and private welfare) pays. Sure. We know it’s going to collapse at some point, but that hasn’t happened, yet. It will keep growing until the point where it can’t. Then it will stop.
I’m sorry to say articles like this will almost certainly not change government. We can hope enough responsible, independent Americans still exist to stop it before it reaches its inevitable conclusion, but there’s simply no evidence of that. Again, sorry. That doesn’t mean we should stop trying, but we should be aware of the odds against us.
We should try to take steps to protect ourselves from the coming American decline or collapse. Knowing what steps to take is the difficult part for me.
It’s a looooong story, but when I was 13 I walked up to Art Laffer’s front door and he let me in and gave me a tour of his exotic bird collection. I was amazed and fascinated beyond words. He is an energetic, engaging person.. Always cheerful and amiable but sharp as a tack. I didn’t know who he was until AFTER I met him.
Ping
to be fair... hiroshima had another thing going for it that helped recover
it was full of japanese people
Economic decline and decay is the result of capital decumulation. High tax rates lead to less saving, which leads to less investment, which leads to less productive expenditure, which leads to stagnation or capital decumulation.
Laffer curve
Not necessarily a new game.
We can call it “No limit hold-em”.
Different players and rules that will leave you scratching your head.
The players, the central bankers around the world, seem to all be in agreement. The best thing for their respective nation is the destruction of the value of their currency.
There is no limit to the extent of what can only be described as calling and raising one bluff after another.
There was a time when the chips on the table were finite. The game was played and as the bets were placed there were consequences. If you ran out of chips, you lost.
The world is drowning in cash and unless you are a “Primary Dealer”, that cash is out of reach. The Central Banks around the world are feeding profits to their partners with the hope that some of that money will trickle down and fuel some sort of “breakthrough”, some new fangled technology that will break this cycle.
Sorry to be such a cynic, however any honest and objective analysis of what is required for economic growth requires true innovation.
Smart phones and tablets are cool, and cloud computing may be more efficient, but they are simply an extension of what is known. Much like putting brakes on cars. It is still a car.
Green/alternative energy, Nano technology and Bio-mimicry all show promise, but all lack the natural market necessary for a true economic breakthrough.
While I’m not saying that everything that can be invented, has been invented. I am saying that capitalism requires growth, it requires something new that destroys what was before.
Governments around the world know this.
They are all printing money in an effort to buy time.
And as the BOJ calls our Fed, and the Eurocrats raise, Bernake calls and says, “My printing press is bigger than yours”.
17 percent is the magic number, any more and you stifle growth, and the more you deviate from 17 percent the greater the loss in revenue and the more you drag economic activity.