Pre-Depression Indicators Forecasted Rosy Economy

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Wednesday, August 6, 2003 | CYNTHIA CROSSEN

[Dane]

The Democrats love to run against Herbert Hoover.

Yes they do, and also why are you talking up the demo's talking points from 70 years ago.

Ronald Reagan was also free trader. How come you aren't condemning him. He set the pace in motion.

[harpseal]

Ronald Reagan was also free trader. How come you aren't condemning him. He set the pace in motion.

Ronald Reagan was if favor of "Free Fair Trade." There is a great deal of difference between removing tariffs so both parties can do business and removing all tariffs so other nations can prey upon your economy.

[harpseal]

Yes they do, and also why are you talking up the demo's talking points from 70 years ago.

This thread is talking about issues from over 70 yrs ago. Note the 1929 date. Further if someone does not bring up what is going to be the enemy strategy before the fact then how in God's name do you think anyone can counter it. Bringin something up is not trying to destroy GWB it is bringing up an issue he can use. Now try to think about this instead of reacting on a gut level. I brought up what I consider to be some of the bad points about a Democrat in the White House now please tell me how protecting a forum from what will be a part of the Democrat presidential campaign is any way shape or form helpful to GWB. white House personel monitor Free Republic and they do listen when good Republicans point things out. recently another Freeper went to her US Senators listening stop where teh only peop[le present were this Freeper, the County Chairman and a staffer for the Senator (By the way this was a stae with two Republican Senators.) Well the country republican chairman whenshge was expressing her views on a subject continually challeged her Republican status. He is very lucky that he did not lose her future votes by such an action. Sure he though he was protecting Republican office holders but what he actually was doing by his defense was removing an issue from teh table that maybe this senator needed to address. The exact nature of the issue does not matter. It is a question of knowing who and when to attack and more significantly for this forum recognizing the difference between an attack and a genuine concern.

[Elliott Jackalope]

Well put. Here's my response. I fully accept your arguments have merit, there is a lot of truth to what you are saying. My problem is when these ideas and arguments run up against the real world. It is an in vitro versus an in vivo situation. These theories make a lot of sense in an intellectual argument. They have problems when they are applied in the real world.

If there were no OPIC or if China didn't have their currency pegged to ours or if people weren't inclined to vote their pocketbooks then free trade could be a very good thing. But in the real world I see more problems than advantages resulting. Please remember that I am not against trade, but I am against unfettered free trade. I believe in tariffs, and I think they are right and proper to use if used wisely. Raising tariffs to protect your goods against all imports is a bad idea. Completely eliminating them is an equally bad idea IMHO.

Again, thank you for your cogent and rational explanation of your position.

[Moonman62]

Why are there so many college towns in that list?

[BushCountry]

Here is another list of the best cities to live and work.

1. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
2. Madison,WI
3. Austin, TX
4. Huntsville, AL
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Nashville, TN
7. Fargo, ND-Moorhead, MN
8. Minneapolis, MN
9. San Diego, CA
10. Salt Lake City, UT
11. Columbus, OH
12. Tampa, FL
13. Cambridge, MA
14. Louisville, KY
15. Overland Park, KS
16. Tucson, AZ
17. Bellevue, WA
18. Omaha, NE
19. Charlottesville, VA
20. Boulder, CO

 

[austinTparty]

Interesting. Most of those cities are university towns.

[BushCountry]

I show you 50 cities with unemployment under 3%, with a combined total population of at least 50 million (Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater area has around 6 million people. 3.5 million in greater Atlanta area) and you say, oh they have universities?

[BushCountry]

This is just stupid, I show you 50 cities with unemployment under 3% and have a combined total population over 50 million (the greater Atlanta area is 3.5 million. The greater Tampa area which includes Clearwater and St. Pete is around 6 million) and you say, they have universities?

[austinTparty]

For crying out loud. It was an observation on the cities: Madison, Columbia, College Station, Gainesville, etc. etc. etc. are all university towns, i.e. their economies are heavily influenced by the presence of institutes of higher learning. Somebody with a less knee-jerk reaction might, oh, I don't know---look for a REASON? An economic factor? An explanation? Like that such university towns tend to have an educated population, be tech savvy, have large research budgets? And all you can do is make a lame comment to complain that I didn't jump up and down or pat you on the back. Sheesh.

[BushCountry]

I am sorry, I am a little thin skinned. I been trying to defend the idea that the we are not going to be in a depression next year and taking so much heat. I thought that was the direction you were coming from. These threads are reaped with doom and gloomers that actually believe America will be a third world country in a few years.

I think the ecomony is a mixed bag, there has been plenty of good news (too be honest, I think the preponderance of the good news has a synergy greater than the indiviual parts. I am more optimistic now that I researched the good news over the last month or so) and I try to present it to balance the negativity of posts like these. Every bit of good news on the economy is twisted to a related cause of the coming depression. So, once again, I am sorry.

[austinTparty]

The economy is pushing forward and the bad end of the cycle is about over. The good news would be even better if Bush and Congress had not grown the size of government so much... All the government really needs to do is get out of the way (okay, if they really want to help, they can chop spending). We need to rev up capitalization and get the VCs to spread the wealth a little. Tort reform would also be a nice shot in the arm to quite a few state economies. But I digress. Things are looking up.

[BushCountry]

The funny thing is that I agree with many proposals the doom and gloomers want to implement (the H1B visa burn me to no end, tort reform I am in full agreement, balance playing field when it comes to trade, elimate government waste, etc...), I just don't believe the world is coming to an end.

[txhurl]

BUMP for good retro info

[VadeRetro]

IBM will force their employees to train their outsourcing replacements.

Kind of like making the condemned man dig his own grave. Ghoulish!

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Ask Kevin Flanagan:
"This is a protest planned at the Bank of America IT building in Concord, CA on Labor Day, from 9 am to noon. This is where Kevin Flanagan took his life after training his foreign replacement and then receiving his pink slip earlier this year."
http://www.hireamericancitizens.org/protphotos02.html
http://www.vdare.com/letters/tl_052103.htm

[RipSawyer]

"Like I said earlier, the economy wasn't great in 84 either(it was just starting to take off and many palces in the US were still suffering from the contraction in the late 70's and early 80's), and Ronald Reagan won by a landslide."

Reagan was amazing but he benefitted from a very weak Democrat opponent in 84, let's hope the 04 nominee is just as weak.