[expat_panama]

405  "...40 year and interest only mortgages..."  406  "If England, for instance, had ditched free trade ..."  407  "The West won the Cold War because it promised workers security..."  411  " ... America lost TV manufacture, it also lost VCR manufacture, DVD player ..."   423   "the decline of blue collar living standards since 1980 ...because of free trade."   440  "the buying power of the purchaser has dropped considerable from 1970."

So basically you're saying that America is in bad shape ---low purchasing power, lost manufacturing, increasing debt.  

Let's focus.  Please tell me how you know this stuff.  I'm always interested in new sources.  My family and I really need to know how the economy is doing, because to be able to run my business (and feed my family) I have to really know what's going on.  So far, I've been really studying these things, and what I've been finding so far is that purchasing power, manufacturing, and family wealth is up.  By knowing this, my business has made my family rich (so far). 

Please tell me where you get your info.   Look, I've got to tell you that the info has to be right.  I mean, if I just listened to say, someone's buddies at the union hall, or if I just went with say, your feelings, then my family would be poor, and I'd be calling for higher taxes on others to protect me.

[superiorslots]

Expat
Many including myself have agreed the economy has been doing fairly well right now-I've told you so in the past. However what you and many others are missing is our concern for what holds for the future of the US in 10-15 years by letting our manufacturing base go to get todays cheap goods. I have the impression that many of the free traders are just looking at the picture today.