Economy....

I just wrote a blog about the cost of this war through debt.

Then move.

*gently chucks DarthSidious on the chin*

I missed you, puddin'.

It's only a matter of time until they start the CanAmMex Superhighway and Americans are bankrupted and enslaved by Canadexicans!! Ron Paul was right!

Interesting article you linked at the end of your blog.
While I dont disagree on principle, and have personally stopped believing that any large western country will ever be held responsible for breaking international law, this whole calculation and theory leaves out one thing:

Do you, at this point, believe the spoils of this war, be it oil, be it favorable trading regulations or what not, arent going to be distributed to the US economy, or rather, to several large companies/holdings/firms/contractors over there?
I think a part of that bill is going to be paid by the Iraqi people, with what the country has to offer.... and what quite a lot of people consider the real reason for this war. Oil and Power.

One way or the other, its too late to mourn the cash. We can all see how more and more electronic dollars on virtual bank accounts basically implode to nothing in the current economic climate. At one point I kinda hoped some day enough was enough, and someone would do something against the fact that on average, a high-paid manager earns 600-times what a normal employee earns, whereas it was 40-times just a decade ago.
By now, I think waging war is a pretty surefire way to prevent those thoughts from taking hold

One of the great freedoms of this country which is not at all used enough is the freedom to protest. The freedom to have you your voice heard however small it may be.

The "you don't like it move" bullshit you hear from people, apart from people not listening or caring, is exactly the sort of attitude that keeps activism from having as large of an impact as it should be having.

Ron Paul is not the answer to these problems, but if you're content to sit on your ass and do nothing, or even worse, are willfully ignorant of the fact that there is a vital need to radically change the way our system operates, you deserve to rot and die along with the rest of them.

Poor Isildur's Bangs... So many soapboxes, so little soap.

Why listen to Ron Paul? Try listening to Warren Buffett.

Buffett to CNBC

And remember, Ben S. Bernanke is a fucktard.

You're confusing the issue.

Saying you're displeased with something is great. Protesting is your right.

But if you legitimately believe that the country is doomed, you need to get out before the water wars start and the makeshift gladiator fights in abandoned sports arenas begin taking shape.

Or, to put it another way, legitimate criticism is fine. Unconstructive bullshit like "THE COUNTRY IS DOOMED!!!!" is annoying and to be ignored.

Yes you're absolutely right. When shit starts looking really bad I'm going to get up and leave, while my fellow American's who couldn't afford such a transition continue to wither away.

In fact, if we manage to terraform Mars, count me in with those who would gladly leave the shithole that Earth surely will be by that time to continue my destructive ways elsewhere. At least I won't be accused of mutilating nature, or raping and pillaging the natural world. Right?

"If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize - very publicly and very sincerely - to all the widows and orphans, the tortured and impoverished, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism.

Then I would announce to every corner of the world that America's global military interventions have come to an end. I would then inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the union but - oddly enough - a foreign country. Then I would reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims and repair the damage from the many American bombings, invasions and sanctions.

There would be more than enough money. One year's military budget in the United States is equal to more than $20,000 per hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born. That's one year. That's what I'd do on my first three days in the White House. On the fourth day, I'd be assassinated."

- William Buckley

It's annoying if you're in the choir. But everyone else out there that actively ignores the signs needs to be warned. You have to do something to get their attention.

I for one look forward to the oncoming economic collapse and pledge my fealty to any one of the warlords that will assuredly rise from the ashes of civilization.

Bring on the Solar Babies and the post-apocalyptic feudalism I say.

Lighting yourself on fire would be even more effective.

I have all my money invested in silver and commemorative plates from the Franklin Mint. Take that economic downturn!

Shit. I went with Beanie Babies...

Bingo! Now, don't get me wrong. I like good ol' DarthSidious, he's a fine chap. But all of this doom and gloom postings and Ron Paul is the Saviour crap gets old. If the US is soooo bad and beyond repair then moving is the answer. If DarthSidious thinks we're doomed and doesn't move...well then he's just dumb. And I don't think he's dumb.

Now me, I like the US. Is it perfect? Nope. Do we have major issues? Sure, we always do. But by no means do I think this is "the end". This country has been through far, far worse many times over. People have no sense of history in today's society.

And I'm all for protesting. I'm about to go protest my state's ban on Sunday liquor sales very soon. Because to me that is important. To each their own.

Yes, yes it does.

Who said it was beyond repair?

Oh you're right about that. People with degrees in history have no fucking sense of history in today's society. People in today's society also have very little sense of the damage we're inflicting on our planet every single day, and staying on topic, they have no clue whatsofuckingever how hard life really is for people below the poverty line and how quickly the gap between the upper and lower class is growing as the middle class ceases to exist.

If you don't think we're in a serious mess right now because of all sorts of issues, what planet are you living on?

The idea that we're living in anything resembling the worst of times is laughable at best. Has it really been THAT long since Tsar Bomba?

Yeah, but the point is we shouldn't be waiting around for that to happen. We also shouldn't be looking for or expecting a Saviour, whether it's in the form of Ron Paul or another, one person isn't going to make all of the difference. We should be doing what we can to prevent the "worst times" from ever taking place.

The way things are headed now, they're going to get worse. You can count on that.

Well looking at the states from the outside it is pretty concerning to see the state of your economy. It is basically one of the top news in my country every day because a true U.S. recession will mean a slowdown in our own economy.

So when they show pictures from the newly erected tent city in the outskirts of L.A. that is filled with former home owners (and almost resemble Central Park in the 30's) the fiscal experts get nervous ticks around their eyes.

Personally I find it strange that no more people are demonstrating against the war effort in Iraq? The budget for this war is simply mindboggling, and to think about the amount of dollars your country has wasted on this unnescessary war for the past 5 years, almost makes one cry.

All those former homeowners would basically still have their houses today, cause their loans and mortgages wouldn't have changed so much due to the cost of Iraq.

*I don't have a browser dictionary here at work so I apologize for the many spelling errors*

Not true. Some, yes. Most, no. Most of these "former homeowners" signed mortgages that they could not afford no matter what. These ARMs and Interest Only mortgages would have screwed them NO MATTER WHAT. This isn't Iraq's fault at all, but the fault of two groups of people:

1. Greedy Bankers who targeted individuals who they know they could abuse
2. Stupid People who bought more house than they could afford.

What galls me is that no one takes responsibility for their own actions anymore. For Christ's sake if a Bank tries to give you a loan for money you can't pay off DON'T TAKE IT!

well the news item that concerned the tent city showed some pretty grim statistics of homeowners who lost their house as a direct result of an economy that is so bad now, that it was impossible to predict when they signed their papers. And the poor economy is a direct reflection of the war effort.

Agreed, this was a news spot taht was about the war and it's costs so naturally they focused on this group of people and I'm sure the majority of people who lose their home is caused by the reasons you mention.

Btw. 60000 families lost their home and was sent on the street just last year. This should not happen in a country that considers itself one of the "rich" nations of the world.

It's not just the US, yer honourship, it's happening here in Alberta as well. We know a guy who works as a heavy duty mechanic and his wife doesn't work. They were pre-approved for a 40 year mortgage for $450,000. So, instead of buying a nice $300,000 house they blew the whole shebang and now they're having a tough time making the payments plus the payments on their new cars and ATVs. Their debt load is over half a million with an income of less then $65,000.

A recent study showed that the average Calgarian holds about $350,000 in debt with only about 2/3 going to a house or real estate. The average family in Calgary has in income just below $80,000.

I just cannot imagine living under that kind of debt load. On the other hand it may allow us to swoop in and buy really cheap property in a five years.

Thanks Ryan. I thought it was only my fellow Americans that were dumbfucks. Good to know that we haven't cornered the market on dumb personal financial decision-making.

Yeah, I actually have to agree in principle with you, Cthulu. I do think that Sidious sounds like a fool, as this country is neither doomed nor close to it. Anyone with a sense of perspective on history should be able to look at the absolute desperation this country experience during the 30s and recognize that we've been in far more dire straits (that we managed to turn around completely within a decade, despite the presence of a massive, money-sucking war). But, just because things have been worse doesn't give us an excuse for not working to make things better.

That aside, Sidious is ridiculous.

Also, I have sympathy for people whose lives have been ruined by this ARM debacle. I am willing to bear my portion of the social burden for supporting them and helping them recover a portion of what they've lost. To do less is to shirk your duty as a citizen. At the same time, I feel disappointed in all the people who were unable to see that a contract with truly unlimited downside potential could come back to hurt them. It should not be my job to help out those who are capable of helping themselves. There is a difference between the truly, truly unfortunate and the people who thought they needed a BMW and a 5-bedroom house on a $50k salary.

Agreed. Mrs H. is a quantity surveyor and has a long term out look on housing and construction costs. She's always trying to talk our less bright acquaintances out of really stupid purchases or really dumb debt practice. Now, she's given up because she's realized that she can't help them if what they really want are status symbols.

Anecdote time, again: Two sets of friends were in the market for houses. One decided to buy the worst house in the best neighbourhood and take out a larger mortgage to fix it up. The other bought a gorgeous house in a really crappy neighbourhood and used the rest to buy a Lexus SUV. Guess which one still has equity? Guess which one is on the verge of losing everything?

No.

Primary reason is the housing boom gone bust, secondary reason is our trade policies. A declining dollar is nothing to worry about if you're a manufacturing juggernaut but since we've lost a large percentage of our manufacturing capabilities and shrank our agricultural industry exponentially, we don't have enough exports to level off that portion of our economy.

Wars actually help the economy.

I think this is actually a pretty heavily debated point among economists. One could argue that full-scale world wars are beneficial to the winner's economy, but in today's world, even that is debatable. Our economic boom after World War II was as much due to the scope of the war effort and the absolute destruction of the economies of our competitors as it was due to some absolute "wars are good for the economy principle". I think it's much harder to trace any economic benefits from our current war.

The current war is increasing our national debt, there is no question about that. That couldn't be debated by the most devote conservative religious nutcase. However the amount of jobs this war is generating via army personnel, government contractors, private contractors etc.. cannot be questioned. Without this war and those people earning premium dollars and funneling those dollars back into our economy we'd be hurting infinity worse. Now, those that like to debate that the war is costing us xxx a day, we're borrowing that money. If there weren't a war, do you think we'd be borrowing that money to just give to our people or give people social programs? of course not.

Yeah, it can. I'm sure that the number of those employed by the military-industrial complex is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of jobs displaced by a tanking economy.

edited out-

I wont be an ass.

Well, it's hard to argue with those numbers. Really, really, hard.

Long post got erased the boards keep crashing.

Gist of the post.

Dot-come boom went dot-com bust, we've been reeling from that ever since. Greenspan \ Bush made a very smart decision to give everyone money to stimulate the economy, when 9/11 happened it almost put us into a depression but the measures already passed combined with new measures staved off that disaster. Enter the war on terror \ Afghanistan and Iraq. Wars help the economy, gives consumers confidence. Business's have a new area for profit, everyone ranging from the guy who makes those bumper stickers to the guy's who make the fighter jets benefits from a war economy. Coupled with the housing boom that was a direct result of the interest rates being cut post 9/11 and you have good economic times. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

The hard times we're facing now are a direct result of the economic growth from the 90's. If our economy was not in peril when 9/11 happened we would not have had to take such drastic measures to avoid a depression and the housing boom would not have happened.

If you want to examine the unemployment numbers you'll have to take into account the minimum wage increase and the housing bust. When companies have to increase their minimum wage there are only so many things they can do to combat that. They can pass the cost on to the consumer or they can have less labor. Obviously, every business doesn't do the exact same thing, some have passed the cost on while others have opted to reduce their labor force. As to the housing bust, when you have whole neighborhoods that have taken part in the refinancing of their home or purchasing of new homes, once the interest rates started to climb back up those individuals budgets had to be adjusted accordingly. This equates to less money for local business's, which means less profit, which means less profit for the medium sized business's and so on. During this whole economic slow down you have repercussions, laborers get less hours, less benefits, perhaps lay off's or companies can enact hiring freezes etc.. Remember, the bulk of our economy is dependant on services not manufacturing or agriculture.

Now, I can get into why the trade policies we have are eroding our economy and will result in prolonging the depression to come but ultimately this will sum it up. We're buying more then we're selling and with the dollar bottoming out it's like trading the cow for a sack of magic beans. Decades of losing manufacturing jobs and decreasing our agricultural industry are going to really come to bite us in our ass within the next four years. There are no solutions to our problem, if we're lucky we'll find a new boom to latch on to but we'll be back in the same boat until the underlining problems have been corrected (trade policies, interest rates, etc..)

edit --

I forgot to mention, Ben S. Bernanke is a fucktard.

Well we did have tent cities, it was after the '94 earthquake however.

You bought $23,000 in gold? Is it buried somewhere? is there a map?

No, we think they're synonymous.

Also, I know I say this to you every time, and you never respond, but I'll point out yet again:

Saying "I guess if we'd actually followed the constitution for the last 100 years we wouldnt be in this mess." doesn't mean anything.

That being said, I'm with you on the war being a major reason for the devalued dollar (along with unreasonably large tax cuts for the upper class).

To quote Stan Marsh:

"Oh Jesus." *Shakes head*

Good call! The Simpsons commenorative dinner plates should see and your family through at least a decade

Let's do the dance again!

The reason it doesn't mean anything is because it assumes that there's one defined meaning to the Constitution. Take three really brilliant men who really understand the Constitution (Say, Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer, and Erwin Chemerinsky) and ask them what the Constitution means. They will give you radically different answers. It's not that simple. Hell, different understandings of the Constitution are the reason that we have different political parties.

Appeals to "the TRUE meaning" of the Constitution just don't add up. It's not that simple, because the document is vague enough (and necessarily so, since it's a living document) to have many valid interpretations. Though I don't agree with you that it's perfect, I think that its flexibility is one of its strengths. So, to point out that it has not been followed in the same breath that you mention that it's susceptible to change (and that applies in a micro and macro sense) is a little contradictory.