Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Wrecked economy

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I'll add that the numbers I've quoted are meaningless for purposes of this discussion. ... because the numbers on both sides are heavily skewed as a result of government manipulation and nondisclosure. They simply don't mean the same thing, and even if they did, you couldn't believe either side to tell the truth.

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I fixed that for you.

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The unrest brewing now in southern China is the result of toy factories shutting down. Before that, it was shoe factories. Tomorrow it will probably be bicycles and handbags.

Above all else, you can believe Beijing will do whatever it takes to maintain order and general public satisfaction with the government.

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Obviously, Beijing is not doing whatever it takes to maintain order and general public satisfaction.

Let them stop producing lead painted doodads and poisoned dog food, and have their pending economic collapse. I'm ok with that. We'll do one of two things - get it somewhere else, or, heaven forbid, start actually producing products here again. In the meantime, americans, for the most part, are learning not to be the over-consuming gluttons we have been for the past 25+ years.


And BTW this is way off topic, but I gotta ask - Don't you get tired of being the purveyor of doom and gloom around here?

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And BTW this is way off topic, but I gotta ask - Don't you get tired of being the purveyor of doom and gloom around here?

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+1 this guy "lazyrider" is one of the most negative people I have ever seen !!!!!!

Ed

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him.

I think all Jack needs is to just sit back, relax, and read the following which amused me to no end when I read it in the L.A.Times with my morning cup of coffee today. And then maybe he TOO can learn, as Bobby McFarrin once advised, to..."Don't Worry, Be Happy"!!!

***Take it from a Brit: Losing the No. 1 world superpower spot won't be that bad. Really.***
By Chris Ayres
Los Angeles correspondent for the Times of London
December 27, 2008
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There has been much talk in the media about America's threatened superpower status -- a result of its near-fatal exposure to the Kryptonite of subprime mortgages, among other factors -- and how the country will inevitably find itself going the way of that other once-undefeated political juggernaut, the dear old British Empire.

To which I say: Lucky America!

I mean, yeah, it's going to sting a bit. Losing any big, sexy-sounding job title will inevitably deliver a blow to your self-esteem. Yet it can also be liberating.

Do Tehranis and Muscovites blame Britain for the culture of mindless self-gratification that brought down the global economy? Of course not. They blame America -- even though Britain is arguably the more guilty party, what with its foreign-debt-to-GDP ratio standing at an unconscionable (and, really, quite embarrassing) 490%, as opposed to the United States' puritanical 89% (according to the 2007 "purchasing power parity" GDP and external debt figures supplied by the CIA World Factbook).

The fact is that when you're No. 1, you always get blamed for everything. When you're No. 3, or No. 5 -- or No. 135 -- you can put your hands in your pockets and whistle tunelessly with a "Who, me?" look on your face, and no one ever asks any questions.


Take Slovakia. Five years ago, Slovakia invaded Iraq. Admittedly, it did this with the help of a few other countries. But still, does Slovakia ever get the blame for all the trouble that has gone down over there since then?

Nope.

Imagine, for a moment, the relief of being simply too unimportant to be held responsible for any event of consequence. Imagine Barack Obama being roused by the proverbial "red phone" at 11 a.m. -- the leaders of low-ranking countries can presumably nap until late morning -- to be informed of a terrible rumpus in deepest Nmbubu-Oobu, and his only responsibility is to write a stern news release calling on Belgium to act. And when it all goes horribly wrong -- as it inevitably will -- all he has to do is tut disapprovingly and mutter something about those arrogant Flems in Bruges.

Being British, I speak from some experience when it comes to lost superpowerdom. I was born in northern England in the mid-1970s -- a time when my grandparents still believed that Britain was the mightiest nation on Earth, even though the prime minister, Harold Wilson, was being warned that the country was facing "wholesale domestic liquidation" unless it could secure an emergency, Third World-style bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

In Britain in those days -- as in America now -- people bought consumer products based on patriotism. The misery! I later fell victim to this nonsense myself: My first car was an antique 1974 MGB, the electronics supplied by the pride of postwar British manufacturing, Lucas Industries. When I bought the MGB, I sincerely believed that British sports cars were the finest in the world. Then the wiring loom under the steering wheel short-circuited when I was halfway down Caledonia Road in North London and I had to jump out with my trousers literally on fire.

My next car was Japanese.

Today, of course, there are pretty much no truly British cars. And who cares? We live in an era of globalization. The Indians might own the company that makes Jaguars, but I probably have money in a pension fund somewhere that owns stock in that very same Indian company. So, in a small way, the British are still in the car business -- with the added benefit that a modern Jag probably won't cause a trouser fire.

And even if you own a "foreign" car these days, chances are that at least a few bits and pieces of it have been sourced from your homeland. That's the way it should be: Countries that are good at one thing should concentrate on it, and countries that are bad at that same thing should stop doing it.

Besides, abandoning consumer patriotism is as liberating as no longer being blamed for everything. It's especially liberating when shopping for an automobile. Farewell, beige Ford Taurus! Hello, gunmetal-gray BMW M3!

Not all domestic industries suffer when a nation goes into an irreversible decline, of course. Others suddenly find themselves booming. The beleaguered American newspaper industry, for example, might very well be able to profit immensely by simply dispatching its most snide and ironically detached correspondents to the new capitals of world power, from which they will be able to report with maximum condescension about the hilarious earnestness of the locals. Mark my words: Demoralized Americans won't be able to get enough of these reports, and thus will buy multiple newspapers every morning while traveling to work on buses and trains, having abandoned their cars when the U.S. government stopped qualifying for its bulk oil discount from the Saudis.

Not that working 8-to-7 six days a week will seem so important when you're no longer ruling the world. If Britain's experience is anything to go by, Americans will soon find more satisfaction by trying to break pointless world records -- crossing Greenland on a pogo stick, using only one arm, while dressed in native Bolivian costume, for example -- or writing absurdist comedy, or recovering from apocalyptic, three-gin-and-tonic lunchtime hangovers.

Oh yes, you're in for a treat.
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Chris Ayres is Los Angeles correspondent for the Times of London and the author of "Death by Leisure: A Cautionary Tale" (Grove Press, February 2009).

Lets talk about wrecked economy for just a moment. If you dont know I run a chevy lot in Ohio in what is if you read the headlines Terrible time to be in Ohio and sell a GM brand.
Well if i read the headlines or watched the idiots on the news we should just lock the doors. What really happened is we are having are best year in over 20 years.Part of it is hard work, the market around us is not up
but the big part is how we act. We sat down 6 months ago with a game plan to not fail. Make sure our people have a great attitude and are making money, make sure the customer is caught off gaurd because we are treating them well.
Look I havent been on a lot lately mostly because ive been working my tail off to make sure we do not fail.
The media has scared people to death and has a part of this decline. The funny part is companies fearing spending money have pulled back there advertising causing newspapers to close or layoff people, little karma there.
There are a lot of things wrong with the economy but nothing that cant be fixed with a lot of hard work and good leadership enough said

I had the same experience as Mr. Ayers. In the early 70s I bought my first car. I wanted a VW Bettle, my father talked me into a PINTO. He said I sould do my economic / patriotic duty. It was the bigest mistake of my life. I never bought an American car for 20 years after that. I drove 3 series BWWs till 93. That year I bought a Jeep Cherokee that I still own and use for hunting. I also have a 04 F-150 four dr 4WD which I love and rides like a Lincoln Towncar.

I'm using CIA numbers for 07, last available. You are right income distribution is very different in the two countries. We have the richest poor people in the world, China"s vast majority don't make anything like $4500 a year. The chinese gov only has to keep folks on the farm which they do ruthlessly.
Yes China owns alot of our debt. They are going to dump this paper on the world market? I think not, it would make that paper worthless, thus hurting themselve as well as us.They could stop buying it, which might give some disipline to our government.

Economic recessions and depressions are 100% psychological and are caused by panic and a lack of confidence. The media, and many politicians, have spent the last eight years talking down the economy. Stupid laws have been passed and stupid policies adopted and it’s finally caught up to us. But, underneath it all we are still the same people we were a year ago, with the same productive capacity we had a year ago and, for the vast majority of us, the same income we had a year ago.

Personally I refuse to take part in an economic downturn and am in negotiation to buy a business that has been making money for a decade. Interest rates are low so I can borrow cheaply. The leases are up and commercial rents are down so I can rent storefronts for the same or less than the current owner.

I have no intention of not doing well. My condition is up to me. Not some politician, bureaucrat or government program.

teetering...

Now Larry.
Nothing is 100%,
Pure silver is only called 99.9%.
Ivory soap has always been advertised as 99 and 99/100ths pure.

But, ya know what?
I agree with you in principal.

And those who take advantage of the reduced interest rates and depressed prices in a wise way are the ones who will keep the boat floating.
Best of luck on your business venture.

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Well ...your absolutely correct. And you are not "Teetering"
One dang bit.

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teetering, as in the direction of the thread.
not Larry's business venture.