The Real Economy

[Dan.Linehan]

We are not doing better, there is no new market high, and if you feel 59% poorer than in 2000, you are having exactly the right feeling.

» The Real Economy | The Politics of Debt


If we perform the same calculations for the US, however, we find that the official debt stands at $8.507 trillion or 65% of (nominal) GDP but when we add in our “off balance sheet” items the national debt stands at $53 trillion or 403% of GDP.

Now that’s horrifying. Staggering. Whatever you wish to call it. More than four hundred percent of GDP(!). And that’s just at the federal level. We could easily make this story a bit more ominous by including state, municipal and corporate shortfalls. But let’s not do that.

The United States is Insolvent - Dr. Chris Mortenson | 12/17/2006


This attempt to fix the [housing] mess will prove to be a half-hearted (make that lame) effort to buy some time before the grim rate re-setter ultimately triumphs. The S & L mess of almost two decades ago cost $500 billion and the deep pockets of Uncle $ugar (make that the taxpayers) footed the bill. This financial Armageddon will eclipse that total and now Uncle not only lacks the deep pockets, I’m not convinced he even has the pants!

FSO Editorial: "TH*NK*NG (Conditions)" by Fred Cederholm | 12/10/2007


The "freeze" is just another fraud — and like the other bailout proposals, it has nothing to do with U.S. house prices, with "working families," keeping people in their homes or any of that nonsense.

The sole goal of the freeze is to prevent owners of mortgage-backed securities, many of them foreigners, from suing U.S. banks and forcing them to buy back worthless mortgage securities at face value — right now almost 10 times their market worth.

Mortgage Meltdown: Bankers Pay Lip Service to Families While Scurrying to Avert Suits, Prison by Sean Olender | 12/9/2007


It is also becoming harder and harder to obtain a good paying job without compromising oneself ideologically due to the destruction of the public sphere. The role that the military and prison industrial complexes play in providing employment, and the role played by the media and the education system in indoctrination, pose grave questions about whether constitutional democracy and American capitalism can continue to coexist, or whether the elite will sever the marriage entirely ushering in a military form of government. The unprecedented domination of work in American society, and the cult of placing one's career above and beyond all other considerations, has dehumanized the American people and turned them into collaborators.

America: Zombie Nation | David Penner - 11/2/2007

[Dan.Linehan]

It seems like there will be some major changes in the US economy in the upcoming years. Just curious, how is everyone handling / planning for that?

[Groundless]

Well, for starters my long-term money in IRA's and such are 85-90% foreign.

I am not sure what to do with our loss of freedom that will get worse in the US. I saw the Patriot Act as the harbinger of doom for our freedom.

Then again, it is all a delusion anyway.


***The unprecedented domination of work in American society, and the cult of placing one's career above and beyond all other considerations, has dehumanized the American people and turned them into collaborators.***

This is so very true. However, I would say more like sheep than collaborators. Being a collaborator implies activity and standing up for something. When you are so tired from eating food that sucks the life out of you and working a job that sucks the life out of you,, well, not much life is left for the person.

[Andreas]

Great civilizations collapse when the gap between the haves and the have-nots is too great. History repeats itself because we don't learn from history.

Some thoughts from Rich Dad Poor Dad audiobook I'm currently listening to. Highly recommended.