What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[RobDownSouth]

So, to summarize, when a Democrat is in the White House, we should criticize him for low inflation as it is detrimental to the economic health and well-being of America. See also: Barack Obama.

Conversely, when a Democrat is in the White House, we should criticize him for high inflation as it is detrimental to the economic health and well-being of America. See also: Jimmy Carter.

Glibertarian principles require that Democrats must be criticized for any and all economic scenarios.

Jeet Kune D'OH: The Way of the Glibertarian.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

U.S. exports to Iran rose to $199.5 million for the first eight months of 2012, up from $150.8 million a year earlier, despite tighter financial sanctions.

 

[Busybody]

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/#EauAl1yatrJ2HOYh.99

BLOGS

 

[Busybody]

It's a ~$400 billion decrease.

yes, we know

down is up

up is down

etc etc

we get it!

 

[mercury14]

U.S. exports to Iran rose to $199.5 million for the first eight months of 2012, up from $150.8 million a year earlier, despite tighter financial sanctions.

Sanctions which Paul Ryan praised and too credit for. Regardless, the sanctions are meant to severely limit economic activity, not prevent all trade. Things like grain and humanitarian/medical goods can still be sold in limited amounts. $199 million of exports to a country with a trillion-dollar GDP is a pittance.

 

[trysail]

I didn't write this. I know the person who did. That person would not want to be credited here.

Party on. Rome is burning.

The Federal debt has now passed $16 trillion and keeps growing. To most of us that is a number, one too big to fathom. What is 16 trillion? In dollar terms, most people begin to feel wealthy or at least comfortable when they accumulate $1 million. $16 million for almost everyone would be super comfortable. Someone with that about of money is really considered rich. $16 trillion is $16 million times a million!

That may evoke a wow but it still doesn’t frame the size of our debt in human terms. So let me get at it in another way. There are about 311 million Americans. The pro rata share of our debt held by a family of four is just a bit over $200,000, a bit more than the size of an average mortgage. Let’s think about the debt on those terms. Let us assume that every family now has an additional $200,000 variable rate mortgage. Right now, with interest rates near zero, the cost to service that mortgage isn’t very painful, particularly if one isn’t forced to amortize the principal (it’s a bit preposterous to think the government is actually going to repay its debt!). But let’s fast forward to normal times when the Fed isn’t forcing interest rates down to zero. Let’s assume that mortgage now costs us 5%. Historically, that isn’t a particularly high or low number. 5% of $200,000 is $10,000. You might say, “So what! This is just a hypothetical example. I’m not going to have to pay that interest.”

Wrong!

The government may not have to repay its debt because it can just roll it over and over as long as there are enough buyers who think the U.S. is credit good. But interest expense is real. That gets paid every day. Granted, you and I don’t pay it directly. The government does. But where do you think the government gets the money to pay for it? There are exactly two options. It can tax each family the $10,000 needed to pay the interest bill or it can print the money. But it if just keeps printing the money, it cheapens the currency. You can call that inflation, devaluation or whatever label you want. All it means is that you intend for the government to pay back its debt with future dollars worth much less than today’s dollar. If that is your clear intent, and investors understand this, then they will require you to compensate them by paying even more in interest. Thus, if that is the chosen alternative to service our debt, 5% won’t be the right number. It will be something significantly higher. Think back to the 1970s when inflation went rampant and Treasury bills were paying over 15%.

More than likely the solution will be some combination of inflation and taxes to pay the current interest. But let me go on. Our government has increased its debt burden by roughly 50% in the last four years. Prior to 2009, our country never had an annual deficit of as much as $500 billion. Since then it has never had a deficit below $1 trillion! While the deficits have started to fall a bit, and may continue to decline if our economy continues to recover, that is far from certain. If Congress cannot transcend the fiscal cliff and 2013 is a recessionary year, the deficit could expand once again.

Thus, every family today potentially bears a $10,000 tax bill if (1) interest rates return to normal and (2) our government doesn’t add a dime of debt from here forward. Every additional $1 trillion in debt adds another $625 to that annual bill. Moreover, please understand that debt service comes first. It comes before Social Security and Medicare. It comes before paying our soldiers. It comes before every other government expenditure.

The average family of four makes about $75,000 per year. It now potentially owes as much as $10,000 before paying for any government services and before paying for all the personal expenses of living. The tax bill would exceed 13% of total income and would not cover any taxes necessary for even minimal government operations or entitlements.

The conclusion is obvious. The costs of government debt might seem trivial if interest rates can be kept near zero forever but that simply isn’t going to happen. It stopped happening in Spain already. Just because the U.S. is bigger and more powerful than Spain will not exempt us from facing the same consequences. It will be tough enough going forward if we simply keep our debt at $16 trillion.

That is why, even though I understand the near term benefits of quantitative easing and even though we can perpetuate the current economic state for a while, without serious fiscal and tax reform we face serious economic consequences. It isn’t a case of if; it’s a case of when. I don’t want to get political. There is more than one solution to fiscal responsibility. It can be done with small government or big government but either way, it does require living within one’s means. It does mean that borrowing can’t be limitless. Everyone has different reasons for choosing who they want to be President but if the path we choose is to borrow another $3-5 trillion over the next four years, we will be choosing to dig a hole so deep that the only way out will be painful and debilitating.

 

[koalabear]

Government motors is doing great!

GM to Import More Chevy Spark Minicars, stimulus pays off for Korea.

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blog...5-eca4-4a7d-bf71-1a0f4507e187&icid=autos_3601

 

[Busybody]

DAN MITCHELL: If the Auto Bailout Was a Success, I’d Hate to See What a Failure Looks Like.

Related: How The GM Bailout Turned Into Foreign Aid.“With more losses and expenses coming, taxpayers can expect to see their investment in GM’s North American operations continue to support a steady flow of cash to GM’s overseas operations. Perhaps taxpayers should have been told that they weren’t simply bailing out an American automaker, but a variety of overseas operations as well.”

 

[Busybody]

Experts: Economy to Boom After Obama’s Reelection


By Peter Kirsanow

October 15, 2012 10:11 A.M.






Washington — The stock market is poised to soar today after the release of a report by the Council of Economic Advisers projecting a major surge in economic activity upon President Obama’s reelection in November.

“Recent events demonstrate that after the upcoming election, President Obama will finally have the tools needed to jumpstart a robust economic recovery, with significant declines in unemployment, the deficit and national debt,” the report states. “Until now, the administration’s recovery efforts have been stymied by a simple lack of information.”

Pressed for details, White House press secretary Jay Carney explained, “Until last week, neither the intelligence community nor the Labor Department had told the president and vice president that the unemployment rate’s been above 7.8 percent for the last 44 months. Had they only known, they would’ve taken some kind of action to lower the rate.”

Reached for comment outside a local pharmacy, a grinning Joe Biden confirmed Carney’s assessment. “The economy’s in shambles,” he giggled. “The middle class has been buried over the last four years because the intelligence community and the Treasury Department never told the president and me that we’ve got a $1.3 trillion deficit and $16 trillion national debt. Look pal,” he snarled, “had we known, you can bet we would’ve implemented a recovery plan. But no one ever asked us to.” Aides to the vice president privately admit that he remains bitter after Langley supposedly incorrectly informed him that President Roosevelt went on television in 1929 to reassure Americans about the state of the economy.

“The failure of the Obama administration to keep the president and vice president informed is shameful,” agreed deputy White House press secretary André A. Mitchell. “No doubt Mitt Romney will politicize this. But the good new is we’ve established an advanced new protocol called the ‘Presidential Daily Briefing,’ so from now on, information will get to the president in a timely fashion without having to rely on the Obama administration.”

Approached outside the Romney home — valued at $182 billion — a campaign spokesman expressed criticism. “The White House’s serial lapses border on criminal negligence,” he said. “No one needs to be told the economy’s in horrible shape. This is just another example of the White House passing the buck.” Most observers quickly dismissed the spokesman’s remarks, however, as it’s believed he once met George W. Bush.

In contrast, Reginald Smythe, chairman of the Progressive Historians Association, was impressed. “Imagine what this president could’ve accomplished had he been kept informed by the Obama administration. Of course,” he observed, “This isn’t without precedent. When Morgenthau neglected to tell FDR about the Great Depression, he was left utterly clueless. Same when Stimson didn’t tell him about the war in the Pacific. But, thankfully, with this exciting ‘Daily Briefing’ innovation, President Obama will now be able to solve all our problems in his second term.”

 

[mercury14]

I didn't write this. I know the person who did. That person would not want to be credited here.

Party on. Rome is burning.

Other than the stimulus what Obama policy caused the deficit to increase to what it is now?

 

[Busybody]

Other than the stimulus what Obama policy caused the deficit to increase to what it is now?

its only a flesh wound, right?



HIS SHITTY ECONOMY+RISING GIVEAWAYS=LOWER REVENUE


But you know that

 

[unregistered]

 

[Busybody]

To Merc, 6 trillion is no big thing.

the sad part

is that HE KNOWS better

 

[unregistered]

 

[RobDownSouth]

He can only blame himself for the length and duration of the recession.

Of course you believe that, Chief. Modern history only began on January 20th, 2009, the day President Obama was inaugurated. According to The Narrative, anything that happened prior to that date is irrelevant.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbx49pj6nj1qzjykfo1_1280.jpg

 

[unregistered]

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

To Merc, 6 trillion is no big thing.

Of course not.


Without his intervention, it would have been 200 trillion.


Everyone knows that!

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The last two years of the Bush administration when Congress was controlled by Pelosi & Reid and the gloom of The Great Economic Fog ushered in by the Obama regime are responsible for the present malaise. Nothing happening after 2007 can be blamed on the Republicans, Chief Cloven Hoof.

It was kiosks and obstruction.

We need to outlaw automation to put people back to work.

 

[unregistered]

 

[IrezumiKiss]

M...A...S...S...I...V...E..... Y...A...W...N...E...R.

T...H...E...N......D...O...N...'...T......B...I...T...C...H......A...B...O...U...T.......C...H...I...N...A......T...A...K...I...N...G.......A...M...E...R...I...C...A...N......J...O...B...S.......A...G...A...I...N.......Y...O...U.......C...R...Y...B...A...B...Y........P...U...S...S...Y.......W...H...I...N...E...R...S....

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

”If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet”
Proverbs 29:9


"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."
Eric Hoffer

 

[IrezumiKiss]

"People who use pretentiously Googled quotes in place of actual conversation are just pretentious Googling hipster assholes trying to impress other pretentious Googling hipster assholes." — a pretentious Googling hipster asshole

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Izzy validates my quotes...



Woo Hoo!

 

[IrezumiKiss]

Izzy validates my quotes...



Woo Hoo!

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbwfofIdNK1qlxga0.gif

You go, girl!