The True State of the US Economy: What the Mainstream Media Won't Tell You.

[SillyWilly]

Well illustrated SW regarding the history of South Korea's boom, bust and boom again. An extraordinary story and quite unpredictable actually. They were bailed out by the IMF and they even collected citizen's gold to stop needing IMF support which came with restrictions. The devaluation would have wiped out many people but obviously allowed debt to be written down/paid off and then they came roaring back within a few years.

The thing with South Korea is this: yes, the currency devalued by 95%, but exactly 10 years later ( check the chart) the currency was right back to pre-Asian Crisis levels at 950 won per USD. Now that's impressive! Is the Korean economy stronger now than in 1998? Absolutely. Were huge numbers of manufacturing jobs created during that decade? Yes. Can the US use currency depreciation to grow its dying manufacturing sector? I sure as hell hope so. There are other factors to consider, like the reserve status of the USD, but if managed adequately could bring the US back onto a sustainable job-creation path.

Regarding the gold collection from Korean citizens; I'm sure in retrospect those individuals are a little pissed they had to give up their gold, which was trading around USD300 per oz at the time, but could have increased their wealth 6 fold in only 13 years had they not freely exchanged it for fiat currency.

[Mucha Man]

HHII, is currency depreciation really a valid option. Everyone around the world is suffering from a dampened economy and slack demand. South Korea was able to grow because its export markets were experiencing high levels of growth. Canada was lucky at the same time when it was suffering from a debt crisis.

But who is the US going to export to?

[headhonchoII]

The US needs to buy more from itself. That's what devaluation will encourage. Investment in the US and production in the US. At the same time exports will be more competitive.
I propose devaluation because it also deals with the debt repayments.

The US could also slap import tariffs on everything but it's seems everybody has been brainwashed about free trade trade even though it is mainly multinationals and the Chinese and American farmers who benefit from this.

Devaluation also happens naturally, there is pressure for Asian currencies to appreciate against debt laden currencies, as you can see GBP, USD and Euro have all devalued somewhat against Asian currencies.

[creztor]

It'll come before the presidential election.

[trubadour]

The problem is systematic (which is why is re-occurs regularly: boom-bust every ten years or so, depression every 100). No prises for guessing which one we're all waiting for.

The US could make itself more competitive internally and globally as a manufacturing and service providing country by abolishing ALL taxes and instead imposing a single tax on land (LVT). This would even things out a great deal, put money back into those who spend it and free it from where it is currently gathering dust.

Equality is what made America great. The American Dream used to be a reality but was quickly lost in deepening inequality - this is why the BSM do not report on it.

QE and inflationary measures, FTAs and devaluations will only create temporary benefits. America would be at a huge advantage if it could accept that what is happening to it is happening to everyone because of a systematic dysfunction.

The so-called business cycle and the incredible damage that comes from a depression every hundred years is caused by a single problem: private land ownership. This single problem means that despite ALL the MASSIVE improvements in public life, ALL the inventions and ALL the sweet stuff that people do as services means that we go bust every time!

here's a really quite terrible video demonstrating how inequalities arrise.

you only need to watch the first 2 mins of it to see how inequalities arrise...

[Got To Be Kidding]

Hang on, I know that this was almost a month ago, but I'm surprised that no one has said anything:

Equality is what made America great.

I thought that it was hard work, ingenuity and character that made America great?

- from somewhere deep in the jungles of Judea -

[Charlie Phillips]

Hang on, I know that this was almost a month ago, but I'm surprised that no one has said anything:

Equality is what made America great.

I thought that it was hard work, ingenuity and character that made America great?

- from somewhere deep in the jungles of Judea -

I thought it was military superiority. No?

[Deuce Dropper]

Hang on, I know that this was almost a month ago, but I'm surprised that no one has said anything:

Equality is what made America great.

I thought that it was hard work, ingenuity and character that made America great?

- from somewhere deep in the jungles of Judea -

Hard work, ingenuity and character make anyone great.

What the Mainstream Media Won't Tell You.

The fuck out with that nonsense, the mainstream media (lets just call it 'the media' from now on because hack bloggers and Alex Jones types don't count IMO) will scare people every chance they get, why go soft on the economy.

Manufacturing jobs will continue to drop in the US because they are leaving. this 'worst in 75 years' crap is silly.

As long as Americans keep electing right wing politicians and keep moving their country to the right they can expect this inequality to grow because that is what it is designed to do. They help people get really rich, but that comes at a cost (people at the bottom will move towards serfdom).

So, if you are going to be in a country where decisions are made based on a right wing ethic, it might be high time to adopt one yourself.

Gods and clods, that is the future, pick a side, because the middle class is on life support and in the future will only exist in stump speech promises.

[Gao Bohan]

Whenver anyone uses the term "mainstream media", my ass begins to twitch. I immediately think the person speaking or writing is an extreme right wing or left wing nutcase. Still, it makes for a great thread title.

Americans should be happy that low-margin manufacturing jobs have been outsourced. The entire world benefits from the global division of labor and specialization. Nations like China, which specialize in low-margin production, benefit from millions of jobs, while wealthier nations like the US benefit from cheaper goods. Both result in more disposable income and the ability to buy other goods. Economic theory, supported by a multitude of empirical studies, demonstrates a net benefit gain for all nations, even with the loss of production jobs included.

Here's a question. How many of you would like to work long hours for meager wages under miserable conditions? Any takers? No? OK, so you do NOT want to spend your life on the factory floor making tennis shoes. How about working for a fashion company designing those shoes? How about branding an entire fashion line? Would you like to manage an import company bringing tennis shoes back from China, or maybe as a unionized longshoreman with a good salary and pension? Or perhaps as a logistician at a transportation company? Or a marketing specialist? Even driving trucks, working in shipping and receiving, or retailing would surely be preferable to toiling all day applying glue to shoe soles.

92% of Americans are employed. Relatively few flip burgers. It would be nice if the doom and gloom crowd would go in for a little self-improvement and educate themselves on modern economic theory before entering these discussions. In the words of our own fred smith, economics is not a zero sum game. It's not a competition between "our" producers and "their" producers. We all benefit from the global rise in production and wealth.

[Charlie Phillips]

We have the same argumentalists in Australia who think manufacturing jobs and lugging sacks of wheat should be re-introduced into the economic pie.

We have machines that can do that crap now. Only the Chinese are competing with the machines and increasingly, the machines are winning.

Robots, who needs them?