America's Lack of Confidence?

[artiesliver]

It seems as if America is experiencing a lack of confidence. Or perhaps some kind of identity crisis. Maybe there's a reason for it, maybe not.

The dollar, which had a bounce this week, dropped like a brick against its counterparts over the past 12-18 months. Polls against our politicians are at historic lows. Regions of the World, such as parts of Asia and the Middle East, are going through an economic and educational revolution/evolution (much like the Industrial Revolution here in the U.S.) and leaving the Western World behind. What happened? (Note: I realize many of these countries need to come out of the dark ages culturally and socially. However, we could take a look at our society while we are at it and continue to progress.)


I think it is time we stop bitchin', quit complaining and start getting our sh!t together as a nation. Time to stop letting the media, our politicians, and our leaders from making us feel like victims and start to feel good as the U.S. again....Hurry, before we end up like Europe and are apathetic towards our economy and our position in the World.

 

[JoeContrarian]

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[artiesliver]

They could've left "Reach for the Stars" out of his speech. That's a little much. Kinda corny.

 

[Willie99]

but who's going to lead us? who gonna give us hope?



Great post Artie, although I'd leave the knocking Europe part out.

 

[tiznow]

its not lack of confidence

its lack of credit

overall american's became debt slaves they looking for another fix i'm sure

problem is banks can't dish it out cause they were stoopid/greedy just like the ones getting into debt

u could see this coming a mile away if you were an aware observer

tapping homes as ATMs, giving anybody with a pulse a mortgage and gobs of CCs, and investment banks working with 30 to 1 leverage is gonna end badly

 

[Willie99]

its not lack of confidence

its lack of credit

overall american's became debt slaves they looking for another fix i'm sure

problem is banks can't dish it out cause they were stoopid/greed just like the ones getting into debt

classic

tizdoom at work

 

[tiznow]

well its true

where do you come up with all those cool animations?

 

[Willie99]

http://www.jupitergreetings.com/index.php?target=category&id=94&all=1&maincat=anims

It's your opinion. There are always scores of variables in play, you always choose credit or debt as your most important. There is no pattern of market behavior to support that position.

I've believe "consumer confidence" is the single most important variable, as that variable almost always mirrors the market. I'll concede one can mitigate this argument with the oldie but goodie; "what came first, the chicken or the egg?".

But credit and the debt are not leading indicators.

 

[JoeContrarian]

Tizdoom, how do YOU measure the wealth of a nation? Oil, copper, GOLD :missingte, forests, factories, houses? What?

 

[tiznow]

willie credit and debt problems are the reasons we are having economic issues

and the domestic economy is the #1 factor in how american's or any person for that matter feel about themselves and the confidence in themselves

well the economy is the #1 issue when it gets bad.....when the economy is okay issues like iraq, terrorism, or whatever are #1 on the table

but if they have more nice stuff than they had last year they tend to be happy and confident

if they have less nice stuff than they had last year like right now they tend to be not happy and less confident

when we are in bull markets people tend to be happy when we are in bear markets people tend to not be happy

its pretty simple dude

as for wealth of a nation joe that's a good question and not as easy as it seems at the surface..... i'll get back to you on that one.....its bed time

 

[JoeContrarian]

as for wealth of a nation joe that's a good question and not as easy as it seems at the surface..... i'll get back to you on that one.....its bed time

You'll get back to me? Sounds familiar.

:wink:

 

[Willie99]

Tiz, lets keep it simple. Nobody on earth has figured out the exact interaction between any one variable an economic performance, or any combination of variables for that matter.

I keep things in perspective, you seem to have "the answer", which I simply don't agree with.

 

[tiznow]

economics is the overriding force in controlling what happens in the world willie its as clear as day

obviously their are many other variables...but economics is the strongest of them all

 

[tiznow]

You'll get back to me? Sounds familiar.

:wink:

that's not an easy question joe

that takes more time than the random gibberish that immediately spills off my brain :nohead:

 

[Willie99]

economics is the overriding force in controlling what happens in the world willie its as clear as day

obviously their are many other variables...but economics is the strongest of them all

What?

Maybe this makes since, maybe not. Bringing that "chicken or egg" question to whole new levels, I think maybe.

Tizdoom, you thinking about a career in politics now? Saying stuff that sounds smart but may or may not mean something?

 

[tiznow]

i'm saying there are many variables

but as far as ranking them as far as influence on how the world operates/actions taken by the world powers/actions taken by J6P etc......

economics is the top dog

and many things are indirectly related to economics

like oil for instance

 

[tiznow]

http://www.frbsf.org/education/activities/drecon/answerxml.cfm?selectedurl=/2000/0010.html

here's an answer from the fed joe...LOL

 

[JoeContrarian]

economics is the overriding force in what happens in the world willie its as clear as day

This is true. Problem is, your brand of economics is about as believable as Nancy Pelosi Veteran's Day speech.

Time for a lesson in economics, tizdoom -- Joe C. style. Ready?

The majority of wealth is NOT measured in natural capital (forested areas, oil, minerals, GOLD :missingte), or produced capital ( machinery, equipment, infrastructure etc.).

No, the greatest asset ANY nation can have is what smart economists call "intangible capital."

What is intangible capital? According to a World Bank study, "human capital" and the value of institutions (as measured by rule of law) constitute the largest share of wealth in virtually all countries.

Property rights, human rights, rule of law -- everything our divinely inspired framers set up for us -- is the greatest capital any nation can have.

True production of wealth is only possible with security. Without security, the lawless rule the land.

Many countries that are rich with "natural capital" are the poorest on the planet. Exhibit A: Africa. Exhibit B: the middle east. Conversely, some of the richest countries have almost ZERO "traditional capital." Europe, the best example.

In other words, there's no apparent empirical relationship between current net savings and future well being -- ZERO.

I repeat:

There's no apparent empirical relationship between current net savings and future well being -- ZERO

It's technologies and our institutions that make the difference -- that define the differences between rich and poor.

And that my friend, tizdoom, is why the third world and socially backward societies (China, for example) will never surpass us, why virtually every nation America has occupied prospered (from Germany to Japan, to South Korea) and why all your doom-gloom predictions of Western decline will have a worse track record than Nostradamus.

Iraq's current greatest asset that will make all future prosperity in that country possible? A guy by the name of Gen. Petraeus.

As usual, the "neo-cons" got it right from the very beginning.

 

[tiznow]

well besides you random neo con rant

i agree braincells are a big part of wealth

problem is rest of world is catching up and department of education making us dumb and american's have gotten retarded as far as finances

but your right we invented the assembly line, the car, the plane, the train, the phone, the cell phone, the computer, list goes on and on.....

see a big problem beyond all the economic mumbo jumbo about the world economy today is this

we haven't advanced really the past 5 years when we had this hyper growth.,...we aren't creating big innovations....most of our shit is just optimization and that only gets you so far.....

the tech bubble was a internet/computer revolution obviously got outta hand but it was a good long term creation as far as productivity goes

this bull was just created by americans consuming cheap goods made by copy cat china....it was much more than that with lots of different intertwining/symbiotic variables....like since china now factory heavy they need more energy....oil goes up so place like brazil can farm lotsa sugar cane to make ethanol for fuel to export.....you could create a whole chain of events

but the core structure was the US/china consumption relationship

china isn't making anything new....they are copycats....go figure they are commies....LOL....they just cheap labor and we consume their low quality shit like dumbasses tapping homes as ATMs and shit like that now the games have ended and the banks can no longer lend cause they locked up and now americans sitting on gobs of debt and have all this useless junk laying around including overpriced homes

 

[JoeContrarian]

Blind neo-con rant" :missingte

You didn't read a word, did you?

Tizdoom, you and most traditional gloom-doomers know very little about modern economics: what produces real wealth.

Your demagogic theories you inject in virtually every thread on every topic are just that -- blind feel-good rants backed up by virtually nothing.

You have much to learn, young jedi.

Where Is the Wealth of Nations?
Measuring Capital for the XXI Century

Conference Edition
Draft of July 15, 2005
The World

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEEI/Home/20666132/WealthofNationsconferenceFINAL.pdf

Now stop daydreaming about blimps all day and go do your homework.