NationStates Jolt Archive

One thing I'm not sure of is what is with the American belief that the have the greatest economy (and country) in the world? Here are some points...

America has an 8 trillion dollar foreign debt, I have checked and confirmed this on quite a few news sources.

The rate of new jobs being created is shrinking and those that are made are usually in casual or part-time work.

The middle class is shrinking and the working class is getting poorer at an increasing rate.

The only thing keeping America going is the billions of dollars in foreign investment, if countries like China and Japan stopped investing the whole economy would break up llike a cookie.

That's all I could find for now, but still it's enough not too many of these problems are small and yet America either can't or won't do jack about them.
The fact of the matter is that America is so deep in debt that they couldn't pay it off if they wanted t.

The thing with the US is that they have such a healthy consumption sector. One might argue that that is due to their wastefulness and decadence (;)), but the fact remains that you can sell almost anything to Americans in large numbers.

But yes, there are some lingering problems which may or may not blow up one day. I guess you can't get around that.

The thing with the US is that they have such a healthy consumption sector. One might argue that that is due to their wastefulness and decadence (;)), but the fact remains that you can sell almost anything to Americans in large numbers.

But yes, there are some lingering problems which may or may not blow up one day. I guess you can't get around that.

Who else will employ the multitude of makers of widgets, if not the great welfare state of the US? ;)

One thing I'm not sure of is what is with the American belief that the have the greatest economy (and country) in the world? Here are some points...

America has an 8 trillion dollar foreign debt, I have checked and confirmed this on quite a few news sources.

The rate of new jobs being created is shrinking and those that are made are usually in casual or part-time work.

The middle class is shrinking and the working class is getting poorer at an increasing rate.

The only thing keeping America going is the billions of dollars in foreign investment, if countries like China and Japan stopped investing the whole economy would break up llike a cookie.

That's all I could find for now, but still it's enough not too many of these problems are small and yet America either can't or won't do jack about them.
The fact of the matter is that America is so deep in debt that they couldn't pay it off if they wanted t.

Actually there is no evidence jobs are being created in smaller amounts, infact just last month new numbers were released showing the unemployment rate droped from 4.9 percent to 4.7 percent, a statistic some economist are identifying as "full employment". http://www.bls.gov/

As well Average hourly earnings increased $.07 for january while productivty rates decreased -.06%. This is an indication pressure will soon be building to increase wages which will inturn pressure inflation.

While the working class is growing, so is the upper class .. (number of millionaires up 21% in 2005) http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/mill-j08.shtml

Infact, all of this indicates quite a strong economic enviornment for the United States.. so where are you getting your facts from ? Yes we have heavy foregin investment... much like many of the rest of Western nations trying to deal with the Booming Chinese government (which economist now fear maybe facing dramatic deflation http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_pesek&sid=afuxSS8Sl0Xc ) You may see in the next comming years a dramatic shift in the world economic outlook. Also might I point out, the US borrowing money from other countries, are those countries problems not ours (if we can't pay). Chinese markets are dependent on exports especially to the US. Without them their economy will shut down far faster then ours would.

Who else will employ the multitude of makers of widgets, if not the great welfare state of the US? ;)

Why make this into an attack on welfare? That's so pointless. Why not instead focus on the actual problem of the country not adressing its debt, and borrowing more money to pay for things that are, in the long run, less useful than the things that are being cut?

Why make this into an attack on welfare? That's so pointless. Why not instead focus on the actual problem of the country not adressing its debt, and borrowing more money to pay for things that are, in the long run, less useful than the things that are being cut?

It was a joke. Gawd. OK, fine.

Elect me to a position from which I might be able to affect the economy and I'll start thinking about it. Since I'm in no position to affect any such thing, there really wouldn't be much of a point, now then, would there?

FINE. I'll do it anyway. If only to amuse you. Raise taxes and simplify the tax code (if it's longer than one paragraph and requires a law degree to read, it gets edited), pull out of Iraq, abolish all trade tariffs and subsidies (see: corporate welfare) and raise all embargoes. Cut the paychecks of both the President and the Senate down towards $60,000/yr., make sure the President gets paid no more than Representative Joe Bob from Arkansas. Use any savings to go into nationalized healthcare. Once the dust settles from that, cut taxes.

I'd vote for you.

As long as dollar is the reserve currency for the oil bourse, US can have its cake (debt) and eat it too.

We can expect US dominance to decrease but it won't collapse, simply because other countries won't let it collapse since all the major economies are so closely tied together.

America is the Superpower of the world. Will that stay forever? Doubtful. It isn't really an arguable fact at the moment though.

Other economies are of course players but at the moment America is pretty much the most formidable player in all of them. Of course they play very important roles in the American economy but that doesn't really matter if they do not have the ability to back out without collapsing themselves.

Sure America is loaded with debt and Bush is making it much much much worse every second he breathes air. Many people don't like this. The fact of the matter though is America is the most powerful country in the world at this time. That doesn't mean they can do whatever they want it is just how it is at the moment. It also doesn't mean it is the "best" only the people of a country can decide if their country is better or worse than another on an individual basis.