Re: $2.1 Trillion and Counting
[quote=runningman;663057]Hyperinflation is going to kick in next year and this will drive the world's economies into a downward cycle with no end insight. The dollar will then plunge turning the US bank note into monopoly money. A rush for gold and precious metals will then increase but the US will appropriate all the precious metals in order to help pay off some of the debt that it has incurred. Security System sales will increase as well as firearm sales for protection. Then governement failures will hit. I don't want to get into all of it but what I am trying to get at is that we are all going to be slaves soon if we don't get our act together.
Read this article please to grasp the situation.
[URL]http://vdare.com/roberts/081013_bailout.htm[/URL][/quote]
Well, you know it's funny that you mention all that... What do you think might happen if we sit around and do nothing, and just watch the financial system completely disintegrate? It actually could be something very much like what you just described.
There has been a time period in our history before when the government has actually sat around and just watched while the financial system disintegrated. It was called the Great Depression. When banks began failing right and left, the Fed sat back and just watched. They kept monetary policy very tight, actually [I]contracting the money supply[/I]. Most economists agree these days that the lack of timely action on the Fed's part contributed significantly to the severity and duration of the Great Depression - and once that window of opportunity to act had passed, then it was too late for monetary policy to be effective anymore. Timely government intervention during periods of acute economic crisis is critical. The Fed acts as the lender of last resort under normal conditions, but in periods of crisis, it may have to become the first and only lender.
Now, you raise a good point about the deficit implications of this. And they are scary. The spiraling deficit is going to be a real danger to us and the rest of the world. We've been in debt worse than this before: I recently read that in the 1940s, we were up to about 30% of GDP; this level of debt would put us to about 7.5%. But the difference is that back then, we were basically in debt to ourselves; now, we're much more in debt to foreign people and governments. That poses a real risk for us if their tolerance and confidence wears out, because that's when interest rates will have to shoot up to get them to hold our debt. And that's when our future generations will start to feel the pain for our current spending binge.
Just remember: This is Bush's parting gift, his legacy to all of us so that future generations will forever remember his name. :lol:
But here's the kicker: there are times when we really do have to add to the deficit, and this is one of them. We're in a crisis and we can't just sit back and watch. But what we [I]shouldn't[/I] have been doing, though, is racking up the debt when times were good all these past years. That's where we fucked up. We could have exercised more discipline and lived within our means and been much better positioned today to handle the onslaught of debt that this crisis requires us to bear. But it's too late now. It's the same as if you were to run up your credit card when you have a good job, and then lose your job and are forced you rely on your credit card for a while. You've doubly screwed yourself.
Of course, well-educated people disagree on the Great Depression, as they do on the bailout now. Paul Roberts is obviously well-educated, but I still think he's wrong on this. Make no mistake about it: I think the bailout is bad. Really bad. It's going to cause a lot of suffering. But sitting around and twiddling our thumbs would be even worse and would cause even more suffering. We're really between a rock and a hard place.
Anyways...isn't there already a thread on this? :lol: