Greece Today, The U.S. ...........???

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Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
This may be a prohibited political comment, but I'm giving it a try anyway.

Greece is on the verge of defaulting on it's debts and the country may go bankrupt if it doesn't stop spending so much.

However, the U.S. is heavily in debt too and borrowing more money (mainly from China). If I extrapolate the trend into the future, we may also reach the point of default.

Here's how I believe there are two scenarios for how this lousy movie will end.

The U.S. will have to raise taxes through the roof and also slash spending. These options may be so draconian that it may permanently cripple the economy.

Or

China will instate foreclosure proceedings against the U.S. and acquire 300 million more slaves.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
Or the U.S. will start moving its manufacturing back to the states (as it already has) and then start a war with China (or just let China start the war that they already want) and call it even.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Taxes and debt are essentially the same. Milton Friedman proved this and I think he may have gotten the Nobel Prize for it. Anyway, the point is that sucking money out of people to pay off the debt is just as bad as having the debt, and vice versa – taking big loans (from China) to avoid taxes has the same negative effect as the taxes themselves and doesn't really accomplish anything.

The bottom line is we spend too much, and we spend it badly – on things that intentionally reduce productivity rather than increase it. Maintenance instead of growth. Without reform, the forecast is that we will continue to spend more and more, not less. (Germany spends on productivity and is actually going the other way. Things look quite good for them, Greece or not.) We are not yet like Greece, which seems to want endless goodies for nothing.

China loans us money so that we can buy their products. If/when we go broke, we cease to be as good a customer. So I don't think they'll foreclose any time soon.
 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
I've found that many goods from China aren't really any lower cost than those made in the U.S. (if you can find them).

I was shopping for simple kitchenware at a local hardware store and many of the pots and pans were labeled "Made is U.S.A.". Other than the raw metal, a cake pan is one piece item that doesn't have any "embedded content" (like a car or appliances) so it must be completely all from the U.S.

There were also some items from China, but there wasn't much difference in price. I suspect that U.S. manufacturers are using highly automated processes (robotics) that minimize human labor so that's why they are competitively priced with China which uses slave labor.
 

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
There is little point to this discussion since nobody here has the requisite bona fides!
Actually, you don't need any bona fides to know that if you spend like a drunken sailor without having any funds to pay back your debts, you're headed down the Primrose Path To Hell. :p***

*** There should be an emoticon with a smiling face and horns on top of its head, but this is the only thing that comes close.
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
Actually, you don't need any bona fides to know that if you spend like a drunken sailor without having any funds to pay back your debts, you're headed down the Primrose Path To Hell.
You need to quit disparaging drunken sailors. Congressional critters outspend sailors with no thought of the consequences. The sailors deserve your apology. :)
 

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
Abusing my power as a moderator to answer to this thread, and only because I happen to be Greek, I'll tell you one thing:

Don't, not for a single moment, believe that you can make assumptions (let alone them being safe) about the economic and political state of another country. There are Greek citizens that have lived here their whole life and still don't have a grasp on the current situation within Europe, as it relates to Greece, or even on the state of Greek economy.

You can at best, make analogies with your own country, which are bound to be unfounded.

You need to live in a country AND have your wits about to start guessing the state of affairs.
 
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