"It's the end of the world as we know it"...

[SmokeyJoe]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/09/news/international/global_economy/index.htm?hpt=hp_t1

Is this the end of "globalism".  Is there any fix?  They are telling us this thing isn't going to turn around.  And any reasonable observer would have to acknowledge as much.  If I were in charge   I would focus on internal infrastructure, and renewable energy.  Too bad the GOP is owned by the fossil fuel industry, and the demorats are incompetent.  

[BanditVol]

Hm, not so sure.  Employment numbers for this month were good, US might be headed for a real recovery next year, though Europe may take us down with it.

I think there is an underlying issue of governments papering over differences with "fiat money".  It's too easy to pump up the money supply, or contract it, depending on what needs to be done.  It has made it easy for a long time to, IMO, in both the US and Europe, cover up deficiencies in the real economy and it has finally caught up with us.

Hard to say what the way out is, but I personally don't think the sky is falling.  The premise that because the economy is going badly everything is shizzle is a flawed one IMO.  My religious faith tells me that this life is not everything, that material goods fade away, and that we should not put too much stock into what we own.

But many leaders and media will have us believe otherwise.   The article you post above states that economic global growth may be "as low as 2.7%" over the next 10 years.  Gasp!  I am shocked! Don't know if I can take that! LOL!  Isn't that still better than negative growth?

So what happens if the economy grows more slowly and I don't have as much money?  Then I suppose maybe I can't afford a bigger house a few years down the road (presuming that's what I want).  Okay so...(gasp)...I have to....(OMG!)...live in my same house! Oh noes...not that!  Anything but that!   

But I still have a house, right?

So I think my point is...the economy sucks.  So what?  There is more to life than material goods.  And maybe the problem is not "the economy" but our expectations and aspirations.  Stuff ain't everything.

[SmokeyJoe]

Preach it brother!  I agree about making do with less.  No shame in that.  That's old school!     Everything just got grossly out of hand with the whole fractional reserve banking system, "growth" via credit, financial services sector, etc., etc.  Which imho is a reflection of the misguided economic policies of the last 30+ years, as well as jacked up national "priorities".  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!     I didn't re-read the article, but I thought the period of 2.7% growth was "worldwide" not necessarily the USA.  I don't know if that is enough "growth" to keep the juggernaut rolling, but maybe it is.   

[BanditVol]

The 2.7% was indeed global.  Agree about the last 30 years.

IMO what has happened for far too long is that we have papered over, LITERALLY in a sense, problems in the "real economy" with "capital gains" that are, as I say, literally only on paper.  There is only so much of that you can do before the system finally collapses.  And in a sense that is happening.  Not all is lost though.  My source for some of my beliefs in this area is a book from 1987 by one of the greatest hedge fund traders of all time, before hedge funds were even fashionable.  He is brutally realistic about what is really happening, in spite of having profited wildly from it.  I can recommend the book if you wish.

But what I was gettnig at above is what I think is a false premise.  The media wants to say the sky is falling every time the economy heads south.  It ain't.   God provides us what we need, the rest is just gravy.  If more Americans thought about it that way, IMO we would be better off.

[SmokeyJoe]

Yes please share the title/author info.  Thanks.

[BanditVol]

"The Alchemy of Finance" by George Soros   

[SmokeyJoe]

Really?  lol.  You closet filthy liberal scum!  I'm kidding.     I just bought a low rent tablet... the kindle fire.  I'll see if I can download or borrow within the "cloud".   

[3beans]

I bought a nook color (refurbished) cheap.  Then I re-rooted it into a (almost) fully functioning android tablet.  When you add in the overclock feature, you can do almost anything with it except take pictures.  I recently saw them going for 120 clams.  After re-rooting you can add in the Barnes and Noble app, the Kindle app, and about any other thing you want.  You can even Netflix with it.  My wife was skeptical at first but now I can't get the thing away from her (she got hooked on angry birds  ).  I might also add that the color screen on a nook is excellent.

[BanditVol]

Really?  lol.  You closet filthy liberal scum!  I'm kidding.     I just bought a low rent tablet... the kindle fire.  I'll see if I can download or borrow within the "cloud".   

The book is from 1987 and is a diary of how he traded for a year with a lot of philosophical musings thrown in.  There is some politics, but this was when Soros was an active hedge fund trader.  He didn't really get into politics until circa 1991.