The Economy

We are headed for trouble I was convinced of that before I read or heard any debates.... It's scary and frustrating but it's what happens. We need to live within out means these days and cut back on the frivolous spending, the gas guzzling SUV's, don't buy what you can't afford and make due with what you have. We will get through this but changes will need to be made.

Talina:
I tend to agree with you that changes need to be made, but I'm not sure what those could/should be. Given our lack of civil political discourse, I doubt that much meaningful change can take place.
For me, energy consumption is the core problem since it affects almost every other aspect of the economy. Improve energy efficiency and you improve the economy by multiples. However, those who advocate a market approach seem to abhor any policy that would guide consumer decisions toward conservation. Witness the refusal of the Administration to increase auto CAFE requirements.

For those who don't know the Federal Reserve is NOT federal and there is NO reserve. It's the opposite. It is very similar to how government passes laws with names that completely misslead the public so they can be passed easier. For example: A law called Environmental Safety Act could actually allow for more pollution to be dumped by corporations.

The Federal Reserve is actually a private corporation, controlled by private banks with very little oversight from the government. It is very scary to think the the entire monetary system of the U.S. is in the hands of a few private banks. Any money the governement needs comes from the Federal Reserve which basically just prints it and loans it to the governement.

The entire U.S economy is based on this. It is a debt-based economy and the monetary masters are private banks. Any discussion about the U.S. economy needs to cover this in detail because ultimately, the entity who can print money and set interest rates can do what it wills with the economy.

I am very dissapointed that Jack Beaty could conduct an entire show on this and avoid the elephant in the room. Furthermore the guest that sounded like Ben Stein should never have been allowed on the show. Don't you do ANY screening of your guests? If you're going to have guests on who are nothing but propagandists of disinformation then why should we listen?

I've been hearing the prognostications for a while now. They seem to swing wildly from the illusion of a thriving economy to predictions of absolute disaster. To be honest, I can't tell any more. It used to be fairly easy, but over the past few years the whole economic picture is so muddy as to be unpredictable.

I do believe that if corporations aren't reined in in some way we're headed for real trouble. They are not going to show any responsibility by themselves.

den carts, I think it's an over simplification to call the Federal Reserve a "private corporation". That's something I hear quite often and it's a good statement for grabbing someone's attention as it did for me when I first heard it years ago. I'm no expert but the reality is more complicated than that. You're correct that it's not a government department.

Here's the FAQ "Who owns the Federal Reserve?"
http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqfrs.htm#5

and a reasonable looking article on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve

Ross

I've now listened to the whole show. As often happens, I was left with no strong feeling of who's right or wrong. Both guests said things that seemed convincing to me and both said things that somewhat turned me away from them at a personal level. I could have done without Peter Schiff's little "banner ad" he slipped in when he said something like "for those who are not clients of Euro Pacific Capital" and I could have done without Ken Rogoff's condescending comment about his son talking about using rocks for money.

At the end of the day, I lean towards Schiff's scenario of bad news. I think its a question of when rather than if. I think he is especially correct when he tells Americans to reduce consumption.

China could cause a huge crash if they started selling large amounts of their trillions of US dollars. Of course, its always pointed out that China won't do that because it would hurt themselves as much as anyone. I'm sure that's true but to my unsophisticated thinking, that seems like something being propped up artificially. In the real world, something that is propped up without a solid base tends to stay up for quite a while with everyone thinking all is fine until something snaps and it all comes crashing down.

I just returned from China...there is so much energy and will. It makes me sad that America is falling behind.

In my neck of the woods, the economy is not doing well. The right and left coasts are actually doing the best. I feel for those people who have been downsized out of a job and can't find anything better than a service position. There are jobs but they aren't good jobs. That is sad.

I don't know how people are going to heat their homes this winter!

I can tell you that as a real estate broker I am seeing a huge difference in consumer interest. My phone has just completely stopped ringing. It hasn't slowed. It has died.
The new construction that was so rampant has ended as well. There are hundreds of new homes that haven't been finished and improved lots just sitting there. The developers have pulled everyone off of the jobs. Here in Arizona the construction industry has laid off 19,000 workers since August.
I think the rest of the businesses that were supporting all of the construction and the real estate industry are feeling the lack of business as well. Bearish is my take on the economy. I am not going to spend a dime that I don't have to.

We're headed for a major crash! The fed is deliberately tanking the dollar, and you haven't seen anything yet! It's all designed to force us into accepting the North American Union by 2010, with the Amero replacing the dollar and the peso as our regional currency!

Remember, you heard it here first!