35 trillion in debt? Dr Mark Skidmore a professor of public finance at Michigan State University calculated the national debt at 90 trillion in 2015. Lawrence kotlikoff a noble prize winning economist from Boston University calculated total unfunded liabilities at 200 trillion in 2015. Recently the numbers were updated to 260 trillion. If the national debt really was 35 trillion we would have some chance of digging are way out of this with severe austerity. Any combination of budget cuts and or tax increases big enough to make a dent in these would cause a catastrophic meltdown all by themselves.
The Federal debt is like a magician’s trick…”watch this hand and pay no attention to the other”…while the media keeps everybody obsessed by the national debt, behind the curtain lurks the combined unfunded pension/benefit obligations of the 50 states and their 10’s of thousands municipalities…as a whole, the costs of all governmental employment will, on its own, destroy the US economy.
This particular Atlantic article is accurate. Free trade has been a predictable catastrophe for U.S. manufacturing. The assumption that national governments have the incentives, pressures, vulnerabilities and time preferences of individuals is dangerously naïve. Trade between foreign states cannot be neatly analogized to trade between individuals.
I outsource almost everything and have a trade deficit with every seller I patronize. I only have a trade surplus with my employer. I'm not worse off but better off.
If other countries just dropped new cars off on the shore of the U.S. with the keys in them would net, Americans be worse off or better off? Who would be paying for those free-of-charge cars?
People used to be much more "self-sufficient." They were desperately poor.
How many people who use the phrase "trade deficit" understand its offset is a "capital account surplus?"
"Trade wars are good. We can win them." Every trade I participate in is voluntary and both I and the person on the other side of the trade expect to be better off. There's no "war" involved.
Great ironic observation, but The Atlantic is the mouthpiece of the World Economic Forum (i.e., King Chuck, Bill Gates, Larry Fink, Klaus Schwab, etc.--the very people who created the current dystopia) and is in no way liberal. Like John D. Rockefeller, these people despise freedom, markets, and competition, and instead covet their own total control of absolutely everyone (through depopulation, chips or nanobots, for example) and everything. Their motto: "The idea of a soul, free will -- that's over!"
The notion that skilled American manufacturing would benefit from cutthroat competition with Third World slave labor never quite passed the smell test. Especially when one considers that we grew to a juggernaut by following the protectionism of Alexander Hamiliton and "national economics" of Friedrich List, both of which relied heavily on tariffs. The grown-ups know--have always known--that nationalism trounces libertarianism ten times out of nine.
But then, it was never about benefiting skilled American manufacturing. It was about their dispossession and humiliation.
More than a billion people have been lifted out of dire poverty because they were permitted to compete.
Those tariffs to which you allude were when the size of the federal government as a share of GDP was puny.
I do appreciate the implicit concession that "organized labor" is willing to stick it to consumers. Hmmm, which POTUS is trying to buy the union votes now?
It doesn't say "a billion Americans." At the corner of Clueless and Non Sequitur, that businesses sometimes close because they can't sell enough product at a high enough price to cover all their costs means no one gets lifted out of poverty. I guess we should just have government use our tax dollars to keep failing businesses open. This way, our private sector will be as productive as Chicago's public schools....
Thank you for the jobs update Ann. The second to last paragraph pretty much says the whole article. A few rhetorical questions: Does Laurene Powell Jobs still own the Atlantic?……Will we still have the fun little toys made in China in McDonald’s Happy Meals, or is the birth rate in this country following the pattern of China…….. where we will not need as many toys and no toys with batteries anymore?
Biden’s never had any original ideas….his staff just recycles bad ones between shuffleboard games.
35 trillion in debt? Dr Mark Skidmore a professor of public finance at Michigan State University calculated the national debt at 90 trillion in 2015. Lawrence kotlikoff a noble prize winning economist from Boston University calculated total unfunded liabilities at 200 trillion in 2015. Recently the numbers were updated to 260 trillion. If the national debt really was 35 trillion we would have some chance of digging are way out of this with severe austerity. Any combination of budget cuts and or tax increases big enough to make a dent in these would cause a catastrophic meltdown all by themselves.
The Federal debt is like a magician’s trick…”watch this hand and pay no attention to the other”…while the media keeps everybody obsessed by the national debt, behind the curtain lurks the combined unfunded pension/benefit obligations of the 50 states and their 10’s of thousands municipalities…as a whole, the costs of all governmental employment will, on its own, destroy the US economy.
I don't know about you guys, but when I want a critical review of Republican economic policy, I always to go The Atlantic...
This particular Atlantic article is accurate. Free trade has been a predictable catastrophe for U.S. manufacturing. The assumption that national governments have the incentives, pressures, vulnerabilities and time preferences of individuals is dangerously naïve. Trade between foreign states cannot be neatly analogized to trade between individuals.
Not saying it's inaccurate, just that Atlantic is faaaaaaaar down my list of sources I care about.
I outsource almost everything and have a trade deficit with every seller I patronize. I only have a trade surplus with my employer. I'm not worse off but better off.
If other countries just dropped new cars off on the shore of the U.S. with the keys in them would net, Americans be worse off or better off? Who would be paying for those free-of-charge cars?
People used to be much more "self-sufficient." They were desperately poor.
How many people who use the phrase "trade deficit" understand its offset is a "capital account surplus?"
"Trade wars are good. We can win them." Every trade I participate in is voluntary and both I and the person on the other side of the trade expect to be better off. There's no "war" involved.
Great ironic observation, but The Atlantic is the mouthpiece of the World Economic Forum (i.e., King Chuck, Bill Gates, Larry Fink, Klaus Schwab, etc.--the very people who created the current dystopia) and is in no way liberal. Like John D. Rockefeller, these people despise freedom, markets, and competition, and instead covet their own total control of absolutely everyone (through depopulation, chips or nanobots, for example) and everything. Their motto: "The idea of a soul, free will -- that's over!"
For starters, nobody on welfare should be allowed to vote. No skin in the game, no free plays.
The notion that skilled American manufacturing would benefit from cutthroat competition with Third World slave labor never quite passed the smell test. Especially when one considers that we grew to a juggernaut by following the protectionism of Alexander Hamiliton and "national economics" of Friedrich List, both of which relied heavily on tariffs. The grown-ups know--have always known--that nationalism trounces libertarianism ten times out of nine.
But then, it was never about benefiting skilled American manufacturing. It was about their dispossession and humiliation.
More than a billion people have been lifted out of dire poverty because they were permitted to compete.
Those tariffs to which you allude were when the size of the federal government as a share of GDP was puny.
I do appreciate the implicit concession that "organized labor" is willing to stick it to consumers. Hmmm, which POTUS is trying to buy the union votes now?
I was unaware that a billion Americans have been lifted from dire poverty by free trade. Perhaps the shuttered factories and rusting mills fooled me.
It doesn't say "a billion Americans." At the corner of Clueless and Non Sequitur, that businesses sometimes close because they can't sell enough product at a high enough price to cover all their costs means no one gets lifted out of poverty. I guess we should just have government use our tax dollars to keep failing businesses open. This way, our private sector will be as productive as Chicago's public schools....
BUT, BUT,BUT, The rich don’t pay taxes !
I was having a really great day until I read this. But we need to know and thank you Ann.
But other than that, everything is ok.
Thank you for the jobs update Ann. The second to last paragraph pretty much says the whole article. A few rhetorical questions: Does Laurene Powell Jobs still own the Atlantic?……Will we still have the fun little toys made in China in McDonald’s Happy Meals, or is the birth rate in this country following the pattern of China…….. where we will not need as many toys and no toys with batteries anymore?
And yet the Democrats (sic) are pressing for the win in the 2024 General Election and the Republicans are scattering like sheep.
Time will tell.