The strongest economy in the world

"The American economy is the strongest in the world and growing faster than that of any other major industrialized country. It grew at an annual rate of 5.3 percent in the first quarter -- the fastest growth in 2 1/2 years. It has added more than 5.3 million jobs since the summer of 2003, and employment is near an all-time high. The unemployment rate (4.6 percent) is well below the average for each of the past four decades. Mortgage rates remain near historical lows, homeownership remains near a record high, and sales of new and existing homes reached record levels in 2005. Real disposable personal income has risen almost 13 percent since President Bush took office; and core inflation rose just 2.3 percent over the past 12 months. The Dow Jones industrial average has risen from under 7300 in 2002 to above 11,000 for most of this year. Tax revenues are at an all-time high -- and so is total household net worth."

And that is not the only good thing to be said about the good ole USA. More here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060400781.html

now your just trolling!

Sometimes I troll kingwilly. But this isn't one of them.

well you gotta be kidding then - the USA ecomomy has been running on over drive for a number of years now, the dollar is due for a sharp correction, the size of the foreign debt is ballooning,

theres no way i woudl put money into dollars at this moment in time.....

and the washington post as a source .... hardly objective...

The lower the dollar is the better it is for the US economy. It sucks for people like me ...

agreed - in the short term - but the reality is if the dollar dives - then much of the rest of the world will get dragged into the mess ala asian 1997 meltdown.

it ends up being bad news for all of us...

I think you're on the right track. And the US economy may have some problems around the corner. But in the last decade and up until to date ... it's just percolating right nicely.

Well if it wasn't for Clinton boom years, there wouldn't be much left of good old USA today

There were no boom years under Clinton. Ole Bill rode the coat-tails of Reagan. Clinton was great because he knew that and was a good caretaker.

^ hahaha !!! and you said you were no NeoCon. Typical. So how do you explain Bush Sr ? was he also surfing on the coat-tails of Reagan ?

He sure was ... Bush Sr was Reagan's lapdog.

I like the way the US agencies fiddle their figures.

SK, you know damn well most of those figures in the WP are complete BS!!

Funny though! Keep up the good work...

I think you forgot the recession of the early 90s under Bush Sr when he fucked up the economy badly and created a huge deficit. Why do you think he lost ? Even your God Reagan disapproved of him.

Good economy? = My salary (USD) change to Baht = - 8% ??? Not good for me!

household net worth - how much of that is based on over inflated house prices?
and does the net worth include mobile phone debt?

Presidents do not have much control over the U.S. macroeconomy

H. Bush and Clinton did not follow the coat-tails of Reagan nore any other President before them.

The economy in the 1990s adapted and changed significantly from that of the 1980s.

Congress, also only has an affect on certain industries of the U.S. Macro-economy.

Consumer spending is 2/3 of the economy in the U.S.

So toss the politics and focus on interest rates, CPI (which measures inflation) and the per capita debt ratios, and PPI (production price index).

Inverted J-curve? Probably doesn't forecast much, but it shows how things could look someday.

I just love your cut and paste post style. I'm sure you fool alot of people.

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Originally Posted by Storekeeper

I just love your cut and paste post style. I'm sure you fool alot of people.

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I don't know if you're referring to me, but I haven't cut and pasted in a while.

The post above your, is not a cut and paste.

My words, and my words only.

I realized how stupid my post would make me look after I posted it ... I figured I'd leave it there anyway for comic relief from two of my buddies. :p

Good, dodge.

The economy is too complicated and globally interdependent to focus on the Executive and Congressional branches.

The fact that many Americans believe it, is the result of Old Style political campaigning.

When the economy is good, the incumbant takes the credit (that's usually undeserved)

When the economy is bad or weak, the incumbant takes the blame, usually undeserved.

At the Executive and Congressional levels.

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Originally Posted by Milkman

The fact that many Americans believe it, is the result of Old Style political campaigning.

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North Koreans also believe they live in the world's greatest country.

^ actually Cuba claims to have the world's best economy. And so did the USSR just before they collapse.

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Originally Posted by Milkman

The economy is too complicated and globally interdependent to focus on the Executive and Congressional branches.

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You still aren't going to convince me that Presidential policies don't have an impact on the economy. That's horseshit. How do you explain away tools like tax cuts to have an effect of the economy ?

Tax cuts without the required program cuts to fund them just move the problem around. Runs up the debt but folks don't notice right away, a nice placebo(sp) cure. Spending money in areas that don't return wealth is one way bad policies impact the economy. Ineffective military spending, pork barrel infrastructure projects would both be examples of this.

Yeah, people like to throw darts at the military infrastructure but what they never talk about is that even though the size of the government has technically grown ... it's in the area of contractors. How much money is saved by turning all those civil service jobs into contractor jobs? The government doesn't have to fund pensions or pay medical/dental care when jobs supporting the government are civilianized.

The biggest problem the US ecomony faces is its aging population and the huge welfare bill. This is what will bring the economy to its knees within the next 30 or 40 years, not some two bit fracas in the Middle East.

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Originally Posted by Storekeeper

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Originally Posted by Milkman

The economy is too complicated and globally interdependent to focus on the Executive and Congressional branches.

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You still aren't going to convince me that Presidential policies don't have an impact on the economy. That's horseshit. How do you explain away tools like tax cuts to have an effect of the economy ?

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I agree with you SK, that targeted tax cuts influence the economy. In particular, in certain industries.

But overall, there are so many factors today that we can't say (or that economists can't say this) that the overal macro-economy is doing well or badly because of a particular Executive or Congress.

Presidents have the best team of economists with them for constant briefings.

Also the Federal Reserve (FMOC) and the Chairman.

Most veteran members of Congress, and definately the high majority of Senators of both parties are very well versed on macro-economic fundamentals.

It's basically a prerequisite for governing in these times.

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Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

The biggest problem the US ecomony faces is its aging population and the huge welfare bill. This is what will bring the economy to its knees within the next 30 or 40 years, not some two bit fracas in the Middle East.

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We've talked about this before. But the agin population will not be a variable that brings down the US. Think illegal immigrants ... another reason George Bush is so damn savvy. :)

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Originally Posted by Milkman

But overall, there are so many factors today that we can't say (or that economists can't say this) that the overal macro-economy is doing well or badly because of a particular Executive or Congress.

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The concept of randomness ... so unpredicatble yet such a beautiful thing ... but difficult to understand.

Oddly enough when I think of "ole Dubya" savvy does not come to mind first.

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Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

The biggest problem the US ecomony faces is its aging population and the huge welfare bill. This is what will bring the economy to its knees within the next 30 or 40 years, not some two bit fracas in the Middle East.

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You know who agrees with Marmite?

Alan Greenspan.

He's very carefully stated the ramifications of this.


The S.S ratio is about 3 : 1

But the real problem is the medical care. Medicare is a train crash.


Illegals:

Illegals will have no effect on the S.S. ratio and coming insolvency, and the Medicare and addiontal medical costs.

More of them will pay more in taxes.

But this is a drop in the bucket.

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Originally Posted by Milkman

You know who agrees with Marmite? Alan Greenspan. He's very carefully stated the ramifications of this.

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Not much of a compliment. That guy has screwed up every organisation he's worked for. He's a total dead loss.

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Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

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Originally Posted by Milkman

You know who agrees with Marmite? Alan Greenspan. He's very carefully stated the ramifications of this.

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Not much of a compliment. That guy has screwed up every organisation he's worked for. He's a total dead loss.

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You know more about him than me mate, so I better retract that.

I started to read the fawning "Maestro," which supposed to be a biography of him by Bob Woodward, but it's really dry, to me.

Yeah, Greenspan was a fucking poseur. Old fool always late to the game. The new guy seems to be better in charge. However, markets loved Greenspan. He was fucking God. He has corrected a few potential disasters, but he could have done a better job with the Dot Boom and the property speculation.

It doesn't really matter what anyone does with the US economy. One day, not too far away it's going to crash massively, and every economy will be affected in a detrimental way. It's too late to stop the inevitable, so whoever is wearing the pants in the US may as well carry on as they have been doing for years and just keep on printing money and selling bonds, and just hope that the crash isn't going to come during their administration period.

Store Keeper, you don't work for Fox News, do ya? That sounds like something you'd hear the morning show cast saying about the latest Bush news conference! Not that I ever watch Fox News, or the morning show....:rolleyes:

^ I don't agree entirely. It's possible to turn things around rapidly. You can see how a fuckwit like GW Bush can be a liability for consumer confidence. Since we are consumers driven economies, public sentiment is unfortunately what drives us. And that's when public figures can have an impact. They hold the carrot stick.

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Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

It doesn't really matter what anyone does with the US economy. One day, not too far away it's going to crash massively, and every economy will be affected in a detrimental way. It's too late to stop the inevitable, so whoever is wearing the pants in the US may as well carry on as they have been doing for years and just keep on printing money and selling bonds, and just hope that the crash isn't going to come during their administration period.

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I'm no economist obviously, but there is debate on whether or not the U.S. economy will "crash."

The days of crashes are related to currencies, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong).

I do see a decline in the standard of living. This has been happening since the 1950s, and more specifically since the 1970s.

Storekeeper:

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The concept of randomness ... so unpredicatble yet such a beautiful thing ... but difficult to understand.

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It's not a concept of randomness. Just many factors, both domestic and international.

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Originally Posted by Milkman

I'm no economist obviously, but there is debate on whether or not the U.S. economy will "crash."

The days of crashes are related to currencies, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong).

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they were debating the same thing b4 the big crash in the early 80's and again in the 90's.

its gonna crash - just cos everyone gets excited and trys to come up woith reasins why the market is different this time....

hohoho - make me laff