We had to pay the Piper
August 4th, 2008The economy’s in the toilet. Saw this one coming and blogged about it years ago. You can only export jobs faster than you create them for so long before things fall apart. The Middle Class has been taxed to death, and has been either unemployed or underemployed.
The Working Class and Family Farmers have been undercut by illegal aliens. So you got three groups of taxpaying Americans who are hurting. And as you already know, too much manufacturing has been sent overseas. No wonder the economy stinks.
People who are pro-outsourcing argue that it will build up economies elsewhere so in the long run, it will help America. That’s fine and dandy on paper, but I’d like to send their jobs overseas, then watch them scramble for months being unemployed trying to figure out how to make ends meet.
The other thing people like to point out is that Americans have a lot of credit card debt. Well, being unemployed will do that to you. When you lose your job, you still have to pay bills. The bills don’t stop and wait for you to find a job. Sure, you can point at Joe Yuppie showing that he has thousands of dollars of crap he doesn’t need, but the fact of the matter is that our unemployment rate is simply too high, and on top of that, too many Americans are underemployed.
So, a recession may be around the corner. Or we might be in one. We’re simply stretched too thin.
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A few posts ago, I said I’m betting on America. That’s a long term bet. 12k for the Dow is still a good buy. I was on vacation when it dipped below 11k, but I would have bought more.
We’re just too inventive as a nation to be held back for long. But in the short term, we’re in very bad shape. So bad in fact I’m predicting Obama wins by 10 percentage points, not because he’s the best candidate we got, but because his main contender is a Republican and the economy sucks.
This post is so true. I mean come on one of our local state car makers here in WI shut down about a month ago. They started down sizing months and months ago. But they finally shut there doors last month or so if I remember correctly. They tried making different cars before shutting down but that didnt work so they had to finally shut there doors. Sad so sad.
Sometimes it feels like I am only working to pay for my gas to get to work. How does that help? These times are hard and dry and I just wish it would rain already.
I would go so far, in my optimistic way, as to say this is the catalyst for change… I am just not a very patient optimist.
.. still so good to have you back.
Its funny to see and hear the investment business types whine on CNBC, Fox, and Fox Business about how the global economy will be good for America in the long run. Sorry, but I know people working their asses off just to pay rent, buy food, keep some sort of clothes on their kids, and pay for medical insurance to really feel comfortable with the glories of the global free trade economy. Yeah, a twenty dollar DVD player and a Chinese made 52 inch plasma from Best Buy paid for with easy credit terms is nice but not at the price of my soul.
ITs surprising the know that you can’t have any other for thePresedency post other than this two people. Are we running short of people here? If you google for top universities, almost 20 of them are in US.
Nways i just read somewhere that the US Government has a loan of about $365 Trillion and the government has been under deficit since when. If you think about that, i think US is one of the poorest country now.
on a happier note, i am glad to see you post again
A couple of responses… I’ll try to be brief. On the economy, the US economy has defied the rules of the past since, I’d say, the recession of the early 90’s. It doesn’t respond to certain pressures and shifts in components like manufacturing, resources and labor. I think predicting what’s coming is real difficult nowadays. Americans tend to be resilient and innovative, which always seems to surprise me given my day to day dealings in a retail sort of situation
Second, I thought Obama would run away with this thing and I’m sort of surprised that he isn’t and, now, I have my doubts that he will beat McCain. Here’s what’s changed my mind. I really do think Presidential politics leans heavily on image and a candidate’s appearance on camera and, frankly, good looks and a good head of hair. Obama wins, hands down. But, a few things have emerged. First, McCain’s lack of media coverage is helping him and, when he gets some face time, he’s come off as warm and likeable… how did that happen? On the other hand, the more people see Obama, the less they like him… his speech patterns are more annoying than Bush and he really does come off as too preachy and. I wouldn’t have predicted the polls where they are now.
Man, I’m sure glad you’re alive… we were getting concerned out here… thought the Zombies had arrived and had gotten you.
I was just looking over my pay stubs the other day and you would faint if you knew how much I “make” a year and how much I actually bring home. People working at mcdonalds are doing better, trust me.
I agree with you on every single point. This country is in serious trouble and I don’t see it getting much better without getting a whole lot worse.
YAY glad you posted, and as usual we agree. Am not nuts about either candidate, but IMO the Republicans have done so much damage that it’s time for a change. Even if Bozo the Clown was the Dems’ candidate, I’d vote for him (if I could do so, which of course I can’t).
Canada is usually 3 months behind the U.S., so I’m expecting it to hit here too, no matter how much ‘no way, we’re different’ crowing is going on here.
In the Great White North, there’s a saying that “Conservative times are hard times”. Is there a comparable one for Republicans (Repulsicans?)?
p.s. Had to comment on the ‘global economy’ and economists in general.
Those morons have a LOT to answer for! I don’t know why people listen to them–they’re always proven wrong in the medium to long term.
Bring back local content regulation, says I.
Bridget - Ironically, I think Canada cares more about Canadians than America cares about Americans. You all did get caught up in the globalization scam, but not to the same extent. So I don’t see Canada being hit as badly.
Sprinkle - Yeah. It’s simply losing more jobs than creating. Not a good situation to be in.
Slade - And you got to wonder, for what? Where is all that tax money going?
Bo - Nah. I’m fine. It’s just been beautiful outdoors and hard to spend time indoors on the computer with weather like this.
As for Obama, I think a lot of people are seeing through his crap. No one really likes McCain, but they’re seeing Obama’s a politician too, not an outsider like he likes to pretend to be.
Tchoden - Yeah, our deficit is a serious problem, but politicians like to gloss over it. It’s just like regular people credit - you get to a point that you’re borrowing so much that folks become reluctant to loan you any more money.
Beach - Globalism is killing the middle and working classes. Lou Dobbs is right.
Clothosfate - Things will be fine, but we’re going to have to make some changes. As I told Bridget Jones, I don’t think you Canadians are handling globalism as stupidly as us Americans.
Tweety - That’s sad. You just can’t keep losing jobs and expecting Americans to buy products. That’s what’s killing this economy.
We’re in the same boat!
Scary, isn’t it?
I only hope that our gov’t will allow our “inventive minds” to find a solution to our problems.
Miladysa - That’s a shame. I’m thinking both our great nations have had better days.
Tshsmom - Yeah, if they’d step out of our way instead of punishing people with intelligence.
I’ve been saying something similar for a long time - if corporations ship all the jobs overseas because their labor is cheaper, it won’t matter how cheap something is because you can’t buy something if you don’t have a job. It’s just so damned short-sighted.
First and foremost, I blame Wal-Mart for starting this trend (watch the PBS Frontline show “The High Cost of Wal-mart” or something like that).
Exactly. Nobody’s buying our shit. So, no jobs in America, and nothing gets sold. it’s that simple. Corporations don’t get that.