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Originally posted by Comrade Stalin China will eventually become a consumer/services economy and face the same problems we do today.

not if they can avoid the financially debilitating Union issues we have here.

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Originally posted by The17sss not if they can avoid the financially debilitating Union issues we have here.

You know that as an economy develops so does the status of workers' rights.

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Originally posted by Comrade Stalin You know that as an economy develops so does the status of workers' rights.

Yeah but... I'm not talking about workers' rights by definition. There comes a point where the liabilities attributed to Union contracts goes way too far, and ravages companies and their abilities to manufacture/produce.

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Originally posted by The17sss Yeah but... I'm not talking about workers' rights by definition. There comes a point where the liabilities attributed to Union contracts goes way too far, and ravages companies and their abilities to manufacture/produce.

I don't think excessive union contracts are the reason this country is a net importer. It goes much deeper than that.

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Originally posted by Comrade Stalin None of that can be called Keynesian economics. This epic devaluation of the currency that you talk about. The government doesn't regulate the value of the currency. So they can't just print away to pay for benefits. They fund it through the bond market and it's the bond market who decides if the government's programs are to be funded. They have so far been all too willing to do so.

It's all a question of price. So far our creditors have been asking far too little to sustain us. There is nothing to stop the government from printing like mad because there will always be someone willing to buy. The only question is what PRICE they will pay for our paper and the interest rate they demand in return. We had very high inflation and interest rates in the 70's (granted for different reasons), and I see no reason why it can't happen again.

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Originally posted by Comrade Stalin The government doesn't regulate the value of the currency. So they can't just print away to pay for benefits. They fund it through the bond market and it's the bond market who decides if the government's programs are to be funded.

It's called quantitative easing. The Fed just buys the bonds by firing up the printing press and fills the demand void when other bond buyers balk. Increase the supply of dollars and their value goes down. Read Bernanke's infamous quote and how he got the nickname "Helicopter Ben."

Great article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...0040703116.html

Bernanke might be turning sane.

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Originally posted by Capitalizt Great article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...0040703116.html Bernanke might be turning sane.

Maybe, though we've deduced from many sources (and common sense) that every word that comes out of any and all Fed governors is generally scripted and well thought out in order to try to shape public perception. Bernanke is right, but he hasn't exactly put his money where his mouth is...yet.

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Originally posted by Capitalizt It's all a question of price. So far our creditors have been asking far too little to sustain us. There is nothing to stop the government from printing like mad because there will always be someone willing to buy. The only question is what PRICE they will pay for our paper and the interest rate they demand in return. We had very high inflation and interest rates in the 70's (granted for different reasons), and I see no reason why it can't happen again.

The price is right apparently.

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Originally posted by Capitalizt Great article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...0040703116.html Bernanke might be turning sane.

and during the time when he was saving your nation from its own greedy stupidities, how was he insane?

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Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN and during the time when he was saving your nation from its own greedy stupidities, how was he insane?

How did Bernanke save us from our greedy stupidities? By providing endless supplies of money at near zero percent rates? In his own words yesterday, we are nowhere near out of the woods yet. We've barely made a dent in this nation's overall indebtedness. We've merely managed to survive to fight another day by kicking the can down the road.

And don't get me wrong--I think he did what a smart and innovative central banker should have done in the face of catastrophe. I just disagree that he has somehow saved us from the root cause of said problems.

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Originally posted by Shakka How did Bernanke save us from our greedy stupidities? By providing endless supplies of money at near zero percent rates? In his own words yesterday, we are nowhere near out of the woods yet. We've barely made a dent in this nation's overall indebtedness. We've merely managed to survive to fight another day by kicking the can down the road. And don't get me wrong--I think he did what a smart and innovative central banker should have done in the face of catastrophe. I just disagree that he has somehow saved us from the root cause of said problems.

I didn’t say he saved you from the root cause(s). And its not his responsibility to make a dent in your indebtedness. But he was the man of action that made bold moves to prevent what was a nasty situation from becoming factors of 10 worse. He certainly deserves more credit (ha!) from armchair economists like capitalizt whose comments on him rarely go deeper than ideologically-driven barbs.

bernanke certainly isn’t “insane”.