Website Wednesday
The economy in the U.S. is just peachy. Just listen to all the talking heads on TV and you’ll know that. GM declares bankruptcy on Monday and the stock market doesn’t even burp. Consumer confidence is at a 6-year high and cars are back in mall parking lots.
I aced Honors Economics in college -which is its own spooky story - but I never really appreciated economic systems. Oh, I understand them but once you get beyond the basic barter system of two people deciding the value of their labor or goods it all seems like an pyramid scheme to me, using many different names. The most successful schemes being those which could throw their net the farthest.
Like the U.S. scheme where a person had a piece of property and another person of financial stature looked at this property and said: I think your property is worth $5 zillion dollars and you can go to the bank on that. And, sure enough the first person went to the bank and said: Mr. X, of great financial stature, says my property is worth $5 zillion dollars and I would like to borrow a lot of money based on that appraisal with a low interest rate because I, having such a valuable piece of property, am very, very rich. You can see where this is going. Among the rich, the money moves.
And that’s where the asinine trickle-down economic theory comes in. It runs something like this: I, being rich, should keep all my money and not be bothered by pesky taxes. Then I, sitting on so much money will choose to spend it and therefore my wealth will trickle down to the poor.
Two factors alone make this theory abhorrent (that is, if the theory were even true): 1. Supposedly, the U.S.A. is living a representative democracy not a feudalistic to-the-manor born system. 2. Did you ever try to fill a glass with water as it trickles out? It’s not a very satisfying process.
For more on the rich in America, read the article in Alter Net:
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/140394/our_economy_is_going_to_keep_tanking_until_we_stop_shoveling_billions_to_rich_people/
The URL says it all: Our Economy Is Going to Keep Tanking Until We Stop Shoveling Billions to Rich People and, yes, this monster link does work.
But the one thing I have figured out, with an economic pyramid scheme you need a very, very wide net if you want it to work successfully. China has one. It makes products and sells them to other countries so the money that is returned to them is other people’s money. As long as the world economic market remained stable China was rolling in dough, wanting to invest it: in their infrastructure, in the world.
That’s why the U.S. Treasury Secretary made a speech in China this week saying that with China’s help the U.S. would emerge from this financial crisis. That why a headline in the NYT says today: Australia Feels Chill as China’s Shadow Grows.
In America, this pyramid scheme is very fragile, especially with consumer spending totaling about 70% of the GNP. If American consumers stay home, a real trickle-down system starts: low paid store employees are laid off; big ticket purchases are put off, U.S. manufacturers start cutting staff, homes and cars don’t sell, homes and cars stop being built..... Soon, the trickle becomes a geyser. Franklin Roosevelt didn’t make those radio talks because he liked to hear his voice during the 1930s Depression. He did it to assure a spooked nation. You can become a spooked nation pretty fast.
But Roosevelt differed from today’s U.S. leaders. Roosevelt, the consummate patrician, knew that capitalism was broken and he did not shy from using elements of socialism to fix the country. Today, facing a country badly educated and thoroughly brought up on greed, all the Administration dares to do is get capitalism back on track. Although we have Social Security and Medicare, socialism is an expletive.
So I won’t predict that we are in for very rough times but I suggest you watch the health care reform as it gets passed in some form. If we move to a national health care based on the Medicare model there may be some hope. If we move to this insane plan of affordable insurance coverage for all, we’re doomed.
However, this is website Wednesday and in keeping with my doom and gloom here is:
http://beingfrugal.net
It is what it says: being frugal. It’s a blog about saving money. It tells you where to get free Milkbones and free men’s touch up dye for job interviews. The archives gives you the last 30 posts which go back to January 2009. It has recipes and more. For example, in the deviled egg recipe (you have to search for the actual recipe) has tips on transporting them and filling the eggs. OK, you say, that’s pretty basic. But the Spicy Thai Noodles with which I have always had a coating problem has tips for sauce consistency.
http://beingfrugal.net/2008/04/03/frugal-tips-to-survive-a-recession/ will take you to frugal tips from readers.
This is probably a site which would be read in one sitting but perhaps you would want to come back for the current blog tips.
(Note: read in the About section: I’m a Christian wife and mother trying to get out of debt. Since she identifies herself first as a Christian, I don’t know if her religious beliefs are part of the site. However, good tips are good tips. You can decide how valuable they are.)
The economy in the U.S. is just peachy. Just listen to all the talking heads on TV and you’ll know that. GM declares bankruptcy on Monday and the stock market doesn’t even burp. Consumer confidence is at a 6-year high and cars are back in mall parking lots.
I aced Honors Economics in college -which is its own spooky story - but I never really appreciated economic systems. Oh, I understand them but once you get beyond the basic barter system of two people deciding the value of their labor or goods it all seems like an pyramid scheme to me, using many different names. The most successful schemes being those which could throw their net the farthest.
Like the U.S. scheme where a person had a piece of property and another person of financial stature looked at this property and said: I think your property is worth $5 zillion dollars and you can go to the bank on that. And, sure enough the first person went to the bank and said: Mr. X, of great financial stature, says my property is worth $5 zillion dollars and I would like to borrow a lot of money based on that appraisal with a low interest rate because I, having such a valuable piece of property, am very, very rich. You can see where this is going. Among the rich, the money moves.
And that’s where the asinine trickle-down economic theory comes in. It runs something like this: I, being rich, should keep all my money and not be bothered by pesky taxes. Then I, sitting on so much money will choose to spend it and therefore my wealth will trickle down to the poor.
Two factors alone make this theory abhorrent (that is, if the theory were even true): 1. Supposedly, the U.S.A. is living a representative democracy not a feudalistic to-the-manor born system. 2. Did you ever try to fill a glass with water as it trickles out? It’s not a very satisfying process.
For more on the rich in America, read the article in Alter Net:
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/140394/our_economy_is_going_to_keep_tanking_until_we_stop_shoveling_billions_to_rich_people/
The URL says it all: Our Economy Is Going to Keep Tanking Until We Stop Shoveling Billions to Rich People and, yes, this monster link does work.
But the one thing I have figured out, with an economic pyramid scheme you need a very, very wide net if you want it to work successfully. China has one. It makes products and sells them to other countries so the money that is returned to them is other people’s money. As long as the world economic market remained stable China was rolling in dough, wanting to invest it: in their infrastructure, in the world.
That’s why the U.S. Treasury Secretary made a speech in China this week saying that with China’s help the U.S. would emerge from this financial crisis. That why a headline in the NYT says today: Australia Feels Chill as China’s Shadow Grows.
In America, this pyramid scheme is very fragile, especially with consumer spending totaling about 70% of the GNP. If American consumers stay home, a real trickle-down system starts: low paid store employees are laid off; big ticket purchases are put off, U.S. manufacturers start cutting staff, homes and cars don’t sell, homes and cars stop being built..... Soon, the trickle becomes a geyser. Franklin Roosevelt didn’t make those radio talks because he liked to hear his voice during the 1930s Depression. He did it to assure a spooked nation. You can become a spooked nation pretty fast.
But Roosevelt differed from today’s U.S. leaders. Roosevelt, the consummate patrician, knew that capitalism was broken and he did not shy from using elements of socialism to fix the country. Today, facing a country badly educated and thoroughly brought up on greed, all the Administration dares to do is get capitalism back on track. Although we have Social Security and Medicare, socialism is an expletive.
So I won’t predict that we are in for very rough times but I suggest you watch the health care reform as it gets passed in some form. If we move to a national health care based on the Medicare model there may be some hope. If we move to this insane plan of affordable insurance coverage for all, we’re doomed.
However, this is website Wednesday and in keeping with my doom and gloom here is:
http://beingfrugal.net
It is what it says: being frugal. It’s a blog about saving money. It tells you where to get free Milkbones and free men’s touch up dye for job interviews. The archives gives you the last 30 posts which go back to January 2009. It has recipes and more. For example, in the deviled egg recipe (you have to search for the actual recipe) has tips on transporting them and filling the eggs. OK, you say, that’s pretty basic. But the Spicy Thai Noodles with which I have always had a coating problem has tips for sauce consistency.
http://beingfrugal.net/2008/04/03/frugal-tips-to-survive-a-recession/ will take you to frugal tips from readers.
This is probably a site which would be read in one sitting but perhaps you would want to come back for the current blog tips.
(Note: read in the About section: I’m a Christian wife and mother trying to get out of debt. Since she identifies herself first as a Christian, I don’t know if her religious beliefs are part of the site. However, good tips are good tips. You can decide how valuable they are.)
No comments:
Post a Comment