America has an economy converging rapidly on full employment?

[RickN]

more ignorance showing but that's not surprising especially coming from rickn

apologies to everyone else but rickn as my comments about ignorance is not really meant to be insulting.
it's a fact there are not very many folks interested in economic enough to track it everyday.
but economics is getting more and more important as world events has the potential to have an effect right here in the USA.

For those of you that are not potheads, I do follow economics and I do read the Economist even though it has a left wing tilt to it. The fact is that a lot of bad economic news is being hidden or under reported to make our economy look better then it really is.

For those that want to know more then just the propaganda being pushed.

Labor force participation rate lowest since 1978.
http://www.businessinsider.com/labor-force-participation-rate-september-2014-2014-10

Wealth gap grows.
http://fortune.com/2014/10/31/inequality-wealth-income-us/

Number in poverty highest since war on poverty started.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48281252#.

Oh and the Obamacare employer mandate kicks in soon which is expected to results in millions more unemployed, plus Obama letting millions more illegals stay and try for jobs.

 

[nofearfactor]

a lot of bad economic news is being hidden or under reported to make our economy look better then it really is.

This.

 

[JD8]

more ignorance showing up .. but that's OK. it's really the exception for someone like myself who has an interest in economics.

fact is despite the Feds printing up $$$$ billions and billions of USD in the form of continuous qualitative easing or a fancy way of saying F##kyou to the rest of the world. normally every time the Fed prints up $$$billions and billionis more USD, this dilutes the value of other holder's of USD.

instead the opposite has happened .. the USD just keeps getting stronger and stronger.
say what you will but America is one of the only major power who'd economy is getting stronger and stronger.
but still the risk of the rest of the world dragging USA down cannot be discounted.

even Germany who's the strongest of Eurozone is borderline not growing at about 1.5% GDP. rest of Eurozone is close to deep trouble, China's growth has slowed down .. Canada our neighbor is doing fine which is not surprising since their economy piggybacks on the USA's economy.

It's not ignorance, it's just reality.... coming from someone that has more than an "interest." Let's drop the knuckledragging ad hom for a moment and apply some critical thinking. You may not agree, and that's fine but the falsely inflated ego is laughable, considering statements that politics and economics have nothing to do with each other, and if you believe so, then that will be your little secret outside the educated world.

 

[_CY_]

It's not ignorance, it's just reality.... coming from someone that has more than an "interest." Let's drop the knuckledragging ad hom for a moment and apply some critical thinking. You may not agree, and that's fine but the falsely inflated ego is laughable, considering statements that politics and economics have nothing to do with each other, and if you believe so, then that will be your little secret outside the educated world.

what falsely inflate ego? do you disagree about my statement that most folks are not up on economic issues?
where did I say politics cannot effect economics? please note my earlier statement was about where hard economic data came from .. not political sources.

soooo ... do you disagree with any of the above premise on the state of America's economy and how the USD has gotten stronger and stronger despite all the $$$ billions and billions of USD minted by the Feds?

do you disagree with my premise that the eurozone is in deep sh*t? that the strongest member Germany is borderline on zero growth?

 

[JD8]

what falsely inflate ego? do you disagree about my statement that most folks are not up on economic issues?
where did I say politics cannot effect economics? please note my earlier statement was about where hard economic data came from .. not political sources.

soooo ... do you disagree with any of the above premise on the state of America's economy and how the USD has gotten stronger and stronger despite all the $$$ billions and billions of USD minted by the Feds?

Are you unaware on how you came off because I disagreed with you? If so, this will probably be moot. It's neat that you read a few articles online but higher learning teaches us that no one source is the end all be all.

As to your questions, you're following too much red herring relative to what I said. You're getting all giddy because of a current compromise in fundamentals that goes against the grain. However, it's hard to predict the future with so much uncertainty when again, so many other countries have significant issues. Not to mention, Obama's lack of real policies, be it economic, energy or infrastructure leaves me quite a bit less of a cheerleader than you are. Private industry has helped things along for sure, but .gov has quite a bit of a leash on it.

 

[saltydog]

Originally Posted by RickN View Post:

a lot of bad economic news is being hidden or under reported to make our economy look better then it really is.

This.

This! I'm and old guy but when people tell me debt is good then something is not right and I will never believe that. My thinking is that a nation with an 18 trillion dollar reserve is a lot better than a nation with 18 trillion dollars of debt. That way of thinking was taught to me in school in the 60's and that's how I live my life.

 

[ronny]

This country is doing reasonably well, as statistics go, in spite of government policy, not because of it. Folks who drop their anchor in a sea of good data will eventually learn that data has no legs. Data is just a bunch of pixels that do as they are told.

We have a mass of debt repayable only by accepting more debt. The only legit way to reduce this debt is by taxation. We can either increase our tax burden, or increase our tax base. The latter is not gonna happen as long as there are millions of non-taxpayers feeding at the trough.

At this stage in history, Americans just don't have the backbone to bite the bullet and straighten this mess out. When we reach critical mass, that point where there are not enough taxpayers to support the rest, maybe we'll be able to begin to turn it around. On the other hand, there is a very good chance that by then it will be too late.

So, enjoy your "full employment", your soaring stock market (which has become more and more a playland for the rich), you low interest rates and all the rest of the data that make you smile, while you can.

 

[SMS]

We have a mass of debt repayable only by accepting more debt. The only legit way to reduce this debt is by taxation. We can either increase our tax burden, or increase our tax base. The latter is not gonna happen as long as there are millions of non-taxpayers feeding at the trough.

Taxation the only solution? Do you really think so? Man I hope that's not the only answer. According to the Heritage Foundation, it would require a doubling of current tax rates. That is not sustainable. http://www.savingthedream.org/about-the-plan/plan-details/SavAmerDream.pdf

I think we can do it by rolling spending back and reducing the size of government. It won't be fast, but it I think it can be done. It will be a generational change but it can be done.

 

[ronny]

Taxation the only solution? Do you really think so? Man I hope that's not the only answer. According to the Heritage Foundation, it would require a doubling of current tax rates. That is not sustainable. http://www.savingthedream.org/about-the-plan/plan-details/SavAmerDream.pdf

I think we can do it by rolling spending back and reducing the size of government. It won't be fast, but it I think it can be done. It will be a generational change but it can be done.

Due to my lack of clarity, you probably misinterpreted what I was attempting to say. Assuming that what I said here: "The latter is not gonna happen as long as there are millions of non-taxpayers feeding at the trough" is tantamount to not being able to reduce spending, then taxation is our only viable recourse. And, let's face it, all other spending is pissing in the wind compared to the "trough". And, who do you know who is gonna attach their name (and party) to cutting benefits? Only when it gets to the life-threatening stage for the nation is it likely to take place.

We're getting near the point where more people are on some sort of dole than not. Any way you cut it, those folks are not likely to vote for a cut in their "income".

 

[RickN]

About that 5% GDP, it was driven by consumer spending, can you say increased healthcare cost because of Obamacare?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-23/here-reason-surge-q3-gdp