I can’t think of a single time I bought gas WITHOUT using a credit card (& my credit cardS are paid in full each month).
I buy EVERYTHING on credit cards. 2% to my kid’s college fund is a good thing.
“I actually don’t see much of an issue with the way that our money supply works. I don’t really like that the fed is currently loaning all of this newly created money, but I see the reasoning for it and understand that these loans are typically very short and when paid back the money is taken back out of the market. That is unless the Fed turns around and loans more.”
Well then we simply disagree. The inflationary process worked well for many countries, up to a certain point that is. I don’t agree with monetary policies that debase the currency by approximately 40+% over a matter of just a couple years.
debase the currency by approximately 40+% over a matter of just a couple years.
The US has had 20% inflation the last couple of years??? News to me.
Of course he has been marginalized by the mainstream media which is controlled by the major financial institutions.
Ron Paul was marginalized because he couldn’t get double digit support anywhere. Had he been able to get any significant support, he would have gotten plenty of media attention. But its alot easier to blame a grand conspiracy for his dismal showing than to admit that the vast majority of this country thinks his ideas are abit goofy.
I don’t agree with monetary policies that debase the currency by approximately 40+% over a matter of just a couple years.
Neither would I, but the monetary policy is not the only driver of this. Also, monetary policy has two goals one is to promote economic growth and the other is to protect the value of the currency. What happens when those two goals conflict?
Also, you’re going to have to source your 40+% claim because it seems to be way off. The chart you posted earlier only shows a 13% drop. Going to the source chart and maxing it out shows a 20% drop since Feb 2006.
"The federal reserve is not that secret for those willing to question things and not swallow conspiracy theories whole. 
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/
As of March 27, 2008:
Gold stock 11,041 0 0 11,041
That’s in millions by the way. "
I see those numbers. But we all know how easy and often entities have wrong accounting practices. When was the last time anybody actually did a physical inventory check and confirmed how much gold supply the United States really has?
Now you might blindly trust those numbers. Would you still trust them if the country and the Fed had a history of lying about their physical gold holdings and the US Dollar monetary supply?
I certainly would be more cautious with my trust to them and would question them as a result. If you don’t remember, prior to Aug. 15, 1971 when Nixon officially closed the gold window the United States (and the Fed) told its citizen and the entire world that each U.S. Dollar was backed by gold with one oz available for every for every $35USD in circulation. For many years that was a complete lie as the U.S inflated its money supply, debasing its currency.
Would you have called me and others “conspiracy theorists” back in the 60s had we not trusted the official Government and Fed numbers?
Were the Europeans conspiracy theorists for seeing ahead their times that the European Union was about to be created and that they’d introduce one single currency for so many countries? That the laws of countries would be overridden by a higher Union power?
“The chart you posted earlier only shows a 13% drop”
In a 12month period!!!
Here USD vs. Swiss Franc, from a high of 1.80 to 1.00 in a matter of 6 years…
.
And the CHF is not an isolated currency. Let’s be more general and take a look at the US Dollar Index. If you are into technicals, braking through a long term support level (at 80) should concern you. Especially given how reckless the monetary policies are those days.
In a 12month period!!!
Here USD vs. Swiss Franc, from a high of 1.80 to 1.00 in a matter of 6 years…
Ahh, you threw me off there. In my dictionary “a couple of years” means two and not six, that’s why I also posted the two year numbers.
Ok, my mistake with using the word “couple” for that time period.
But 13% in one year, 22% in two years is nothing to play down and should be addressed but there is no change in monetary policiy in sight as it would cripple the US economy. In the 80s they could raise the interest rates above 20% but the debt was not only much smaller back then but also less dependent on short to medium term changes in interest rates (e.g. Housing). How can they reverse that trend (for the long term) from here?
Look at the US Dollar compared to the Brazillian Real over the last “couple” years; this dollar value weakening has cost me dearly as I pay for Brazillian labor but I am paid in US Dollars.
Brazil sure had its share of introductions of new currencies. It’s sad when the Brazil currency is a relatively speaking performing better bet than the USD…or times have just changed and we will have to learn just like they had to.
How can they reverse that trend (for the long term) from here?
They need to get the economy growing again, which is what they are attempting to do by slashing rates. When the economy is growing and the fed is raising rates then they are buying securities which reduces the money supply.
It would also be nice (read the MOST important thing) if the gov’t would balance the budget.
It would also be nice (read the MOST important thing) if the gov’t would balance the budget.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
What we have is a personal problem. I’m not sure why you have tied it to presidential regimes.
Industries, such as the financial industry have not given the people of America one penny.
They have however contributed over $1.9 Billion to both Democrats and Republicans since 1990. http://opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=F
At opensecrets.org you can even figure out which companies/industries give to individual members of Congress.
Check out these contributions to the presidential candidates from Exxon Mobile just in 2008. http://opensecrets.org/orgs/toprecips.asp?ID=D000000129&Type=P&Sort=A&Cycle=2008
If you click on the All Cycles option you will see good ole’ George W is right at the top of the list!!! http://opensecrets.org/orgs/toprecips.asp?ID=D000000129&Type=P&Sort=A&Cycle=A Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.
Congress and even the Presidential candidates have no incentive to make real changes that are best for our Economy. And until Americans wake the eff up and stop caring more about who the next American Idol is or if Britney’s in rehab again - nothing will change.
Man, it sucks to be cynical, but then again I am Generation X - it’s in our nature!
The silver lining in this recession is that some financial/economic authorities are being forced to admit, out loud and in public, that our current economic practices are unsustainable.
There is no secret that you’re missing. We have gotten ourselves into real trouble, and if we don’t stop digging, we’re going to bury ourselves. I am not yet convinced that we’re going to stop digging.
What recession?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession “a recession is a decline in a country’s real gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year.”
Have we yet had even one month of a decline in the GDP?
I do agree though that our current economic practices are not unsustainable for the long term.
"They need to get the economy growing again, which is what they are attempting to do by slashing rates. When the economy is growing and the fed is raising rates then they are buying securities which reduces the money supply. "
That’s exactly part of the reason why we have this economic problem. One financial bubble gets “solved” by creating another financial mess. Let the markets correct themselves and then we’ll move on to the next economic growth phase. I defnitely agree about balancing the budget and foreign policy has a significant part to do with that. And slashing rates comes at the cost of devaluing the currency. Last time I checked preserving the value of the currency was one of the reason we “needed” the Federal Reserve System, why this banking cartel got the unconstitutional power to regulate the monetary system in the first place.
I heard an interesting interview on NPR the other day. I wish I could remember the name of the guy they were interviewing. All I remember is that he’s British, and has a new book out. In any event, the jist of his take on the financial mess is that the days of market self-correction are over, because when left to its own devices, the market over-corrects itself. In other words, the highs are too high and the lows are too low. The government’s (or in the case of the US, the Fed’s) role should be to try to keep the market from over-correcting itself.
Being a financial illiterate, I have no idea about the validity of his assertions, but I found it interesting.
I definitely agree that markets overcorrect themselves as there is the psychological element to it. Always has and always will. I’m always cautious when I hear “this time is different”, “we’re in a new era”, “the financial system is different and more complex those days and fundamentals don’t apply any longer”, etc.
That was a clear warning sign during the housing bubble and many high profile economists always fall into that trap as well and think that it is different. In 1929 for example Irving Fisher, a very well-known Yale Economic Professor back then, said something to the extent that financial markets are in a new era of prosperity and that the financial markets are healthy and going strong. Within a week or 3weeks we had the historic stock market collapse. So much for this time is different…
I definitely agree that markets tend to overcorrect themselves but this is just a lame excuse to grow the size of government and the Federal Reserve system, IMO. So what does the government and the Fed try to do instead - they try to eliminate any type of correction and the financial problem just grows bigger and bigger until…
Also notworthy is that the Federal Reserve was created in part to preserve the value of the currency, so that the purchasing power of our savings would be protected. So much for that…
**Also notworthy is that the Federal Reserve was created in part to preserve the value of the currency, so that the purchasing power of our savings would be protected. So much for that… **
But you can not ignore the other part of the Federal Reserve which is to grow the economy. There are times when those two goals conflict. We’re in one now and the Fed must decide which goal is more important, helping the economy which hurts the currency or helping the currency which hurts the economy (which also hurts the currency).
honestly, it reminds me of a disbarred, washed-up lawyer driving around in his mercedes to every club and golf course in town trying to get another few drinks ‘on the tab,’ or trying to assure people that he’s ‘good for it’. you can only ride on goodwill and strength of your name or past performance for so long. eventually, everyone starts calling in their debts, and he’s over a barrel.
-mike