Bushwhackonomics is destroying this nation

I don't know much about economics and I'm just beginning to understand some of the terminology. What I can see is the worth of our dollar falling, a huge national debt, a huge trade deficit that keeps growing and the food in my grocery store going up in price.

I can see the price for a gallon of gas going up and I know many have lost manufacturing jobs. I can see Mexicans hanging out of my local Carls Jr. drive-in and I wonder if they're illegal. I can see that the subprime mortgage thieves have prospered while others lose their homes. The list goes on and on and none of it looks good us, the average working guy.

What is going on? Where are we going economically as a country? Why is anyone who is against Free trade called an isolationist, anti-Wall Street, and an anti-capitalist? Why does Bush keep saying the underpinnings of our economy are good, even as the stock market goes up and down. What do sovereign funds mean to us when the people who own us differ in culture and philosophy?

When the economy is bad it overshadows everything and becomes the main issue. Is it really the economy stupid!

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build a hybrid car.            someone has to speak up.  I hardly recognize this country anymore.

 

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Suffering,

Each of us has the specialized and etailed knowledge that only we can know about our wants and needs.  We do what we can to earn enough to get the things we want.  The things you want may differ from the things I want and the things you can do may differ from the things I can do.  And our preferences can change day to day or even minute by minute.  With millions or billions of people with an almost endless supply of choices, there is no hope for any politician or economist, no matter how smart, to plan the economy.  It just happens.

When you see prices rising, it is good to compare those prices with some standard.  Historically, gold has been the standard.  If you want to see how much the currency is being inflated/deflated, compare how many dollars it takes to buy some pretty standard items, like a barrel of oil, a business suit, a wedding gown, a basic mid-size sedan, or a rabies vaccination for your dog.  Make up your own list.  Then see how many dollars it cost in the past vs today.  Do the same with ounces of gold.  You will probably find it takes about the same amount of gold, but it takes more dollars.  That tells you the currency was inflated.  If the value of a good changes vs gold, then one or the other has increased in relative value.  Some things respond because preferences change (e.g. the pet rock, frisbee, or Payton Manning football jersey) and supply and demand changes.  Some things change because of innovation (e.g. horse and buggy, gas lamps,  5.25" floopy disks), and some things are purely the result of changes in supply and demand in the market (e.g. agricultural commodities, petroleum commodities). 

Government distorts the market by protecting producers from competition and sometimes by implementing price controls.  We all react to these distortions in unpredictable ways, but we all react.  Government, as the de facto printer of currency (and producer of coins made from non-precious metals), is the source of inflation.  So when the price of food on the shelves of your grocery goes up and there hasn't been a weather event or some other observable cause, check out if it is inflation or not.  If the price of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage in a typical middle class neghborhood goes up, be sure to determine how much is due to inflation and how much is due to that new factory that is hiring nearby.  The government has defined its own "basket of goods" for the purpose of calculating inflation.  It may or may not be valid and it definitely won't apply to everybody.

Economics isn't really as hard as the "experts" want you to believe.  It is quite intuitive, actually.  But you have to remember, that you as a market participant (buyer or seller) are unique and your perceptions may differ from others.

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I always admired Mr.Iacocca after the huge loan and quick pay-back . I feel the same way . I was reading a Forbes mag while waiting for my wifes car to be fixed this morning . That mag dam near made me choke . Free trade is great , here's how it works so good etc etc etc . Bottom line = MY money is down and taxes are up . There isn't even honor from the companys we work for . Yet CEO's can shake down the company for huge balloon packages and share holders say nothing ?? I don't think i'm alone in this feeling either .

 

Fred Thompson 2008

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How appropriate to use the word (?) Bushwhackonomics to the title of a comment that starts with “I don't know much about economics…”

God bless Lee Iacocca but the reason for the lack of progress in NO is because of corrupt and inept state and local leadership. NO should be paradise it is in a state dominated by the Dems. The city is a model of the nanny state mentality infecting this country. That is what you get with liberal policies left unchecked. 

I have not read his book but there is nothing in your quote about economics so he could just as easily have been talking about illegal immigration.

Here is the short version. After WWII we were the only industrial power left in the world. It only took a few weeks for the assembly lines to stop producing rifles and tanks and shift to ovens and cars. The world wanted our stuff because we were the only ones who could produce. It took decades for the nations who were devastated to retool and rebuild. Half of Europe was locked behind the iron curtain and did not participate in the growing of global markets for the most part. . As the rest of the world started to consume they also started to produce. By 1960 the world was ready to sell to each other. Just like your local economy people will go to where the cost of something and the value meet to purchase

So here we are 60 years after the war, one generation and we are part of an economic system that is larger and more complex that ever encountered before. We are all going to have to adapt. But looking to Washington is not the path we should take.

 

Dear "suffering",

Your honesty--"I don't know much about economics"--is refreshing and is the first step towards actually learning some economic truths. FeedFwd did an admirable job getting you started and I could add much, but I think I'll do even better.

Pick up "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell. It's by far the best book I've ever read on economics and believe it or not it's the ONLY book on economics I've ever read that was engrossing! You WILL take it with you to the can, believe me. Good luck and Godspeed with your education.

Geez guys!  I'm really disappointed.

I may not know much but I already know the basics.  We've never really had a global economy before.  We've never imported so much of our food before.  We've never had to take tainted food in and accept it because we had given away all our protections -- all the rules that used to pertain when we grew our own food but have been given away in the name of free trade.

This is 2008 and the world and our country have changed.  In fact we're about to go into a recession or may be in one now.  You guys act like it's business as usual -- but it's not!

I don't ever remember a time when THIEVES, lenders and sellers, came out in droves and sold property they knew people could not afford. 

I don't ever remember our Congress being so divided and ignoring the best interests of the people.

I don't know if you guys got so busy trying to enlighten me or if you just ignored the questions.  The economy is just one of the many things that are wrong with our country today but it's the one issue that could bring us to our knees.  Go hungry for a week and then tell me money/food/economy don't matter.  

Are you guys watching the falling dollar?  Maye you don't plan to travel overseas soon but if you do you'll find  your crummy dollars don't buy much.  My daughter traveled to Greece this summer and it was very, very expensive.  Sovereign nations are buying pieces of the good ol' USA and if you don't think their cultures and philosophies will influence us you're wrong.

Are any of you looking at the big picture? 

 

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Bushwhackonomics is the right word.I believe he is doing just what hes told to do.He and the ones before him have been told by the rest of the elites to destroy this nation,to make way for the NAU and a NWO.They have been taking this country down for the last 40-50 years.Once they are able to destroy the middle class,and Social Security and the dollar,then we are all in a world of hurt.With free trade for every country but us,outsourcing,insourcing,and deliberately making sure the floodgates stay open on the border for all who wish to sneak into this country,and millions of visa overstays,there will be no middle class because there will be no jobs left for Americans.The only recent jobs created were service jobs,and I can guess who those jobs went to.We now have over 54 million low wage Americans without a job.Anyone that wants to say I need a tin foil hat,can because it wont bother me.This is deliberate,and I stand by that.

All of those things you “don’t remember” are because you do not see the big picture. You like me have had the great luxury of growing up in a unique time of history. We were able to be insulated form a lot of bad stuff culturally, economically and politically. The vast majority of experiences through history are loaded with the maladies you describe and much worse. Believe me I do appreciate what we have had in this country precisely because it is rare.

 

There have always been thieves, lenders, villains and liars big and small. That is not new. There have always been despotic leaders and their sycophants. That is not new. Civilizations rise and fall. That is not new. Democracies decay from within and become ripe for attack from without, which is not new.

 

We have elected the kind of people Cicero and Aristotle warned us about and created a welfare class similar to the common-men of Ancient Rome. These common-men will be entertained by bread and circuses while the plotters plot our destruction and the barbarians charge the gate.

 

That is the big picture.

 

If people loved freedom more than stuff and freedom over power we might have a chance. That is the foundation that is gone and may not come back