Ron Paul? Really? I've got to believe it's Barack Obama in the political sphere. He's getting people to follow his vision and inspiring them to believe in something outside themselves, and has the crowds and delegates to prove it. It's a component of leadership that I think the electorate has been craving. Don't get me wrong, I think Ron Paul has certainly stirred the pot...
As we have pass the first 1/4 milestone of 2008, an unfortunate truth has become the greatest challenge. Whoever the leader is that provides a clear vision to overcome this economic depression or severe recessionary period will make the greatest public impact in 2008.
In the depression of pre-World War II Germany, that leader was Hitler.
Today, as Americans cut back on imported LCD TVs and Starbucks coffee, the U.S. consumer slowdown will undermine the global economy.
This consumer slump in the U.S. will affect business investments overseas, including factories that are springing up in China and elsewhere to feed American demand.
The rule for a prudent individual is simple: Don't spend more than you make. For a long time, the U.S. economy obeyed that rule. As far back as the 1960s, personal spending, adjusted for inflation, has basically tracked the overall growth of the economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GNP).
That pattern changed in the 1990s. As of the third quarter of 2007, the 10-year growth rate for consumption was 3.6%, vs. GNP growth for the same period of 2.9%. This difference represents an enormous gap. If consumer spending had tracked the overall economy over the past decade as it has in the past, Americans today would be spending about $600 billion less a year. The extra spending has amounted to a total of about $3 trillion since 2001.
The question now is how much of that extra $3 trillion we will have to give back?
Replies | 4 Total
January 11, 2008 at 2:14pm
Tim TymchyshynFebruary 9, 2008 at 5:45pm
Ellen McGirtFebruary 12, 2008 at 7:47pm
Steve RosenbaumMarch 19, 2008 at 9:43am
John Agno