Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 8:55 am
Here's an interesting take on stagflation and what it means, in terms of the stuff we should be doing over this next election cycle. The premise is a condition where prices run high, yet there is not enough work.
That's us right now.
It follows on with some ideas on trade, and how many aspects of our economy are self-correcting, given we are actually making stuff. (which we really aren't, for the most part.)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/18/135047/022/736/434534
It goes on in some detail about national feedback controls (currency) and local (city) level feedback controls and their impact on sustainable growth.
Also, noted is military manufacturing and how it impacts growth and sustainability. It does explain the 90's quite nicely.
Concludes with this:
quote:Here's what all this says to me about what the United States needs to do to get itself back on track economically:
1. We have to admit the truth about what our feedback controls are telling us. Forget the GDP. Forget our supposedly low inflation (which seems not to count anything but the stuff on the shelves at Wal-Mart). The falling dollar tells us that we're falling behind. Our out-of-control trade deficit tells us that we're falling behind. The number of discouraged unemployed tells us that we're falling behind. We cannot sustain ourselves as a nation without manufacturing something that we can afford to consume ourselves. Right now, I'm honestly not sure what that something is.
2. We have to disentangle ourselves from our military engagements. The "peace dividend" of the 1990s undoubtedly contributed to the economic vibrancy of that decade. So did the creation of jobs through the high-tech sector -- the first real burst of new production for domestic consumption we've had since the 1950s -- because, let's face it, the only way to confront poverty that doesn't involve welfare and subsidy payments is to make sure there are enough jobs to go around. "Structural full employment" is a crock.
3. We should repeal all free-trade agreements with nations less economically developed than we are. We don't really benefit from exploiting them, and they don't benefit from being exploited by us. Let them establish free-trade agreements among one another. Our primary trade should be with Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
4. We need to reduce our energy needs so that we don't depend on foreign suppliers. Green energy production strikes me as an ideal industry to develop.
5. We need to stop outsourcing every goddamn thing we figure out how to do. These innovations benefit us only to the extent that they operate in our own cities and work in tandem with other American suppliers and innovators.
6. Maybe -- and this is a radical idea that I think few would accept -- but maybe we need to abandon the dollar and go to a system of regional currencies. We've already got a system of 12 Federal Reserve banks. What if each one establishes its own separately fluctuating currency? We're finally at the stage, technologically, where computers could keep track of all the exchange rates moment-to-moment, and we could live essentially cashlessly.
No. 6 is a pipe dream. Nos. 1 through 5, however, should be part of the platform of whatever candidate we nominate for the presidency.
I agree on number 6. Never, ever gonna happpen --at least in our meaningful lifetimes. The remaining five resonate strongly with me. We cannot sustain growth, with out actually building wealth and providing for ourselves more than we are right now.
Literally, the wealth accumulated over our nations life, our standard of living we have today, innovations, infrastructure, know how and other things are being exploited today, taking us down a path of lesser economic status, not unlike that seen in under developed nations.
Bottom line is we need to be making things, and putting people to work building wealth right here. It's common knowledge that some growth is always necessary. As a race, we are improving at some rate. It varies, of course, but that improvement is always there.
Sustainability then, is a state of ongoing improvement, on par with similar nations, in terms of economic development. Growth is actually, a measure of innovation above and beyond that necessary to remain on par.
Failure to do these things means falling behind, as others will be doing these things. At no time is there just a status quo, no innovation or growth.
Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 9:57 am
I read this on the other thread, and found it very interesting. If we agree the points are valid, then the next question that comes to my mind is, "Who benefits from the destruction and what are they doing right now to hasten it?"
Finding ways to counterbalance that may be Job 1.
If I follow that thought all the way, how could the short term profit be worth as much as the long term stability of the country?
