I am unable to log on the the website now…

Curious…another retirement fund, CALPers is also separate from the State of California, but that hasn’t stopped the California Legislature from raiding it to balance the state budget in the past. Worried? Yes. Believe VALIC? No.

You can cry about the value of the dollar, but most manufacturing business owners are not they are exporting their goods.

Of course, but my retirement savings is taking the hit as I must have more to pay for more expensive goods.

We need FAIR TAX.

Unfortunately the Fair Tax is not fair. It is double taxation. Those of us who have saved after paying income tax will get taxed once again (28 percent) when we spend it.

We need FAIR TAX. Stop penalizing individuals and companies for making money and go to a consumption tax. All the businesses that moved to China and India and other parts of the world will come back. Perhaps they’ll bring other companies along with them. Why this isn’t proposed is beyond me.

GDP is not based on consumption but on the output of..

Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the second quarter of 2008,
(that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to preliminary estimates released by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 0.9 percent.
The acceleration in real GDP growth in the second quarter primarily reflected a larger decrease in
imports, an acceleration in exports, an acceleration in PCE, a smaller decrease in residential fixed
investment, and an upturn in state and local government spending that were partly offset by a larger
decrease in inventory investment.

and,

Real exports of goods and services increased 13.2 percent in the second quarter, compared with an
increase of 5.1 percent in the first. Real imports of goods and services decreased 7.6 percent, compared
with a decrease of 0.8 percent.

This is from the bureau of economic analysis. Your comments do not relate to your cry of inflation. Nor do the facts back up your entire argument of consumption. Consumption refers to the Gross Domestic Purchases and not Gross Domestic Product. What does factor into GDP is personal consumption expenditures and PCE is a factor in GDP. The actual upturn in GDP was due to the increase in exports. To state that the entire GDP is based on consumption is blatantly false. It is a factor in GDP but not the entire baseis of GDP. At face value your argument appears to sound good, however, after close scrutiny of the facts your argument not so much.

I know everyone cries about the value of the dollar, however when other currency values are closer related to the dollar other countries tend to buy our products, because they can afford them. It is a catch 22 for manufacuterers. Having been in the manufacturing industry and having relatives still in the manufacturing industry, this is their main concern. Business is booming with the low value of the dollar and able to sell their product all around the world.

You can cry about the value of the dollar, but most manufacturing business owners are not they are exporting their goods.

On September 15th, 2008 at 5:08 pm, Ilovemycountry said:

The US has 10 trillion in funded debt, 52 trillion in unfunded obligations? Greenspan is right on this front and McCain will have to raise taxes – I promise you that. The funny part of this is that Greenspan really is the cause of the subprime meltdown – blame him for that, not for an intelligent and realistic statement regarding fanciful campaign promises.

I use to study chaos theory. We are seeing a set of vortexes, like tornados. Eventually some vortexes turn into black holes, sucking up all capital. One never knows how the system will reorganize. But don’t be surprised to see changes in society we could never have anticipated. Some may be for the good.
First Wall Street, then Main Street, then the Capital.

“Greenspan: Country Can’t Afford McCain’s Tax Cuts

Alan Greenspan says the country can’t afford tax cuts of the magnitude proposed by Republican presidential contender John McCain — at least not without a corresponding reduction in government spending.”

we are out producing all other economies

We are out-consuming all other economies. We lost our production base long ago – our GDP is based mainly on consumption and our service sector. We can look at China as the production powerhouse, and their GDP has been growing at a staggering rate. They are also the main holder of our government’s debt. Which brings us to another point – our government has been spending extravagantly and financing it with debt and inflation, which will destroy our currency. This banking crisis is just bringing us closer to the edge with our foreign creditors. Why anyone trusts the US government to be a steward of the dollar is laughable.

All the government can do right now is hold off the deleveraging. They are failing at that as well – soon all the Fannie and Freddie toxic waste will have to be liquidated with newly printed dollars. Soon our foreign creditors will balk at the notion of the dollar peg or buying more treasuries. This will sink the country into hyper-inflation.

The sky is falling my friend – best to be prepared.

They nationalized the mortgage industry decades ago – or weren’t you aware that both Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were originally established by the federal government?

Very much aware – also aware that LBJ privatized them so that the government didn’t have to keep them on the books. Granted they’ve always had a government backstop, but it has never been used (as they acted like private companies should – responsibly). Now, during an absolute financial mess, we nationalize the industry, but unlike during LBJ’s time, we’re going to keep Fannie and Freddie off the books.

The conservative in you is right – American people make the American dream real, not the American government.