How do we fix the world's economy?

ATS boasts a singular group of people whose awareness level runs from drug-induced addlepation to professional and academic expertise. As such, we have all witnessed this recent global economic maelstrom unfold, and we have have seen a range of opinion attempting to account for it - everything from partisan fingerpointing to NWO-fearing paranoia. What I have not seen here is a group attempt to produce some solutions.

So... the question I bring forward is: What does our collective ATS brain trust recommend as the big fix to repair our battered economic environment? Let's put on our clever pants and see what we can come up with. Any takers?

Two crucial things need to happen before the Global Economy makes a recovery . People and Banks confidence in credit markets needs to be restored . The only way this can be done is after careful consideration regulations be brought in that prevent credit from being given out like candy and other practices that got us into this mess . Care needs not to be taken in order to not deny credit to middle - low income earners who are capable of paying back the likes of home loans .

Next up the Bail Outs have to stop . The Bail Outs have screwed us all over and likely doomed the Global Economy to its Lost Decade because no politician has the guts to go the short - medium term pain of letting failed banks and other enterprises go under .

The fastest, easiest, and most equitable way to fix the economy is to cap personal wealth at one billion dollars. There is no conceivable reason or justification for an individual to have or need more than that. Then and only then would trickle down work.

In my opinion, the first and foremost thing that needs to be done is to monitor our own country, and stop trying to play big brother to the world. How can we as a country expect to play peace-keeper if we can't even tame the insatiable hunger that is a McDonald's overload? I think as of today our country has "succeeded" in becoming statistically more "obese" than "overweight".

The reason that I bring up this point is that our own self control and moderation is a direct influence on world events. Here is how I link it to the world economy:

***You lose your self control and purge yourself on material possessions and gorge yourself on the abundance of food with no regard for the consequences.

***This leads to a lack of responsibility on your part and therefore relaxes your sense of common sense.

***Your common sense lacking, you purchase a huge "street-suv" that will never see anything but pavement or the occasional pot hole getting 15-18mpg, yet still consuming all the while being self absorbed talking on your cellphone and drinking your $5 latte.

***You begin to feel as if the world owes you something, so you extend yourself thinking your good for it and you will "eventually" pay for the useless crap you want now, including housing that is usually too much to begin with.

***The price of consumables and fuel goes up putting a strain on your budget, for now you have less money to spend on these quirky little items of uselessness, and now you are stuck with bills piling up that are beginning to get out of hand.

***You now have to start selling off these overpriced items at a drastic loss just to stay afloat, that is IF your job is still in this country and is not shipped overseas to a kid in a gymnasium.

Honestly I think the smartest thing we can do is to start having some self respect and some self control. In all things. It does not necessarily have to be related just to eating, but that is the #1 identifier with our country now, and I'm sorry to say, I am just as ashamed of it as the rest of the world.

I'm 29, I am paying for one vehicle, I rent a house, and I only get things that I can afford in a quick time period (a few months of saving). The rest is not really necessary.

Moderation is the key to economic stabilization, and of course accountability for those in key power positions within the "selling" companies who are thinking of their own greed just as you are, only at a much more malevolent and larger scale.

Food for thought,

King

well the US will have to declare bankruptcy probably about 2010 2011.... or so... otherwise just live through this great depression

Tobin Tax :-)

No, seriously. There are proposals being made that may seem very radical to some of you, but please have an open mind about this idea that I found very valuable.

One of the main problems of the world's economy is that 1.) money is immortal and 2.) interests.

1.) Due to its immortality character, money is a highly unnatural thing. Nothing on earth is forever. We, as human beings, are a part of nature. Our economic system should reflect that.

2.) Interests are meant to be the price we pay for having something now instead of later and as a regulatory for the markets. However, due to its exponential growth nature, compound interests tend to reach astronomical values after a relatively short period of time. Nothing in nature exhibits exponential growth.

About 1.): Money is meant to be a medium. We don't exchange things directly, we have found seashells, gold and other funny pieces metal in all shapes and sizes and printed paper more practical. They are easier to carry around. That is a good thing. Money, in theory, is like water. It circulates between the clouds, the rivers and the oceans and gives life where it rains. But we have made embankment dams and straightened the rivers and wonder where the desertification may come from.

About 2.): had Joseph, back when little Jesus Boy was born, brought one cent to the bank at an interest rate of, let's say, 5%, and all inflation and wars aside - how much money would he (or his offspring) have today? Go ahead, do the math. The same thing happens to our debts. They skyrocket. They enslave us. The system is laid out in a way that money is sucked from the poor to the rich, because the rich can save, after consuming, and the poor can't. Riches on the one side HAVE to be poverty on the other side. It's only logical once we take a look behind the curtain of shady explanations and overcomplicated theories about how economy is supposed to work.

Possible solution:

Freigeld. Actually, it is a very old concept. In the middle ages (maybe even in Babylonia) there was a monetary system where, at certain intervals, the coins became worthless, and they had to be exchanged for new coins for a small fee. This fee was used as a tax. It was a golden, blooming age. Most of the cathedrals were built in that era.

The idea of Freigeld ("free money" in German) has been brought up again by Silvio Gesell in the early 20'th Century, together with a new concept of a free economic system ("Freiwirtschaft"). It was adapted with great success in Wörgl, an Austrian town, in 1932/33. Unemployement shrank, the local economy thrived, while everywhere else in the country it was rising. The Austrian National bank stopped the experiment, because only they had the right to emit money. Being confronted with the governmental threat of military force, the people of Wörgl finally dropped the experiment. In following WWII, it was forgotten and now is being discussed again among those who wonder what caused the failure of the world economy.

Now, what is the point of Freigeld, you may ask? Easy: if you don't want to have some worthless bundles of paper under your matress (thereby keeping it out of circulation, thereby rendering it useless), you have to exchange it. So you better consume, or invest, or donate it. Put it back into circulation, so it can do its job: water the economy in your very own region. It just wouldn't make sense anymore to agglomerate huge masses of money, "clogging" the flow of the currents.

As the government at each interval (each year, each month, every five years, as you wish) issues only as much money as needed, there will be no inflation or deflation. 1000 Free$s would well be worth 1000 Free$s even in fifty years, so to speak.

As free money is mortal and prone to decay, it mirrors the way of nature.

I personally think that the concept is so "out there" that we should give it a try, what do you think? :-)

Eventually the economy, I believe, will fix itself. Recession and booms are natural cycles of the economic market. What is really scary is that economis who believe that the banks and the banking system will become nationalized. It is already there since they are taking the Fed Bailout money and sitting on it. What the banks should do with it is to either loan it to me and you, or use it and buy out part of the bedt of Freddy and Fannie because they will always be backed by the government because they are "too big to fail"

I'm trying to figure out how and when governments started taxing the population through debt rather than through actual money. Eventually at some point in our history some rat bastard figured they could get all the revenue they wanted by putting us on a tab rather than actually taking real money out of our checks and sales taxes like they're supposed too. I think a good part of this crisis is a repercussion from that. One thing they should do is stop the debt-taxing and use what revenue they get from actual money each year to pay for things they want to fund, and make it illegal to force debt on the populace again.

Of course, individuals also go into debt by themselves too. Limits need to be placed on loans and credit cards, put a limit at say 50 grand (limit is debatable) you can go into debt max, before you're held responsible to start paying it back. Whats the deal with people taking out credit card after credit card, and riding through life on plastic? Its basically the same BS that the gov is doing with these bailouts. A line has to be drawn before things get really out of hand. If limits were put in place, all of this might not have happened. For some people it would suck, I imagine, having to be financially responsible like that, but it makes life easier for the rest of us.

Back in the Medieval Ages, a King couldn't tax his people more than what they had. Beating, burning, pillaging, and slaughtering wouldn't get gold out of a peasant if they didn't have any. The modern world has found a way around that. I think a flat tax would help with revenue a lot, and allow the gov to live within its means, but that probably won't happen.

You can't bailout a Ponzi scheme.

Dollars are debt notes created out of thin air by the Treasury and from leveraged loans on deposits by banks. Deposit $1,000, the bank loans out $900 to a buyer, the seller deposits $900, and magically the bank now has $1,900.

All is well as long as borrowers borrow and debt increases. When loans start defaulting, and those depositors want their $1,900 back, it's vapor. As an example I used 10% reserves, but I believe it's 6% these days. Banks only have 6% of the money they claim to have - banks are 94% vapor.

The banking system is Ponzi scheme. They can't bail it out. They can only become an accessory to the crime.

[edit on 13-1-2009 by Dbriefed]

Originally posted by Dbriefed
You can't bailout a Ponzi scheme.

The banking system is Ponzi scheme. They can't bail it out. They can only become an accessory to the crime.

You know the amazing part is that the ponzi victims will be clammoring for a new ponzi scheme to be instituted as the old one falls apart. I guess it's thier only hope. A system built and controlled by confidencemen, criminals and Type A personalities with the full consent of those who bow to the will of the conmen.


[edit on 13-1-2009 by In nothing we trust]