US vs China -- a NYT article

A very interesting article in NYT

China’s CCTV aired a skit showing four children — one wearing the Chinese flag, another the American, another the Indian, and another the Brazilian — getting ready to run a race. Before they take off, the American child, “Anthony,” boasts that he will win “because I always win,” and he jumps out to a big lead. But soon Anthony doubles over with cramps. “Now is our chance to overtake him for the first time!” shouts the Chinese child. “What’s wrong with Anthony?” asks another. “He is overweight and flabby,” says another child. “He ate too many hamburgers.”

That is how they see us.

I do find that the article resonates with what I felt for a while:

“How can you compete with a country that is run like a company?” an Indian entrepreneur at the forum asked me of China. He then answered his own question: For democracy to be effective and deliver the policies and infrastructure our societies need requires the political center to be focused, united and energized. That means electing candidates who will do what is right for the country not just for their ideological wing or whoever comes with the biggest bag of money.

Every time I ride the Long Island Railroad, I can't help thinking of how bad the track really is. I can't really do work on my laptop because it jitters all the time and I keep hitting wrong keys. If you go to Europe (and China, as the article suggests) you can put a cup of espresso on your folding table without worrying that it will end up on your pants.

It pains me to realize that I live in a society that is increasingly backward and is more interested in banning gay marriage than it is in fixing goddamn roads.

That's what happens when you base your economy on usury.

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest”

If you issue 1000 dollars and charge 5% interest, where do the extra dollars to pay off that 5% interest come from? It doesn't exist. At best, you have to issue more fiat (at interest) and slosh it around, kind of like putting a little bit of water in the jar and getting all the sides wet by shaking it, but you'll always be behind. At some point, you'll have to expand growth infinitely in an infinitely small time period, and that means you lose. That's why most religions have banned usury, but usury gives society a head start, so to speak, and gives the illusion of great wealth, so the sheeple get hypnotized by it. Little do they know....

This is what happens when you let a private central bank have a monopoly on the issuance of currency.

The gold standard would have put a halt to our nonsense a long time ago.

It is fundamentally impossible for corporations or private industry to destroy a currency or a country's economy on their own without government involvement.

The government has crafted an unholy alliance with the mega-banks, forcing the public to use their fake money. This allows the government to devalue the currency and loot the public, while at the same time allowing the banks to reap enormous profits through interest manipulation and bailouts.

We are about to reap the whirlwind of our fascist empire.

The thing is - this is how the rest of the world - or at least those with money to invest see it also.

U.S. Loses No. 1 to Brazil-China-India Market in Investor Poll

In the September poll of 1,408 investors, analysts and traders who are Bloomberg subscribers, respondents rate the U.S. fourth for potential returns over the next year, behind Brazil and China, tied for first, and India, in third place.

The U.S. economic situation “is obviously unsustainable, and the concerted attempt to suspend disbelief is playing increasingly poorly abroad,” says poll respondent Eric Kraus, chief strategist for Otkritie Brokerage House in Moscow. “One can delay, but no one can forestall the unwind of a multidecade credit bubble.”

It is not just our roads and tracks that are the problem. It is the way we have outsourced jobs that actually make something and focused our economy on these phony "bubbles" that must eventually pop.
Both the government and business is to blame for this. The root of it is greed and only focusing on short term business profits.

I really fail to see why or how government or business can act surprised. They had to know this was coming.

reply to post by Frogs


There are two things that caused this:

War and welfare.

The market ensures that those countries who engage in this behavior will ultimately fail.

It has been this way since the dawn of civilization.

Originally posted by mnemeth1
reply to post by Frogs

 

There are two things that caused this:

War and welfare.

No, the Frog is right. I hate war in general and the current one in particular, but in itself it's not the source of the demise of the US. It's the collapse of manufacturing which the government failed to prevent from happening through either inaction or encouragement.

Capitalism is faceless. It doesn't care where the snickers we wear are made. We as a citizens do care where the jobs are going, though.

Free market doesn't care if it becomes a giant Ponzi scheme (that it has become here in the US). It has no concept of common good and/or progress. It's a powerful tool for both, but it must be applied skillfully. A powersaw doesn't know how to clean trees in my backyard.

Originally posted by mnemeth1
This is what happens when you let a private central bank have a monopoly on the issuance of currency.

How does central bank can help or impede improvements to the track of LIRR? Even if the money circulates as gold bullion (which I thing is a dumb idea), how does it help to fix the US infrastructure?