Planet US

[kwagga]

A few evenings ago I saw an insert on CNBC where they had an interview with a bunch of US high school students. This group won a debating challenge with the following theme: How to resolve the EU's financial problems. I almost choked on my Peanut butter and chilli soup. This was one of the most ironic things I've seen in months. Here is a country with a debt to GDP ratio equal to that of Italy and Spain, debating on how to resolve these indebted countries problems. One thing became very apparent to me – The US has no intentions to ever repay their debt as long as they own the fiat currency in the world and they can do with it as they please. This world needs a new super power faster that everyone thinks to keep this out of control planet US in check.

[#2]

Quite right. The US thinks that because they have power, they have wisdom. Until they change the buy now pay later, everything on credit get what you want before earning the cash to pay for it mindset, thay will remain in the toilet.

[topgun]

Fortunately not everybody is in denial - saw a Charlie Rose interview with Tom Coburn, a Republican senator, on Bloomberg this week discussing his new book, The Debt Bomb - see also: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/2012/05/02/coburn-warns-nation-about-catastrophic-debt-b...

[THRESHOLD]

They cannot change it. They have been clever though. Mature nations cannot meet the social bill for the burgeoning number of welfare cases - an ever-smaller percentage of the population is productively occupied. This is a cost of democracy - and a crippling burden on capitalism. It has caused the demise of every fiat system ever conceived in all manner of different soci-political environments. America has shifted the burden of growth to China, and by so doing, the rest of the world. Kudos to America.

[kwagga]

US jobs data - second month in decline at 115000. Unemployment 8.1%. Is it just me or is the US economy slowly grinding to a halt. Could we see another resession in a few months time ? This is a election year, which means that the Obama administration will do anything in their power (read QE3) to escape another resession. Interesting times ahead.