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AmrasL -> RE: Clinton believes planting seeds of bad economy isn't his fault (2/18/2009 7:32:39 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: faithfulfemme
quote:
ORIGINAL: AmrasL
I'm not American, actually I'm from Western Europe.
Why I bring this up though in this discussion, is because its also stated in the documentary that under Clinton, the US economy had never been better. There was no national debt, as a mater a fact, the US had money to spare. It is also pointed out, that under George Bush, the US started building up a national debt again, and this one became higher then ever. Its that national debt, that destroyed the US economy.
Honestly, taking that fact into account, I don't think Bill Clinton is to blame.
The Americans now say they didn't saw it coming, I find that a very amusing comment. Dating back until 2002, students in my homeland were talking about the fact that the US was slowly destroying their economy with the wars that were going on, and the fact that fighting terrorism seemed so much more important then looking after your economy (George Bush always seemed better in simple black and white warfare and powerful statements then making a good policy on anything). And then in 2005, this documentary was made, and at the end of last year, a lot of the events predicted in that documentary happened.
It was during the first term of Bush when his administration began to pile up all that massive National Debt that this recession started. However, to keep from being blamed for causing a recession, what his administration did was to begin printing more money. Printing more dollars is a good thing if there are places for it to be spent. But the only markets for all that cash floating around was the housing markets. Not a good thing when there is only one place open to absorb that amount of cash.
There was so much money available for folx to buy houses with that anyone and everyone could get a loan. The rest is history, and here we are looking at something that might become so much more than just a recession......
There was a saying when i was much younger that i never really understoon until now......"When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping". Japan has been in a serious recession since the early to mid 90s, and it's mostly because the japanese housewife and husband have shut down their spending, thus keeping the economy in a recessive state. i just heard on the world news day before yesterday that their economy has taken yet another drop, 12.5%, from the year before. Seems the worse things get over there, the less people take out of their wallets and spend, and then that causes things to get even worse and the less folx spend, ad nauseum.....
If we Americans don't let go of our purse strings just a little, not going overboard, mind you, but spending a bit more that we are right now, we'll be mimicking the japanese with our economy getting less and less productive, with more and more layoffs, causing less and less production, causing more and more layoffs, and we'll never get out of this mess.
It has always been the American consumers, with their spending habits, who have pulled this country out of any recession we've been in, with the exception, i think, of WWII, and it's not going to be any different this time. Spending is the only way we're going to get out of this one, too.
We've all got to loosen up the purse strings.....just a bit....take that $13 dollars you're going to get each week in your paycheck, add a $20 to it, and go buy something. You think i'm kidding here?.....Go look up our economic history.....
edited for typoitis....
Yes you are quite right. When I moved to Asia, I noticed that a lot of people here are spending more money then in my european homeland. And government seemed to some extend encourage it. Shopping and eating out is everyone's hobby over here, it will also come as no surprise how many people got jobs in shops, restaurants or foodcourts. Tourism is a big industry here as well, its easy money to receive money that originally came from a other country. However when people stop spending, the people who get their salary due to other people spending, will get less to spend. Its a endless downwards spiral.
As long as people are spending, and other people earning its fine. "Money has to roll". And as long as money is rolling and circulating, its fine. But what happend in the US is that the Americans started spending money that they didn't have.
And if you spend money that you don't have, you are loaning either directly or indirectly. (And the thing is with a loan, you must pay it back someday)
Its a problem that was wisked away for a while, by printing new money and pumping it into the housing market, but also sell it to Asian nations. (And in return stimulate the asians by buying their cheap products).
However, as with any product, offer and demand, play a role, the higher the demand, and lower the offer, the more valuable a product is. However, with keeping on creating and selling dollars, the offers exceeds the demand more and more. Making your dollar less worth.
Yes, the recession could be halted a bit, and maybe turned around, if the Americans were to open their purses a bit, and spend a bit more, specially on American products on which American job pretend. Would be bad for the rest of the world though, their export would drop.
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