How to fix the economy

CommyCommy Posts: 4,984
edited January 2009 in A Moving Train
so you can bailout capitalism. say that's the goal.


why are they printing more money to fix the problem? or borrowing? isn't that just putting off the inevitable? why not shift that huge amount that goes into the military industrial complex into programs that matter? or into companies that are too big to fail?

the US accounts for over 50% of the world's entire military spending, I think we should move some of that over to social programs and domestic issues and into creating a production based economy.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • We fixed it Tuesday.
  • blackredyellowblackredyellow Posts: 5,889
    edited January 2009
    It would take many years to transition a lot of money from military spending into other things and not hurt is as much as it would help.

    With 10 seconds of research, wikipedia says that "the United States government is currently spending at the rate of approximately $1 trillion per year for all defense-related purposes."

    Say if you cut a few hundred billion off of that, I can't imagine the impact on suppliers and manufactures, plus the civilian job losses and base closures.

    While the money could probably be better spent elsewhere, I would guess that huge military cuts would cause us to loose many thousands of jobs (maybe hundreds of thousands?) and decimate towns that are built around military bases or huge military industries. Lockheed Martin alone employees 140,000 people, with 95% of their revenues coming from defense contracts (from wiki).
    Post edited by blackredyellow on
    My whole life
    was like a picture
    of a sunny day
    “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln
  • Heatherj43Heatherj43 Posts: 1,254
    Here's how I think we can fix the economy...I think we should rebuild OUR OWN infrastructure! It would put people to work and get it redone at the same time, which it needs really bad. We shouldn't be having bridges falling down killing people while we rebuild other countries infrastructrure. It would be almost like the old program they had in the depression. www. or wwp, whatever it was??
    It worked then and we need it now.
    Save room for dessert!
  • VINNY GOOMBAVINNY GOOMBA Posts: 1,818
    LEGALIZE HEMP.
  • cincybearcatcincybearcat Posts: 16,500
    LEGALIZE HEMP.

    And Prostitution. ;)
    hippiemom = goodness
  • Anarchy
    Tour with fucking NOFX
  • The JugglerThe Juggler Posts: 49,309
    Heatherj43 wrote:
    Here's how I think we can fix the economy...I think we should rebuild OUR OWN infrastructure! It would put people to work and get it redone at the same time, which it needs really bad. We shouldn't be having bridges falling down killing people while we rebuild other countries infrastructrure. It would be almost like the old program they had in the depression. www. or wwp, whatever it was??
    It worked then and we need it now.

    world war 2 ended the great depression, not building roads....
    www.myspace.com
  • chromiamchromiam Posts: 4,114
    world war 2 ended the great depression, not building roads....

    How true...

    The economy could have been fixed or at least started in that direction by giving the money for the bailouts to the American people instead of banks. You give the money to the people with the stipulation that it can ONLY be used to pay off debt (credit or mortgage). That way, people pay off debt, have more money to spend and thus stimulate the economy (since our economy is based on consumerism) and at the same time, banks get the money they were worried about not having.

    Yeah it's pretty basic and full of holes but I don't think it would have been any less effective than going further into debt to solve the problem of debt.
    This is your notice that there is a problem with your signature. Please remove it.

    Admin

    Social awareness does not equal political activism!

    5/23/2011- An utter embarrassment... ticketing failures too many to list.
  • chromiam wrote:
    The economy could have been fixed or at least started in that direction by giving the money for the bailouts to the American people instead of banks. You give the money to the people with the stipulation that it can ONLY be used to pay off debt (credit or mortgage). That way, people pay off debt, have more money to spend and thus stimulate the economy (since our economy is based on consumerism) and at the same time, banks get the money they were worried about not having.

    But how do you do that? There is no way to monitor what people use it for.

    And in our society, a lot of people are in debt because of bad financial decision in the first place. I can't see how giving them more money would help fix the situation.
    My whole life
    was like a picture
    of a sunny day
    “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln
  • chromiam wrote:
    world war 2 ended the great depression, not building roads....

    How true...

    The economy could have been fixed or at least started in that direction by giving the money for the bailouts to the American people instead of banks. You give the money to the people with the stipulation that it can ONLY be used to pay off debt (credit or mortgage). That way, people pay off debt, have more money to spend and thus stimulate the economy (since our economy is based on consumerism) and at the same time, banks get the money they were worried about not having.

    Yeah it's pretty basic and full of holes but I don't think it would have been any less effective than going further into debt to solve the problem of debt.

    Paying off debt is VERY BAD for our economy.
    It is one of the highly paradoxical stupidities of a fiat economy fixed around a debtbased currency.
    Paying off debt (private or public) is equivelant to REMOVING money from the system.

    NOT what "they" want to see happening here.

    That is why they are inflating, printing money like there is no tomorrow.
    The system is DESPERATELY trying to fend off a DEFLATIONARY depression.
    They will take INflation ANY day of the week over DEflation.

    If you want to understand in a quick analogy WHY deflation can be so bad (many reasons, but here is one) think about this:

    In an INflationary environment, everyone knows that debtors make out because the availability of cash has INcreased, dollars become LESS valuable, and it is therefore (theoretically) EASIER to pay off your debts.

    BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF THE MONEY SUPPLY IS SHRINKING?

    Well reverse everything above and you get:

    In a DEflationary environemnt, debtors LOSE out because the availability of cash has DEcreased, dollars become MORE valuable, and it is therefore (theoretically) HARDER to pay off your debts.

    You can read a good summary of a REAL LIFE EXAMPLE of this in Murray Rothbard's The Panic of 1819 where (oh around page 17 PDF) it is VERY clear that deflation causes the public at large to SUFFER GREATLY. Debt defaults skyrocket, and destitution becomes rampant.

    Anyhow.
    I hear you, in principle, Chromiam, just in practice that life fucks us in the face on this account.
    :(
    If I was to smile and I held out my hand
    If I opened it now would you not understand?
Sign In or Register to comment.