Despair In The United States, But There Is Hope Relative To The Rest Of The World

It is been a pretty rough past few years in the United States:

• Unemployment has left about 14 million Americans unemployed and many millions more underemployed.
• Overall economic growth has been less than robust.
• The Federal political class is steering the country over a financial cliff with runaway national debt that may never get repaid.
• The same political class is dysfunctional relative to every issue they touch.
• Every economic program launched out of Washington in the past three years has been a failure.
• Millions of American homeowners are either in default or will be in default soon and many more are severely underwater relative to their mortgages.
• We have a President who is more interested in playing President rather than actually being President.
• We have a President who has set records for world travel and finds many vacations, dozens of rounds of golf, and hosting numerous athletic teams more important than the dire affairs of state.
• We have a President you obeys or ignores the Constitution and the laws of the land as he sees fit.
• And finally we have a President who remains silent while his political allies call ordinary Americans a whole slew of derogatory names including un-American, racists, Ku Klux Klan members, gerbils, Neanderthals, a__h___s, and terrorists, leaving the country more divided as ever.

Yes, it has not been a good few years to be an American. The above events, and the many more that have been documented in this blog, sometimes make it depressing even writing about our situation.

But all is not lost. We still have a window of opportunity to regain our strong economic footing since, let's face it, the rest of the world is not in great shape either. [Note: much of the following statistics and observations come from an article in the latest edition of Business Week Magazine].

The mass media has led us to believe that the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) are in such great economic shape and are growing their economies so quickly that they are leaving us in the dust, eventually relegating the U.S. to a second tier economic power. However, the Business Week article says not so quick:

Brazil:

• The country's GDP grew 0% in the third quarter of 2011. The U.S. economy is expected to continue to grow a little over 2% in 2012.
• There was a 19% increase in consumer defaults in Brazil in October vs. October, 2010.
• There was a 99% decrease in the amount of cash put into Brazilian savings accounts in November, 2011.

China:

• European orders for Chinese goods decreased 22% in October, 2011 compared to September, 2011.
• 60% of Chinese millionaires have considered leaving China or have already done so, possibly leaving China with a shortage of brain power and capital going forward.
• China is actually expected to run a $28 billion trade deficit this quarter, having seen its trade surplus peak at $300 billion in 2008.
• Given China's one child per family law, the Chinese society is aging rapidly with older citizens comprising a larger and larger portion of the population which places heavy societal pressures on the nation.
• There may be a large real estate bubble in China whose bursting would have a large negative impact on their country.

India

• Production in Indian factories, utilities, and mines dropped 5.1% in October compared to October, 2010.
• Sales of India's low cost, highly touted mini-car, the Nano, dropped 67% from July to October.
• 150,000 Indians took to the streets in early 2011 to protest increasing food prices and high unemployment.
• India has one of the most corrupt government operations and political structures in the world.
• India still has a large swath of its population living in severe poverty.

Russia

• The average life expectancy for Russian men is 61.8 years, nearly the same as it was forty years ago.
• An estimated  $80 billion worth of capital has left Russia for better investment options outside the country due to corruption, stagflation, and political upheaval.
• Tens of thousands of Russians have staged street demonstration to protest the allegedly rigged Russian elections last fall.
• The likely long term trend of the Russian population is severe constriction, making it less and less of an economic power going forward.

Consider other countries and economies in the world that are under difficult strains:

• Japan has been in an economic funk for over a decade which is likely to continue as the country tries to recover from the after effects of the tsunami. The country also has an aging population profile and the related problems.
• Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy - the only question is how many of them will end up defaulting on their sovereign debt and be booted out of the Euro club.
• The rest of the Euro club - how much more money will it take to boost the Euro club's laggards before the reality of default hits some of the laggards.
• When will the European recession start and how long will it last.
• How bad will the German economy get hit if a huge source of their exports, the rest of Europe, goes into a recession.
• Mexico - just trying to stay a coherent sovereign country in the face of unmitigated drug cartel corruption influences and  violence.
• South Korea - continued worries and diversion of resources to deal with North Korea

Yes, things are bad in the U.S. but they are also bad all over. The conditions in the rest of the world could allow the U.S. to regain its strong economic position and restart its way down the road of strong economic growth because:

1. We still have a vast amounts of untapped energy resources.
2. We still rank among some of the more innovative countries in the world.
3. We still rank among some of the freest countries in the world although our breadth and depth of freedom and liberty is lessened everyday by our political class.
4. We have a wide and extensive transportation infrastructure of road, rail, and air resources.
5. Our financial well being is not directly tied to the financial fate of other nations like the Euro nations are.
6. While our population is also aging, it is not as bad as the situations in China, Japan, and elsewhere.
7. Our life expectancies are at least ten years higher than Russia's and our population is not constricting.

So all is not lost, a window of economic opportunity is definitely still available to us. However, consider the wise words of Albert Einstein: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." In other words, we cannot expect to solve our problems with the same politicians we used when they created the same problems we all face today.

If our current set of politicians had the smarts, the ability, and intention of solving the problems we listed above that afflict our country, I am assuming they would have done so already.

That is why it is critical in November to dump every incumbent out of office that is up for reelection. That starts with President Obama and continues down to any Congressman or Senator that is trying to get reelected. They have not solved any of the problems this nation faces, indicating that they are now part of the problem

I have seen no indications from Obama or anyone else in Washington that they know how to fix the country's issues. I am not willing to give them another opportunity, especially when we have a window of opportunity to regain the economic advantage, given the challenges facing every other country in the world.

1. Does anyone really think Obama is ready to dramatically cut government spending, given his track record over the past three years?
2. Does anyone really think Obama will stop being a part time President and finally focus on resolving the issues facing this country, given his track record over the past three years?
3. Does anyone really think Obama will stop being silent and stop his political allies from dividing the country with their slurs and slander, given his track record over the past three years?
4. Does anyone really think Obama has a clue to solving our economic crises, given his history of failed economic programs (e.g. failed Cash For Clunkers, failed mortgage relief program, failed small business incentive program, etc.) over the past three years?

Now repeat the above four questions and substitute any sitting politician who is up for reelection in the fall and I bet you will also answer "no" to every question.

The opportunity is there but it is an opportunity that will only be fulfilled once President Obama and the rest of the current incumbents are no longer in office creating crises and not creating opportunities.


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The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

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http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/