[Wildbill]

No way do I see the standard of living drop. The thing that sinks economies are not the issues most people think, but from being overprotective. It really is that simple, by continually moving up the quality chain and giving simpler tasks to others to do cheaply we do improve our standard of living. All the fools talking about how we are "overproductive" come on, that should make a normal thinker laugh! Imagine, "slow down, you are doing too good". Ok, whatever. This country is far ahead of the world and will continue to do so because the only way others will catch us is to emulate two basic principles.

First greatly follow and adhere to the rule of law and markets. Too many countries protect a few jobs to the detriment of many. Go to Mexico where people think the government should keep the oil in their hands. I ask people, why should it be that way if much of the money goes to corruption while you are paying 30-50% more for gas and electricity than Americans? All about pride and lousy economic theory. We run the risk of falling into that trap with this latest round of screw the Chinese and stop outsourcing jobs, but in the end I expect cooler and smarter heads to prevail. Bottom line is jobs that aren't justified being here only hold everyone back if they are forced to stay.

Second is to recognize your strengths. Ours are in services. Its nice to have manufacturing jobs, but mostly they are unjustified. Japan does anything to keep them, wasting the people's money to the tune of a staggering deficit. We still have pockets of inefficiency, this love affair with the family farm I just don't get. Maybe its our past, but we innovate and move forward better than most and farming would lead the way.

As for everything else, I can see oil prices being a bit of a problem, but I think inherently the world is too greedy to keep us out of our supply. It would be good if the country took steps to reduce consumption, but that is politically not feasible so I move onto other subjects. Liberal governments and taxes? Come on, we tax lower than most of the developed world. Not that we should just match them, but most people that complain about taxes being too high here should get a reality check and spend a year in France or Sweden. There taxes are real job killers, yet the people gladly pay them.