Is America Headed For Another Great Depression?

[BadBoyBenny]

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I mean the 90's were booming and since the start of the new millenium the stock market has been on a constant decline.

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No it hasn't. Chart

It is flat from where it was about 4 months into 2001 and is up significantly from where it was in late 2002.

We can afford the war, not saying it is a good use of our money, but we can afford it.

I think there is a pretty good chance the US dollar will gradually decline relative to other currencies in the next decade. What it will do in the next year is pretty unpredictable and will be influenced by the major news events of the year. This will only help to correct trade imbalances. Can't disagree with the oil comment, that gas is freiking expensive, but that affects most major economies as much as the US. You may want to look at moving to Canada, it seems like a nice place, but I wouldn't move there for economic reasons unless you had major healthcare expenses.

[blatz]

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Um, this makes almost no sense at all.

Do you understand how they gave us credit and in what way our debt is held and will be repaid?

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That was actually an analogy. What does not make sense is that we are running record deficits, and China, a nation that is not our ally and only has America's best interests in mind while it benefits them, owns 200 billion dollars of our long term Treasury Bills, along with a 600 billion dollar stockpile in American Currency. They own the bonds backed by mortgages on many US homes.

As long as they keep purchasing these, and thereby supporting our deficit, our interst rates will be kept artificially low. Right now we are their most important trading partner, so they have no reason to screw with us, as their economy is deeply entwined with ours. However, the European Union is quickly catching up, and may surpass us within a decade. More importantly, as the need for oil explodes in China, they will be competing with us for the resources, and will have less motivation for keeping our economy afloat.

Should they choose to dump, either slowly or quickly, their holdings of the American Treasury, interst rates will skyrocket, and the chances for a depression will too.

Unless we erase the deficit, as it was 6 years ago, before the Harvard MBA moved into the oval office, we can be in for some very hard times. No good can come out of a country being financially beholden to another. Especially mine.

[Dynasty]

The sky is not going to fall.

Regardless, even if the U.S. economy somehow fell into depression, you certainly don't want to leave the country. A U.S. depression would cause a far worse economic depression around the world. Canada (or any other Western nation) is not a place you would want to be. Their economy will collapse far faster and struggle much more to get restarted.

[bholdr]

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I think that we need to do SOME protecting of our products. Because in doing so we will lower the deficit (trade) somewhat and also protect some jobs. We cannot force business to build here or employ here. All we can do is make it worth their while to do so. If that takes some protectionist tactics, that is fine. However, I am not in favor of imposing anything that is not the equal to that imposed on us. Free trade is fair, we are not a free trade partner with most nations we trade with.

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fair or not, the U.S. and our economy gains far more from free trade than we lose. 'protectionist tactis' cost more in the long run than the problems that they are band-aids for; aside from subsidizing critical infrastructures (steel, agriculture, defense, energy, etc...) i don't believe that we SHOULD be trying to keep those jobs in the States, nor should we try to correct trade inbalances with tarriffs or restrictions.


we should, of course, fight to extend copyright protection to places like china, do what we can to stop child and sewatshop labor, protect the environment, etc...

[natedogg]

Look at your analysis. It's not very factual but highly emotional. You're not the only one thinking this way. Investor sentiment is very low at the moment. People are afraid of a major housing crash that will drag the economy down with it. They are afraid of hyperinflation thanks to Greenspan's record low rates. They are afraid of China, oil prices, outsourcing of American jobs, the end of GM, the end of Social Security and the end of the world.

You should be buying stocks right now. When everyone thinks the world is coming to an end, that is a good time to invest.

natedogg

[Zeno]

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Should I be looking into moving to Canada?

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No, Norway. Check out this article from the Seattletimes: Celebrating Norwegian Ancestry

From the article:

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For those who mistakenly think the Norwegian community has faded, it's a time to reconsider. With glowing stories in the national press calling life in Norway almost "Utopian," being Norwegian has become popular, said Norwegian Vice Consul Kim Nesselquist. "We just don't all live in Ballard anymore."

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Indeed - But Ballard has stores were you can still hear these herring chokers babbling on in their vile native language - just like my Aunt Lena and Uncle Fred used to do every time we visited them.

And now, Norway is a Utopia. I always knew us Norwegians would be the first ones to build a Utopia, not even Plato could do it, but we succeeded.

Praise be to Odin and Thor.

-Zeno

[jokerswild]

They also do not believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the United Nations, or a FREE PRESS.


They believe in tax evasion, money laundering, and Jesus coming back soon.

[Cyrus]

[adios]

Also looking at Commerce Department data, real GDP grew at around 3.4% at an annualized rate(geometric average) for 1990-1999. From 2000 to the present real GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.2%, a basically the same as in the previous decade. Actually since the U.S. $ hit a multiyear low at the beggining of this year it has rallied. Oil is well off it's highs. I'm fairly certain the orginal poster is trolling since every statement he made is false except for the money being spent on the war in Iraq. The latter reason is why I'm sure he made the post

[Rearden]

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They also do not believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the United Nations, or a FREE PRESS.


They believe in tax evasion, money laundering, and Jesus coming back soon.

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Congrats for hijacking a reasonably productive and controlled economic thread with the use of utter garbage. By spewing out useless tirades and blurbs youre just as bad as the ignorance you suggest you hate. :-) good call... good call