I'm coming around to the idea that a Lucrum/AAA ticket is the only rational choice for the White House next year.
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/GDP_per_capita_big_four_Western_Europe.PNG">
By Dustin Stockton, www.TheTeaParty.net "Dear Patriot, As Barack Obamaâs economic policies continue to hinder Americaâs economic recovery, the effects are rippling throughout the world. These global effects, it seems, often manifest in violent ways, even in what we consider to be âFirst Worldâ countries. In London, for example, riots that started after police shot and killed a man have ignited a firestorm in the country. Rioters continue the violence in large part, they say, out of dissatisfaction with high unemployment rates and cuts in government spending. So far, these riots have left at least four dead and over 1,100 arrested. Riots stand in stark contrast to the United States as a whole and to the Tea Party movement, in particular. The anger felt by the rioters is no less intense than the anger we feel as voters, as members of society, and as the Tea Party, but there is one very real difference. I have been to literally hundreds of Tea Party events, and the site has always been cleaner after the rally than it was before it. Instead of bringing death, destruction, and chaos, we are working to bring about what every protest should aim for: a radical, but peaceful shift in the direction of our country. In 2010, we realized impressive gains in the U.S. House of Representatives, and we nearly achieved what they told us was impossible: removing the liberals from power in the U.S. Senate. As we continue our momentum into 2012, we have our sights set on two very real and achievable goals--to take back the U.S. Senate and to remove Barack Obama as President of the United States. We must be no less committed to our cause, though, than the rioters are to their own. We must be organized, we must use technology to benefit our cause, and we must speak in a loud enough voice that the self-serving politicians of both parties cannot help but hear us! It is because of our solidarity, commitment, and unified voice that we were able to peacefully bring about real change in 2010, and it will be the same strengths that allow us to continue that work in 2012. And as I watch the riots spread across England, it makes me appreciate more the influence that we have as the Tea Party. Any gains that rioters in England realize will be marginal and will come at a hefty cost. But for us, we will achieve nothing short of a revolution, all without bloodshed and without chaos. And that is no less remarkable today than it was when Thomas Jefferson won the Revolution of 1800..."
ricter... you posted GDP. AAA spoke of industrial competitiveness and spoke of it being propped up by financial sector and oil. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gdp.asp What Does Gross Domestic Product - GDP Mean? The monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period, though GDP is usually calculated on an annual basis. It includes all of private and public consumption, government outlays, investments and exports less imports that occur within a defined territory. GDP = C + G + I + NX where: "C" is equal to all private consumption, or consumer spending, in a nation's economy "G" is the sum of government spending "I" is the sum of all the country's businesses spending on capital "NX" is the nation's total net exports, calculated as total exports minus total imports. (NX = Exports - Imports)
For example, he introduced huge amounts of uncertainty into the business environment with the likes of obamacare, cap and trade, tax policy that favors the upside, more regulation and paperwork for small/medium size businesses, Frank-Dodd and similar legislation, ginormous amount of additional debt and related printing copious amounts of money that act to devalue the $, favoring union demands at every turn which encourages corporations to go build factories in Malaysia and China, not to mention his evident overall contempt for our free enterprise system and focus on redistribution of wealth - aka socialism, etc etc. With that clueless man at the top, and the uncertainty that goes with it, why would any sane businessperson expand, hire, and take on more risk? Better go make money somewhere else or wait for the political wind to shift...
So business is turning away customers, declining to make sales, because they lack confidence about future costs?
Businesses are delaying or cancelling expansion plans in the US, which causes unemployment, and are investing their money overseas.
The economy's productive capacity is estimated at what, 60 or 65% of potential (that's existing capital) right now? So if business was suddenly "confident' about... government? they would expand their productive capacity??