that would put the democrats in kind of a sticky position. Every abortion would limit their spending. But it would be good for the Dream Act, and anybody else waiting to get in.
Obama is the most thinly veiled Leninist ever. If he wasn't such a PUSSY with his golf and celebrity obsessions... And, instead, had Putin's or Stalin's or Castro's single-minded STEELY vision... The American experiment would be over already. But Obama is so inexperienced and inept an wielding Executive Power... That he's CREATED a massive libertarian uprising slowing him down. If Obama manages to squeak out re-election... He will keep expanding government and debt by silent Executive Decree... With impeachment by a paralyzed Congress the SINGLE threat to his agenda. And I'll bet Issa has enough on the Chicago Mafia to impeach... Special Prosecutors will start work in January.... Ask Bill Clinton about the power of the right Special Prosecutor.
Yeah, I have grudging respect for the old-school Russian Communists. They were hard men, for sure. Obama's a Westernized pansy Marxist by comparison and most of his followers wouldn't last a day under real socialism. The perpetual crisis mode of socialist production means that if you don't contribute, you get sent to Siberia. Freeloaders need not apply (the socialists don't tell you that up-front, but that's obviously what happens, regardless). The typical SWPL Obamabot is a net drag on society. It would be great if Issa got up the balls to lead an impeachment proceeding. I'm sure there's enough evidence for two impeachments.
In Rickards book "Currency Wars" he is hired by the CIA and assigned to play the Chinese in a currency war. His move was disallowed as being too unreasonable, but he formed an alliance with the Russians and they agreed to trade in their own gold backed currency.
I does seem that the dollar's reserve status could be in jeopardy. Some rogue countries, meaning those that don't play well together with other nations on the world stage, are already promoting commodity trading in other than dollars (mainly euros). And some non-rogue countries such as Brazil have expressed interest in moving away from the dollar for foreign trade purposes. And too, there is a possibility of a commodity backed special reserve currency being created by international agreement, as you mention. Nevertheless the reality is that the world is awash in dollars and very few countries would see a dollar collapse as being in their interest. I would expect the dollar to remain the primary reserve currency for about twenty more years at minimum, while other currencies such as the euro and perhaps eventually the renminbi, once it is fully floating, make inroads. A sudden loss of confidence in the dollar doesn't seem to be in the cards, but as more and more trade takes place in other than dollars there will be increasing opportunity for foreign banks to divest their dollar holdings, ever so slowly so as not to disrupt the forex markets. One of the concerns, naturally, of foreign entities holding dollar denominated assets is a return on those assets that fails to keep up with dollar devaluation. Consequently I expect to see an increase in foreign held dollar and dollar denominated holdings being converted to U.S,. hard assets, such as real estate and other natural resources, to the extent allowed by U.S. law. Bottom line for me is the low probability of the dollar's reserve status being lost all of a sudden, but instead rather slowly, and in controlled fashion, over time.
It is only a guess. But I'm guessing for at least as long as it takes to fully implement a Keynesian solution to the current economic slump. Full success will require that Democrats and Republicans cooperate. We are not seeing that at the moment, but it is conceivable that if the Republicans are handed a severe enough defeat in November that a few of them will break rank and start cooperating to accomplish far more than was achieved in the last two years, which was relatively little. The U.S. is in a bit of a mess. I don't know if the Democrats can get us out of it, but it seems that they have a better plan than the Republicans. I do know that the chief Architects of today's rather tenesmal situation were, in no particular order, Reagan, Greenspan, Gramm, Leach, and Bliley, Cheney, Kissinger, and Bush II, Johnson, Cox, and possibly Nixon -- All Republicans except one. I don't mean to imply that all are bad people, though at least two of them are criminals and under different circumstances would have been arrested by now. Most of them meant well, but unwittingly, I suppose, made what turned out to be very bad decisions that ultimately resulted in horrible repercussions for the American economy. It is going to take another 10 to fifteen years to fully recover. In the meantime, fiscal cuts have to be focused where they will do the least damage. Federal spending must be further increased and the Bush II tax cuts for the wealthiest must be reversed. As pointed out by many, this is not enough to generate the revenues needed to balance the budget, but half a trillion dollars is not insignificant. Taxes on the middle class must be kept as low as possible. The recommendations of the Social Security Trustees must be implemented post haste. Then it won't be necessary to raise the retirement age, which is a regressive solution at a time when more jobs, not fewer, are needed. Privatizing all or part of Social Security is not only a bad idea, but pointless to even consider. The Social Security administration is a huge, built-in buyer of Special Treasury bonds. To lose that at a time like this would be absurd. If you want to reform Social Security for the better, then allow the Trustees to invest in sovereign bonds of other nations as well as US treasuries, but not now. That must wait for better times to be implemented. We are not scheduled to have to start redeeming from the Trust for a another few years. There is a 3 trillion surplus there now, and if congress will go ahead and act on the Trustees request, the time when redemptions become necessary can be put off a few more years. That would be a huge help right now. Obamney care should be fully implemented as rapidly as practicable -- we are not going back, so what is the point in dragging ones heels? Further cost reduction pressure must be applied. If the Democrats are lucky enough to take back the House, and gain a seat or two in the Senate, then the public option must be reintroduced. That's the major cost saver that the Republicans killed in an attempt to ruin Obamney care. All States, not just a few as now, must have prescribing pharmacists. These are essential components if costs are to be contained. The goal must be to bring cost down to the level of other industrialized countries within ten years. A long range plan for converting defense industry jobs to designing and building infrastructure must be put in place with the goal of reducing defense cost by 70% over the next ten years. (We'll still be spending far more per capita on defense than any other industrialized nation!) The U.S. must absolutely avoid further involvement in extra-constitutional, undeclared wars. Unproductive spending in the CIA, NSA, and DHS can be eliminated with minimal impact on jobs and great improvement in the country's security. These agencies, through unwarranted and counterproductive secrecy, inefficient duplication of effort, inter-agency jealousy and competition have wreaked havoc with our national security and cost untold numbers of lives and dollars unnecessarily. The House, by far the most powerful government component, must exercise more responsibility and come down very hard on these extra-constitutional agencies and make them fully accountable. Millions of new jobs in education (all levels) and research, immigration services, alternative energy development and deployment, infrastructure expansion and repair -- including a national high speed rail network must be created using Federal seed money. Congress must stop acting like childish morons, stop wasting time debating issues on which the court has already ruled -- for better or worse. (Most Americans don't realize the House has the constitutional authority to prevent the court from hearing a case, but hasn't used that authority since the 19th century. Perhaps it's time that they started exercising the authority the Founders intended them to have. If they had done that, we might have had far less money in politics and corporations without first amendment rights!) And finally, we need to buy 2456 F35 Lockheed Martin Fighter Jets instead of 2457 and use the savings to double the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts! http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/f35.html http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/lockheed-martin-35-fighters-cost-771/story?id=14071402#.UE0jWVZDTTo Once full employment returns, federal revenues will increase and it will be time enough to pay down the debt and implement further fiscal restraint. The U.S. is now a highly advanced, mature country with a complex economy and an even more complex society. Sadly, for the libertarians (my natural inclination) and the anarchists out there, we are not going back to the Wild West days anytime soon.
Look, Obama is going to win. Unless they find out that he is jerking off his pet chihuahua in the middle at the night at the white house. The better topic should be: Given Obama's 2nd term, How can we safeguard our income and wealth? what are our options?
The best safeguard may be a stronger economy. Do what is necessary to support that. A rising tide lifts all ships.
They're more likely to find him eating a chihuahua. The best option, from a political perspective, will be divided government. Of course, Obama's fondness for executive orders will enable him to enact more of his agenda than divided government would allow via the regular legislative processes.