Actually, I think you are dead on target there. As I see it, the dollar itself is the biggest fraud in the history of the earth. Its well beyond the French Assignat's of the 1700's that put the fear of paper money into the founders of the US, because all the world uses the dollar for payments, as though it was money. Sure, they can print dollars to keep asset values inflated, but who has thought far enough ahead to figure out how it ever gets repaid? Or doesn't? And what happens when it doesn't? Call it depression delayed and multiplied, me thinks...
Oldtime et. al., 'net worth' is not different from aggregate real assets. Net worth is an individual notion that is the sum of possessory rights to real assets controlled by an individual. 'Buying Power' is the leverage ratio of net worth. Real aggregate assets, net worth and buying power are all about he same thing. The question is how to make a simple metric from the asset basis that helps to explain weath dynanmics. I don't see a conflict of ideas. I think it helps to get to what I am talking about if you understand that all wealth is simply the possessory right to a future income stream discounted to the present. The possessory right is what I am defining as real assets. In a capitalist society real assets can be possessed individually. The present value of those assets can change by changed expectations about the future with regard to taxation, regulation or property law among other issues that change the discount in the possessory right to the future income stream. Much of what we call value, therefore, depends on our view of the future. About the notion of the power plant in Arizona not helping the guy in NJ who can't afford power...so what? The power plant in Arizona is an asset to those who have the possessory right to its cash flow. Apparently the guy in NJ has no such right. Why can't he afford his electric bill? This has nothing to do with what I am talking about and the two ideas, the power plant and the guy in NJ who is broke are two seperate issues. I don't get the point. The issue of production v. consumption is really a zero sum game. All consumption is dependent on prior production (form of savings), present production (form of present surplus revenue) or future production (form of basis for credit). Really there is no such thing as a consumer, there are only producers who spend surplus production or otherwise subsidize others who spend surplus production. The problem occurs when all the past production saved has been spent or lost and the surplus of present production in insufficient to support current consumption, and the expectation of future production that has been the basis for credit to fund the current consumption deficit, begins to be discounted down by the creditors...reducing the credit available. That is the basis of our current crises. Problem is that we have no been infesting in the creation and maintenance of assets that are the basis of future produciton...so we have to reduce the expectation of future growth.
oh ok, why is it you economists never care about the poor guy in New Jersey? I understand your job is to oversee the financial health of something big like a whole country, but if the economy improves and he is still cold it doesn't matter much to him. Last I checked average income is 49k. I mentioned buying power because who knows what 49k will buy from day to day. So until that number starts moving in the right direction it doesn't matter how much we as a country invest or how much we spend on new infrastrucure or even how much we borrow or spend or save. The average income is the only thing we can uinderstand and has real meaning to us.
folks call for sharing the wealth. they dont realize, its already being shared. thats why they have a roof over their head, and a full stomach. if the wealth was truly hoarded, they would be dead of starvation.
the reason the rich have roofs over their heads is because some poor guy built it for them. Their stomachs are full because some poor guy picked the food for them. Migrant workers come into this country every season and share what they pick with the rest of us. If they hoarded it Jenny Craig would be on welfare.
random.capital was the guy who got me thinking about this. We have freedom when it comes to goods, but not when it comes to labor. China sends their goods over here but does not allow the people who make them to come here, or we allow Chinese goods in our country but not the Chinese people who make them. If there was true free flow of labor why would anyone work for $8 a day when they can come here and make $8/hr? So if you consider labor wealth, it is being hoarded and not shared.
True. Unless USA aligns Immigrant & Non-immigrant Visas and Outsourcing to Caste system in India http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/may/03touch.htm and Human Rights in China http://www.rediff.com/business/slid...forced-to-sign-no-suicide-pledge/20110504.htm American middle class will be destroyed.
Oldtime, I didn't write anything that could objectively be interpreted to mean that I didn't care about your fictional, only partly articulated and defined 'person' in NJ who you made up for argument sake. I suggested that your argument was disjointed and the connection you appeared to be attempting was not logical, then I asked you a question about your 'NJ man' to see if I could understand your construct. You didn't answer my question; instead of developing further detail about your 'sim guy' you simply started making stuff up about me and then about economists and then you started making up stuff about your view of economics. You disregarded all that I shared with you about wealth, assets, capital, labor, investment and growth and did not respond to those ideas. You changed the subject and made conclusory statements about fictional characters that were not supported by any factual analysis. I guess the structure I offered you was not as much fun as your imagination and prejudices. Do you think the guys who are not building houses for rich people now are better off? You didn't mention whether these apparently oppressed home construction workers used to get paid or even whether they liked their work. Do you think they are liberated by unemployment...freed from stifling servitude? In your view as creator, did they purhaps become self actualized in thier new liberation from the persecution of employment as street poets and philosphers of a new found utopia?...or are they in the food stamp chart, swapping four roses?