The difference being when you have logical thinking engineers and scientists running the show versus politicians.
This thread is a great example of why ET is great. Good to see I'm not the only one who feels like I've been watching a slow-motion train wreck that just won't stop...
The day Bush took over hey, well I think it was well into progress at that point but he definitely accelerated it.
The Dow will be at 100,000 within 45 years. What kind of collapse is that? Yet, the US will take a back seat to the EU. While the US goes to hybrids, the EU will convert to hydrogen cells. Passenger jet's will be fast enough to get from NY to LA in a half hour. But it'll still be hell.
Priced in what? Marbles? The USD won't even be around within 20 years! Now that Bernanke has started talking about supporting the dollar what is he going to do when it doesn't work!! That will show that they are helpless in stopping the collapse of the USD! Traders will sense blood and.....
The infrastructure is in place for a great economic boon, worldwide. All that is required is a little faith. Jesus
I don't believe the US will ever be 3rd world. it will go bankrupt, lose reserve currency status, and have to start over just as other great powers have had to do. think the UK after WW II, or post WW I Germany. when the US can no longer field a massive military, and is FORCED to completely redo entitlements, then the economy will be balanced fine and the US will chug along similar to a large euro country. The US economy is far too diverse and educated to become third world. For that matter, W Europe and Japan will never be third world either, although Brazil could stay there indefinitely. Income in Brazil is still extremely uneven, and mostly dependent on exports of unfinished goods. Classic third world situation. Commodities drop in value, Brazil reverts over night.
There is one man, who I actually believe knows what he speaks of, who gives me more fear than anyone else regarding the economic future of the U.S.: David Walker. I've delved into what he's had to say for a long time now, and if he's right, as the former Comptroller General of the United States, well then, we've got some pretty remarkable problems looming as America's worker vs retiree structure inverts into an upside down pyramid shape. The U.S. Government is on the hook for 58 trillion in unfunded liabilities that will be due in the form of entitlement payments to retirees and others, and instead of having three workers per retiree, we will be at a point within 25 years where we will have working adult for every three retirees. And that, my friends, is very, very problematic. Pick your poison: Massively fewer entitlement payments, massively (radically, actually) higher taxes on the working population, or some combination of both. Either way, it's economically non-stimulative, will make the U.S. far less competitive, and could have been avoided had the United States had only learned that age-old trick of saving money and building on surpluses, while it had the chance to do so. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0523fri1-23.html http://www.gao.gov/cghome/dwbiog.html