My Story in Newspaper

Discussion in 'Economics' started by AFterburner, Dec 1, 2005.

  1. you people are just amazing. So you think he could get a masters in economics say in 5 years if he borrows maybe 100K for school loans to get a job as a teacher somewhere for 50k a year? Let's do a little math shall we? Borrow and live like miser for 5 years to make 50k? What would his education gain him? Would you believe his argument more? He can probably make that (50k) anyways if he decide to teach welding or iron working.....
    I am not against education but the current job market in the so called knowledge based work is all in India and China. He is better off with ironwork and construction stuff as things are in the US.
    Why don't you get off your high horse and get some common sense and smell the coffee?
     
    #21     Dec 29, 2005

  2. I admire your dedication, as it is a quality many people lack.



    RT
     
    #22     Dec 29, 2005
  3. WD40

    WD40

    where did you figure out he needs this job thingy?
     
    #23     Dec 29, 2005
  4. Most people get an education for better prospect in the job market and/or to learn more. Learning more however can be accomplished from visiting your nearest library for free.
     
    #24     Dec 29, 2005
  5. I agree with you that the national debt is more of a political problem than an economic one at least for the time being. One of my biggest problems with the national debt right now is the fact that we China and Japan are the major purchasers of our bonds.

    When you start to really think about the possibilities, it starts to become alarming.

    Many people do not view China as a threat, or they would prefer not to worry about it until it becomes a problem. Unfortunately, by the time that happens, it will be too late.

    People say that China is not a threat because it is just a "developing" country. Well it is doing pretty good for a developing country. Also, they say that the wealth distribution is not a problem based on the fact that Chinese people have a much lower per capita standard of living. But both of those arguments are meaningless.

    China may be the underdog, but they are leading the score.

    You know, I don't have a problem with the Chinese people. In other words, I am not racist or anything like that. And I don't want to categorize them either, because I hate to think that other countries think of Americans as they are portrayed on TV. TV does not represent me. But I do have some problems with the Chinese government.

    Also, we are just borrowing, borrowing, borrowing. Right now the money is easy. China has a dollar reserve of around $700 billion. They have this money for currency purposes, and trade purposes. In other words, they have temporary reasons to be holding dollars. And what can they do with it? Might as well buy some U.S. Treasuries and put some of that money to work.

    So we think to ourselves, no problem. We've got the money. But what is going to happen 10 years down the line when those bonds need to be reissued? We won't have the money to pay them back, that's for sure. But what happens if China no longer wants to lend us that money? What if they have a better use for it?

    I especially think pressuring China to float its currency was the right move at the absolutely wrong time. And in the market, being right at the wrong time is the same as being wrong. Because at least when their currency was pegged to the dollar, it gave them a little more incentive to buy our bonds. Now with interest rates so low, they will have to demand much higher interest rates to compensate themselves for the foreign exchange risks. So it will come on the backs of our taxpayers.

    What I'm trying to say is that you cannot count on foreign central banks to continually finance your budget deficits. And what will happen if they pull the plug on you? There is just not enough stability there. That is why I am saying a pension system would be ideal. Because you know that money will be available to you for the long term, and it can also be rolled over continually to new generations.

    Yes China supplies us with cheap goods now. But we are gutting our own manufacturing capacity. Once it's gone, it cannot be just started back up again. It will take time and significant capital investments and borrowing to get American production back on track.

    So China can string us along for awhile and then starting raising the prices on their goods. They can do this while simultaneously dumping their bond and currency holdings.

    Suddenly you have a situation where interest rates in this country are so high (because of the leverage applied by China) that it makes it unfeasible to regain this manufacturing capacity. And you are stuck paying whatever prices China wants you to pay. Don't think that the Chinese government is being so cooperative right now out of sheer goodness. They have a strategy, and we are playing right into it.

    So maybe the intentions of the Chinese government are good for now. But rest assured that a leader will come along, who will not be content with second best. Upon seeing the power that could be wielded against us, many would not be able to resist such temptation. And suddenly a political problem becomes an economic one.

    Simple but deadly. So yeah, I may not have a degree, but I know a little bit about human nature. All I'm trying to say is that if you sit back and try to analyze the world with a calculator, you are going to miss it. Common sense goes a long way.
     
    #25     Dec 29, 2005
  6. Thanks for the kind words. But...

    Sometimes I used to worry about the fact that college was not for me (then again, more often I was worried that I wasn't worried). But then someone sent me a link to this speech. And a lot of it started to sound familiar.

    http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

    "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

    We'll see what happens...
     
    #26     Dec 29, 2005
  7. WD40

    WD40

    how did you figure out that ABurner belongs to the "most people" category?
     
    #27     Dec 30, 2005