. Hhubbins: It would be great if Brazil and China could team up to topple the junta there. ***** SouthAmerica: Why Brazil? Burma is on Chinaâs backyard, but why Brazil should get involved on that mess, other than send some critical help because of the Hurricane? ***** Hhubbins: Your Korea example proves only that your knowledge of history is a bit lacking. Korea was divided to avoid WW3 (Communism vs. Capitalism). It was a prudent choice. ***** SouthAmerica: Korea it was divided because the United States did not have the capacity to beat the North Koreans on the battlefield. It is that simple. ***** Hhubbins: Why you feel the need to trash talk the US is really beyond me. ***** SouthAmerica: I did not used to trash the United States before January of 2001. Before January 2001 the US had some good and some bad governments over the years â but since January 2001 the US has had the worst government and the most incompetent since 1776. ***** Hhubbins: Kevin Phillips is not an economist. He is a political strategist. Show me a peer reviewed economics journal article that says US gdp is overestimated by 3-4 trillion dollars. Phillips can't be telling you something that you already know. He can be telling you something that you believe but, he isn't qualified to critique economic models developed by phd economists. ***** SouthAmerica: If you had taken the time to read the article on Harperâs magazine you would know that Kevin Philips used the figures from John Williams a California-based economic analyst and statistician who is an expert on the official Washington numbers. In a 2006 interview, Williams noted that although few Americans ever see the fine print, the government âalways footnotes the changes and provides all the fine detail. Nonetheless, some of the changes are nothing short of remarkable, and the patter over time is what I call Pollyanna Creep.â Williams is one of a small group of economists and analysts who have paid any attention to the phenomenon. A few have pointed out the understatement of the Consumer Price Index â the billionaire bond manager Bill Gross has described it as an âhaute con job,â and Bloomberg columnist John Wasik has dismissed it as â a testament to the art of spin.â â¦. There are many well know economists that are aware of what has been going on since the early 1980âs Please donât mention the economic models developed by phd economists â they have a very poor track record on Wall Street. Maybe because they are using data published by the US government on their models data that is not worth even the paper that they use to publish such a data. .
. May 12, 2008 SouthAmerica: Reply to Libertad The price of oil on the international market had an effect in Brazil â most people started using only ethanol instead of gasoline on their flex-fuel cars. Petrobras ended up with an over-supply of gasoline on the domestic market since most people had switched to ethanol because of the rising price of gasoline. If you read my articles going back a few years â you can see that I thought that if the price of oil reached the price of around $ 80 per barrel on world markets that would have been an economic disaster for the economy of many small countries in Latin America, in Africa and so forth. Now with a barrel of oil trading at $ 126 US dollars things are supposed to be even worse for these countries. Oil trading at $ 200 US dollars per barrel it would be a catastrophe for all these smaller economies that are dependent on importing oil from other countries. The other possibility is that my analysis has been wrong and also my perception of the importance of the US dollar in world markets. And the new reality is that the price of oil at $ 200 dollars per barrel reflects more how worthless the US currency is becoming in world markets than anything else. As the price of a barrel of oil keeps going up to the $ 200 US dollar level â one of the countries that would be least affected by such inflation in US dollars it will be the Brazilian economy because of its increased dependence in ethanol to run the Brazilian economy. Ethanol made from sugar cane. In the United States domestic market as the barrel of oil reaches $ 200 US dollars then gasoline at the pump also probably would reach the $ 6 or $ 7 US dollar average cost per gallon of unleaded regular gasoline and it will cost about from $ 75 to $ 105 dollars to fill the thank of most cars. If you have a big SUV you probably need to ask your company to start depositing your monthly salary directly into your account with Exxon/Mobil to cover the cost of your monthly gasoline usage. .
. May 14, 2008 SouthAmerica: Reply to Derrick 1983 You can start by reading the following articles. They also mention one of my books. Articles about Brazilian history: January 2003 - âThe Brazilian Ruling Classâ http://www.brazzillog.com/pages/p107jan03.htm July 2000 â âThe Greatest Man in Brazilian Historyâ http://www.brazzillog.com/pages/blajul00.htm Note: The above two articles are about the members of my family in Brazil. February 2005 â âBrazil, the Original Leader of the Americas â Part Iâ http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/1360/49/ February 2005 â âBrazil, the Original Leader of the Americas â Part IIâ http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/1425/49/ ***** My second book "The Real Promised Land" - I made only about 50 copies of that book and sent a copy to a very select number of people including Louis Farrakhan. (This book was published in Jan. or Feb of 2000). It is a very controversial book in many ways. I have a chapter about 80 pages long with a full detail of the American prison system. I talk about the US government paying reparation to the black population in relation to slavery, and much more. The book had a complete plan regarding the black population on the United States - I mentioned in the book that the window of opportunity for that plan to work was very small because of the baby boom generation and the state of the finances of the US government. By the way, that window of opportunity already has been closed and the black population in the US are out of luck. It is a very interesting plan and the plan made a lot of sense to me when I wrote that book in 1999. I gave the amount of reparation for each person, and the strategy to follow the plan. I also mentioned all the groups of people who would be against such a plan and the reasons why? .
If the U.S. goes down, the rest of the world, including Brazil, goes down. 'Decoupling' is a fairy tale myth. The world needs the U.S. consumer now more than ever. Just go ask Asian & European Central Banks.
. ByLoSellHi: If the U.S. goes down, the rest of the world, including Brazil, goes down. 'Decoupling' is a fairy tale myth. The world needs the U.S. consumer now more than ever. Just go ask Asian & European Central Banks. ***** May 14, 2008 SouthAmerica: The United States is already going down â we are not in a lot worse shape, at least temporarily because of massive US government intervention on this supposed free market economy. Yesterday Ben Bernanke said that the Fed wallet is open for any amount of money that it is needed to keep the US banking system afloat. Basically the Fed is pushing forward the day for the big bang when the US financial system finally has a major nuclear blow out. A few weeks ago Bernanke did not have the balls to raise the Fed funds rate and instead he lowered the Fed funds rate even further. Yes, we are getting closer to the day when the United States will set off the biggest international monetary crisis that the world have ever seen. That is when we will have the First Great Depression of the new millennium. The Perfect Storm is here and the Fed is trying everything possible to keep the US economy system from imploding into a black hole. .
. May 15, 2008 SouthAmerica: A few weeks ago the day before the Fed lowered the Fed Funds rate for the last time I said on a posting on this forum that Bernanke should raise the Fed funds rate by 1/5 point instead of lowering it to 2 percent. Yesterday I also said on my posting: âA few weeks ago Bernanke did not have the balls to raise the Fed funds rate and instead he lowered the Fed funds rate even further.â Today I was glad to see an article on the Financial Times (UK) âAct now to avoid inflation, warns Volcker.â I am glad to find out that there is at least another person who also thinks that the fed should raise the Fed Funds rate to fight inflation. .
I am impressed, you instincts on monetary policy are so precise that you think we should decrease the adjustment increment from 1/4 to 1/5 of a point. Why aren't you working at the fed?
I've also been against lowering rates for quite awhile. In the long run its making matters worse. The avoid a recession at any cost mentality just doesn't work. Have a normal, cyclical recession sooner, or a blowout later.