What created the 'line' to America's current economic problems?

Question

Are unregulated (multinational) corporations collectively damaging the ecomony? (Perhaps not individually, but if they ALL are free to gouge us all they want, what can we do?)

Answer 1

If you zoom out and look at the economy as a world economy and not a national economy the answer is a bit easier to see. Everything revolves around supply and demand, not just nationaly but globaly. The demand for fuel in what was once third world under developed countries has skyrocketed. The reason being that they are starting to develope. The main diffrence in our economy and the economies of China or India is that there fuel price is highly subsidized in order to keep thier economies moving in the right directions. Fuel prices are a huge part of our economic woes. The only real solutions to our fuel problems are not solutions that will affect anything in the next 24 months at least. The solutions at hand will in fact work, however it would require an extensive amount of cooperation from people who tend to be more of the extreme mind set. The other part of what we are seeing is more of a correction than anything else. Houses being overpriced, loose bank lending policies, people's entitlement mentality, lack of savings accounts, and just more or less poor money managment. History shows that this has happened before and it will happen again. The people who where in over thier heads will get slapped for a few years and we will hear all thier stories on NBC nightly news, but the fact is most people are fine and will be fine. Real people who work hard and use thier heads to rule the bank account will come out great. If you really think about it, right now is the best time in the world for a person 25 - 35, with a little extra money, and the right financial guidance to make a mint. Buy up cheap stocks and get a great house at a great price. Warren buffet says it like this; "get aggresive when everyone else is scared, and get scared when everyone else is aggresive"

Answer 2

Yes, the latest is the Housing and Financing sectors of The Nation s******g many millions if not billions of people out of their hard earned money. This is about the seventh major scandal like the energy crisis that partly got Bush elected in the first place that has been perpetrated on the public.

In last seven years like the energy crisis which caused the public to absorb billions in support of energy dollars for nothing returned but to allow Bush to continue his ruinous economic leadership.

If it where not for the War,  the lack of economic leadership would be the worst part of Bush's legacy.

Answer 3

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and HJR 192 of 1933.

The legalization and institutionalization of fractional reserve banking made it mandatory for people to accept counterfeit money as "legal tender for all debts public and private".

This tenet of Central Banking has historically always resulted in a downward economic spiral that always ends in economic collapse.  

Raise your hands as you ride the corkscrew down, the gun pointed at your head is getting clearer and clearer as we reach the bottom.

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Answer 4

Commercialism, capitalism, and nationalism all rolled up into one! Abuses, greed, thievery, lies, scandal, manipulation, oh and NAFTA??? We are in a sucking muddy sinkhole that won't release us because of the "big boys" in the monopolizing pandering and detrimental abuses of NAFTA.

Bush is at the top of the list; him and his oil businesses. That's what he cares about most! All the "PORKED" emark scandals, and you know what? It's the good ole boy network chain of selfishness and evil. That's really what it boils down to.

I'm just so angry everyday that Bush is not imprisoned for having the bloodshed of over 1 Billion people on his hands and all for OIL! These folks are full of evil, pure and simple. Now that's the elementary of it all; evil.

Yes, they are always merging, or doing annual, or 5-year merges, like that for quick bucks and this strikes huge blows into our economy. Business is great for those who care only for themselves and how many vacation homes they can own across the world. Business is a wonderful thing but business abuse is more accepted. That's the whole and part of it.

Answer 5

WAR ON IRAQ....

Answer 6

make your own clothes, sounds absurd in this world right. everyones going to laugh at you. People make all sorts of stuff, clothes are probably one of the easier things to make well, given some learning. You can even dress in artistic fashions no one has ever seen before. Suppose you must have your own sense of confidence and identity. I was just researching khadi, Ghandi's homespun clothing from his resistance of Britain. I thought it would sell goo using that material. I learned though that it is 'homespun' as the name suggests and making your own thread is just the start of putting this thread together as cloth. The machines and looms make cloth much faster and cheaper. Khadi is not cost effective. It makes me wonder why Ghandi encouraged his people to 'waste' thier time. They could have made cheap homemade looms and done it much quicker and still kept out the British. IDK. Long story short, you can buy cloth for pretty cheap and not spend a year spinning thread. My problems here too is that if I sold handmade garments, I have no great artistic talent and machines can sew clothes so fast I cannot compete, without my own machines.

Aside from clothes, don't buy that other crack either. You don't need it. It doesn't bring you any great enjoyment, so save it and buy that jet ski or motorbike you've wanted. I know it's hard not to waste those few dollars eveyday on individually packaged sodas that cost .30 less than the 2 liter. Craft your own stuff and trade with other crafters. Although the craft m,arket is wierd too. Crafters want to make premium product and sell it to rich people as a unique special thing. That's what they want but people prefer to buy unoriginal cheap crack. And you want cheap stuff not fine quality. Unfortunately there is no underground flea market in America, only wal mart. Some countries have this cheap homemade craft stuff available at outdoor markets. It's not a fine homespun clothes, it's cheap shody homespun clothes you can buy for very little money. This is discouraged in America (by regulations and permits, fees etc that the poor cannot afford or meet the standards) as it is too closely associated with the lower class. And just take my word that whatever the poor do is bad for business and thus illegal in America. Sorry, you have no power over the corporations when they control your government.

Answer 7

The G O P's trickle down idiocy

Answer 8

What are you talking about?  There's enormous amounts of regulation.  The problem is all the regulation, not the lack of it.

Have you ever tried to buy a home, start a business, get insurance, get healthcare, do anything?  There's ridiculous amounts of paperwork, and it's because of the government's involvement in every aspect of our lives.  

The same institution that runs the DMV, also runs education, energy, healthcare, defense, social security, and now they want to control the internet and crack down on privacy.

The economy sucks because the dollar isn't tied to any hard asset like it used to be, so now they just print money, which is the direct cause of inflation, which is basically a hidden tax (everytime more money is introduced into the system, the money in your wallet is worth less).  To offset this, the Federal Reserve (which ironically isn't a gov't institution, but a private bank) tries to control index rates.  That leads to bubbles, like the current housing bubble.  

What can we do?  Elect a President who actually understands economics.  Unfortunately that will not happen in 2008.

Here's a short video (< 10 minutes) giving a quick intro.

ps. I've added a better 2nd video (42 minutes) which clearly explains the problem.

Answer 9

Rising energy prices due to explosive demand from emerging nations. Just basic economics; no capitalist conspiracy theories.