Thanks Andrew. Just as I fear. But perhaps tectonic shifts may create positives we currently can scarce imagine. I choose to remain an optimist. Thus I will hope that good men and women will balance this wave of negativity and hatred.
Problem number one for the USA is its government and private debt. Interest rates can not be reduced. The inflow of funds is heavily dependent on the value of the US dollar. Any prospect of default will be catastrophic for the economy that is going to the dogs because of the determination to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide, unless Trump intervenes to put a stop to that nonsense. If not, you have the example of California to contemplate.
Thank you for your thougths, Erl. There are monumental political, economic, and social problems plaguing America and these cross party lines (the entrenched two-party system, electoral college, and lack of term limits being biggies, plus chronic lack of social, economic, and educational investment and blind, opposing power at the national level). I hear the angst of those who voted for the GOP and the message they sent. However, they will likely be disappointed and all will suffer since those promising to help are effectively the same as those they claim to oppose and arguably more dangerous because of authoritarian leanings, skepticism of science, etc. The existential threat facing America is not the economy (though dire), but that we have a country that is almost evenly-divided in hatred of the other side. It amazes me how consistent this loathing is and how the political parties latch onto demonization as their organizing mantras. When the politicians care more about their own power and that of their supporters (which they almost all do), then the people suffer. "United we stand, Divided we fall." The U.S. is divided, and I worry that it will, if it has not already, cross(ed) the line of no return.
I hear what you say. I would like to see more concern for the have nots, of the sort that is apparent in China. The have nots in the US are desperate for change.
They indeed are, though I believe that the Democrats, flawed though they are, are interested in helping the have nots, whereas the Republicans do not express such sentiment or concern beyond the occasional rhetoric (rhetoric which admittedly proved decisive in convincing voters to support them in this election).
Thanks Andrew. Just as I fear. But perhaps tectonic shifts may create positives we currently can scarce imagine. I choose to remain an optimist. Thus I will hope that good men and women will balance this wave of negativity and hatred.
Brilliant analysis, Andrew!
Thank you, Hal. We are all in for a bumpy ride.
I subscribe to a different viewpoint. I agree with much that Victor Davis Hansen has to say here: https://johnanderson.net.au/victor-davis-hanson-historian-commentator-and-author-2/
Problem number one for the USA is its government and private debt. Interest rates can not be reduced. The inflow of funds is heavily dependent on the value of the US dollar. Any prospect of default will be catastrophic for the economy that is going to the dogs because of the determination to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide, unless Trump intervenes to put a stop to that nonsense. If not, you have the example of California to contemplate.
Thank you for your thougths, Erl. There are monumental political, economic, and social problems plaguing America and these cross party lines (the entrenched two-party system, electoral college, and lack of term limits being biggies, plus chronic lack of social, economic, and educational investment and blind, opposing power at the national level). I hear the angst of those who voted for the GOP and the message they sent. However, they will likely be disappointed and all will suffer since those promising to help are effectively the same as those they claim to oppose and arguably more dangerous because of authoritarian leanings, skepticism of science, etc. The existential threat facing America is not the economy (though dire), but that we have a country that is almost evenly-divided in hatred of the other side. It amazes me how consistent this loathing is and how the political parties latch onto demonization as their organizing mantras. When the politicians care more about their own power and that of their supporters (which they almost all do), then the people suffer. "United we stand, Divided we fall." The U.S. is divided, and I worry that it will, if it has not already, cross(ed) the line of no return.
I hear what you say. I would like to see more concern for the have nots, of the sort that is apparent in China. The have nots in the US are desperate for change.
They indeed are, though I believe that the Democrats, flawed though they are, are interested in helping the have nots, whereas the Republicans do not express such sentiment or concern beyond the occasional rhetoric (rhetoric which admittedly proved decisive in convincing voters to support them in this election).