American Money Crisis

[snowman]

Well, I went ahead and ordered the book. Very cheap. I need to also start searching the most recent information on baby boomers, like ages and retirement projections. I want to look at alternative and verifiable data sources, like 2010 US census. Will keep you up-to-date.

Another thing that everybody knows but is worth mentioning, Even if people want work, where will they get it? Someone told me earlier today, a baby boomer, that most of our manufacturing jobs are now overseas, aka China.

It also been said that China wants to get rid of their US Dollars because of its current volatility. Thus dumping it back into our economy and helping to fuel US hyper-inflation. China had an infrastructure including a manufacturing base that has been created in part by the US economy. They’re much more self-sufficient and have their own wealth now. Again partly because of the US. So they can afford to get rid of the US dollar. I’m not really trying to point fingers either.

We, on the other hand, have lost our manufacturing base because we decided to out-source our jobs to lower wage workers in foreign countries. So when the foreign economies have finally built up some wealth, they get away from the US.

We lose jobs, we gain hyper-inflation, we loose our infrastructure. And then approximately 100 million baby boomers (1/3 of the population) decide to all retire at the same time. Oh well.

[DrFaraday]

Snowman,
Regarding China dumping dollars, you might find this article interesting:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-05-03/china-s-economy-to-slow-may-crash-in-next-nine-months-marc-faber-says.html

It seems China has a real estate/construction bubble that may burst.  Our economy is now so closely tied to theirs, that what affects them affects us, and vise-versa.  The way I see it, neither country can afford to be completely indifferent to the other.  But how that will play out if economic hardships increase, is anyone's guess.

Hyperinflation is a real concern.   Some say we are on already on the verge of triggering inflation:

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/10/angry-voters-are-right-growing-debt-can-slow-the-economy/#more-35747

An excerpt:

[...] For the period 1946 through 2009, developed countries (which includes the United States) grew at an annual rate of just shy of 4 percent when debt was no greater than 30 percent of GDP. For debt burdens above 30 but below 90 percent, economic growth slowed down but remained, on average, around 3 to 3.5 percent per year. However, a debt burden of over 90 percent of GDP was associated with a significantly slower economy: the average growth rate is negative and the median rate is just at 2 percent.

When Reinhart and Rogoff focused just on the U.S., the association of high debt burden and economic slowdown becomes even more pronounced. They use data from 1790 through 2009. When debt rises to 90 percent of GDP, both the average and the median economic growth rates are negative and the inflation rate skyrockets to above 5.5 percent.

What makes this research so telling is the commonly accepted prediction that U.S. sovereign debt is on its way to 100 percent of GDP and doing so quickly. The International Monetary Fund predicted that total U.S. government debt would reach that level in 2015, just four years from now. The Congressional Budget Office forecasts that debt will be above 90 percent by 2020. If one adds in the debt U.S. government agencies owe one another, the U.S. debt could be above 100 percent next year. [...]

Hyper-Inflation would of course be much worse.  So far, China has not wanted to do anything to damage our economy, because they rely on us to buy their consumer goods.  But if American's stop buying their stuff anyway, China will have less incentive to keep buying and holding our debt.  If their own problems keep increasing, I don't know what they are likely to do.

[raybe]

One subject I would like also to see mentioned in all of this is the 2nd version of transfer of wealth. The generation that Boomers would be getting or have inherited was in some cases higher and in some lower and even the ones that retire are taking part time jobs. Since 2001, the stock market meltdown has erased some $8 trillion in shareholder wealth, cutting the net worth of Boomers' parents. The attitudes in spending or holding more money because of the un-surity if they or we will have enough money to get through the rough times, living longer. Most articles I have seen  still reflect lower incomes versus what other generations may have been compensated for, their way of living and Conservative values in making or spending money thus the inheritance of past wealth.

The more I try to look at this economic rubik's cube the more factors come into play that point in the wrong direction and it seems less as time goes on. Regardless of demographics, stimulus, global economics, Insurance Co., Banks, attorney's and being able to transfer wealth that just not seem to be there for all these reasons.

They have it we don't and how do we get some back. The term 'Boomers' is even split. Today's seniors enjoy full Social Security and Medicare benefits and receive the most generous pensions in the nation's history and I still know plenty are working somewhat or trying to hold their wealth because they also face enormous expenses as well.
Some 40 percent of Americans over age 65 may spend time in a nursing home, and 75 percent will likely need some type of home care, reports the Health Insurance Association of America. The average cost of care in a nursing home: more than $52,000 annually.

In 1999, everyone was getting rich and ready to hand down fortunes but most don't have that money anymore.

raybe

[snowman]

So if I was to sum up and make a fair assessment, here is what we are ultimately saying.

#1 Boomers are beginning to reach the end of their financial contributions and are now nearing the start of a grand healthcare, social security, and retirement drain of epic proportions.

#2 Our debt, both in government and on an individual bases, are bringing this country to total bankruptcy.   

#3 China and other countries are preparing to flee the US dollar, thus adding to the fears of hyper-inflation.

#4 Banker's intense creed as well as irresponsibility has undermined our country's safety net, squandering billions into select individual hands wealth.
                                 
#5 Elitists are plotting and deliberately making things worse. People of influence who are possibly contributing to catastrophic frailer by means of Demoralization, De-stabilization, Crisis, and Normalization.
      
The combination of thieves, bad decisions, demographics, and fears are all coming together for the perfect storm. I guess its time to either baton down the hatches or flee the country. I have a friend who said that He was moving to Australia. I’m not so sure about that, maybe Greenland.

I don’t want to scare anybody, but it seems prudent to prepare for the worse while, of course, praying for the best.

[raybe]

What is going to be really something are the people that will feel a slight adjustment in their lives sort of title wave in the middle of the ocean. They can feel like no more than a little breaker until the sea floor begins to rise or get shallower and you really see what your dealing with and guess who is going to be on shoreline? I think the perfect storm fits in this case. There are great conditions for the worst things to happen but like the weather everybody looks towards trends, past history, theories, gut feelings, computer models even if similar economic results weren't a very long time ago considering our entire history.

 I have no doubt in my own mind and my own opinion that there will be a definite split between winners and losers as selected people or Financial Inst. will be far from shore when that title wave does or can hit the lower lined area's rising to great heights and taking many people with it. Not to say none of them are immune. A record number of Banks will close this year.

People will survive because some people are just better at it then others(or lucky, your choice). I would never doubt the 'will', 'courage' and the minds power of some. I'm not sure if we learn this, inherit it or just born with it (or just lucky, your choice again).

This is what does bother me. People can use this same opportunity like selling more books and selling their ideas as fact which I have found lately if you keep looking how many more 'experts' there are now that knew this was going to happen. Boy I remember in '2005-2006' lots of people shocked and jolted. Even the evening news wasn't quit sure of how to exploit this yet. The more I really search the easier they are becoming to find and if only people would have read their material there was nothing anybody could of done but they would have known I knew. Reminds me of every exercise machine and diet book prediction of obesity in the U.S. because there will always be a McDonalds or whom ever.

Again they are not all totally wrong it just gets harder to distinguish the ones that are really trying to help and again the others that having such information and stay laying under the radar then like magic here they are to explain it all. Things that happen are truly justified as they happen or after the fact.

As the opposite of China that allow one child to be born because of the size of their country and what it takes to keep an engine running unlike gym memberships, 'limited space with unlimited memberships' should we also dictate how many children to have and when or is this just the way life is for us or any country that has similar systems in place? I still see more of a similarity between events, peoples beliefs at that time and what was the conception of priority for each and every generation. Wealth has not only shifted but it never really gets adjusted because of all the variables such as events and beliefs which are also made by people and large powerful groups of people while we watch. Well I believe in everything else but today I still see wealth shifting and not adjusting because the resources just aren't there (ex.Money). Although they would like to show us differently. No I don't know what the reference to 'they' truly means. As Warren Buffet says; you have to trust yourself and your own knowledge sometimes and not follow the mainstream but you also have to be open minded enough to change your strategies as well. Not a direct quote but something I caught that I believe was a documentary about him. Here is a man that made money during every economic climate. It's a shame that you can count these people maybe one hand but I am sure there are others I just don't know all their names that honestly found their own way. The majority felt every little bump and wave that past them. Some survived and some didn't.

Some people will exploit it and some will try to find future problem solving. The not so greatest minds in the world still question the greatest minds past and present and theories the world has ever known and I thank God for those people that just keep asking and questioning. Some motivators would use this scenario in their own teaching; Push yourself to ask better questions and your mind will push to get better answers'. when it is just human nature for some to constantly push the envelope and never just accepting  how many times a particular theory has been proven.

Maybe like everything we put our minds to in life there lies the answer and yes the answer can be the answer we don't want to hear. For now anyway.

raybe

[snowman]

That was a well written post Raybe. And it also brought up another very important topic that we will be facing in the future if God tarries. That has to do with population. We know that the world population, if left uncheck, will eventually peak out. I always figured that God would return before this, because that would mean very bad things would happen. The world would essentially turn into a city, huge food problems, extreme immorality on a very massive scale. And the rest would be left to the imagination, although I'm too squeamish to imagine it.

Population up until the 1920s had grown to about 2 billion people. Now its around 6.8 Billion and its growing exponentially. So it will be a big problem relatively soon. There is talk of mass scale murder using virus's to limit the worlds population. Some have even suggested that Aids is an attempt at this very thing. Wether or not this is true I personally think it is immoral on so many different levels. It was Steven Hawkins who said that mankind needs to start looking towards the stars if it ever expects to survive.

I've heard of plans that entails destroying about 80% of our world's current population for the betterment of the Human species. Again I think this is not the way to go. Although I don’t believe they are asking my opinion. I know that there are many ways to implement this sort of destruction that doesn’t rely on viruses. I hope the Lord returns before this kind of thing happens but I think its probably already happening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World-Population-1800-2100.png

[Will and Mr Data :) :]]

success sounds nice,
as to attempt a direction,
i'm told consider calling a problem an opertunity.
i keep saying success sounds nice,
there is a potential of knollage,
 to encourage as nice,

bye for now and be well :]

[lightspeed]

hey snowman , remember when i talked about suppresion of idea's and products . here is an interesting article , it's a little long but interesting .


This is from the Telegraph


Dr Rubbia says a tonne of the silvery metal – named after the Norse god of thunder, who also gave us Thor’s day or Thursday - produces as much energy as 200 tonnes of uranium, or 3,500,000 tonnes of coal. A mere fistful would light London for a week.

Thorium eats its own hazardous waste. It can even scavenge the plutonium left by uranium reactors, acting as an eco-cleaner. "It’s the Big One," said Kirk Sorensen, a former NASA rocket engineer and now chief nuclear technologist at Teledyne Brown Engineering.

"Once you start looking more closely, it blows your mind away. You can run civilisation on thorium for hundreds of thousands of years, and it’s essentially free. You don’t have to deal with uranium cartels," he said. Thorium is so common that miners treat it as a nuisance, a radioactive by-product if they try to dig up rare earth metals. The US and Australia are full of the stuff. So are the granite rocks of Cornwall. You do not need much: all is potentially usable as fuel, compared to just 0.7pc for uranium.


I must say this does sound like an exciting fuel. I like the fact that it eats its own hazardous waste and can even eat that of Uranium and Plutonium. Could be used in Chernobyl?

More from the Telegraph


You might have thought that thorium reactors were the answer to every dream but when CERN went to the European Commission for development funds in 1999-2000, they were rebuffed.

Brussels turned to its technical experts, who happened to be French because the French dominate the EU’s nuclear industry. "They didn’t want competition because they had made a huge investment in the old technology," he said.


There is the same old problem with the energy cartels who try to prevent the spread of alternative energies to the 'dirty fuels'.

It would seem the bigest growth will be in the emerging economies and mabye in the U.S.. But would the Obama administration have the stomach to take on the nuclear looby in the U.S. and argue for the replacement of Uranium with Thorium?


So Aker is looking for tie-ups with the US, Russia, or China. The Indians have their own projects - none yet built - dating from days when they switched to thorium because their weapons programme prompted a uranium ban.


Billions have been provided in loan gurantees to encourage the expansion on the use of Nuclear powere in the U.S. why not funnel some of that to building Thorium based sites?

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Surely if the U.S. could show the benefits of Thorium powered reactors they could export the technology to places like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel and anyone else developing a Nuclear programme to replace any Uranium powered sites?

This would take the risk of nuclear weapons being built out of the equation, as it is nigh on impossible to use Thorium in a weapon because of its high output of Gamma rays.

Any thoughts?

Links to Thorium related sites.

energyfromthorium.com...
periodic.lanl.gov...
www.world-nuclear.org...

[raybe]

DrFaraday, The thing that worries me in regards to your post on Aug.31st about China is yes we effect each other but we are the Country that owes them the money and if something terrible with their economy should also hit nearly at the same time. I think we get the short end of it but I wouldn't know how that works. When Banks are uncomfortable about a situation of coarse they have the right to call in the debt for security reasons or risks.

 Always after the fact and I don't say that the Donald(Trump) has all the answers or policies I may agree with but he is a shrewd business man. He mentions that we could have raised the taxes to China imports enough to help with our deficit with them. Just another thought from another very wealthy businessman.

raybe

[raybe]

Thanks snowman, and that chart you posted again just adds to this mix. I sure hope there is some long term plan The plans you mentioned were pretty extreme but it will need to be dealt with. Certainly N.A.S.A. has really stepped up the program after the the space shuttle slow down. Just going to be replaced with more aggressive exploration and possible options. Which again takes us back to our money problem and the Government looking toward more support from the public sector or at least the very wealthy sector. You can use that collaboration with 'Virgin' to prove that the private sector has some resources left to accomplish some interesting goals as paid trips into space. Not sure if that's the best use of money for today but what should our priorities be and this generation will make those decisions good or bad but a decision which I am sure again will play a part of how things turn out or not.

raybe

[snowman]

Yeah Lighspeed, allot of ideas are suppressed. Sometimes information is suppressed because only worthy smarties are supposed to have great ideas. If an unknown or "inferior" person has an idea its always scoffed at by well known and jealous.

Even today I was working some on making a Hydrogen generator to run a vehicle. Most people try to use hydrogen to make a car run totally on water, which I'm positive it is impossible. Some try to give their vehicle better gas milage by using Hydrogen as an addition boost. But a simpler idea would be to create a Hydro-electric hybrid car. This car would have batteries like an electric car but instead of using the batteries to run an electric motor you would use it to create hydrogen. Then this hydrogen would run the combustion engine. It should have plenty of power and be very efficient.

[snowman]

I found a youtube movie that show mankind trying to leave this planet. They talk of environmental perils and of overpopulation at the last. By the time the movie is over I began to think that there is no way we were going to make it to another world. I have thought of several reasons why, but I don't want to get too long winded. But I will say one thing, it would take too long to search and find another home. We're apparently running borrowed time at the momment.

But as Will is famous for saying, Success is the key,  Success sounds nice.

Maybe somebody will invent a way of opening up worm holes 

Voyage to Pandora: The First Interstellar Flight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPjXxKpM4DM&list=SL

[raybe]

snowman and lightspeed,

Just a mention about the Hydrogen car concept. It had to be about 30years ago at a race track in N.J. they ran a car on Hydrogen Peroxide, I believe it was nearly 100% and it was the first car to run 4 seconds in a quarter mile from a dead stop. The chemical reaction if I remember correct was the  Hydrogen Peroxide and silver. It burned pure water out of the engine so essentially there were know moving parts other then a few pumps and injectors and that was 30 years ago and I never heard about it again. Just in case you want to look it up some how the name of the car was 'Vanishing Point'.

Raybe

[snowman]

This is just a guess, but isn't that what they use to fly personal rocket jets?

Vanishing Point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlVVH8ecm5c

[raybe]

snowman, I am going to check out your link and hope it is what I think it is. But if your talking about personal rockets such as the 'Testors' Rockets that came in a kit and you loaded them with different size rocket engines those are mostly solid fuel Rockets. Even most serious hobbyist rockets are made from solid fuel chemicals and letters are used to rate the strength. If I remember correctly. I really don't recall the use of Hydrogen Peroxide but you may be right. I never really followed up on the concept. Wish I did but it was always in the back of my mind. I guess the technology has come so far in that time that cars do that time and faster on a pretty regular basis today with normally aspirated engines. Although they are far from normal producing thousands of horse power for a short period of time.

Thanks
raybe