What is Occupy Wallstreet?

[kandrathe]

There has never once been a single case of an industrially developed nation entering into such a death spiral. While that does not mean it's theoretically impossible, the USA today (and going forward) is richer than almost every nation in history. What are the odds it is going to fall completely to pieces? I'd say vanishingly small. If Britain survived the 1970s, and Japan the 1990s, surely the US is going to survive the 2010s and 2020s?

There is historical precedence, though, when looking at empires. The USA is not so much an empire of conquest, but one of economic and military influences and alliances. Our grip on "power" may loosen, and we become more irrelevant, and then it is possible that Asia will become more influential (having most of the worlds population). I'm not saying it's going to be like the barbarians at the gates of Rome, but we've been one of the clarion calls in the world for democracy, freedoms, and human rights. Even though at times, our overt, and covert actions are completely hypocritical. It is possible that the "new sheriff" won't share our values.

I'm afraid that when the match on our economy is finally lit, pent up inflation demand will explode beyond what they can handle. We'll have to wait and see.

We've been doing a lot of waiting, and not a lot of seeing - it's been over three years since the crisis and the first injections. At what point to you keep waiting, and at what point do you abandon the model that generated the expectations that do not match the evidence?

I'm waiting for a period of sustained economic growth. Unless, you were talking about "what the Fed is trying to do" -- which I would say is simple... They've done their utmost to influence the factors possible through monetary policy. What is lacking is action by Congress to make dramatic changes in political policies to "encourage" growth. Most everything they've done so far has been a wash. Yes, we had some stimulus, but that has been undone by costly changes to regulations now endured by US companies. Reserving the argument on the necessity of the changes, the timing was horrendous. It made a bad situation worse, and then deflated the sails once the economic winds began to change. Speaking of deflating the sails... We are encountering a 2nd stumble in the recovery now, as worries over Europe's issues cause our side of the pond to remain entrenched and over cautious. This time, it's not the Congress and Obama's fault. Although, I feel he has failed to lead an economic progress over the past 6 months. The super committee was a colossal blunder, and who ever had that (unconstitutional) idea should be resigned. We need all Congress and the President to stick their political necks out, take positions and defend them, so that we the voters can decide which duds to toss out in 2012.

I would also add that here is an example of why federalism works better than a strong central government. Now we have both 40 to 45 messed up State's budgets, and a messed up Federal budget. I'd opt for just the 40-45 messed up States budgets. It's amazing to me how the Republicans have shifted closer and closer to Ron Paul's position, now if only they would embrace his stance on US foreign policy.