Stagflation...buckle up

[Cardin Drake 1,828]

Watching Japan is instructive. They are just a little further down debt cliff than we are. They are a good predictor of the future.

https://rumble.com/v4jzy46-its-official-japan-is-in-stagflation-for-the-first-time-since-the-1970s.html

[Mikey 16,600]

"Stagflation"= Jimmy Carter days. Maybe we'll get another Reagan who will pull us out of it. One can only hope!

[Cardin Drake 1,828]

Trump is not the answer to spending, unfortunately.  

[AU9377 4,931]

On 3/21/2024 at 3:44 PM, Mikey said:

"Stagflation"= Jimmy Carter days. Maybe we'll get another Reagan who will pull us out of it. One can only hope!

Interest rates today on home loans are approx 6.5% to 7% give or take. Interest rates by 1981 were 16.8%.  Unemployment was 10.8% compared to under 4% today. Inflation is driven by so many different factors, not the least of which are salaries and good old fashioned opportunism.  

[Cardin Drake 1,828]

Not that long ago a trillion dollar annual deficit was unthinkable. This year it will be $2.5 trillion. About $7000 for every citizen. (not taxpayer). It is unsustainable and WILL result in inflation like we have never seen before.  It is an existential threat to the poor and middle class.

[AU9377 4,931]

On 3/24/2024 at 10:46 AM, Cardin Drake said:

Not that long ago a trillion dollar annual deficit was unthinkable. This year it will be $2.5 trillion. About $7000 for every citizen. (not taxpayer). It is unsustainable and WILL result in inflation like we have never seen before.  It is an existential threat to the poor and middle class.

I agree that the debt levels are unsustainable and that the debt itself is an existential threat.  However, in our current set of circumstances, the debt isn't the driving force behind inflation.  If the government was borrowing for the sole purpose of infusing the economy with cash, that would be the driving force.  However, today's inflation is being driven by a group of factors, some unrelated to the other.

The debt itself is now being driven as much by our unwillingness to compromise as it is by any other factor.  A significant portion of that is being driven by the hands of special interests gripping tightly to their cash cow, the American government. Big pharma, the military industrial complex, healthcare, the subsidizing of the energy sector, and entitlements (both individual and corporate) have to be reigned in or we are in big trouble 50 years from now.

[autigeremt 6,620]

On 3/24/2024 at 12:14 AM, AU9377 said:

Interest rates today on home loans are approx 6.5% to 7% give or take. Interest rates by 1981 were 16.8%.  Unemployment was 10.8% compared to under 4% today. Inflation is driven by so many different factors, not the least of which are salaries and good old fashioned opportunism.  

Labor participation is much lower now. At least in reality. Heck….a third of those participating are half ass. lol 

[icanthearyou 4,462]

The product of a financialized economy is debt. For every dollar of GDP, we create 3 dollars of debt. We need to stop blaming the poor and powerless. We need to think about who is "winning" and, why.

[AURex 1,998]

The trillions of dollars lost revenue is explained by the Republican fantasy of "trickle down" economics -- in other words, feed the rich, take from the poor and middle class. As a result of this Reaganomics type of strategy, we now have an oligarchy of the uber-rich individuals and corporations, and a shrinking, demoralized middle class.

Republicans = spend and go deeper in debt = increasing national debt. Democrats = spend and tax to assure spending is offset by revenue, thus much lower increase to the national debt.

It is no secret that Republicans feed the 1% and the corporations, thus constantly adding to the national debt. Anyone who tries to explain it away is just trying to put one over on our country.

The most recent episode of "feed the oligarchs" was during the Trump administration. The national debt ballooned, but of course the country was better off because the 1% and the corporations got a huge windfall.

Edited April 11 by AURex

[TexasTiger 12,869]

On 3/22/2024 at 10:43 AM, Cardin Drake said:

Trump is not the answer to spending, unfortunately.  

Neither was Reagan.