Ah but life is but a pyramid scheme, no?

I feel for the retirees who've been getting zip on their investments for the past several years.

I wish companies could be forced to hire people and not sit on mountains of cash. Doesn't seem fair, since the companies get massive tax breaks and their CEOs and other top people make huge amounts of money.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think China will have an aging population problem like Japan. Despite the one child policy, they keep producing. And I'm not sure if the older folks in China live all that long.

You need to stop thinking because you are quite literally making up bullshit that is wrong.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think China will have an aging population problem like Japan. Despite the one child policy, they keep producing. And I'm not sure if the older folks in China live all that long.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/20/china-next-generation-ageing-population

there's no room for what you or I think here..facts are facts and demographics are baked in.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think China will have an aging population problem like Japan. Despite the one child policy, they keep producing. And I'm not sure if the older folks in China live all that long.

China has a huge aging problem.

http://www.economist.com/node/18651512

I don't think China will have an aging population problem like Japan. Despite the one child policy, they keep producing. And I'm not sure if the older folks in China live all that long.

Anonymous wrote:When you look at:
- manufacturing jobs that have left US since 2000
- decline of unions (look at Caterpillar and union capitulating
- fact that demographics are driving part of economic woes (see NY Times article)
- stubbornly high unemployment

Is the economy ever going to grow again like the late 80s and late 90s? What is going to drive that growth?

I'm actually quite optimistic for a number of reasons including: the domestic natural gas/oil discoveries that will be a huge boon to consumers and manufacturers; aging population hitting China now with their own wage inflation, mitigating their 20 year advantage; our opportunistic capital markets (name another country that could have a Facebook?); our likelihood to solve budget issues well ahead of other developed countries.

There are other reasons but they trend to the interplay of policy and politics and I really don't want to get flamed by the kneejerks on either end of the spectrum. been there, done that, and it gets tiring.

What about tech? But I guess that would begin back at the classroom with better science and quant education. And that would take at least two generations to have a steady stream in the pipeline.

Yes. Unless and until we shift our thinking around job creation to the public sector and invest in civil infrastructure, instead of war and commercial agriculture, this is the new normal.

Anonymous wrote:I think (hope) you're being unnecessarily glum, OP. I happen to be in the middle of researching investment levels, and they're reassuringly strong. And while I don't advocate for American exceptionalism, it's true that there's a certain innovative resilience about the American culture that's heartening and impressive. Here's hoping that pulls us through some rather daunting economic challenges.

Can you expound on this?

I think (hope) you're being unnecessarily glum, OP. I happen to be in the middle of researching investment levels, and they're reassuringly strong. And while I don't advocate for American exceptionalism, it's true that there's a certain innovative resilience about the American culture that's heartening and impressive. Here's hoping that pulls us through some rather daunting economic challenges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:War. It has often been good for the economies of the winning countries.

War hasn't helped us since WWII. I doubt anyone would think Korea, Vietnam, or the Gulf Wars did us any good.

I don't think we were in those other wars for ourselves like in WWII. And we didn't really win some of them, we decided to get out.

Anonymous wrote:War. It has often been good for the economies of the winning countries.

War hasn't helped us since WWII. I doubt anyone would think Korea, Vietnam, or the Gulf Wars did us any good.

War. It has often been good for the economies of the winning countries.

When you look at:
- manufacturing jobs that have left US since 2000
- decline of unions (look at Caterpillar and union capitulating
- fact that demographics are driving part of economic woes (see NY Times article)
- stubbornly high unemployment

Is the economy ever going to grow again like the late 80s and late 90s? What is going to drive that growth?