I say even if you have to sacrifice superpower status, if i were the US i would be doing all i could to get the economy back on track. Things are not looking good, yet this video has 32,000 views and lady gaga has over 200,000,000 views, i don't think many people care. I guess they will when it starts to directly affect them.
Similarly US has reconstructed Britain post WWII through enormous economic aid. Maybe Britain can redirect its aid from 'terrorist nation failed state Pakistan' to US. Maybe US is thinking if it accepts aid from foreign nation then it will have to sacrifice its superpower status.
@speak2sam I hope Pakistan is sorted out by the Indians. It is one of the foulest countries in the world. A breeding ground for filthy fundamentalist Islam.
If US is in trouble why does US not ask for help from friend nations like Japan, Israel, Britain etc? After all US has done innumerable favors to these nations. After China Japan holds maximum US debt. Maybe they can wave it. US has been protecting Japan from China for decades now. Israel is in good economic shape. US has given disproportionate amount of economic and military aid to Israel for decades. Maybe now they can give US economic aid.
US had 100% debt to GDP ratio. A setback. China has developed sophisticated weapons. Another setback. US as enough sophisticated weapons. Yes they may go into recession and face hyper inflation. But why will the country collapse?
All of you people saying that the our planet earth is fine, that our country is fine, that we are in no potential threat of our lives. You are completely oblivious to what is happening to the world around you. Just because your state or your town is fine, doesn't mean that the world is fine, there are millions of people out there struggling for survival and we sit in our homes and ignore any means of helping them. I am completely astonished of what the world has come to.
The only feature of US society that can be considered AAA rated is the bullshit. An economy bearing 70+ Trillion dollars of debt is no more plausible with an 'A' knocked off. It's like Gianna Michaels describing herself as a private person, Gentlemen's Quarterly as a quarterly for gentlemen - post Art Cooper or competition in retail petrol.
Cancel the Stealth program, or corp. welfare - debt gone. I was hoping to see the Libertarian propagandists bite on a grenade. No Niall, you don't get it.
A very arrogant man Niall is... in no way modest or honorable... must be sickening to listen to his talks while he´s advocating himself as a historian and intellectual. he has one attribute and that is his native english..........
The Federal Reserve, like any Ponzi scheme, must have new capital or it will collapse. Higher debt limit merely postpones the inherent collapse. The FRBNY handled $8.4 trillion from T-auctions last year and hid the profit from Congress. Is that embezzlement? Ref. 3W scribd dot com message 49040689 RIP OFF BY FEDERAL RESERVE
We are done!!! 44.5 million on foodstamps, twice that many on welfare or social security, real unemployment at over 15%, 1/3 of America's children are fat and diabetic, and 1.5 million abortions anually. This is the end. I hope all you liberal democrats are happy. You have successfully ruined the greatest country in the world. Freedom has been flushed down the drain. I told my 9 and 11 year old sons today that they will soon have no country. How's that hope and change going???
@09geauxtigers: don't worry too much. I survived crash of USSR ,as well as two economical crises, four different currencies, one real-estate crash. I am not rich, yet still alive. As far as I know - USA had some troubles in 1930, but got out and was doing well for about a half of the century.
P.S. From here it looks that USA has a one party with two flags , so do not blame democrats.
@09geauxtigers oh dont be so dramatic now. greatest country in the world? yes, on paper. the ideas and purpose of which the US Is found, is great, yes. but lets be realistic. the US has been captured by rotschilds,rockefellers,etcetc already at least a 100 years ago. americans are the most xenophobic ignorant people in the world. the US has created more victims and bloodshed in the world then any other country in history... well, the Brits coming close I guess. anyway... WAKE UP
@jgbreur oh Phaa-leaseee .... he might as well been 1/4 german 1/4 chilean 1/4 russian 1/4 vietnamese ...... obama: blackberry, god bless america, facebook, burgers, golf, oprah winfrey, another person fucking up your country. in other words; he is just another jew puppet, yes, a 'real american' politican. but good luck in praising his Kenyan roots.
@sebaz1982 wow, you desperately need to look at the histories of Russia and China and Germany if you really believe that is true.
The blood on their hands is several orders of magnitude greater that that on the USA. Literally hundreds of millions have been murdered directly or killed indirectly by their policies in the 20th century alone.
The presence of the USA as a powerful liberal democratic country has been of incalculable importance for the last 100 years.
Exactly! huge expenditures in Military Forces isant sustainable. I dont think they teach that at the War colleges. Countrys Economy determines its Military might. The Rich have gotten richer while the Govt is broke. Its borrowing from Federal reserve to pay its bills. Huge amounts money in Guns , Bomb, Planes. The Military complex is taking control over the Govt. The Wealthy have run this country to breaken point. Its not sustainable.
Why is this so hard for the world to understand! earn $1 and spend $100 year after year with compounded interset and you have spent your lifetimes potential earnings and then some.
@thegbpackers284 The Rich have all the money the Govt is broke. Bankers own eveything, your slave to them. Debter. Wealthy Super Rich, the Govt broke. I would just say after We crash which is what is going to happen , just treat the Federal reserve notes as toxic debt and make US govt money again.
huhuhuhuuu..another cold war??..Screw this talk..Feed the world and build clean energy´s..build schools and hospitals..Evolution my friends...Grow up..
I just hope the US can collapse soon enough so the other nations can learn from it. Out government here in Sweden has a pretty good economy but they are going downwards. I hope your failure wont be too far away.
I never thought he was this good. China has been buying up hard assets. They have been buying up gold and silver. Not just them but private hedge funds set up to aquire their gold and citizens being encouraged on tv. After all they annoucnced that they had sevretly aquired over 400 tons. Whats their next secret announcement gonna be?
Not many people are economically savy even at the top theres a few. However its plain to see with a decent education
Now the US is left w/ a even bigger debt and is begging China to increase its bond purchase. The recent drops in bond prices we're seeing China slowly buying up more... China is dangling a carrot to America.. Don't Americans see that? What a Pathetic sucker!
The US is buying up its own treasuries that China is unloading. Last year, the US bought about $50 million of its own treasury bills to replace what China sold. China bought the bills about $10 million 2 years ago and sold back to the US at $50 million last yr. Wow, that's a tidy profit. The US is forced to buy at such high prices becasue it does not want to send a panic fear to the other treasury holder countries to start unloading and hence, drop the prices of treasury bonds even further.
The Chinese invented paper money. The Chinese realize all paper money returns to it's true intrinsic value of zero. It's 100% certain that all paper currency returns to it's true value of zero. What is there to not understand about something that is inevitable? The Chinese seek hard assets, gold, silver, land, foreign business. They know the history of civilization. They invented civilization. Thanks Nial. Nice job.
@poopynagernumberone I don't think so. The shift in the balance of power that is happening at the moment hasn't really occurred in the living memory of anyone, except perhaps the very oldest who can recall when Britain was the global superpower. US consumption and expenditure relative to its output and income is unsustainable and it is using China to fund this imbalance. Eventually, China will overtake the US, which is what the oldest would be able to tell you, as history repeats itself. Sorry.
Even if Niall is not completely right, he is only stating the obvious; historians such as him have a greater insight into the nature of things; much more than 'specialists' such as economists...
Anyone who watch this video should check out how much US spend on military and compared to rest of the world. US is the #1 in military and it spends more than the following 20 nations COMBINED. Now, how is this obsession with military dominance sustainable? US defense budget is the SINGLE biggest budget spending in US accounting to almost 50% of US's tax revenue. Ironically, US would spend billions on weaponry when it has a failed social benefit program and later generations are left with debt.
@poopynagernumberone and wat u dont understand is us put in money into their economy by borrowing money MEANING ur using money that u never had. How is this fiscal policy sustainable? u can defend US with just a stick cuz that would all that is left of US.
The US is begging China repeatedly for their continued purchase of our Treasury bills in order to keep our flatlining economy from collapsing. The Chinese government is merely subsidizing our purchases of their exported goods. The Chinese actually profit less money from our purchases than they give us to continue doing business. They are also becoming less and less dependent on the US economy because they are diversifying their exports as many countries have lowered their trade restrictions.
The Socialists & Greens have taken command of the world econimic system. These people are Marxist in there paradigm and will not stop until the western world is bankrupt, and then we will see revolution.
Do these wingnuts REALLY believe there is an invisible man that gives two shits bout the USA, or any other place? Damn there are a lot of really stupid people in the world. Pathetic.
The US can no longer be the world's policeman and provide foreign aid. Good luck defending your countries. We'll be on standby with ballistic missile submarines, surface ships with cruise missiles and long range bombers if you need us. We will be exiting bases around the world and bringing our soldiers home.
The short answer is no. Unfortunately though, as the west looses it's control over it's own future, domestic problems will balloon everywhere, forcing nations to quickly realign. These realignments will create an epidemic of instability and minor revolutions around the world. Systemically, sets of these independent revolutions will merge and produce ideals so contradictory to one another, that a war to end all wars will be considered the only solution. Then we'll do it all again in 5000yrs,
The problem is that the US has been sold a myth that the free market trickles down money, it does not. The only way the w/c and m/c could pay for goods and services due to relative fall in wages and employment is through cheap credit, after a while a limited number of people could get credit, so they deregulated - so more people could get loans, eg. NINJA loans - these collapsed, along with the whole US myth of wealth without work, stability without equality...the rich have absorbed all!
@LibertyDownUnder Well he was using a bit of shorthand but since money is on aconfidence standard, rather then a gold standard that means that through very copetent investment that America can make that it can actually create wealth and become the beacon of the world once more,because let's face it the days when America stood against facism and communist Russia are long gone and so are the days so are the days when America gave the world a lasting democracy.No one canrest ontheir past glories,
@LibertyDownUnder FDR for just one instance and don't give me that Amity Shaels Last man standing crap, or a but more recent history Clinton innititive to put more then 100,00 cops on the street.
@LibertyDownUnder That's why there are public schools in the US: so there will continue to be a majority of citizens who still "listen [to] these [ridiculous] ideas." Our schools are petrie dishes of social engineering, not bastions of critical thinking. When the population is dumbed down, they think with their emotions (Democrat), not their reason (Conservative Repubican).
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Wow, this guy is a jackass. I mean I basically agree with him that we are probably fucked (in a variety of ways), but wow, fail public speaker is fail. Go back to Harvard you twat.
in my country, people are angry for the military getting 0,5% GDP and america currently pays 4,7% to its military, just thinking about maybe lowering it a little bit....
The USA spends too much on Defence. Eisenhower warned the USA regarding the Industrial/Military domination of US Business and Politics. Nation security means not owing your foe dosh. Tax the Rich but do not eat them as you are likely to get an upset tummy.
That "stupid, lazy profligate population" that you idiotically paint with your broad brush, have given more treasure and blood to alleviate the suffering, poor & oppressed peoples of this earth than all other nations in human history combined. The American people will right the ship by electing genuine conservatives committed to fiscal sanity. Observe what happens on Nov 2.
The good thing about money is that it does not care for race, nationality or religion. Like death, it is a merciless unifier. The long despised Chinese have shown the proud Aryan brotherhood how to make money and politics.
You don't need to be a "Harvard Historian" to see that when one country owns a very large portion of the debt of another, that when Hiro comes calling for his money your ankles, knees, hips,back, elbows, fingers and most likely skull will be broken.
Cut defence and all the military adventurism, cut law and order war on drugs and prostitution, cut the anti-terrorism ineffective harass the public propaganda smoke and mirrors. Get out of Iraq, Iran, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Stay out of Iran, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
@PikPobedy@Thales880 The most desired benefit of a strong military is not that you can dictate to others, but that others cannot dictate to you. When America had no navy, it had to pay a substantial part of the U.S. treasury paying tribute, for decades, to Muslim corsairs in order for them to cease attacks on american merchant shipping lanes in the Mediterranean, which the corsairs kept doing anyway as the sum they demanded continued to increased.
China isn't a strategic threat yet -no blue water navy and a limited nuclear arsenal. Our imports from china have been around $300 billion/yr for years. If they choose to buy mines or bonds it makes no difference, they are using dollars. As Ferguson points out most of their wealth is in treasuries. In other words, they are dollarized. They are part of the dollar trade system. They are afraid of instability and my guess is think a war with the U.S. would be terrible
@derfilmmacher, I don't understand why people don't see massive amounts of foreign debt (by all nations and to all nations) as a very good thing. I think the more we owe each other the less likely we are to go to war, the more reasons we can find to resolve our disputes peacefully, and get back to making money via legitimate and mutualistic trading. Modern warfare will be economic. If only because it is cheaper to blow up information than people. And causes a more debilitating injury.
Civilizations' decline isn't "arrhythmic", there's usually a causality behind their fall, a chain of events creating effects, and so forth. The fact we are oblivious to the how's and when, doesn't not make its fall materialize all of the sudden. It does, however, require a retrospection on the even of falling and a brilliant mind to decipher the paradigm which leads to a decline of a civilization.
Mr. Ferguson simply takes a snapshot from the supposed end and claims it is arrhythmic.
From the video description: "Throughout history the rise and fall of empires isn't slow or cyclical, as we like to think, but arrhythmic...it mostly happens very, very suddenly." Arrhythmic is antonymous here with "slow" and / or "cyclical". Mr. Ferguson thesis and suggestion that MOST of the time the decline of empires is "arrhythmic" or "sudden" isn't palpably true. It's part of a larger debate as to whether history has a more circular nature or a linear one (arrhythmic falls here).
The description emulates the obscurantism of Ferguson's theory.
I recommend you read The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler. He had predicted the rise of Eastern economies at the begging of the 20th.c. He also thought this was a part of a larger, circular, paradigm inherent to human civilizational history.
Oswald Spengler reeks of German Geopolitik. I'm about to take a test on Geopolitics in 9 hours. Wish me luck! Btw, if you get this message before hand, can you tell me what Oswald Spengler is known for?
Good luck dude! Geopolitics is a very interesting field.
What is he known for? Cultural pessimism ("Optimism is cowardice"). The identification of 8 mature civilizations and the concept of "prime symbol" (the fundamental idea behind each civ.). The construction of cyclical model of civilizations and their life-spans, as well as an ascription of symptoms indicating their spring and summer (periods of "becoming") and an automn and winter (periods of "being").
In the fifties the debt to GDP ratio was 120% and the marginal tax rate was 90% and that was a boom time for the US and the middle class. We also fought a cold war. Long bond rates were 3-4% and we were fine. This guy is just another British twit fear mongering. He may well be a British agent. He says we are on a surefire course to fiscal instability but he can't predict future bond rates, if he could he'd be a billionaire.
@derfilmmacher The Federal Reserve has bought TRILLIONS of US treasury bonds with fake, printed dollars to keep the interest rates down. It is a heavily manipulated market.
PS- Real inflation is over 8% right now. So a 3% yield on US treasuries is giving you a -5% real return.
@kja5, but their yield is set by the buyer, not the seller because they are sold at auction. That rate is a reflection of the demand to buy that debt by the people with the money--presumably the ones best suited to have the best sense of our economic outlook and the true value of treasuries. Perhaps they perceive a greater risk of deflation than you do.
@derfilmmacher, this is such an artificial period in our past. We just ended a war, rationing, price controls, had a baby boom, no global competitors, and a means (the GI Bill) to pour a ton of public money into private lives. Obviously that would fund an enormous economic growth but it isn't a sustainable policy. For one thing, the Gi subsidy declines over time with the aging of that population. It's a completely useless point to make and doesn't apply to our present predicament in any way.
Although I think this guy is an idiot, and completely wrong. He does point out our most basic problem: our inability to find competent leadership. I think Richard Dreyfuss is correct (check out thedreyfussinitiative org) in calling for a massive search for better civic technologies. Engineering a greater role for ourselves in civics, finding more effective ways to harvest our collective political acumen and discover those best suited to lead us. We need to build a better electorate.
I dont think the current republican maniacs will cut military spending before social security and other social services.... And the democrats are too big of pussies to stop them..... Its happening right now.....
Notice also that the British oligarch and fraudster Ferguson refuses to identify the reindustrialization of the United States as the obvious solution to the present crisis, which is easily spun as a "fiscal problem," but which is, in reality, the manifestation of the collapse of US agro-industrial production. This, not coincidentally, is a direct result of the poisonous foreign doctrines of British "Free Trade," which Ferguson and his cronies so emphatically endorse.
Never does this British fraud and charlatan address the fundamental issue, which is whether or not the US federal government, as a sovereign entity, should borrow from private usurers in the first place. Never does he broach the issue of public credit (e.g., government lending through a national, as opposed to a central bank).
Rather, his entire speech is carefully crafted to further the mental slavery which says that the USA must remain beholden to Wall Street and London finance oligarchs.
@etniko I guess that is depends on how serious we can be, but the "good" thing about the American debt as huge as it may be is that since most of the western world is also expeirincing the "crises", the debt is a relative thing. Sure China it may seem has the upper hand with their huge surplus but if they can't increase their freedoms for the private sector and grow their domestic customer base, then their "huge surpluses," are just a little bit better then an illusion. ( cont.)
@htgajjar That's an ignorant mobbish comment to generalize "corporate" America. Don't be so simplistic. You don't have the full understanding of how things work which is clear in your statement. Especially in a time when corporations are more heavily regulated than they ever have been in the History of the US. The Govt is responsible for setting the conditions for corporate abuse in the markets. Read any Thomas Sowell book and you'll see.
When the economy colapses, and it will, it will take down the rest of the world, no not huberus, just a fact. There is no 'other place' to run to. Better to stay and fix what is wrong than pretend to be safe in another locale.
Tax the rich like we did after the depression at a 90% tax rate for the top 1% and became the largest superpower with the best infrastructure in the world. Sadly its going to require another great depression before people remember what its like to have the rich owning everything and the poor having nothing, like is what is happening more and more. Otherwise the US will collapse under its own debt because we give so many tax cuts to the rich and lucrative contracts that are wasted.
Foxconn - comming to America ! Thanks NAFTA and the Clinton's and all those dedicated to bring us under a one world governement ran by international bankers and the UN. This is going to get ugly ~
Why don't we tax the black market? Suppose we earned a 50% "white market tax" credit for every dollar of our after tax income. Those credits are used up when we purchase things by a new "white market tax" that would function like a national sales tax. Those who report their income have credits covering every dollar of it, so they never actually pay the tax. But those with unreported income have no credits and end up paying a 50% federal income tax on every dollar they spend.
The USA and its stupid, lazy profligate population deserves whatever happens to it. And that is speaking as a patriot. We have more than sinned, and not in the sense that the buffoons of the Religious Reicht speak of it.
@JCJasion Agree. If there is a chance to leave the country, I may take it.
That has always been the reason for an empire's collapse. However in this new age of the internet, where information can spread to large numbers, and it is, in a country founded on a brilliant system of government, albeit ignored at the moment, has a chance to quickly rebuild. Unfortunately, most only learn the hard way, and we'll likely have to go through that first, yet we'll better prepared for the other side..
"The USA and its stupid, lazy profligate population deserves whatever happens to it"
The problem is, the US spend most of its budget each year on defense, and as it's economic wealth continues to shrink, it's people become more desperate, it's politicians will be come harsher and even more ruthless than they had to date. The rest of the world should worry about what is going to happen to it in the twilight of US economic supremacy. Who is going to be the next Iraq?
@TheGodlessGuitarist US did not spend most of its budget on defense. It spends about 20% of the normal budget on defense. nobody will take you seriously (except your fellow true believers) if you don't look things up.
@darnokish, The US spends roughly as much as the entire rest of the world on defense. That's about twenty times as much on an average per capita basis. I'm not saying it's too much. But I do think that war itself became obsolete the minute our enemies became potential customers. Our enemies are too valuable economically to simply blow away anymore. We need to a better approach for undermining the political forces that oppose us. Perhaps we need only convince them to see us as customers too.
"It spends about 20% of the normal budget on defense. nobody will take you seriously (except your fellow true believers) if you don't look things up."
Try again smart arse, this time actually look at the data! It's 54%!!! That's why your country has appalling healthcare, thats why your country is about to have it's social security fund of $2.5 trillion stolen ( to pay for your overseas genocides ), that's why your country has 3rd world performance in high school education!!!
Correct but the whole world is barely any better and deserves all the same. God is going to hmm lets say hit the delete key on modern civilization or press the proverbial reset button.
@MrKillswitch88 - I like the way you put that. For my part, I feel that this is going to be an instantaneous knee-jerk 'judgement' the likes of which one would expect from sitting on a metal flagpole in the middle of a severe electrical storm. The 'delete' or 'reset' program has been hard-coded. It's called mathematics and finite supply.
Lets say that there is a lot more out there that even those who called them selves scientists don't have any grasp on and can barely understand this world much less any other lol. Don't forget God he can swing this any time like a CME or a mega quake that could be felt globally.
@MrKillswitch88 - @MrKillswitch88 - Oh, my friend, our pursillanimous human intellects can hardly grasp a glimmer of understanding of all this. I fear and quake and love and revere, and that's all my human faculties are capable of.
I'm pretty sure God doesn't give two shits about the US at this point...just let happen whatever will happen to the US. There are other nations on the Earth to live on.
your government are selling the futures of you & your children to anyone willing to lend them a dime, how anyone can believe the government & central banks are anything but predatory evil & immoral institutions is beyond reason.
@djdnauk1977, I don't see what's immoral about the way we define money (as debt.) I don't see any other alternative. The value (or utility) of wealth is its ability to convey indebtedness. Our government has little control over what it must pay its creditors because it sells it's debt at auction to the highest bidders. You can't blame it for the low interest rates that result from their willingness to bid high prices. That's a consequence of having an economy perceived to face little risk.
@ananiasacts you dont see whats immoral about fiat currency? in any other situation the industry f printing money out of thin air then loaning it to people backed by no value at interest would be considered as counterfeiting... why should central banks get ultra rich for printing bits of paper? it saps way too much wealth out of the system, causes poverty & human suffering, thats whats immoral about it.
@djdnauk1977, I don't believe you understand how our financial system works at all. The Khan Academy on youtube has a great series on money that explains the fed very well. If you'd like to discuss that I'm willing. But how can we discuss our monetary infrastructure if you harbor false beliefs about how it works? This is not top secret stuff. Anyone can easily find out how it works. Or they can believe, as you appear to, that its a corrupt and immoral sham. There's little I can do about that.
@djdnauk1977: "you dont see whats immoral about fiat currency?" No, I don't. Commodity backed currency has all of the same problems (unless you actually expect people to use the commodity itself, and not notes that represent it in which case it has MANY more) and is arguably worse if only because it more effectively pretends to be inflation proof. It's actually subject to far more manipulation by powerful interests. Read about the Hunt Brothers. I do not believe you understand what money is.
@ananiasacts my complaint is not with money backed by nothing... it was with fiat currency that is controlled by central banks, "he who controls the wealth controls the people" & usury itself (lending at interest, which is backing writing a promissory note which is paid for by mans labour, then they add adding interest to it!) which means you just create ever more debt & its not like society can create its own currencies outside of this web as the state makes that illegal!
@djdnauk1977, If you don't believe in interest, then what incentive is there to lend money? Without that our economy could not grow as quickly. Even the sun wouldn't shine if the universe was unwilling to loan it energy for short terms. I cannot think of a better basis for currency than the taxing authority of the state. Money is cheapest to borrow when lenders are most certain they'll be repaid--what else could be as certain? Without the fed, they could not have the same level of confidence.
@ananiasacts governments are legally able to coin money @ 0% interest themselves, why dont they? the only reason they dont is because private banks coaxed them into borrowing it off them at interest instead... running a printing press (printing money) takes VERY little cost/effort compared to the profits they make in return. central bankers are like gargantuan economic parasites on societies. the federal reserve & most central banks are private banks not government owned.
@Phelan666 Niiice ad hominem. B/c that's substantial debate. I'd trade that 1B trim to any domestic non-essential debaucle any day...and eventually for the record, i would mind trimming all kinds of fat from the Pentagon, it's just not my first choice. We always seem to have these "arguments" here and no one can seem to decide what it is they'd cut first, but I think we'd agree deficit spending must end.
@RadarKat73080 Not a thing. As an employee of the DOD, the aforementioned squeeze is already on. Not unlike our European counterparts, the Defense cuts come first, but it's a bit of hyperbole to suggest entitlements won't be cut...it just won't be cut first.
@GOPsithlord Already? I was under the impression that government wheels grind slowly. Look how long it took us to get a non-white president! Okay, maybe Obama wasn't the best pick, let's just get that outta the way. Well, I think the first place to start cutting are these stupid wars!
@RadarKat73080 *sighs* Who really cares what color a president is when the only color that should matter is green? The "stupid wars" as you refer to them are already well on their way to being cut. Operation: New Dawn is a 50,000 man operation, nothing like OIF. Don't be surprised if Afghanistan is next...b/c as we all know terrorists magically disappear when you're out of their battle space...right?
@GOPsithlord Well, as it stands, all we're doing is pissing off more people! The Taliban don't need to recruit, we're doing that for them! There are more important things then money!
@RadarKat73080, sure there are, but they only become more important after you have enough money. When you have less than enough money, money itself becomes very important.
@ananiasacts Problem is, for too many people there's never enough! CEO and celebrities make millions each year, they never keep "enough", they just keep collecting. Stars of hit shows go on "strike" because they "only" make $500,000 an episode! Almost wish the rich would take Ayn Rand's advice and go on strike!
@RadarKat73080, I don't worry about stuff like this because money has a deeply negative feedback loop built right into it. This is because what you think you own also owns you. So it's not really how much money you have, but how much you spend on yourself that matters. And the only thing that money you don't spend can actually do is create economic opportunities for someone else, I don't see any good reason to dissuade people from accumulating enormous amounts of it. It doesn't cause poverty.
@ananiasacts "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."~1 Timothy 6:10
@RadarKat73080 We're pissing off an unpopular, Pashtun-based student movement which banned things like flying kites and female literacy that should have no voice in the future of Afghanistan. I can't think of anyone better to "irritate". But that they use civilian casuaties to recruit is not lost on any counterinsurgent, I promise you. Still, there are two dozen things I'd slash on the domestic side before I'd curtail any war effort.
@GOPsithlord I agree with that, the first part. I'm just not so sure that bombing the Afghan people in extinction is the answer, I'm asking for a better alternative. No one in the 9/11 terror attacks was Afghan or Iraqi, they were mostly Saudis taking marching orders from another Saudi, Bin Laden. So, why did we not invade Saudi Arabia? I think the Afghanistan war was a pretext for expanding US power in the region, getting their minerals and invading Iraq.
@RadarKat73080 It's too simplistic and an appeal to an absolute to merely cite nationality of people who are essentially stateless--both Ayman al-Zawahiri (Egyptian) and Osama bin Laden (Saudi) are political rebels. Both were given refuge by the Taliban and their collective support for him is what makes the Taliban the enemy here. As for Iraq as with Afghanistan, natural resources are barely on the radar where I am concerned.
It's very interesting to watch this over a year later when Ferguson has conceded the debate on austerity vs. stimulus.
migkillertwo 2 days ago
I say even if you have to sacrifice superpower status, if i were the US i would be doing all i could to get the economy back on track. Things are not looking good, yet this video has 32,000 views and lady gaga has over 200,000,000 views, i don't think many people care. I guess they will when it starts to directly affect them.
Noblyuntruthful 4 months ago
Similarly US has reconstructed Britain post WWII through enormous economic aid. Maybe Britain can redirect its aid from 'terrorist nation failed state Pakistan' to US. Maybe US is thinking if it accepts aid from foreign nation then it will have to sacrifice its superpower status.
speak2sam 4 months ago
@speak2sam I hope Pakistan is sorted out by the Indians. It is one of the foulest countries in the world. A breeding ground for filthy fundamentalist Islam.
TheLiberalKnight 1 month ago
If US is in trouble why does US not ask for help from friend nations like Japan, Israel, Britain etc? After all US has done innumerable favors to these nations. After China Japan holds maximum US debt. Maybe they can wave it. US has been protecting Japan from China for decades now. Israel is in good economic shape. US has given disproportionate amount of economic and military aid to Israel for decades. Maybe now they can give US economic aid.
speak2sam 4 months ago
US had 100% debt to GDP ratio. A setback. China has developed sophisticated weapons. Another setback. US as enough sophisticated weapons. Yes they may go into recession and face hyper inflation. But why will the country collapse?
speak2sam 4 months ago
All of you people saying that the our planet earth is fine, that our country is fine, that we are in no potential threat of our lives. You are completely oblivious to what is happening to the world around you. Just because your state or your town is fine, doesn't mean that the world is fine, there are millions of people out there struggling for survival and we sit in our homes and ignore any means of helping them. I am completely astonished of what the world has come to.
DislikeGodHaters 6 months ago
go back to the gold standard and the federal wont have any power to inflate USA / the world
wewantmoreparty 6 months ago
the fed can buy us debt at zero percent interest.
pirucreek 6 months ago
The only feature of US society that can be considered AAA rated is the bullshit. An economy bearing 70+ Trillion dollars of debt is no more plausible with an 'A' knocked off. It's like Gianna Michaels describing herself as a private person, Gentlemen's Quarterly as a quarterly for gentlemen - post Art Cooper or competition in retail petrol.
Cancel the Stealth program, or corp. welfare - debt gone. I was hoping to see the Libertarian propagandists bite on a grenade. No Niall, you don't get it.
AndrewMackennaChChNZ 6 months ago
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AndrewMackennaChChNZ 6 months ago
A very arrogant man Niall is... in no way modest or honorable... must be sickening to listen to his talks while he´s advocating himself as a historian and intellectual. he has one attribute and that is his native english..........
Antaraton 7 months ago
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The Federal Reserve, like any Ponzi scheme, must have new capital or it will collapse. Higher debt limit merely postpones the inherent collapse. The FRBNY handled $8.4 trillion from T-auctions last year and hid the profit from Congress. Is that embezzlement? Ref. 3W scribd dot com message 49040689 RIP OFF BY FEDERAL RESERVE
oldereb38 7 months ago
We are done!!! 44.5 million on foodstamps, twice that many on welfare or social security, real unemployment at over 15%, 1/3 of America's children are fat and diabetic, and 1.5 million abortions anually. This is the end. I hope all you liberal democrats are happy. You have successfully ruined the greatest country in the world. Freedom has been flushed down the drain. I told my 9 and 11 year old sons today that they will soon have no country. How's that hope and change going???
09geauxtigers 8 months ago
@09geauxtigers: don't worry too much. I survived crash of USSR ,as well as two economical crises, four different currencies, one real-estate crash. I am not rich, yet still alive. As far as I know - USA had some troubles in 1930, but got out and was doing well for about a half of the century.
P.S. From here it looks that USA has a one party with two flags , so do not blame democrats.
atofinkelstein 8 months ago
@09geauxtigers oh dont be so dramatic now. greatest country in the world? yes, on paper. the ideas and purpose of which the US Is found, is great, yes. but lets be realistic. the US has been captured by rotschilds,rockefellers,etcetc already at least a 100 years ago. americans are the most xenophobic ignorant people in the world. the US has created more victims and bloodshed in the world then any other country in history... well, the Brits coming close I guess. anyway... WAKE UP
sebaz1982 7 months ago
@sebaz1982 Most Xenophobic? u know our prez is part kenyan right
jgbreur 2 months ago
@jgbreur oh Phaa-leaseee .... he might as well been 1/4 german 1/4 chilean 1/4 russian 1/4 vietnamese ...... obama: blackberry, god bless america, facebook, burgers, golf, oprah winfrey, another person fucking up your country. in other words; he is just another jew puppet, yes, a 'real american' politican. but good luck in praising his Kenyan roots.
sebaz1982 2 months ago
@sebaz1982 wow, you desperately need to look at the histories of Russia and China and Germany if you really believe that is true.
The blood on their hands is several orders of magnitude greater that that on the USA. Literally hundreds of millions have been murdered directly or killed indirectly by their policies in the 20th century alone.
The presence of the USA as a powerful liberal democratic country has been of incalculable importance for the last 100 years.
Get real!
LJAR 2 weeks ago
Exactly! huge expenditures in Military Forces isant sustainable. I dont think they teach that at the War colleges. Countrys Economy determines its Military might. The Rich have gotten richer while the Govt is broke. Its borrowing from Federal reserve to pay its bills. Huge amounts money in Guns , Bomb, Planes. The Military complex is taking control over the Govt. The Wealthy have run this country to breaken point. Its not sustainable.
GalaticSpaceHero 9 months ago
Why is this so hard for the world to understand! earn $1 and spend $100 year after year with compounded interset and you have spent your lifetimes potential earnings and then some.
thegbpackers284 9 months ago
@thegbpackers284 The Rich have all the money the Govt is broke. Bankers own eveything, your slave to them. Debter. Wealthy Super Rich, the Govt broke. I would just say after We crash which is what is going to happen , just treat the Federal reserve notes as toxic debt and make US govt money again.
GalaticSpaceHero 9 months ago
huhuhuhuuu..another cold war??..Screw this talk..Feed the world and build clean energy´s..build schools and hospitals..Evolution my friends...Grow up..
FranciscoKGuerreiro 10 months ago
I just hope the US can collapse soon enough so the other nations can learn from it. Out government here in Sweden has a pretty good economy but they are going downwards. I hope your failure wont be too far away.
madichelp0 10 months ago
I never thought he was this good. China has been buying up hard assets. They have been buying up gold and silver. Not just them but private hedge funds set up to aquire their gold and citizens being encouraged on tv. After all they annoucnced that they had sevretly aquired over 400 tons. Whats their next secret announcement gonna be?
Not many people are economically savy even at the top theres a few. However its plain to see with a decent education
NicosMind 11 months ago
Greed-we want to have it all and we want it all!
noblewoman001 11 months ago
Now the US is left w/ a even bigger debt and is begging China to increase its bond purchase. The recent drops in bond prices we're seeing China slowly buying up more... China is dangling a carrot to America.. Don't Americans see that? What a Pathetic sucker!
loaduponc 11 months ago
The US is buying up its own treasuries that China is unloading. Last year, the US bought about $50 million of its own treasury bills to replace what China sold. China bought the bills about $10 million 2 years ago and sold back to the US at $50 million last yr. Wow, that's a tidy profit. The US is forced to buy at such high prices becasue it does not want to send a panic fear to the other treasury holder countries to start unloading and hence, drop the prices of treasury bonds even further.
loaduponc 11 months ago
Welfare Queens weaken the military.
Aeschylus 11 months ago
now lower and rasp voice for effect.
karlhelvede 1 year ago
The Chinese invented paper money. The Chinese realize all paper money returns to it's true intrinsic value of zero. It's 100% certain that all paper currency returns to it's true value of zero. What is there to not understand about something that is inevitable? The Chinese seek hard assets, gold, silver, land, foreign business. They know the history of civilization. They invented civilization. Thanks Nial. Nice job.
jackgoldman1 1 year ago
@poopynagernumberone I don't think so. The shift in the balance of power that is happening at the moment hasn't really occurred in the living memory of anyone, except perhaps the very oldest who can recall when Britain was the global superpower. US consumption and expenditure relative to its output and income is unsustainable and it is using China to fund this imbalance. Eventually, China will overtake the US, which is what the oldest would be able to tell you, as history repeats itself. Sorry.
FCScorpio79 1 year ago
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FCScorpio79 1 year ago
Even if Niall is not completely right, he is only stating the obvious; historians such as him have a greater insight into the nature of things; much more than 'specialists' such as economists...
TheAnonymousWitness 1 year ago
Well may we chuckle now......... because nothing will stop us from chucking later!
gettingahandle 1 year ago
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gettingahandle 1 year ago
Anyone who watch this video should check out how much US spend on military and compared to rest of the world. US is the #1 in military and it spends more than the following 20 nations COMBINED. Now, how is this obsession with military dominance sustainable? US defense budget is the SINGLE biggest budget spending in US accounting to almost 50% of US's tax revenue. Ironically, US would spend billions on weaponry when it has a failed social benefit program and later generations are left with debt.
clostsin 1 year ago
@clostsin excellent point
battwann88 1 year ago
@poopynagernumberone and wat u dont understand is us put in money into their economy by borrowing money MEANING ur using money that u never had. How is this fiscal policy sustainable? u can defend US with just a stick cuz that would all that is left of US.
clostsin 1 year ago
The US is begging China repeatedly for their continued purchase of our Treasury bills in order to keep our flatlining economy from collapsing. The Chinese government is merely subsidizing our purchases of their exported goods. The Chinese actually profit less money from our purchases than they give us to continue doing business. They are also becoming less and less dependent on the US economy because they are diversifying their exports as many countries have lowered their trade restrictions.
jdebusk15 1 year ago
3:33
mfatah281 1 year ago
man if i had his accent ill pick up all the babes
YAVUZ270976 1 year ago
@YAVUZ270976 no doubt this dude is like the
james bond of the giantbrains club
JustAintthatWay 1 year ago
@YAVUZ270976 Well he did drop his wife for the smokin' and exotic Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
majinspy 1 year ago
The Socialists & Greens have taken command of the world econimic system. These people are Marxist in there paradigm and will not stop until the western world is bankrupt, and then we will see revolution.
zoltanapril42 1 year ago
Do these wingnuts REALLY believe there is an invisible man that gives two shits bout the USA, or any other place? Damn there are a lot of really stupid people in the world. Pathetic.
crashishlaroche 1 year ago
Great video!
geir44 1 year ago
That last part was hard to get, but I got it. We are just like the Macedonians and the Soviet Union. Those damn Hindu Kush mountains.
michaelencarnacion 1 year ago
Is twincannon serious? Niall is eloquent and gets his points across well.
DouglasEdward84 1 year ago
The US can no longer be the world's policeman and provide foreign aid. Good luck defending your countries. We'll be on standby with ballistic missile submarines, surface ships with cruise missiles and long range bombers if you need us. We will be exiting bases around the world and bringing our soldiers home.
TonyUnplugged 1 year ago
The short answer is no. Unfortunately though, as the west looses it's control over it's own future, domestic problems will balloon everywhere, forcing nations to quickly realign. These realignments will create an epidemic of instability and minor revolutions around the world. Systemically, sets of these independent revolutions will merge and produce ideals so contradictory to one another, that a war to end all wars will be considered the only solution. Then we'll do it all again in 5000yrs,
yellowhue30 1 year ago
The problem is that the US has been sold a myth that the free market trickles down money, it does not. The only way the w/c and m/c could pay for goods and services due to relative fall in wages and employment is through cheap credit, after a while a limited number of people could get credit, so they deregulated - so more people could get loans, eg. NINJA loans - these collapsed, along with the whole US myth of wealth without work, stability without equality...the rich have absorbed all!
madkafir 1 year ago
Paul Krugman would just say that you could print your way out of everything.
I can't believe people still listen these rediculous Keynsian ideas.
LibertyDownUnder 1 year ago 10
@LibertyDownUnder Well he was using a bit of shorthand but since money is on aconfidence standard, rather then a gold standard that means that through very copetent investment that America can make that it can actually create wealth and become the beacon of the world once more,because let's face it the days when America stood against facism and communist Russia are long gone and so are the days so are the days when America gave the world a lasting democracy.No one canrest ontheir past glories,
idicula1979 1 year ago
@idicula1979, it's very cute that Government wants to help up, but when in history has printing more money resulted in long term economic growth?
LibertyDownUnder 1 year ago
@LibertyDownUnder FDR for just one instance and don't give me that Amity Shaels Last man standing crap, or a but more recent history Clinton innititive to put more then 100,00 cops on the street.
idicula1979 1 year ago
@idicula1979, FDR lead the US into a 15 year depression.
If this is what you are hoping for - then maybe Obama is doing the right thing.
Enjoy: /watch?v=AQQon4tjlSA
LibertyDownUnder 1 year ago
@LibertyDownUnder That's why there are public schools in the US: so there will continue to be a majority of citizens who still "listen [to] these [ridiculous] ideas." Our schools are petrie dishes of social engineering, not bastions of critical thinking. When the population is dumbed down, they think with their emotions (Democrat), not their reason (Conservative Repubican).
toonybrain 9 months ago
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Wow, this guy is a jackass. I mean I basically agree with him that we are probably fucked (in a variety of ways), but wow, fail public speaker is fail. Go back to Harvard you twat.
twincann0n 1 year ago
in my country, people are angry for the military getting 0,5% GDP and america currently pays 4,7% to its military, just thinking about maybe lowering it a little bit....
strange strange world....
liquidminds 1 year ago
The USA spends too much on Defence. Eisenhower warned the USA regarding the Industrial/Military domination of US Business and Politics. Nation security means not owing your foe dosh. Tax the Rich but do not eat them as you are likely to get an upset tummy.
littlebigbrain 1 year ago
That "stupid, lazy profligate population" that you idiotically paint with your broad brush, have given more treasure and blood to alleviate the suffering, poor & oppressed peoples of this earth than all other nations in human history combined. The American people will right the ship by electing genuine conservatives committed to fiscal sanity. Observe what happens on Nov 2.
3434arc1 1 year ago
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Close the foreign bases, stop supporting Israel, stop the wars and bring ALL the troops home. Tax oil to promote alternatives. Problem solved.
ndyt 1 year ago
The good thing about money is that it does not care for race, nationality or religion. Like death, it is a merciless unifier. The long despised Chinese have shown the proud Aryan brotherhood how to make money and politics.
AkiraBergman 1 year ago
You don't need to be a "Harvard Historian" to see that when one country owns a very large portion of the debt of another, that when Hiro comes calling for his money your ankles, knees, hips,back, elbows, fingers and most likely skull will be broken.
tegan71969 1 year ago
"Aaand ReMEMbahhh!"
ashleylovesdaddy 1 year ago
Cut on military spending already -_-
Thales880 1 year ago
Ferguson is dead on
swaefred 1 year ago
Cut defence and all the military adventurism, cut law and order war on drugs and prostitution, cut the anti-terrorism ineffective harass the public propaganda smoke and mirrors. Get out of Iraq, Iran, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Stay out of Iran, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
PikPobedy 1 year ago
@PikPobedy @Thales880 The most desired benefit of a strong military is not that you can dictate to others, but that others cannot dictate to you. When America had no navy, it had to pay a substantial part of the U.S. treasury paying tribute, for decades, to Muslim corsairs in order for them to cease attacks on american merchant shipping lanes in the Mediterranean, which the corsairs kept doing anyway as the sum they demanded continued to increased.
Re5Publica 1 year ago
sounds like he is a fan of the V for Vendetta guy.
Ragnaros12345 1 year ago
Give up the War on Drugs to save a fortune.
revjimbob 1 year ago 2
Wow.
mekaview 1 year ago
China isn't a strategic threat yet -no blue water navy and a limited nuclear arsenal. Our imports from china have been around $300 billion/yr for years. If they choose to buy mines or bonds it makes no difference, they are using dollars. As Ferguson points out most of their wealth is in treasuries. In other words, they are dollarized. They are part of the dollar trade system. They are afraid of instability and my guess is think a war with the U.S. would be terrible
derfilmmacher 1 year ago
@derfilmmacher, I don't understand why people don't see massive amounts of foreign debt (by all nations and to all nations) as a very good thing. I think the more we owe each other the less likely we are to go to war, the more reasons we can find to resolve our disputes peacefully, and get back to making money via legitimate and mutualistic trading. Modern warfare will be economic. If only because it is cheaper to blow up information than people. And causes a more debilitating injury.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
Civilizations' decline isn't "arrhythmic", there's usually a causality behind their fall, a chain of events creating effects, and so forth. The fact we are oblivious to the how's and when, doesn't not make its fall materialize all of the sudden. It does, however, require a retrospection on the even of falling and a brilliant mind to decipher the paradigm which leads to a decline of a civilization.
Mr. Ferguson simply takes a snapshot from the supposed end and claims it is arrhythmic.
Spengler
DarkRiderN 1 year ago 9
@DarkRiderN
Dude, look up the definition of arrhythmic.
Phead128 9 months ago
@Phead128
From the video description: "Throughout history the rise and fall of empires isn't slow or cyclical, as we like to think, but arrhythmic...it mostly happens very, very suddenly." Arrhythmic is antonymous here with "slow" and / or "cyclical". Mr. Ferguson thesis and suggestion that MOST of the time the decline of empires is "arrhythmic" or "sudden" isn't palpably true. It's part of a larger debate as to whether history has a more circular nature or a linear one (arrhythmic falls here).
DarkRiderN 9 months ago
@DarkRiderN
You can have cyclical declines that are fast or arrhythmic declines that are slow...
I think the description was written by someone who is not Dr. Ferguson...
Phead128 9 months ago
@Phead128
The description emulates the obscurantism of Ferguson's theory.
I recommend you read The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler. He had predicted the rise of Eastern economies at the begging of the 20th.c. He also thought this was a part of a larger, circular, paradigm inherent to human civilizational history.
DarkRiderN 9 months ago
@DarkRiderN
Oswald Spengler reeks of German Geopolitik. I'm about to take a test on Geopolitics in 9 hours. Wish me luck! Btw, if you get this message before hand, can you tell me what Oswald Spengler is known for?
Phead128 9 months ago
@Phead128
Good luck dude! Geopolitics is a very interesting field.
What is he known for? Cultural pessimism ("Optimism is cowardice"). The identification of 8 mature civilizations and the concept of "prime symbol" (the fundamental idea behind each civ.). The construction of cyclical model of civilizations and their life-spans, as well as an ascription of symptoms indicating their spring and summer (periods of "becoming") and an automn and winter (periods of "being").
DarkRiderN 9 months ago
@DarkRiderN true, just remember that the "chain of events" is non-linear and complex.
suitabledude 7 months ago
In the fifties the debt to GDP ratio was 120% and the marginal tax rate was 90% and that was a boom time for the US and the middle class. We also fought a cold war. Long bond rates were 3-4% and we were fine. This guy is just another British twit fear mongering. He may well be a British agent. He says we are on a surefire course to fiscal instability but he can't predict future bond rates, if he could he'd be a billionaire.
derfilmmacher 1 year ago
@derfilmmacher The Federal Reserve has bought TRILLIONS of US treasury bonds with fake, printed dollars to keep the interest rates down. It is a heavily manipulated market.
PS- Real inflation is over 8% right now. So a 3% yield on US treasuries is giving you a -5% real return.
kja5 1 year ago
@kja5, but their yield is set by the buyer, not the seller because they are sold at auction. That rate is a reflection of the demand to buy that debt by the people with the money--presumably the ones best suited to have the best sense of our economic outlook and the true value of treasuries. Perhaps they perceive a greater risk of deflation than you do.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
@derfilmmacher, this is such an artificial period in our past. We just ended a war, rationing, price controls, had a baby boom, no global competitors, and a means (the GI Bill) to pour a ton of public money into private lives. Obviously that would fund an enormous economic growth but it isn't a sustainable policy. For one thing, the Gi subsidy declines over time with the aging of that population. It's a completely useless point to make and doesn't apply to our present predicament in any way.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
The introduction should sound like "ForaTV - The World Is Sinking"
xbornstubbornx 1 year ago
@xbornstubbornx, I wouldn't call drowning in the shallow opulence of very nearsighted ideologies "sinking." All we have to do is stand up to recover.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
Although I think this guy is an idiot, and completely wrong. He does point out our most basic problem: our inability to find competent leadership. I think Richard Dreyfuss is correct (check out thedreyfussinitiative org) in calling for a massive search for better civic technologies. Engineering a greater role for ourselves in civics, finding more effective ways to harvest our collective political acumen and discover those best suited to lead us. We need to build a better electorate.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
I dont think the current republican maniacs will cut military spending before social security and other social services.... And the democrats are too big of pussies to stop them..... Its happening right now.....
Where does this guy live? under a rock?
tempemonkey2323 1 year ago
yep
DarthSchwartz 1 year ago
Notice also that the British oligarch and fraudster Ferguson refuses to identify the reindustrialization of the United States as the obvious solution to the present crisis, which is easily spun as a "fiscal problem," but which is, in reality, the manifestation of the collapse of US agro-industrial production. This, not coincidentally, is a direct result of the poisonous foreign doctrines of British "Free Trade," which Ferguson and his cronies so emphatically endorse.
offsprng46 1 year ago
@offsprng46 You need to build Thorium reactors now.
justjacqueline2004 1 year ago
( cont. ) This is were the American soft power comes into play.
idicula1979 1 year ago
Never does this British fraud and charlatan address the fundamental issue, which is whether or not the US federal government, as a sovereign entity, should borrow from private usurers in the first place. Never does he broach the issue of public credit (e.g., government lending through a national, as opposed to a central bank).
Rather, his entire speech is carefully crafted to further the mental slavery which says that the USA must remain beholden to Wall Street and London finance oligarchs.
offsprng46 1 year ago 2
America needs a war with such a large standing army.
poosnip 1 year ago
Money=debt
jere1990 1 year ago 2
"and I present to you, ladies and gentleman, the beginning of the end of the empire".
etniko 1 year ago
@etniko I guess that is depends on how serious we can be, but the "good" thing about the American debt as huge as it may be is that since most of the western world is also expeirincing the "crises", the debt is a relative thing. Sure China it may seem has the upper hand with their huge surplus but if they can't increase their freedoms for the private sector and grow their domestic customer base, then their "huge surpluses," are just a little bit better then an illusion. ( cont.)
idicula1979 1 year ago
I do not trust Corrupt Coporate America run by greedy CEOs who are Mafia bosses who have no accountability to anyone
htgajjar 1 year ago 8
@htgajjar That's an ignorant mobbish comment to generalize "corporate" America. Don't be so simplistic. You don't have the full understanding of how things work which is clear in your statement. Especially in a time when corporations are more heavily regulated than they ever have been in the History of the US. The Govt is responsible for setting the conditions for corporate abuse in the markets. Read any Thomas Sowell book and you'll see.
orcaluv 1 year ago
When the economy colapses, and it will, it will take down the rest of the world, no not huberus, just a fact. There is no 'other place' to run to. Better to stay and fix what is wrong than pretend to be safe in another locale.
GBS990 1 year ago
Tax the rich like we did after the depression at a 90% tax rate for the top 1% and became the largest superpower with the best infrastructure in the world. Sadly its going to require another great depression before people remember what its like to have the rich owning everything and the poor having nothing, like is what is happening more and more. Otherwise the US will collapse under its own debt because we give so many tax cuts to the rich and lucrative contracts that are wasted.
anubis2814 1 year ago
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Foxconn - comming to America ! Thanks NAFTA and the Clinton's and all those dedicated to bring us under a one world governement ran by international bankers and the UN. This is going to get ugly ~
Popcorn anyone ..?
RenegadeTimes 1 year ago
Why don't we tax the black market? Suppose we earned a 50% "white market tax" credit for every dollar of our after tax income. Those credits are used up when we purchase things by a new "white market tax" that would function like a national sales tax. Those who report their income have credits covering every dollar of it, so they never actually pay the tax. But those with unreported income have no credits and end up paying a 50% federal income tax on every dollar they spend.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
This guy is smug and corny. What a poor speaker- overly melodramatic. He sounds like a third rate dinner theater actor playing Marc Anthony...
joel1923 1 year ago
The USA and its stupid, lazy profligate population deserves whatever happens to it. And that is speaking as a patriot. We have more than sinned, and not in the sense that the buffoons of the Religious Reicht speak of it.
JCJasion 1 year ago 25
@JCJasion Agree. If there is a chance to leave the country, I may take it.
That has always been the reason for an empire's collapse. However in this new age of the internet, where information can spread to large numbers, and it is, in a country founded on a brilliant system of government, albeit ignored at the moment, has a chance to quickly rebuild. Unfortunately, most only learn the hard way, and we'll likely have to go through that first, yet we'll better prepared for the other side..
InTheSticks1881 1 year ago
@JCJasion Religious Reicht...good one.
davejoe75 1 year ago
@JCJasion
"The USA and its stupid, lazy profligate population deserves whatever happens to it"
The problem is, the US spend most of its budget each year on defense, and as it's economic wealth continues to shrink, it's people become more desperate, it's politicians will be come harsher and even more ruthless than they had to date. The rest of the world should worry about what is going to happen to it in the twilight of US economic supremacy. Who is going to be the next Iraq?
TheGodlessGuitarist 1 year ago
@TheGodlessGuitarist US did not spend most of its budget on defense. It spends about 20% of the normal budget on defense. nobody will take you seriously (except your fellow true believers) if you don't look things up.
darnokish 1 year ago
@darnokish, The US spends roughly as much as the entire rest of the world on defense. That's about twenty times as much on an average per capita basis. I'm not saying it's too much. But I do think that war itself became obsolete the minute our enemies became potential customers. Our enemies are too valuable economically to simply blow away anymore. We need to a better approach for undermining the political forces that oppose us. Perhaps we need only convince them to see us as customers too.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
@darnokish
"It spends about 20% of the normal budget on defense. nobody will take you seriously (except your fellow true believers) if you don't look things up."
Try again smart arse, this time actually look at the data! It's 54%!!! That's why your country has appalling healthcare, thats why your country is about to have it's social security fund of $2.5 trillion stolen ( to pay for your overseas genocides ), that's why your country has 3rd world performance in high school education!!!
TheGodlessGuitarist 1 year ago
@JCJasion this coming someone who doesnt work stfu
wiidiwii 1 year ago
@JCJasion
Correct but the whole world is barely any better and deserves all the same. God is going to hmm lets say hit the delete key on modern civilization or press the proverbial reset button.
MrKillswitch88 1 year ago
@MrKillswitch88 - I like the way you put that. For my part, I feel that this is going to be an instantaneous knee-jerk 'judgement' the likes of which one would expect from sitting on a metal flagpole in the middle of a severe electrical storm. The 'delete' or 'reset' program has been hard-coded. It's called mathematics and finite supply.
JCJasion 1 year ago
@JCJasion
Lets say that there is a lot more out there that even those who called them selves scientists don't have any grasp on and can barely understand this world much less any other lol. Don't forget God he can swing this any time like a CME or a mega quake that could be felt globally.
MrKillswitch88 1 year ago
Comment removed
JCJasion 1 year ago
@MrKillswitch88 - @MrKillswitch88 - Oh, my friend, our pursillanimous human intellects can hardly grasp a glimmer of understanding of all this. I fear and quake and love and revere, and that's all my human faculties are capable of.
JCJasion 1 year ago
@JCJasion
I'm pretty sure God doesn't give two shits about the US at this point...just let happen whatever will happen to the US. There are other nations on the Earth to live on.
chaosbringer127 1 year ago
all the unconstitutional wars in iraq & afghanistan do is create more terrorists... war is almost always retarded at best, evil at worst
djdnauk1977 1 year ago 3
@djdnauk1977 Not for the politicians and the rent seekers that benefit from it. It's all perspective. The elite have their own set of incentives.
rayyf69 1 year ago
your government are selling the futures of you & your children to anyone willing to lend them a dime, how anyone can believe the government & central banks are anything but predatory evil & immoral institutions is beyond reason.
djdnauk1977 1 year ago 3
@djdnauk1977, I don't see what's immoral about the way we define money (as debt.) I don't see any other alternative. The value (or utility) of wealth is its ability to convey indebtedness. Our government has little control over what it must pay its creditors because it sells it's debt at auction to the highest bidders. You can't blame it for the low interest rates that result from their willingness to bid high prices. That's a consequence of having an economy perceived to face little risk.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
@ananiasacts you dont see whats immoral about fiat currency? in any other situation the industry f printing money out of thin air then loaning it to people backed by no value at interest would be considered as counterfeiting... why should central banks get ultra rich for printing bits of paper? it saps way too much wealth out of the system, causes poverty & human suffering, thats whats immoral about it.
djdnauk1977 1 year ago
@djdnauk1977, I don't believe you understand how our financial system works at all. The Khan Academy on youtube has a great series on money that explains the fed very well. If you'd like to discuss that I'm willing. But how can we discuss our monetary infrastructure if you harbor false beliefs about how it works? This is not top secret stuff. Anyone can easily find out how it works. Or they can believe, as you appear to, that its a corrupt and immoral sham. There's little I can do about that.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
@ananiasacts i love the khan academy, very good logical videos & explanations :) what part do you think i misunderstand?
djdnauk1977 1 year ago
@djdnauk1977: "you dont see whats immoral about fiat currency?" No, I don't. Commodity backed currency has all of the same problems (unless you actually expect people to use the commodity itself, and not notes that represent it in which case it has MANY more) and is arguably worse if only because it more effectively pretends to be inflation proof. It's actually subject to far more manipulation by powerful interests. Read about the Hunt Brothers. I do not believe you understand what money is.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
@ananiasacts my complaint is not with money backed by nothing... it was with fiat currency that is controlled by central banks, "he who controls the wealth controls the people" & usury itself (lending at interest, which is backing writing a promissory note which is paid for by mans labour, then they add adding interest to it!) which means you just create ever more debt & its not like society can create its own currencies outside of this web as the state makes that illegal!
djdnauk1977 1 year ago
@djdnauk1977, If you don't believe in interest, then what incentive is there to lend money? Without that our economy could not grow as quickly. Even the sun wouldn't shine if the universe was unwilling to loan it energy for short terms. I cannot think of a better basis for currency than the taxing authority of the state. Money is cheapest to borrow when lenders are most certain they'll be repaid--what else could be as certain? Without the fed, they could not have the same level of confidence.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
@ananiasacts governments are legally able to coin money @ 0% interest themselves, why dont they? the only reason they dont is because private banks coaxed them into borrowing it off them at interest instead... running a printing press (printing money) takes VERY little cost/effort compared to the profits they make in return. central bankers are like gargantuan economic parasites on societies. the federal reserve & most central banks are private banks not government owned.
djdnauk1977 1 year ago
This is interesting because our defense spending is essentially a subsidy to all the European nations who do not spend as much on defense.
rayyf69 1 year ago
Just debase the currency, that'll fix it!
NermalsChannel 1 year ago
You call an extra trillion dollar budget a fucking squeeze? You sir, are a moron.
Phelan666 1 year ago
@Phelan666 Niiice ad hominem. B/c that's substantial debate. I'd trade that 1B trim to any domestic non-essential debaucle any day...and eventually for the record, i would mind trimming all kinds of fat from the Pentagon, it's just not my first choice. We always seem to have these "arguments" here and no one can seem to decide what it is they'd cut first, but I think we'd agree deficit spending must end.
GOPsithlord 1 year ago
@GOPsithlord I know exactly what I'd cut first. Pork-barrel spending that gives all the tax dollars to private companies that don't even need it.
Phelan666 1 year ago
What is this guy smoking? Social Security doesn't get squeezed? Defense gets squeezed? In what reality?!?
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 Not a thing. As an employee of the DOD, the aforementioned squeeze is already on. Not unlike our European counterparts, the Defense cuts come first, but it's a bit of hyperbole to suggest entitlements won't be cut...it just won't be cut first.
GOPsithlord 1 year ago
@GOPsithlord Already? I was under the impression that government wheels grind slowly. Look how long it took us to get a non-white president! Okay, maybe Obama wasn't the best pick, let's just get that outta the way. Well, I think the first place to start cutting are these stupid wars!
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 *sighs* Who really cares what color a president is when the only color that should matter is green? The "stupid wars" as you refer to them are already well on their way to being cut. Operation: New Dawn is a 50,000 man operation, nothing like OIF. Don't be surprised if Afghanistan is next...b/c as we all know terrorists magically disappear when you're out of their battle space...right?
GOPsithlord 1 year ago
@GOPsithlord Well, as it stands, all we're doing is pissing off more people! The Taliban don't need to recruit, we're doing that for them! There are more important things then money!
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080, sure there are, but they only become more important after you have enough money. When you have less than enough money, money itself becomes very important.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
@ananiasacts Problem is, for too many people there's never enough! CEO and celebrities make millions each year, they never keep "enough", they just keep collecting. Stars of hit shows go on "strike" because they "only" make $500,000 an episode! Almost wish the rich would take Ayn Rand's advice and go on strike!
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080, I don't worry about stuff like this because money has a deeply negative feedback loop built right into it. This is because what you think you own also owns you. So it's not really how much money you have, but how much you spend on yourself that matters. And the only thing that money you don't spend can actually do is create economic opportunities for someone else, I don't see any good reason to dissuade people from accumulating enormous amounts of it. It doesn't cause poverty.
ananiasacts 1 year ago
@ananiasacts "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."~1 Timothy 6:10
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080
Austin 3:16
mrx0066600 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 We're pissing off an unpopular, Pashtun-based student movement which banned things like flying kites and female literacy that should have no voice in the future of Afghanistan. I can't think of anyone better to "irritate". But that they use civilian casuaties to recruit is not lost on any counterinsurgent, I promise you. Still, there are two dozen things I'd slash on the domestic side before I'd curtail any war effort.
GOPsithlord 1 year ago
@GOPsithlord I agree with that, the first part. I'm just not so sure that bombing the Afghan people in extinction is the answer, I'm asking for a better alternative. No one in the 9/11 terror attacks was Afghan or Iraqi, they were mostly Saudis taking marching orders from another Saudi, Bin Laden. So, why did we not invade Saudi Arabia? I think the Afghanistan war was a pretext for expanding US power in the region, getting their minerals and invading Iraq.
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 It's too simplistic and an appeal to an absolute to merely cite nationality of people who are essentially stateless--both Ayman al-Zawahiri (Egyptian) and Osama bin Laden (Saudi) are political rebels. Both were given refuge by the Taliban and their collective support for him is what makes the Taliban the enemy here. As for Iraq as with Afghanistan, natural resources are barely on the radar where I am concerned.
GOPsithlord 1 year ago
@GOPsithlord Oh look, it's the janitor.
Phelan666 1 year ago
@Phelan666 I am if I have to clean up this type of mental excrement on thread after thread. Tidy up!
GOPsithlord 1 year ago
@Phelan666 With respect, I used to work as a janitor. It's honorable work.
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 all janitors think they are better off living in the woods.
Yamakashi1 1 year ago
@Yamakashi1 What?
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 it was pretty hilarious when i was writing it.
i guess i dont know many janitors to compare. ror.
Yamakashi1 1 year ago
@Yamakashi1 You don't know any? You never worked as one? Then kindly STFU! It's a good job that pays well!
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 oloololololololololol
Yamakashi1 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Phelan666 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080
Reality of comedy?
NermalsChannel 1 year ago