18 Jul 11
One of the great problems with economics is the lack of "control groups". We cannot consult parallel universes to see how an economy would have fared had we not implemented a particular policy.
But I think the historical record is long enough, and there are enough countries in the world and states in the union, to allow for a fair statistical analysis to determine what policies are more likely to succeed and what policies are a bust.
Without the stimulus package put through under Obama's watch, things would quite likely have gone worse than they did. It upsets the GOP no end, but such is life...
18 Jul 11
1 edit
Originally posted by KunsooYou forgot cars made by GM. 😵
Infrastructure primarily, but also power, health care, roads, parks, research & development, consumer protection services, police protection, fire and injury protection, conflict resolution services, etc. - all goods and services some of which is counted towards GDP, and some of which is arbitrarily excluded due to free market ideology.
But that's not how a government fixes an economy. It fixes an economy with monetary and fiscal policy.
I will admit that a fair amount of things have been socialized in the US, but the problem arises when they ignore the bottom line and let defitics get out of control. Then the rest of the country must step in to bail them out which drains the economy.
There needs to be balance, and from my persepctive there is none. As furtful as it is to admit, the bottom line does in fact matter.
19 Jul 11
Originally posted by USArmyParatrooperHistory repeats itself
re·ces·sion/riˈseSHən/Noun
1. A period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.
The fact that this hasn't happened since, oh, sometime in 2009?
Ronald Reagan, Sept 1, 1980: "...The Carter record is a litany of despair, of broken promises, of sacred trusts abandoned and forgotten. His answer to all this misery? He tries to tell us that we're only in a recession, not a depression -- as if definitions -- words -- relieve our suffering. Let it show on the record that when the American people cried out for economic help, Jimmy Carter took refuge behind a dictionary... "
Just like Obama and his flunkies.
