MrDanger wrote:EagerBeaver wrote:Our country is in the toilet economically,
Can you back that up by numbers? I love hearing people saying that on the news and then the numbers, which are not political, they are what they are, come out and guess what, we are STILL in one of the strongest economies in modern history.
We are in the contraction phase of the business cycle, but that doesn't mean bad economy, it just means things are going normal.
HOWEVER, if we keep cheating the system with lowering interest rates, tax rebates, etc, there will EVENTUALLY be heck to pay economically.
Here's one simple figure that stands for itself. The devaluing of our American dollar. The dollar isn't going anywhere near as far as it did a few years ago.
In November 2000, the Euro traded at 0.85 to the American dollar. Now the euro is worth $1.45. Our dollar is being devalued on a global scale.
Also you mentioned lowering interest rates. That in itself devalues the dollar, which has a ripple effect...the price of oil stays the same, we end up paying more for gas. Here in Springfield, MO, our gas was $2.69 not five days ago, but today it is up to $2.89. Gas prices go up, our interest rates go down and our dollar has lost some of its elasticity.
Factor in that our money is technically simply a note for legal debts (which is why some retailers are allowed to refuse cash transactions). The only solution for our economy that our politicians ever find is to inject more funny money into the system and watch all our troubles go away for awhile before they come back to bite us in the butt even worse.
All in all, I believe that wages across the board cannot keep up with the current cost of living. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and the middle class is eroding.