I have been watching with worried interest what is happening in the US economy in the past few years. I must admit that during the Reagan/Bush years, I became a deficit hawk, and reveled in the expansion and new markets during the Clinton years.
Recently, a friend of mine (more or less a blank slate when it comes to the economy) set me up in an email debate with his father, who I would easily say has benefitted from the tax breaks to the top 10% in recent years. He also loves Rush Limbaugh and Larry Kudlow. In round after round of this debate, I presented facts from the CBO and IMF, and his father used salty language to try to beat me down.
I relished the "conversation," however, which made me wonder WHY.
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Why on earth would I want to participate in a debate with a guy who could teach a sailor how to cuss? Well, because it was an open-ended conversation about something that is RARELY discussed in America.
Americans don't talk about the whole state of the economy partially, I believe, that they don't understand it. I took macroeconomics in college, but nothing prepared me for what I've been learning in the past two years. Also, to most Americans, the subject is boring as hell (sorry, Bonddad). Truly. I am very interested in this subject, but even I fight to stay awake. The numbers roll through my brain, and I can't keep track. So I end up taking notes on scraps of paper and using a highlighter on articles that I print out from the internet.
Outside of the American media, our closest trading partners and allies (read: Europe, Japan, China, Canada, IMF, World Bank, etc.) have been talking about the dire situation openly and sending us warnings about the state of affairs. To that point, here is an article that IS EASY TO READ AND UNDERSTAND published by Macleans monthly magazine out of Canada. It is a few months old, and you've might have seen it before.
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/world/article.jsp?content=20050307_101541_101541
This article does have a few numbers, but also goes into what may happen if this scenario is allowed to play out. Of course, it is written from a Canadian point of view, but if they're worried, Americans should be worried, too.
On the day the current administration came to power, the total U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio was 78%. Now it is 308%. To put that into some context, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) considers a nation-state whose total debt-to-GDP ratio is 200% or more to be a "de-constructed." De-constructed in IMF terms means collapse. But the IMF, for political reasons, doesn't want to use the word "collapse." They are diplomats after all, and that would be rude. They've used this term for other banana republic meltdowns.
One thing that I do have to admit is that finding information about this is very difficult. It is as if you have to know the answer to even ask the question. And when you find an answer, it comes in a form so complex that even an economics major would have a difficult time understanding it.
I post this for your information, but I'm hoping that a few of you may know of other articles and sources about the US economy that I can share with non-econ-major friends.
DailyKos community, what say you?