…{Obama} digging the hole deeper, this has nothing to do with Bush and his deficits, …
It certainly does.
GWB’s huge deficits (borrowing from China to double the debt) is why I could predict US and EU were headed for depression three years before GWB left office! However, the US might have been able to recover from only that debt and increased interest burden, if GWB had not also gutted the regulations of the financial community and had the SEC turn a blind eye to even well documented abuses like Madoff. (In that case 22 points were submitted to the Boston SEC office with math analysis showing had to be a Ponsi scheme.)
Perhaps the US could even have survived doubled debt, deregulation and non-enforcement of the law by the SEC, etc., but with GWB’s tax relief for the already rich, and the associated “trickled down” to high rate of return investments opportunities in China ( ~4 times US growth rate), the hole just became too deep. The modern Chinese factories that FDI helped build have closed too many older factories in the US, killing too many jobs for Joe American. – That damage is long lasting – those factories will still be there after Obama is gone too. Now informed speculation is that after going bankrupt in US, GM may move its offices to China too. See:
http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/05/18/general-motors-china/ (It has already sent some of the better managers and some manufacturing equipment to its Chinese plants from the US.)
For the US collapse, give credit where it is due. It was predictable three years before GWB left office. How could it be due to Obama? He is just following the widely accepted Keynesian prescription as to how to try to save an economy destroyed by the prior Republican administration. When GWB took office 72% of the US economy (GDP) was consumer based, but now with ~9% unemployment and lower purchasing power of the Joes that have not yet lost their jobs, the consumers can not support the economy. The Obama choice is either (1) let the economy collapse immediately into depression or (2) try to replace the reduced spending with government spending as Keynesians suggest.
Which do you prefer?
Back when GWB still had years to go as POTUS and when I (and >90% of Americans) had never heard of Obama, I was 100% sure (and posted that prediction here) that the US would have (to quote you):
“A depression that will make the 1930tys look like a walk in the park.”
Because GWB and the “reward the rich” Republicans had dug the hole so deep. Now I am only about 90% sure that despite doing everything Keynesian economics requires, and inspiring many as Kennedy did, that depression is unavoidable.
SUMMARY: GWB’s policies not only made two recessions, doubled the debt, transferred wealth from Joe American to Daddy Warbucks, lowered the purchasing power Joe’s of salary, but also Republican “trickle down” help build the modern factories that put many Joes into the unemployed lines as theirs closed. More still to close as those factories in China are still producing. For example, the world’s first mass produced electric hybrid car.* Warren Buffett’s trickle down savings let him become owner of 10% of the NEW factory in China that makes this car, while GM and Chrysler close their factories.
All above thanks to GWB and the “serve the rich” “trickle down” Republicans. – Give credit where it is due.
Poor Warren - he has not been doing so well since Obama came to power. Obama will increase his taxes & lower taxes on 95% of the Joes. Let's all cry for him. :bawl:
*-----------
Not yet for sale in the US (probably waiting till all US makers are bankrupt.)
{Priced at $22,000 dollars and} "unveiled earlier this year, battery maker Build Your Dream beat both the U.S. and the Japanese with its ambitious bid to unleash the
world's first {and by far the cheapest} successful plug-in electric car, the F3DM. The company, led by Wang Chuanfu and backed by Warren Buffett, aims to double sales to 400,000 cars and unveil five new models all this year. ..." More on Buffet ~10% ownership of BYD motors at:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/15/byd-hybrid-car-markets-equity-cx_twdd_1215markets04.html Including following performance specs:
“…BYD's F3DM model operates in either full electric or gas-electric modes, and contains an electric battery that can be charged at a regular plug or at a recharging station.
It can travel up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) solely on battery power, and contains a back-up gas engine, BYD said on Monday. Drivers alternate between the two power modes by flipping a switch: the electric mode is optimal for city driving, as gas engines are more wasteful under constant acceleration and deceleration, and the gas-electric mode is more appropriate for travel on highways and outside of cities. The battery takes up to seven hours to {100%} charge with a regular plug, and up to
15 minutes to be 80.0% charged at a special recharging station. …” {I.e. the Li-ion battery can rapid charge, but your house wiring can not deliver power at that rate.}
