The U.S. financial system is like a junkie that needs continually increasing amounts of "junk" to get the same "buzz". So what is the U.S. financial system addicted to? It is addicted to money and debt. For many years, whenever the Federal Reserve would lower interest rates or the U.S government would borrow and spend more money, the U.S. economy would respond positively. But just like with any other kind of artificial stimulation, over time it has taken greater and greater amounts of debt and cheap money to get a response from our economic system. So yes, the fact that the official unemployment rate went down 0.1% last month is good news, but considering the massive amount of spending that the U.S. government is doing and considering the gigantic quantity of money that the Federal Reserve is injecting into the financial system, the truth is that the unemployment rate should be falling much faster than that. So don't be fooled by the good economic numbers and don't be fooled by the financial "sugar rush". The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have been pulling out all the stops to stimulate the economy, and the fact that all of their efforts are barely moving the unemployment rate at all is an indication of just how far our economic situation has degenerated.
Many in the mainstream media were extremely excited when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the U.S. unemployment rate declined to 8.8% in March. U.S. stocks soared as investors enthusiastically welcomed the news. But should we all really be jumping up and down over this?
The truth is that some other measures show that the unemployment situation in the United States is becoming worse.
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A big Success is being claimed in stopping a leak of radioactive water into the ocean .
ReplyDeleteBUT in the NYT report above it says .
“The document also suggests that fragments or particles of nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools above the reactors were blown “up to one mile from the units,” and that pieces of highly radioactive material fell between two units and had to be “bulldozed over,” presumably to protect workers at the site. The ejection of nuclear material, which may have occurred during one of the earlier hydrogen explosions, may indicate more extensive damage to the extremely radioactive pools than previously disclosed.”
Depending on the direction of the blast, as the plant is on the edge of the sea ,perhaps half of that scattered nuclear material would now be poisoning the ocean …
‘up to one mile from the Units”
No start has even been made on cleaning that up that scattered nuclear material in the sea and nothing much is being said about that!
The US through its Spy satellites using thermal imaging etc. as used to track nuclear events and missile launchings ,has perhaps a better understanding of just what explosions really occurred and what it is really happening at these plants than what it publicly says ?
Is it time for American fish to get paranoid yet?
As there is now an excess of $ paper being counterfeited at the Fed with QE2 money provided near interest free to banksters for use in the “Carry trade” $ export to the rest of the world so the US can export its inflation, it is only natural that on top of that ,with inflationary world oil prices because of American wars for cheap oil ,China will demand more dollars in payments for its goods.
ReplyDeleteThe article says
“In 2000, the United States imported $100 billion of goods from China, increasing to $365 billion in 2010.”
In an America said to have $14 Trillion GDP these figures appear to be such a piddling amount.
What is there to get exited about?
Actually those piddling amounts of imports from China and other Third world in dollar costs, have a lot to do with that 14 trillion GDP American economy .
The $365 millions becomes a TRLLLION of dollar profit component of US GDP!!!
The Chinese goods fill the shelves of wall mart and Sam Clubs and your shopping baskets.
American consumer lifestyles are dependent on the imports ofall these cheap labour produced goods. Not just cheap TVs .
The trick is that Wall mart squeezes the manufacturers profits in China by threatening to send its order to say India if it does not get its cheap bulk discount price.
The Chinese manufacturer might actually make little profit on the deal as his share of exploiting the cheap underpaid Chinese labour.
Wall mart gets the lion’s share.
The cost price value of these goods is formed by the cost of the raw materials, the wear and tear cost on the machinery used ,interest payments on the capital invested in the factory the machinery and wages.
As it is exploited ,cheap, near slave level wage labor that is paid wages value less than the value it creates or adds in production, this free extra unpaid for value is the source of the big profits when the goods are finally sold in retail at their full value.
Wall Mart might get say a pair of socks in China for say 50 cents, but it sells them in the US marked up to their real value say $5 .
As the profit is realized at sale in America the $ 4.50 profit is counted as AMERICAN, not Chinese GDP as the profit is after all now in Wall Marts American pocket..
Under the dollar hegemony deal, the Chinese re-invested their dollar incomes in American treasuries, housing and other US Bonds.
These dollars deposited in US banks were multiplied under the fractional reserve banking system and issued as credit to American consumers .
Thus not only the retailers but the financial sector made huge profits . The finance sector credit supply and profits also were counted as part of US GDP.
Of course it was all Ponzi and the US was running on foreign supplied credit as well as on the printing press but it all worked well enough as long as other countries were prepared to sell their things in exchange for US paper and promises of dividend payments if the paper was reinvested as vendor finance back in the USA.
The inability of Americans to keep up with the interest and bond dividends on government commercial and private debts led to the collapse of the Ponzi system in the money /credit supply markets in the crash of 2008.
Even after socialising the losses of the banking sector the US And the Central Bank are reduced to buying 86% of their own Treasury bills, in a sort of pass the parcel game in order to keep credit supply going ,so that the American financial sector can now print its own profits
Americans after as usual whining a little about higher prices , will still be happy to pay, making small personal financial sacrifices for supporting Empire and elite profits.
As can be seen in their continuing support for the politicians who voted for a financial TARP coup and by their recent support for he Libyan bombings even though it jacked up the price of their own gas.