Silvita,
>>Ah, yes, the great unemployment rate of 5.6%.
I would not discount how important that figure is for all Americans from immigrants trying to make survive in a very competitive economy to the possibility for labor mobility. Over the past two decades, all efforts within European policy circles have ben focused on trying to reduce the endemic structural unemployment realities found in Europe. It was no laughing matter under Felipe Gonzalez (22-23 percent unemployment) nor is now in France and Germany, where UE rates are closer to 10%.
>> Combine that with the $5.2 trillion deficit
Try to avoid using absolute $ figures--it undermines your arguments. Besides your number is off by a factor of 10! The US budget deficit is forecast to be about $500 billion and that is relative to a $11.5 Trillion economy. These deficit figures sound HUGE, but given the size of the US economy, it is not really so large as to warrant panic. It is about 4%, large but not extraordinary (in WW2, the US budget deficit hit 30% of GDP!! Also, the budget deficits of France and Germany are roughly the same size in terms of %). In 2002, France had a budget deficit of 3.9%, Germany 4.1%. Don;t really see this comparison emphasized in the press, do you?
Perhaps, you were talking about the current account deficit (our position wrt other countries). It is around is 4+% of GDP. But given our growth rates, productivity rates, our relatively cheap US$, and the incredible buying of US treasury instruments by overseas governments and investors, esp in Asia, the US can "handle" higher deficits than say all of Europe. Also, the flexibility of the US labor market does not fan the flames of inflation as one might think.
So please take the horrors being reported in the press with a grain of salt. Really the worry is not much lower in Europe.
>>that Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy gave us
While I think US taxes are way, way too high, I am also no fan of Bush's handouts to the wealthy. See, we can agree
>>Oh, wait, but gas prices are at record highs. >>Is it lack of production, or can it also be >>blamed on the devaluated dollar, that is >>causing investors to dump their investments in >>U.S. currency for bonds?
The devaluation of the dollar has been great for the US, keeping its export markets very healthy, much to the chagrin of Europe. Our production has been very strong. Think of it. The implosion of the asset bubble. The greatest terrorist act in history. Two wars. A less than competent president, and we still grew in 2001!! Freakin' incredible! If the Chinese want to continue US debt, great, they will bear a large share of the burden of any future US inflation.
>>Also, our foreign debt is about 33% of our >>gross domestic product right now thanks to >>Bush.
I am not sure what you mean by foreign debt, but the US national debt is growing, now 67% of GDP, almost exactly the same size as it was in the middle of Clinton (1995-96). How about our buddies in france and Germany? They are both around 60%. The tragedy is how we have socialized our economy to the point to becoming more "European." If Americans want Europe, move to Spain (debt 55% of GDP and deficit of 0%, 2002 figures. Hate Aznar all you want but he pulled off one of the greatest economic turnarounds in modern European history.
>>Few countries have been able to carry foreign >>debts of that magnitude for long.
You are right. Probably only the US.
>>Currency devaluation and an economic downturn >>are the usual result of such poor debt >>management, both of which would knock the props >>out from under American world leadership.
Well, that cannot really happen since the USD floats and is not fixed. The USD can depreciate but not devalue. The debt may be growing but the interest payments within out debt are far more manageable. Think of. Borrow $10,000 on your credit card at 1% or borrow %8,000 at 5%. Who has a harder time making monthly payments? Bush can jack the debt up since interest rates are soo low.
The worry expressed by the IMF is NOT with the US, but with what potential problems the US economy might cause other countries. Believe me, the US economy is as solid as a rock. Not the case for Germany. The Spanish would be smart NOT to follow Germany lock stock and barrel.
>>Did we learn nothing from Argentina?!?! Keep >>your money in your mattresses if Bush is re->>elected, people!
Sorry, the scare tactics don;t wash. Argentine was once one of the richest countries in the world. Now it lags behind several African countries. It has developed GREAT economists but has a political elite class that are among the worst, most corrupt and most incompetent in the world. They have been a basket case for 70 years. There per capita income is 20-25% of the US.
>>And it's great that your hatred for Arabs and >>Islam is enough to make you blind to the >>inconsistent policies of the Bush >>administration.
Whoa, now that is personal. Far from being anti-Arab, most Americans were pro-Arab and getting fed up with Israel and Sharon. Then came 9-11. Then came Palestinians dancing in the streets. Then came an assortment of macho nose-thumbing, which I found amazing given a Texan president in the office. Everybody loves to point out how Americans are not culturally knowledgable. Well, anyone who understand the US knows Texans have just as much bravado and machismo as anyone. Now 2 1/2 years later, noble quests have dwarfed by incompetence and idiocy on all sides, including the behavior of just about every G-7 government. But please don;t simplify the past four years. Don;t forget that the UN passed resolutions in the 1990s that gave clear instructions to the UN to enforce transgressions. One day, Europe as a whole will actually do what they pledge to do, instead of mastering the art of hot air.
>>So call me unpatriotic, go ahead and say that >>if I don't want Bush in office, then I'm for >>the terrorists or I'm going to become French, >>or that I only get my info from the liberal >>media. YAWN. I've heard it all before.
Once thing that is wonderful about life is that NOTHING stops you from byuing a R/T flight and moving to a 1000 Euro/month room in a flat in the outskirts of Paris. You will find life really hard--unless of course Mommy and Daddy set you up nicely. Now I am being cheeky, but really, it is NOT easy to build a life in Europe if you are not European. A year or two is easy.
I don;t think being anti-Bush is unpatriotic. But somehow thinking there is a svaior or short cut or change of scenary will elimate all ills is simply naive--the very saem naivete that plagues Bush.
>>Stick and stones, y'all. It doesn't change the >>fact that Bush is the most incompetent >>president we've ever had. I actually miss Bush >>the Elder!!!
I will leave by agreeing with you (surprised?). But... if he is so grossly incompetent, is it not downright amazing that Gore lost the predential election (he should have won by a landslide) and that Kerry remains neck and neck with Bush after all of what has happened in the last three years?? Hey Dems, do yourself a favor, FIRE the hell out of all your leadership and start listening to Arianna Huffington, the only pundit/intellectual who makes sense on the left.
So if you are truly patriotic, you will make sure Bush loses by 300 electoral votes and 20% of the pop vote. If you don;t care, then perhaps France is your best option as a place to blow hot air without action to back up anything since...Napoleon?
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