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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (23305)	7/1/2005 6:08:44 PM
From: The Wharf	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81230

Searle As you know, debt is the basis for currency creation and the argument is if someone is prepared to service that debt (ie pay interest on it and ultimately repay it) then that adds "substance" to what otherwise would just be a fictitious entry in the national balance sheet. As result of the inflation over time the debt becomes increasingly insignificant providing the assets bought with it don't depreciate in value. That is why those who can afford to carry debt become richer by buying assets using debt. Indeed, debt is the basis of the American Dream where people arrive penniless into the US, borrow as much as they can, spend as much as possible, have their hair dyed, teeth crowned and face lifted -- and voila -- in five years they are either multimillionaires or in jail. Short term sentence at that and I am laughing however though there be too much truth in you words. There are many women in China following your version of the American dream adding a tuck here and a loop there and voila we not only follow it we look more American than Asian. In the mean time we here seem not to be able to think ahead we were giving Viagra to sex offenders. I guess we should thank our lucky stars stripes and credit cards the world loves the way we pay. Even if AG has a headache it is innovation of the American that seems to keep the world going on its way.

To: sea_urchin who wrote (23305)	7/4/2005 5:41:43 PM
From: sea_urchin	Respond to of 81230

> debt is the basis of the American Dream xymphora.blogspot.com >>The death of the American Dream in America has been rather quietly noted in the American press. It is entirely a matter of tax policy and government investment in access to education. Jon Talton of the Arizona Republic gets it: "In magisterial work for the New York Times, reporter David Cay Johnston has documented the rise of the hyper-rich, the top 0.1 percent of income earners. These 145,000 people are leaving everyone else far behind, even those who would be considered wealthy. From 1980 to 2002, the latest year where data are available, the share of total income earned by the hyper-rich more than doubled. That earned by the bottom 90 percent of taxpayers declined. Johnston's research also makes it clear that the new nobility was the chief beneficiary of the Bush tax cuts. Those helped create a deficit that will, we are told, force cuts to Social Security and college aid, among other programs. Johnston's research also makes it clear that the new nobility was the chief beneficiary of the Bush tax cuts. Those helped create a deficit that will, we are told, force cuts to Social Security and college aid, among other programs. Speaking of college aid, Jackson watchers also probably missed news that the federal government has changed the rules for Pell Grants. That, combined with declining state support for universities, will keep a record number of Americans from getting a college education. These facts show some of the reasons the Wall Street Journal recently looked at the data and concluded that upward economic mobility has largely stalled in the United States. This historic ability to get ahead through hard work is the 'American dream.'" The United States became the world's most wealthy nation through years of prudent reinvestment in its human capital. Since Reagan - and clearly accelerating under Bush - it has been clear American public policy to squander its advantages through ruinous tax cuts and a reduction in social spending. The knuckle-dragging hillbillies need 'pictorials'. These are the people Bush refers to as his 'base'. I could frankly care less about the stupidities of American public policy, except for the fact that it serves as such a bad influence in the rest of the world. In Canada, the 'wingers constantly use the example of American policy as the right example for Canada. The U. S. doesn't tax its rich people so Canada shouldn't. The U. S. doesn't have a functioning health care system so Canada shouldn't. The U. S. doesn't provide access to proper education for poor people so Canada shouldn't. This race to the bottom, leaving everybody poor except for a tiny hyper-rich plutocracy, is just plain stupid. The plutocrats wouldn't even go along with it except for the fact that they have found, through the miracle of 'free trade', that they don't need American economic prosperity to be rich. They can find their workers, and their consumers, elsewhere. Now that American public policy is actually costing Americans money and jobs, do you think they will grow some brains and go back to the old policies that made the United States the wealthiest country in the world? No chance! <<