Even assuming it could be avoided, how could an economy and society survive and grow again after this devastation?

I cannot begin to express how disheartening it was to read some of the responses on my article. Is this really representative of the feelings Americans have of the future? That it is hopeless, that nothing will work and you really are in a terminal economic spiral from which there is no escape? So many objections…so few alternative ideas put forward. Perhaps it is just group-think. Where a few negative comments can lead to a pack mentality of criticism.

There seems to be no end of people that can quote from the record of spending waste, Government error and mismanagement and then frame their objections in light of one school of thought or another about why this or that idea is a pointless waste of time. What Mises, Keynes or Kondrateif and others said is not law though and it is not the final word. The beauty of economics is that it really is more art than science. That means creative solutions can be applied to it’s problems and the course of history can be changed in the process.

Are you really going to allow historical artifacts, dead people and commentators long past their expiry date to rule your decisions today? Is there really no hope left except to allow some implosion of your economy and way of life to occur without any attempt at all to change the direction and the eventual outcome? I now conclude that fatalism and hopelessness is actually winning the day.

Pointing out all the problems is easy. Armchair critics abound. Solving problems though takes leadership, a will and desire to find answers where it appears none exist. And you do have leadership available in spades. So bring em up and promote them.

Where is the hopefulness, confidence and can-do attitude that I have always known Americans to have? There are millions of brilliant people in your country. Cannot anyone see a way out of this mess? And what is wrong with the idea of negotiating with creditors to relieve the debt burden? I alluded to just such a thing when I said there might be horse-trades, concessions granted and trips to the negotiating table. America does after all provide policing and security services to the globe. So why would Americans pay the full cost of those services out of their own pocket. That might be one of many starting points to creditor negotiations. Stop thinking in terms of dollars and cents and how that growing debt will be impossible to service. The answers are out there.

Remember the old Star Trek, where James T. Kirk and crew aboard the USS Enterprise would hunker down and find a solution to the most improbable and impossible of situations? Remember when we all used to believe that creative problem solving was not only possible, but essential. Even imperative. That we could win despite all odds.

What the hell happened to those days? Bring back the reruns for a refresher!

Every country on the planet has an interest in the success of the United states of America. Everyone. Even our state enemies for crying out loud are dependent. First amongst those countries though is China and Japan who are on the hook for a Trillions in loans. And I do know that is the smallest part of the debt. There are the unfunded liabilities too. But lets not consider those obligations as fixed and non variable future debts and obligations. The actual numbers are not written in stone. The US is deflating and will continue to deflate. Housing prices will continue to fall for some time. Money (M3 estimates only) is in decline. Credit is contracting. It spells deflation with a certainty and therefore some future obligations will actually decline in value and not rise.

There is nothing especially surprising either about the the impacts on a declining economy and in particular those impacts I alluded to in the list I provided. And anyway, much of this is already occurring. Is California not already reducing teaching positions, health care services and other programs while suggesting it may bankrupt? Are there not expansions in policing, prisons and security? I did not incidentally say that food shelves would be bare. I said that variety would disappear. The picture provided did not do justice to the actual comments.

The question that Americans have to ask themselves now though is whether or not they support a bailout of troubled States or not. My point is that all of the issues I alluded to are actually happening right before you eyes despite all the efforts of government to stimulate them away. It is a waste of time to object that I wrote about it when it is manifest anyway.

And who says the retirement age as one example should be 65 or even 70 for that matter before pensions kick in? These numbers are also not carved in stone. The rulebook can and will be be changed to suit the new dynamics of the future in the same way it was originally designed based on assumptions of days long past that may not now be achievable. There are no absolute entitlements out of state coffers for anyone. Look at what happened when the Soviet Union collapsed. Pensions in Russia fell to almost zero. I believe the worst number I actually read was 15 dollars monthly. Think that is impossible in the US? Shake your heads. If solutions cannot be found and change cannot be embraced voluntarily then the system by default imposes it’s own lowest common denominator on the population and that becomes the defacto new reality.

A dose of optimism could go a long way right about now. I do not live in a fantasy world as one commentator suggested. I am actually pragmatic and do believe the problem is soluble. Do you all really need to wait until new forces arise to confront the pressing issues of the day and pushes aside old style politics in order to bring reason and sanity back to your countries finances? There is a Tea party movement now and there will be others that evolve as time goes by. They are angry and this suggests to me that both change and instability are in the air. One way or another change is going to happen. It is my opinion that it is better to work towards solutions while they are still in sight than to just wait until absolute default imposes hard choices in the absence of any good options.

Who in their right mind would prefer unpredictable outcomes over difficult but manageable certainties?

So I am going to get out my cheque book now and send Peter Schiff a few bucks. He at least thinks there is still time to make positive changes and he has a very clear vision of the future and understands the risks and ramifications of not changing the economic course of events as they are unfolding. And he is brilliant. So promote him.

We need a new Captain Kirk

My new motto: Peter Schiff for Star-Fleet command!

Many borrowers & investors across the US & the world are now having success in the courts against the Wall Strees banks & insurance companies that committed these frauds.

If you’re a deflationist or a hyperinflation believer it doesn’t matter one bit when these Wall Street derivative-contract frauds hit the courts.

Investigate these issues for yourself & the websites I posted below & pass this info along to your friends, business associates & to other websites.

The sooner you do, the sooner we can bring these out of control Wall Street bankers, Insurance Companies & their government puppets back under the control of us citizens!

http://livinglies.wordpress.com/

http://4closurefraud.org/

Punish our debtors? What a joke. They lend credit at risk. The more they lend, the greater the risk for them, yet they still do it. There is no moral issue at stake here.

Basically the author wants to ensure that banks get theirs and everyone else suffers.

Yep, that’ll fix the problems.

Might I make a suggestion?

How about some more deficit spending to stimulate the economy? Tax breaks for middle and lower class (ain’t gonna happen with all those toffs in charge), jobs programs. Don’t worry about hyperinflation until employment levels improve and then tighten monetary policy.