Where is the US economy headed?

Parados, I would suspect that even you would admit that waging war and/or massive government spending is not the way to economic prosperity. If World War II had continued unabated for another decade or two, we would obviously be broke several times over. A war by itself does not fix the economy, it only served as a catalyst for later conditions that were more favorable.

The same thing with the New Deal, government spending by itself does not fix the economy, and the record shows that it did not during the 30's.

How come you ignored my point about comparing the gdps of North Korea and South Korea, Parados. If you think government run economies work better, then you should be able to use that comparison, right?

Wow... You do realize that the war effort was paid for by HUGE deficit spending, don't you okie? The government spent money, TONS of money it didn't have. In fact the government spent almost 45% of GDP for the war effort. That deficit spending stimulated the economy and was far more than was ever spent prior to the war.

You just posted a very intellectually dishonest bunch of crap, Parados, essentially comparing apples with oranges.

From 1953 to 1974, when grant assistance dwindled to a negligible amount, the nation received some US$4 billion of grant aid. About US$3 billion was received before 1968, forming an average of 60 percent of all investment in South Korea.

The Fat Lady Has Sung
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: February 20, 2010
A small news item from Tracy, Calif., caught my eye last week. Local station CBS 13 reported: “Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 911 for a medical emergency. But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year, which allows them to call 911 as many times as necessary. Or there’s the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.”

Yes, sir, we’ve just had our 70 fat years in America, thanks to the Greatest Generation and the bounty of freedom and prosperity they built for us. And in these past 70 years, leadership " whether of the country, a university, a company, a state, a charity, or a township " has largely been about giving things away, building things from scratch, lowering taxes or making grants.

But now it feels as if we are entering a new era, “where the great task of government and of leadership is going to be about taking things away from people,” said the Johns Hopkins University foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum.

Indeed, to lead now is to trim, to fire or to downsize services, programs or personnel. We’ve gone from the age of government handouts to the age of citizen givebacks, from the age of companions fly free to the age of paying for each bag.
.

But there is a kind of logic to the current Republican position: in effect, the party is doubling down on starve-the-beast. Depriving the government of revenue, it turns out, wasn’t enough to push politicians into dismantling the welfare state. So now the de facto strategy is to oppose any responsible action until we are in the midst of a fiscal catastrophe. You read it here first.

Both parties need to be relegated to the scrap heap of history, the sooner the better.

And Catastrophe we shall have, it can't be stopped now. But the feckless and corrupt Democrats have done their share as well to wreck this country. Both parties need to be relegated to the scrap heap of history, the sooner the better.

Can't
by Edgar A. Guest
Can't is the worst word that's written or
spoken;
Doing more harm here than slander and lies;
On it is many a strong spirit broken,
And with it many a good purpose dies.
It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each
morning
And robs us of courage we need through the
day:
It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning
And laughs when we falter and fall by the
way.
Can't is the father of feeble endeavor,
The parent of terror and half-hearted work;
It weakens the efforts of artisans clever,
And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.
It poisons the soul of the man with a vision,
It stifles in infancy many a plan;
It greets honest toiling with open derision
And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a
man.
Can't is a word none should speak without
blushing;
To utter it should be a symbol of shame;
Ambition and courage it daily is crushing;
It blights a man's purpose and shortens his
aim.
Despise it with all of your hatred of error;
Refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your brain;
Arm against it as a creature of terror,
And all that you dream of you some day shall
gain.
Can't is the word that is foe to ambition,
An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
Its prey is forever the man with a mission
And bows but to courage and patience and
skill.
Hate it, with hatred that's deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed 'twill break any
man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
And answer this demon by saying: "I can."