Where is the US economy headed?

I could be wrong and I am not trying to be mean but from my observations, We americans are ran by corporations that export close to 98% of all of our work. We make a living of the backs of the rest of the world.

With all that said I do not mean to come across as hatefull as it is only my observation and my observation could be wrong!

Unions and wage / workplace regulations have pretty much driven the labor market offshore.

We export 98% of our products? That explains why none can be found unless one lives near an artist colony and can buy handmade objects.

Why are so many people upset by the fact that everything in the stores is made in China?

Whine, whine, whine.

This from the guy that represents the right and its totally false boast of personal responsibility.

What unions?

Bust up labor and teachers unions in the US and perhaps, the American economy would be better.

Get my drift?

Sorry, drip, but you get nothing. What unions? That is just part of the lie/hypocrisy of the American right: a rightie takes no personal responsibility for anything.

BTW, those captains of industry earn in the top 1% of the nation.

Crap like the following has done great harm to the American economy:

• Healthcare Reform:
http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Industries/health-care-providers/center-for-health-solutions/health-care-reform/index.htm?id=USGoogle_hcreform_310&gclid=CKLi6PKDzKUCFUN66wodrlBmlA
National health reform is here. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the reconciliation bill are law. Together, they will trigger sweeping changes and disruptions — some rather quickly and some over many years.
http://www.naturalnews.com/026733_health_health_care_healthcare.html
What's really in Obama's health care reform bill? Almost no one knows, and here's why: It's 1,017 pages long and written in an alien form of bureaucratic English that can barely be decoded by earthlings.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2300451/posts
Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax."

• TARP:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubled_Assets_Relief_Program
The Troubled Asset Relief Program, commonly referred to as TARP, is a program of the United States government to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector which was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008. It is the largest component of the government's measures in 2008 to address the subprime mortgage crisis. …

• Stimulus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA (Pub.L. 111-5) and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009.

• Fannie Mae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_may
The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) (OTCBB: FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, was set up as a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1968 as a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), ..

• Freddie Mac:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mac
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), known as Freddie Mac (OTCBB: FMCC), is a public government sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in the Tyson's Corner CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia. …

This is interesting I have not see this many people gather in the US for such a cause. Okie farorite man is in there 8 minutes 30 seconds into video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yizBPrQXus

I couldn't decide where to stick this little factoid. I decided on putting it here.
Did yall know that 50 years ago today, President Eisenhower gave a farewell speech ahead of John Kennedy becoming President. The former 5-star general who commanded forces a decade and a half earlier in WW2 coined the phrase and warned against the danger of a "military-industrial" complex.
I admit to being a little weak regarding the nuances of what he was talking about.
I think I get the gist but any clarification would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Thank you for sharing,Here is his speech!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY&feature=player_embedded

NPR interviewed Ike's grandson David and Andrew Bacevich on the speech, which I would guess you heard as well.

What was it Ike said? For each bomber (?) we built then, 30 cities in the US could each have a brick school.

Thanks, reasoning logic, for the link. I appreciate your finding that.

Over on the Obama thread there was a bit of a discussion about how his approval ratings have risen in the past few days. I mused that it is probably not attributable to his speech in AZ or the lame duck session of Congress. Rather, there may be a faint belief that the worst is over. In addition, people got a bit of a bump in their January paychecks due to the reduction in tax withholding.
I am sticking with that explanation for the approval bounce.
But those of us here probably agree that there many obstacles ahead. Home foreclosures briefly were stalled in the 4th Q of 2010 due to the sloppiness of some of the banks. Commercial real estate is in trouble.
And the state and local governments are in bad shape.
There was a long article in the NYTimes yesterday entitled
A Path Is Sought for States to Escape Their Debt Burdens. It is by Mary Williams Walsh.
I hope that one of yall could link us to that story. It sets out a scary scenario.
Thanks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/business/economy/21bankruptcy.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all
Here ya go, rjb.
(oops had to edit link)

I agree, and I expect some fallout from that scenario will be a major political issue in the next two years, and possibly a key issue in the next election.

Many states (predominantly, but not entirely, blue) face imminent debt crises due primarily to the unfunded pension liabilities of their employees, almost all of whom are representesd by the AFSCME, AFT, SEIU, or various police and firefighters unions. Many of these unfunded liabilities result from unrealistic high earnings estimates for the state pension funds, used by state legislators to rationalize pay an benefits increases for their workers ... usually in an unsavory alliance between legislators and the labor unions that fund their political campaigns.

The political aspects of the crisis are likely to emerge over growing pressures for federal bailouts or bond guarantees for state debts. The alternative being renegotiation (or sovereign abrogation) of labor contracts or even some form of bankrupcy forcing the former actions. The issue will pit states with prudent fiscal management against those in the hands of union managed legislators... and to a large degree red states against blue states. It is, at this point, a bit hard to forecast how much time will pass before this issue comes to a national crisis. However, It appears certain to be a major issue before the 2016 Presidential election.

I have no idea why you are apologizing . . . to me. YEs, the corporations export our work. I haven't read beyond your comment but one of the righties will break in to blame the Democrats for taxing away all profits, which is why the captains of industry earn so much money and why 80% of the American work force has seen no real rise in wages since 1979.

I could be wrong but it seems to me that you see it correctly!

Yeah, and I didn't vote a sufficient number of posts down so that I lost track of where I am in the thread!

I agree with Randy Neugebauer. I would like to also know the answer to that question.

"Taxpayers have spent more than $160 million defending executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, infuriating lawmakers who want to know why taxpayers are footing the bill for heads of agencies that have already cost Americans at least $150 billion.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services oversight subcommittee, told Fox News that he wants to know why the U.S. would defend executives who were fired from the lenders.

"The question I think that doesn't pass the smell test is: why are we paying the legal fees for former employees?" Neugebauer asked. "What kind of litigation is pending that would cause us to think we need to continue to put taxpayers' money in legal fees for people that actually got fired?""

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/24/covers-millions-legal-fees-ex-freddie-fannie-executives/

So, do you want to follow the law or not okie?