I can’t speak for the book, but to enlighten you of the US economy . . . the US system will never reach 3rd world status - the organisational and exploitation skill of the top tier US leader will always overcome that of the majority of the world. Interpretate this as you may.
I finished reading Crash Proof less than 3 months ago, and I can say that the book is credible (from a westernized perspective). Schiff is a stock broker and a republican and could be running for office in 2010(1), he definitely has some backing from the predictions previous to the economic collapse though.
Kbot: the westernized culture that we have grown to love, US economy will fade with time, our gas tanks will continue to run smoothly until our fuel begins to fan away(2)…
I kind of understand the viewpoint you have Nikolaus, but in my opinion, exploitation of people by other people will always dictate as to the standard of the world. Currently the top tier citizens exploit other countries resources ie oil, labour, money ???. And in some cultures ie India, serving others is benefiting the greater internal goal as opposed to the “Western” value where individualistic gain is more incentive.
And gas tanks will never run dry, as long as there is land in Brazil and elsewhere to grow soya beans, and sugar cane, to convert this to fuel.
Kbot: Even though I agree with you when you say that those which exploit people will always set the standard in the world, this doesn’t mean that the US economy will always be the “Home base” for those exploiters. What I mean is, once our societal standard is used up, the US will fall, leaving us in a 3rd world state, and those Exploiters will simply move on.
Who knows… ? The “green” movement is generating some serious heat nowadays… Or could this “green” movement be the start of this failure? Just like the fall of countless ancient empires, how the states would grow lazy, bathing in their own lavishness only to slowly kill THEMSELVES off?
Eh… I am going to go back to my contradictory thought-style now. The one which tells me that in our universe, there are no definites… and at the same time there are only definites. I won’t be able to respond while in this bizarre state of being… (Sleep)
Hey, if Bob Murphy likes the book then it must be good.
Our days as the dominant economic power are numbered. The dollar is going to collapse, and Americans are going to experience stagflation on an unprecedented scale in the form of recession and hyperinflation. Those of you who act smartly and quickly by taking measures I outline later in this book not only will avoid loss of wealth but also will have positioned yourselves to prosper while your neighbors suffer a painful period of reconstruction and reform.
Replace ‘reconstruction and reform’ with ‘Obama’s New Deal 2.0’ and you have yourself a winner.
I haven’t read the book but can guess that the time to act (and profit) has come and gone, all that is really left these days is wealth preservation…up until the time fiat price controls and criminalising foreign investment makes even that impossible.
Interesting that the people who correctly applied the Austrian Business Cycle Theory to predict the collapsing bubble(s) are starting to get some ‘airtime’ while the court economist are basically just running around in circles saying ‘It wasn’t us’ (yes, Greenspan, I’m looking at you),
Now we just need someone to write a modern book about the Economic Calculation Problem to finally put a bullet to the back of the head of the Dems’ socialist agenda.
Kbot: The US isn’t really exploiting anyone. The corporations are. World Bank is. There has been a long-running problem in the US with people taking out loans and financing everything they own. Recently people here have started to see that this wasn’t a good idea - the recent spate of banks going under and people losing their homes and cars was all a result of over-borrowing. It’s still on-going here, it’s just not reported on very often.
The World Bank has been doing the same thing on a global scale. They lend money to poor countries and when these countries can’t pay back the debt (and they never can, since they don’t have enough money to pay off the debt that’s created with the compounded interest), the Bank introduces ways the countries can make up the shortfall by, say, offering corporations easier access to their resources, allowing them to operate tax free, lowering tariffs and taxes for corporations, etc. The corporations move in and end up pushing local business out. That country’s economy then is basically locked into supporting these foreign corporations interests. Otherwise they’ll have very little economy of their own.
The goal of these large banks is to effectively have control of the entire world economy. They ALREADY have control of the US economy. Hell, we were the first one to get taken over. People just haven’t realized it, yet. Compare our current reliance on external goods and that reliance from 50 or 60 years ago and you can clearly see that the US is relying on a lot of other countries for the majority of her economy - tangible goods especially.
You really want to know why the music and film industry focuses so hard on the US markets as far as piracy is concerned, it’s because economically there’s not a lot going on here. Making money from intangibles is pretty much the entire state-side economy. We’re all lawyers and bankers and accountants and entertainers and artists and consultants. The only tangible goods that get produced here are by and large goods that are sold here and not exported, and more and more of those jobs are being shipped off to Timbuktu. Even a lot of our food is being imported now, even though we are more than able to feed not only ourselves but probably most of the rest of the world as well. There’s really not much going on here at all. All we’re good for is buying stuff. That’s our role in the global economy. We’re the consumers that all the other countries try to sell shit to.
And recently it’s started to look like we might not be able to continue doing that anymore. So what happens to us when we can no longer afford to buy a billion things on credit cards and personal loans?
As an aside, I’d like to keep politics out of this if possible. Mentioning politicians will only get this thread in trouble. Assigning blame at this later hour is really a crock anyway. Most of the people you could legitimately blame have been dead for decades.
@ Squiggly_P - you have placed a rather heavy argument with a nice example, and to be quite honest I read your post three times before my neatherthal brain registered your view. Well it has been noted. I will amend one thought to your item:
“And recently it’s started to look like we might not be able to continue doing that anymore. So what happens to us when we can no longer afford to buy a billion things on credit cards and personal loans?”
There’s too many other stakeholders should this collapse. Of note is the Saudi Arabian’s investment in the US, should the US economy falter, they stand to lose plenty, and politics and “conspiracy” aside the middle east will do plenty to ensure that their investment in this segment does not fail. After all, avoidance of humiliation among their own is possibly their own incentive. Oh, and there’s my own pathetic investment in the US too . . . less than a hundred US dollars.
Thank you.
Not really seeing what your argument has to do with Peter Schiff’s book…
I think the main difference between your theory and (from what I understand is) Schiff’s is that you are attributing cause to the unintended consequences of the policies that are really responsible for the plight we’re in.
Its a lot easier to ‘legitimately blame’ to the Big Pig Capitalists who are exploiting the downtrodden 3rd world workers right into the middle class I guess…