"Reduce the deficit"

[jsc]

I really hate the expression, "Reduce the deficit". I do not care who uses it.

Translation - "We need to go broke a little more slowly."

 

[wanamingo]

Its a good thing we have the federal reserve to print us all this nice money.

 

[musical marv]

Its a good thing we have the federal reserve to print us all this nice money.

That is not the answer to this problem.What about paying back the debt we owe to China? It never ends.

 

[wanamingo]

It was tongue in cheek, paying a private bank to print our money with interest is stupid.

Be careful Marv we owe less than 10% of our debt to China, I think its like 8%.

We owe more than 50% of our debt to ourselves.

 

[chunkymonster]

It was tongue in cheek, paying a private bank to print our money with interest is stupid.

And so is the government selling the bonds to the private banks so the banks can sell them back at a profit rather than just buying them directly from the Treasury.

 

[musical marv]

It was tongue in cheek, paying a private bank to print our money with interest is stupid.

Be careful Marv we owe less than 10% of our debt to China, I think its like 8%.

We owe more than 50% of our debt to ourselves.

What ever percentage it is we still owe it to China.Thanks to the Banks and Mortgage companies for this mess .

 

[Reynod]

The Fed Reserve has over 3 Trillion in the bank and headed toward 4.

Your solution is to continue to slowly grow the economy while the Fed Res balances the books slowly though internal means.

What is more important is to reduce your import / export ration - revitalise US based manufacturing through tariffs on imports.

Blue collar workers ... thats where your emphasis is lacking.

Raising the min wage is also unhelpful ... apart from that his speech was good.

 

[johnsonma]

Tariffs are usually viewed upon with disdain as other countries usually respond in kind, thus making American goods even more expensive.

 

[chunkymonster]

Raising the min wage is also unhelpful ...

Agreed, raising the minimum wage is nice rhetoric but the push for a minimum wage as a baseline rate to prevent underpaying workers or as a means to resolve labor conflicts has been perverted into the minimum wage some how being a requirement to provide a living wage. There is a fundamental difference between a minimum wage and the progressive push to mandate a national living wage.

At it's most basic level, a Federally mandated minimum wage can never be a living wage as it ignores the simple fact that the cost of living varies form State to State, i.e; the cost of living is much higher in New York City than it is in Church Hill, Tennessee. A Federally mandated minimum wage is ultimately unfair to companies in areas of the country where is cheaper to live and would not provide enough of a wage to those working/living in areas where it is more expensive. It's just that every time I hear a call for a increased minimum wage I see the continued degradation of free market principles and a push towards social democracy.

An argument can also be made for the fact that raising the minimum wage devalues the wages earned by the middle class.

 

[johnsonma]

The minimum wage in no way would affect the middle class, it is purely about pushing people out of the poverty line. I'm pretty sure that $9 dollars an hour is not enough to make a living in any state, that argument doesn't seem to hold water.

To be fair, I doubt raising the minimum wage would do much right now.

 

[chunkymonster]

The minimum wage in no way would affect the middle class

Are you 100% sure about that, think it through...

it is purely about pushing people out of the poverty line. I'm pretty sure that $9 dollars an hour is not enough to make a living in any state, that argument doesn't seem to hold water.

That's the joke about raising the minimum wage, it was never intended to provide a living wage. There is a fundamental difference between the minimum wage and a living wage.

According to the BLS, over 70% of the people who earn the minimum wage work less than 35 hours per week. Is their time of more value than the full time employees who work 40+ hours per week? Is the additional wage worth the value paid to the part-time worker? Will those part-time workers increase their productivity as a result of getting paid more? Will the wage increase result in an to increase the profit margins to the company? Will the full time employees wage increase as a result of having to pay part-time employees a higher wage? Will the company be able to hire more or less people when they have to pay them more per hour?

Given the high rate of unemployment and poor job growth, increasing the minimum wage in this economy would just be another failed attempt to stimulate growth. If I remember my economics correctly, Okun's Law applies here.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

There appears to be a serious disconnect about the way the economy actually works.
Now, if it were this easy, it would have been done long ago.
Minimum wage is as stated above, for the bottom of the line teens or as OMG said, starting over, and in some areas starting wages, where food and rent are cheap, but at those wages, living is tough.
I know areas where years ago, a parking lot/bagger at a grocery stores wages in a particular part of the country would be the envy of many at good wages in other parts.

To corrupt local economies is extremely bad, as it also corrupts taxations and values, such as the Californacators who sold their homes in LA for half a million and bought huge houses with alot of land in Washington state, where it drove up the costs of housing, and the wages were left behind, yet renting/taxes and buying a house became impossible for many there.
Get with it please

 

[johnsonma]

And you would be wrong. I lived on 8.25 an hour for a couple years.

Ramen noodles and canned tuna are you friend in this instance.

It convinced me to be better and get off the minimum.

the only people making minimum wage are teens still living with their parents or someone starting over from scratch.

I was talking in terms of the economy as a whole, but sure thing buddy.

 

[musical marv]

The Fed Reserve has over 3 Trillion in the bank and headed toward 4.

Your solution is to continue to slowly grow the economy while the Fed Res balances the books slowly though internal means.

What is more important is to reduce your import / export ration - revitalise US based manufacturing through tariffs on imports.

Blue collar workers ... thats where your emphasis is lacking.

Raising the min wage is also unhelpful ... apart from that his speech was good.

I agree tax the imported goods coming into this country.Will raise much needed revenue.

 

[jsc]

Yes. Then we will buy fewer imported goods. (So far, so good; it boosts our manufacturing.) Then the exporting countries see their exports tapering off, so they start taxing our goods. So their people start buying less of our goods, and so we need to reduce manufacturing. (Not so good.)

And now, everyone is back where they started from, with everyone manufacturing less. Something about "unintended consequences" comes to mind ...