About the Federal Reserve

Quote from Faaby

There is an interesting theory about world leadership civilization/countries.

Throughout history you can see that mostly (there are exeptions) leadership shifts from East to West:
Mesopotomia, Persia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Eastern Europe (not going to develop or I am not done), UK, USA, Japan, China... India after?
(looks change is faster and faster)
If you check a map this is very striking... and we will soon have made one "loop" around the world.

Correct, just as I stated in my previous post. Industrial development follows the same pattern and just as the US is in its final 25 years of our industrial complex, China is working their way into it. However some underlying factors are not in China's favor since they are artificially inflating their economy, money and manipulating the market for low inflation. China won't survive it's 100 year tenure of the industrial giant due to the aforementioned facts and will crash by 2020. I didn't believe this when my Chinese American economics professor taught us this 20 years ago, but here it is, right in front of us.

I would like to see the US just step away from the world for 5 to 10 years and see what happens on our shores and yours.

We already had a cold war - we dont need another. I am sure that pressing the red button would be a well thought decission that no one just makes for fun or because he can. Otherwise we already would have seen this happened.

Everyone stepping out of globalism in the current economic system will simply fail - all the rest will just grow the bubble. The US economy is still there because the dollar is surprisingly - i personal give it not more than five years. 97% is nearly not to cover with a healthy economy and thats far away from being the standard, still the US parties are talking about lesser taxes - good luck.

Quote from [UR]GrandAndreasK

What about China then?......
While the US have been bussy conquering the Middle-East...China & North-Korea have just watched and gotten stronger whle US have gotten weaker and bankrupt.... Imagine what would happen if they was to sart a nuclear war..... Fallout......

I respectfully disagree on all counts. West Asian affairs set aside, North Korea is on the verge of being a failed state and the last I heard its relationship with the PRC has been strained somewhat due to the provocative bullshit Kim Jong Il was up to last year. Several nations in the region are being cautious at least in part because an implosion of the regime could cause a big surge in organized crime, weapons falling into the hands of factional warlords, unaccounted for nuclear weapons, a flood of refugees fleeing away into neighboring countries, and other such problems. It will be interesting to see how power is transferred when Kim dies - I think that the government has become quite unstable.

It is hard to say what will happen to the PRC. I think their future is bright yet somewhat distant. This is a developing country where the GDP per capita (PPP) is was under $8,000 last year (the world average was $11,200). In 2007, the PRC had roughly 57 million people living on less than $0.35 per day. These are not people who have living conditions rivaling those of us in Europe or the States. China has a big military. What it lacks is force projection. The Chinese are potent in their own backyard but lack the assets needed to deploy those forces far from home. Even if they challenge or surpass the US is certain respects someday I do not think it will necessarily mean another Cold War. Relations are not always kittens and sunshine between the two countries and I do not want to underestimate China - it has been making a lot of progress - but at the same I do not fear their development. Barring a rapid, irrational escalation of tensions over Taiwan or the Korean peninsula I do not see how or why there would be a risk of limited war or the use of nuclear weapons.

Incidentally, the US still doing fine. My understanding is that production is at record highs and still growing (albeit sluggishly), our armed forces are superbly capable, the national debt is not going to crush us - simply force people to be inconvenienced by higher tax rates and fewer state services, and when the generation of "baby boomers" passes the strain put on American social programs will start to lighten up little by little. It is my opinion that the US has not yet reached the point of no return. If and when people make some sensible decisions, things will turn out alright. Americans need to live within their means for a change.

Quote from [UR]GrandAndreasK

Mhm suuure....have a look here then:

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wCAOwan1ysk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Klqv9t1zVww" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

dosent look much like freedom to me eh?

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At the risk of sounding snobbish I object to the prospect of watching hours of propaganda. In my experiences, Jesse Ventura and Alex Jones are notoriously unreliable.

Quote from Huor

We already had a cold war - we dont need another. I am sure that pressing the red button would be a well thought decission that no one just makes for fun or because he can. Otherwise we already would have seen this happened.

Aye. Mutual fear of becoming the victim of a preemptive first strike at the hand of an aggressive rival can be a powerful motivator.