February 25th, 2009 at 10:53 am
and please don’t say “look out all you millionaires”…it makes you look jealous and small

……Lighten up for godsake…..just my feeble attempt at humor…. as it happens I crossed that bar long ago……And I’d love to trade places with Buffett although I think I’d have a bit more fun.

I did..2009 (not 2008)…11/13.7 (gdp)..is 80.29%…

I am wondering where the smaller number comes from…

and please don’t say “look out all you millionaires”…it makes you look jealous and small…I wish in reality all of us were millionaires…I certainly wouldn’t trade places with Buffett…

Bruce…I thought you said it was over 80% of GDP the other day when I said it was around 70%……In 1945 it was around 120% I believe…… I read an interesting piece on federal spending as a % of GDP this morning…..Apparently it’s hovered around 21% for for 50 years in good times and bad….Maxed over this period at around 23% and minned for all you Clinton fans at around 18%……Tax receipts have hovered around 18%……we borrowed the difference…..hence the 11 trillion…..Forecast it’s going to shift to around 23% for a few years….and tax take is going to have to go to around 20-21% to make borrowing costs sustainable…..look out all you millionaires……It puts a lot of our debt and spending problems in perspective…I’ll see if I can find the link

But you praised Volcker because he had the courage to ignore politics and take the severe action he did to whip inflation. It was for the greater good of society. It’s ok thousands of lives were destroyed because society as a whole is better off.

There’s way too much retail capacity. Why isn’t it a good thing that the malinvestmnet is being wrung from the system and ultimately re-allocated to better, more efficient use? Won’t society be better off if capital is allocated to where it is treated best?

I guess your perspective changes when you see actual lives affected.

February 25th, 2009 at 8:43 am
I have my eye on quite a few stimuli — durable goods, toys, and other purchases.

…….Well you can probably afford it from all this shorting your doing…..How about a knockout silver fox for her indoors?

think U-3 v. U-6 v. Williams’ Shadow Stats…

see: http://www.icerocket.com/search?tab=web&fr=h&q=Edward+Bernays
http://www.icerocket.com/search?tab=web&lng=&q=disinfo+agitprop+propaganda

might help..

Let me have a Mexican place with a Pacifico or two…and I would weigh 300 pounds….!

Help me out again, folks…read through this today

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/25/news/economy/debt.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009022504

The gravity-defying debt problem

the author quotes that:

“But if rising government debt is worrisome, at least it comes off a relatively low base. U.S. public sector debt was 38% of gross domestic product in 2008, a number that compares favorably to most other developed countries.”

But I think the total government d/gdp in 2008 was more in the range of 70%…:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

End of
Fiscal Year US Gross Debt
USD billions[18] US Gross Debt as % of GDP[21]
1910 2.6
1920 25.9
1930 16.2
1940 43.0 52.4
1950 257.4 94.1
1960 290.2 56.1
1970 389.2 37.6
1980 930.2 33.3
1990 3,233 55.9
2000 5,674 58
2005 7,933 64.6
2007 9,008 65.5
2008 10,699.8[22] 74.6 (EST)

Or as the internet encyclopedia suggests 74.6%….

Not an economist, but I have been seeing this very small number bandied about lately…

Any ideas?

should’ve waited on the backyard furniture I bought last summer at full price…oh well.