What happens when interest rates return to historic norms and the tax credit is removed?

Wave 4.

Western Europe, with the cooperation of the Eastern Europeans themselves, helped blast the East’s ability to sustain even a Belorussian standard of living. So now the young flee West to the UK, Germany and France. Portugal has a huge number of Ukrainians. Estonia, once a model country, swoons as its uber ponzi economy implodes and the young pull up stakes for London, a favorite destination. Italians used to have Europe’s highest birthrate, now they have the lowest. What happens to Asian populations in Europe? Their birth rates fall faster than the death rate. Japan will have to do something soon or its population will rapidly melt away in a negative compounding spiral. Eventually the demographic transition will grip most of the globe. What then? Romania, Russia and Bulgaria have shown that once through the demographic transition, a falling standard of living will actually suppress birth rates further and increase death rates. Even Mexico has begun its demographic transition as birth rates have drastically fallen. China is where Europe was in the 70s. Many centuries hence, the World should have a lot less people, and many languages will go the way of Latin. Basically humans are living contrary to the way they evolved. Anyway strayed there a little bit, but demographic trends are fascinating.

I am based in Auburn Alabama but lived for a time in Egypt as a young man. The Egyptians are such sweet people, but they kept asking me if I was Israeli. My first day there 5 of them jumped me and thrashed the hell out of me. After that I was one of them. One time I was racing to get away from some kids that were trying to steal my bike and I hit a donkey turd and totally wiped out. I was skinned from head to toe and had manure in most of my wounds. Out of nowhere, dozens of people appeared with dirty rags to help me. I told them thanks (shukeron), but no( le). I even had a half English, half Egyptian girlfriend. Those were the days’.

So, topical ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZsppOw2Mxk

That is a scary outcome

I am goin’ off grid now!

tired, long weekend, too old

Medicare is completely hopeless. No way the government can deliver anything approaching what they’ve promised. Immigration or not.

As for Medicare, the government will have to make it available only to people below a certain income level, maybe its 50K/yr, maybe it’s 30K/yr, I don’t know.
And on top of that, perhaps the government will disqualify anyone who has significant assets, even apart from income.

I have not run the numbers, but….

I doubt that they add up

The point in my 11:49 post is that our economy will not benefit if poverty-stricken 70 year-old people flood in here from foreign countries. I believe that we do benefit from the young Mexicans that come over to work, although I don’t favor giving them legal status.