America's Upcoming Economic Train Wrecks: Tax Hikes, Budget Cuts

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A|X Armani Exchange Sunglasses of HI 5:21AM April 25, 2012

Wow - a master of the Obvious with not one solid idea on viable solutions.
Isn't that the real problem ... with Pundits, Experts and Politicians.
We all know the problems - but those who we look to for answers just regurgitate the problems right back into our lap.
Man-up Experts, Media and Leaders ... we are tired of the BS

Mike King of CA 12:37AM April 25, 2012

There are always Hellfire and brimstone articles like this when crisis strikes. Just because somebody sayd our economy is going to crash does not mean it is.
My bet is that our economy will continue on its track to recover.

Indipendant of VA 6:51PM April 24, 2012

Jason of OR _ DEMOCRATS refuse to do and/or compromise...
You say “I'm still waiting to see how the Republicans explain weaseling ouf of the across-the-board cuts that are supposed to happen due their prior refusals to compromise” YOU MEAN DEMOCRATS.
OCT. 1 2010 DEMOCRATS had control of Congress & could not pass budget. SINCE THEN WE, in House, passed many bills which Democrat Senate can not VOTE on, OR revise and send back to House. Democrat Senate SIT and DOES VERY LITTLE EXCEPT COMPLAIN...

Bill Hedges of MO 6:12PM April 24, 2012

People insist on framing economic issues in terms of mechanistic models - " a tax increase will lead to an economic contraction", "leaders' hostility toward business...will keep risk-takers on the side-lines", as if there were an actual cause and effect relationship being displayed. An economy like ours is not amenable to such analysis. There is only one market force, the varying interplay between fear and confidence. A fearful population generates a contracting economy; a confident population generates an expanding economy. The economic behavior is the sum total of the collective decisions of 300 million people (or more if you think globally) being made from moment to moment.
Statistical analysis of such a system is not valid unless the decisions are being made independently. When the behavior of the population is being affected by mass media and instantaneous communication, it stops being a statistically independent set and statistical analysis is not applicable.
We have no calculus of emotional decision making upon which to base an analysis. The system we are looking at is indeterminate.
Beyond that, the interconnections between the players in the economy allow for multiple feed-back loops, where the result of a decision affect those around the decider, influencing a second tier of decisions that reflect back to the originator. A system with this kind of self-affecting decisions is inherently unstable and not subject to predictive analysis.
Not only is the economy an indeterminate system, it is non-linear as well.
Expecting anyone to produce a realistic analysis of the behavior of such a system is unrealistic.
It's OK to believe in magic, just don't believe in magicians.

Timothy Loftin of CA 5:31PM April 24, 2012

I'm still waiting to see how the Republicans explain weaseling ouf of the across-the-board cuts that are supposed to happen due their prior refusals to compromise. Pretty sad when you can't even accept the consequences of your own actions.

Jason of OR 5:28PM April 24, 2012

"America's Upcoming Economic Train Wrecks"
Economic train wreck ahead? We haven't put this baby back on the track from the last one!
The economic collapse of America and the middle class was a long process. The acute phase took place in the last year of the Bush Administration and will continue until a stable, but lower, standard of living has become the norm. The end result, two tier society - a subsistence class and the wealthy - separated only by a narrow, middle class strata.
The reasons for the this change in our economic default setting should be obvious to anyone with an open mind.
1. Business and industry is tied down by thousands of Lilliputian strings of government regulation and fees. California is a good example - employers continue to flee the Eco-Socialist state. But they can't "flee" from the Fed's regulatory behemoth.
2. Corporate greed and rewarding failure in the private sector. The rich getting richer and most of the middle class being forced downward - with only a few managing to scramble up the ladder. "Minimum Wage" is the new standard.
3. Outsourcing and downsizing driven by "profit margins", automation and a hostile business environment.
4 Unrealistic expectations. The Dot Com and real estate bubbles, and the credit frenzy they promoted was the acute factor that led to the crisis.
5. The progressive notion that we no longer need manufacturing jobs and heavy industry. Only the "clean and green" are acceptable. Global Warming hysteria and big "E", "Environmentalism" has created the perfect, prodding handmaiden for Progressive dogma - or perhaps it's the other way around. Either way, the outcome is the same.
6. Millions of illegal aliens who are a costly burden to society and tend to vote for those who promise rewards of one kind or another. This will become a real problem as they gain majority status in the Southwest.
7. Environmentalist theology hamstringing energy production and raising the cost of energy to private consumers and businesses - offering only the chimera of subsidized "Green Jobs" in return. Business can not compete when energy costs are high and consumers can't spend when their disposable, discretionary income is spent for ever increasing energy costs.
8. Selfish and unrealistic demands by unions and their members, and the subsequent burden of legacy costs.
9. Executives who put short term profits above long term economic stability in their quest for larger bonuses.
10. Schools that belittle labor as an unfulfilling or dead end vocation in our "new economy". No nation can prosper unless it realizes that there is as much honor in tilling a field as in being a rock star.
11. Government's failure to recognize that extreme deficit spending is not a healthy plan for our economic future.
12. The rising juggernaut of China. It's really hard to compete with a country with no regulation, cheap energy and virtual slave labor.
13. Control SSI and MediCare spending by means testing.