I never saw a cat do that but growing up I saw a lot of cats get “stuck” in trees. They come down when they get hungry enough.
What I found most astounding about this photo and video capture of an Israeli missile strike in Beirut is the precision of the explosion. The targeted building almost instantly crumbles with little to no apparent damage to anything else. Israel spends more money and more lives of its own soldiers to minimize civilian casualties. If genocide was truly their objective it would have already occurred.
Our previous cat (RIP) was a 20-pound neutered orange tabby. He had arrived as a stray kitten but decided we should adopt him. He looked like a ginormous blob, but was actually in pretty good shape. He used to sit on the cool dirt in the vegetable garden, usually in the shade of the tomatoes. One year we had put up a tripod of sturdy sticks all tied together near the top about 8 feet up to hold up the plants.
I was watching one day as he was lying on his stomach nicely meat-loafed in the shade when a sparrow landed at the top of the tripod. He slooooowly looked up, and then without any windup or other give-away, bounded the 8-feet-plus straight up into the air, nailed the sparrow, and came down. Cats can do amazing things when motivated.
sdferr ref Ladders – reminds me of how Firemen and Policemen get selected:
All applicants are placed into a rectangular deep pit. Ladders are placed at two ends of the pit.
Applicants are told to get out of the pit.
Applicants who use the ladders to climb out of the pit are made Fireman. Applicants who remain in the pit are made Policemen
*****
Paul S. ref missile strike – WOW!!!
What was the cost/effects of the Great Recession of 2008 and what could trigger an even bigger crash in the future? Is this it?
“…consider the rise of finance as the dominant force in our socio-economic / political status quo. Statistics give us a rough picture of the dominance:
In 2023, the finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing industry contributed 20.7% to the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP). This is higher than the long-term average of 7.29%. In 1947, the finance industry made up only 10% of non-farm business profits. By 2010, the finance industry made up 50% of non-farm business profits.
The chart below of non-bank financial institutions’ assets as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) tells the story: prior to the era of financialization, non-bank financial institutions’ assets trundled along for decades at around 40% of GDP. Recall that “non-bank financial institutions” is shorthand for the mechanisms of financialization, which is the globalized commoditization of everything into a tradable financial instrument.
Labor, capital, risk, currencies, commodities, income streams, real-world assets–everything is converted into a financial doppelganger that can be arbitraged and traded for profit. The actual use-value is no longer the “value” being “created;” the “value” is “created” by generating an entirely abstract financial shadow cast by the collateral of the real world.
This transmogrification of the global economy into a fully financialized shadow-world took off in the early 1980s when financiers were first given access to unlimited credit and the other tools of financialization. Non-bank financial institutions’ assets soon soared from 40% of GDP to 140% of GDP, and in the final blow-off phase of hyper-financialization that we’re experiencing now, these assets are 200% of GDP– five times the pre-financialization era levels that were deemed “widespread prosperity” (the Trente Glorieuses, the 30 glorious years of shared prosperity from 1945 to 1975).
The wealth generated by financialization and hyper-financialization isn’t shared; it’s concentrated in the hands of those with access to credit and and the other tools of financialization, currently epitomized by private equity.”
——–
“The larger point is that an economy that’s dependent on the distortions of financialization for its “growth” and profits is not a stable system; the gross imbalances generated by the distortions undermine its stability, and the system collapses under its own weight once the imbalances destabilize society and the real-world economy.”
PS. could you please add CC to your blogroll? thanks!
@Brian E:I sent this to a friend responding to a Forbes article showing that Trump increased the debt more than Biden.
It’s really all Congress. Congress can rein in spending and borrowing any time they wish, and never do. They’ve set up a system of incentives where they get to benefit from spending our money, and the media lets them attach it to a President. Both parties have been doing this for years. Can’t wait for the next fake debt ceiling fight. The way to not reach the debt ceiling is to stop borrowing money to spend, and the House leadership started gearing up for spending to the debt ceiling limit in May of this year anticpating it will be reached in 2025. They know perfectly well what game they are playing.
“I think people understand we need to build back the muscle memory of actually doing our appropriations work. I think that means we need to come as close as possible to passing total appropriations bills out here before we leave for August,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), who chairs the pragmatic Main Street Caucus.
So far, House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) has released top lines for each funding bill that largely mirror parameters set by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Biden last May, which the House Freedom Caucus has revolted against.
I tried to make an addition to my previous post and it disappeared. Here it is again:
I sent this to a friend responding to a Forbes article showing that Trump increased the debt more than Biden. The point I made was that it is unfair to include the pandemic year in Trump’s deficit spending as well in the recovery year in Biden’s deficit spending.
Trump did nothing to cause a worldwide pandemic as a unique virus was release from a Chinese lab doing very dangerous research. He did what was prudent, in the face of an unknown virus with unkown lethality.
The best we can do is look at the first three years of his administration and the last three years of Biden– because just as Trump policies did nothing to provoke a worldwide pandemic, Biden can’t be held lible for the deficit spending during the recovery in 2021.
Let’s add the second Obama term, where Obama continued to benefit from the quantitative easing. I used the 2013, 2014 and 2015 years, but you could add 2016 if you want.
Obama
GDP growth: 2013- 1.84%; 2014- 2.29%; 2015- 2.71%. Deficit spending: 2013- $0.679T; 2014- $0.484T; 2015- $0.442T= $2.05T
Trump
GDP growth: 2017-2.24%; 2018- 2.95%; 2019- 2.29%. Deficit spending: 2017- $0.665T; 2018- $0.779T; 2019- $0.983T= $2.42T
Biden/Harris
GDP growth: 2022- 1.94%; 2023- 2.50%; 2024- 0.7% (estimate). Deficit spending: 2022- $1.38T; 2023- $1.70T; 2024- 1.90T= $4.98T
I don’t think it helps understand the Trump economic policies (or Biden’s) by including pandemic numbers, but if the President’s policies result in severe economic downturn, that should be included. Think the Great Recession of 2008. Bush’s ‘home ownership society’ contributed to the Banking collapse. Yes, the Dem’s insistence on policies that produced LIAR and NINJA loans were also factors as well as Fannie’s policies as the amount of bad paper was being spread around the world.
There is certainly areas where Trump should be criticized (too much spending)– but don’t forget the Fed began raising interest rates in addition to quantitative tightening (which had the effect of adding .5-1% to the effective interest rates.
Trump did an effective job with the economy during his first term– and can do it again and position the economy to outgrow the looming debt crisis (both personal and government).
In the past 20 years, we have turned everything that was once considered sound policies on their heads. During healthy expansions, the government didn’t borrow and spend money. That was reserved for recessions. We are failing to grasp how distorted the economy is, by mal-investment among other causes.
President Trump will be better for the economy than Harris, who will rely on increased government spending. Too much government spending is one of the problems we have to get under control. If we can grow the economy at 3% or more– some of the deficit problems take care of themselves.
Niketas, I wonder if Modern Monetary Theory is having an effect.
The point I was making to my friend (best described as GOPe), was Biden/Harris deficit spending has been twice that of Trump sans pandemic– and with a Harris administration deficit spending would balloon.
What a motivator fear is.
Thanks, Brian E., for the posts on the economy. I’ve always believed that the end of the manufacturing/production economy in favor of an “information economy” was a wrong turn.
We can log, mine, drill, and manufacture without polluting like China or India. And we should.
JJ, I think we’re seeing the effect of the information age on the economy since the 1980’s. At the beginning it was about efficiencies and the micro-computer age brought the potential of efficiencies to every company/business, with an increase in production.
This is now morphed from productive increases to influencers (and I’m not talking about youtube and tik tok) but the mega social media companies that are manipulating us for marketing goals.
I’m not sure how to quantize that but I looked at the biggest US companies by market valuation and how many employees they have. Crude, yes.
What I’m suggesting that while these companies have made many people wealthy, have they contributed to making a healthy economy. We want an economy where there are good paying jobs across the country. Employment is low, but how many have dropped out of the job market and how many are working multiple jobs? Vance during a recent interview said that 7 million males have dropped out of the labor market.
I know I should probably be using revenue rather than valuation, this is a start.
CO VAL EMP SECTOR VAL/EMP
1 Apple $3.463 T 150,000 Emp Technology $22,666
2 Microsoft $3.205 T 221,000 Emp Technology $14,502
3 Nvidia $2.977 T 29,000 Emp Technology $102,655
4 Alphabet $2.009 T 180,895 Emp Technology $11,105
5 Amazon $1.972 T 1,525,000 Emp Technology $1,293
6 Meta $1.435 T 67,317 Emp Technology $21,317
7 Berkshire Hath $979.9 B 396,500 Emps $2,472
8 Tesla $832.1 B 140,473 Emp $5,943
9 Broadcom $831.9 B 20,000 Emp $41,500
10 Eli Lilly $790.4 B 43,000 Emp $18,372
11 Walmart $641.3 B 2,100,000 Emp $305
How do we encourage that wealth into productive enterprises that maximize employment?
Do we tax companies on some sort of net profit/employee? While IP is important to the economy, I’m firmly on board with Trump’s efforts to return manufacturing to the US (to the extent possible).
Here are the top companies, based on revenues in 1960.
Revenue
1 General Motors $11,233,000,000 (employed 550,000 US)
2 Exxon Mobil $ 7,900,000,000
3 Ford Motor $5,356,000,000
4 General Electric $4,349,000,000
5 U.S. Steel $3,643,000,000
6 Mobil $3,092,000,000
7 Gulf Oil $2,713,000,000
8 Texaco $2,678,000,000
9 Chrysler $2,643,000,000
(By the end of the 60’s IBM was #2)
That’s a pretty good summary of how things have shifted in the economy since the 1960s, Brian E.
Great fortunes were made faster than anyone ever saw when electricity and fossil fuels came along. Edison and Rockefeller were the tech giants of their day.
Then we geared up for producing the planes, tanks, jeeps, ships, etc. that we needed for WWII. We were THE manufacturing behemoth of the world in the 1950s. I worked in the oil business sin 1954. Oil was plentiful and cost about $2/barrel. There seemed no future in oil at the time.
Japan and South Korea went into manufacturing, and by the 1960s they were becoming real competitors to American manufacturers. That’s when people began to get the idea of sending our manufacturing overseas for cheaper labor. By the 1990s, Japan was beginning to decline, but China was open for business and our manufacturing began moving there big time. When people asked how we would provide jobs for our citizens, the answer was, “We’re an information economy.”
The internet revolution has created more wealth more quickly than at any time in our history. When you can make money just by having someone use your site, click on your app, or sell information; and everyone has a computer in their hand, the profits literally explode.
However, we don’t have enough good paying jobs with benefits and a chance for retirement here in the U.S. Most of the manufacturing is done overseas and we have become a nation of financial and service workers.
Those who have been able to ride the tech wave are doing okay, but we don’t have enough jobs that pay “family” wages. And, of course, the government is spending way too much. We don’t know what the upper limit is…..yet, but history tells us that there is an upper limit to national debt.
I believe we need to go back to logging in the Pacifico Northwest, mining wherever we can find the deposits outside of urban areas, drilling for gas and oil, and bring manufacturing back.
Producing our own products and materials is a national security issue inasmuch as China, the ME oil sheiks, and many other countries cannot be relied on in times of need.
Well, enough of my bloviating. I’m just a toothless old lion roaring at the wind. 🙂
Niketas and Brian, thanks for your great comments. A lot to absorb there.
One nit: table of company values; I almost got tripped up with the change over from $T’s to $B’s. Perhaps a single metric instead? Personally, I would prefer we use $B’s in all discussions of federal budgeting and general economic metrics, as a way to improve understanding and context.
I am all in favor of growing the economy to help get us out of our debt situation, but I suspect 3% is still a very high reach, even with better policies on regulations, innovators, capital availability, etc. Especially if 40% (or whatever) of that is the “abstract financialization” component you discussed. I have read analyses that say we can, and that we cannot, grow our way out of this debt. We are bankrupt and need to accept and undergo a suitable set of “haircuts” if we want to be moral, virtuous, and honest about the situation. Off the top of my head, I would mention Larry Kotlikoff and the Peter J. Peterson Fdn as sources on this, but there are others, perhaps better?
It is terrible than none of the Republican candidates had the courage this election cycle to address debt/deficit reduction. Reality involves restructuring the entitlements (some of us will have to give up our SS even if we did “earn” it with payroll taxes, etc.); medical costs must become more public and market driven; medical insurance needs to return to being true risk mitigation for unknown and uncertain futures rather than a pass through for normal medical expenses; DOD must get its financial accounting in order and then do more with less; many agencies must be killed; and a culture of saving and investing needs to be more widely promoted and supported. Etc.
In regards to our “information age”, we can say all stages of economic development were information ages for their time and place. From making hand axes and reed baskets, to planting seasons and making steel, to microchips, all involved the recognition, capture, and transmission of knowledge to the following generations. Perhaps for the “computerized age”, besides the hardware advances of transitors to IC’s to gigahertz transmissions, I would suggest that the softwware development of global standards for network operating systems and bar coding and Q codes have been the greatest contributors to real productivity enhancements in human activities. I welcome feedback on the alternatives you might prefer.
Neo, is the spell checker off in the Comments Box? It was not present for my last comment.
In 2023, the finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing industry contributed 20.7% to the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP). This is higher than the long-term average of 7.29%. In 1947, the finance industry made up only 10% of non-farm business profits. By 2010, the finance industry made up 50% of non-farm business profits.
==
The share of value-added attributable to the real estate sector hit a plateau around 1985. That to the financial sector around about 1998. These people are gaslighting you.
Open Thread Sunday – What is this aboot?
Canadian Defence Strategy and Issues – Procurement Disasters, the Arctic & Alliances -Perun
00:00:00 — Opening Words
00:01:16 — What Am I Talking About
00:03:39 — History
00:09:02 — Strategic Position
00:11:14 — Canadian Defence Policy
00:15:32 — The Arctic Front
00:18:15 — The Canadian Military
00:22:08 — Issues And Shortfalls
00:26:10 — Ageing Inventory
00:32:33 — Curse 1: The Budget
00:36:29 — Curse 2: The Equipment Allocation
00:45:00 — Curse 3: The Actual Procurements
00:46:00 — Complexity & Delay
01:00:45 — Observations And Options
01:07:57 — Channel Update
I’m listening to Trump at Madison Square Garden. He’s hitting all the right notes. “Are you better off than you were four years ago? Kamala, you’re fired!”
Art Deco,
According to Statista, the 2023 GDP for the finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing industry did contribute 20.7% to the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP).
It’s the largest sector, followed by Professional and Business Services- 13%; Government- 11.4%; Manufacturing- 10.3%.
I haven’t found historical data for real estate or finance– maybe you can provide a link. While Zero Hedge is contrarian (this was a reprint, not Zero Hedge) I have no reason to doubt the author.
Israel’s attacks on Iran early Saturday destroyed air-defense systems set up to protect several critical oil and petrochemical refineries, as well as systems guarding a large gas field and a major port in southern Iran…
****
Israel’s destruction of the air-defense systems has raised deep alarm in Iran, the three Iranian officials said, as critical energy and economic hubs are now vulnerable to future attacks if the cycle of retaliation between Iran and Israel continues.
****
“This looks like a potential preamble to a much more effective strike against Iran’s infrastructure and even nuclear sites,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director of International Crisis Group. “Iranians don’t have the capacity to replace these systems in a timely manner, which renders the country much more vulnerable in future tit for tats.”
Balls in Iran’s court … they wanna go for another tit?
A big difference between 2024 vs 2020 and 2016 is that Trump is more than just a lone outlier billionaire populist this time. He’s got some impressive people from all over the spectrum standing with him.
Elon Musk
Jordan Peterson
Tulsi Gabbard
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Tucker Carlson
How is Russia doing in its unprovoked war against the sovereign Ukraine?
Well enough that I hope Trump won’t ignore Ukraine’s sacrifices (not to mention the wealth of info & knowledge Ukraine has passed on to our Military) in this war, and give Ukraine to Russia. I voted against Democrats & Harris, and will be watching ‘n documenting Trump *VERY* closely this time around…
Russia’s economy and war effort is coming under increasing strain, which will pose increasingly acute challenges to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to sustain the war over the long term. The Washington Post reported on October 27 that the Russian economy is “in danger of overheating,” noting that Russia’s excessively high military spending has fueled economic growth in a way that has forced Russian companies to artificially raise their salaries in order to fulfill labor demands by remaining competitive with Russia’s high military salaries. The Washington Post quoted Russian Central Bank Head Elvira Nabiullina, who warned in July 2024 that Russia’s labor force and production capacity are “almost exhausted.” The Washington Post noted that private Russian companies are struggling to keep up with Russian military salaries and are increasingly having to offer wages several times higher than the typical industry averages. ISW has recently reported that Russian regional authorities are significantly increasing the one-time signing bonuses for Russian contract servicemembers in order to sustain Russia’s rate of force generation (roughly 30,000 troops per month), which underscores the fact that Russia does not have an indefinite pool of manpower and must financially and socially reckon with the ever-growing costs of replenishing its frontline losses via various force-generation avenues. The Washington Post also noted that Russia’s stringent migration policies, particularly after the March 2024 Crocus City Hall attack, have further depleted Russia’s labor pool and amplified economic frictions. This has particularly become the case as migrant workers are increasingly identifying Russia as a hostile and unattractive place to relocate for work. ISW has reported at length on the balance that Putin is trying to strike between catering to his pro-war ultranationalist constituency, which espouses extreme anti-migrant sentiments, and his practical need to leverage migrant labor both economically and militarily.
Putin very likely assesses that calling another partial mobilization wave, or introducing general mobilization, will be too costly to his regime, and has therefore resorted to crypto-mobilization efforts that appear to be placing greater and greater strains on the Russian wartime economy. The recent appearance of North Korean troops in Russia, and their reported deployment to the combat zone in Kursk Oblast, further suggests that Putin’s entire force-generation system is very tenuous.
*Ladders? We don’t need no stinking ladders!*
I never saw a cat do that but growing up I saw a lot of cats get “stuck” in trees. They come down when they get hungry enough.
What I found most astounding about this photo and video capture of an Israeli missile strike in Beirut is the precision of the explosion. The targeted building almost instantly crumbles with little to no apparent damage to anything else. Israel spends more money and more lives of its own soldiers to minimize civilian casualties. If genocide was truly their objective it would have already occurred.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/photographer-captures-exact-moments-of-idf-airstrike-in-beirut/
Our previous cat (RIP) was a 20-pound neutered orange tabby. He had arrived as a stray kitten but decided we should adopt him. He looked like a ginormous blob, but was actually in pretty good shape. He used to sit on the cool dirt in the vegetable garden, usually in the shade of the tomatoes. One year we had put up a tripod of sturdy sticks all tied together near the top about 8 feet up to hold up the plants.
I was watching one day as he was lying on his stomach nicely meat-loafed in the shade when a sparrow landed at the top of the tripod. He slooooowly looked up, and then without any windup or other give-away, bounded the 8-feet-plus straight up into the air, nailed the sparrow, and came down. Cats can do amazing things when motivated.
sdferr ref Ladders – reminds me of how Firemen and Policemen get selected:
*****
Paul S. ref missile strike – WOW!!!
What was the cost/effects of the Great Recession of 2008 and what could trigger an even bigger crash in the future? Is this it?
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/can-we-rein-excesses-financialization-without-crashing-economy
Joe Rogan Experience #2219 – Donald Trump
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2024/10/joe-rogan-and-donald-trump-full-podcast.html
PS. could you please add CC to your blogroll? thanks!
@Brian E:I sent this to a friend responding to a Forbes article showing that Trump increased the debt more than Biden.
It’s really all Congress. Congress can rein in spending and borrowing any time they wish, and never do. They’ve set up a system of incentives where they get to benefit from spending our money, and the media lets them attach it to a President. Both parties have been doing this for years. Can’t wait for the next fake debt ceiling fight. The way to not reach the debt ceiling is to stop borrowing money to spend, and the House leadership started gearing up for spending to the debt ceiling limit in May of this year anticpating it will be reached in 2025. They know perfectly well what game they are playing.
I tried to make an addition to my previous post and it disappeared. Here it is again:
I sent this to a friend responding to a Forbes article showing that Trump increased the debt more than Biden. The point I made was that it is unfair to include the pandemic year in Trump’s deficit spending as well in the recovery year in Biden’s deficit spending.
Niketas, I wonder if Modern Monetary Theory is having an effect.
The point I was making to my friend (best described as GOPe), was Biden/Harris deficit spending has been twice that of Trump sans pandemic– and with a Harris administration deficit spending would balloon.
What a motivator fear is.
Thanks, Brian E., for the posts on the economy. I’ve always believed that the end of the manufacturing/production economy in favor of an “information economy” was a wrong turn.
We can log, mine, drill, and manufacture without polluting like China or India. And we should.
On another note. Michelle O gave a speech for Kamala today. Unfortunately, it’s probably the best pro-Kamala speech since the Kamala campaign began. It’s full of misinformation, rumors, and plain lies, but the Dems love it and it was well delivered.
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=video+fo+Michelle+Obama+speech+for+Kamala+Harris&mid=91E07FEA62DB9AEACC3A91E07FEA62DB9AEACC3A&FORM=VIRE
JJ, I think we’re seeing the effect of the information age on the economy since the 1980’s. At the beginning it was about efficiencies and the micro-computer age brought the potential of efficiencies to every company/business, with an increase in production.
This is now morphed from productive increases to influencers (and I’m not talking about youtube and tik tok) but the mega social media companies that are manipulating us for marketing goals.
I’m not sure how to quantize that but I looked at the biggest US companies by market valuation and how many employees they have. Crude, yes.
What I’m suggesting that while these companies have made many people wealthy, have they contributed to making a healthy economy. We want an economy where there are good paying jobs across the country. Employment is low, but how many have dropped out of the job market and how many are working multiple jobs? Vance during a recent interview said that 7 million males have dropped out of the labor market.
I know I should probably be using revenue rather than valuation, this is a start.
CO VAL EMP SECTOR VAL/EMP
1 Apple $3.463 T 150,000 Emp Technology $22,666
2 Microsoft $3.205 T 221,000 Emp Technology $14,502
3 Nvidia $2.977 T 29,000 Emp Technology $102,655
4 Alphabet $2.009 T 180,895 Emp Technology $11,105
5 Amazon $1.972 T 1,525,000 Emp Technology $1,293
6 Meta $1.435 T 67,317 Emp Technology $21,317
7 Berkshire Hath $979.9 B 396,500 Emps $2,472
8 Tesla $832.1 B 140,473 Emp $5,943
9 Broadcom $831.9 B 20,000 Emp $41,500
10 Eli Lilly $790.4 B 43,000 Emp $18,372
11 Walmart $641.3 B 2,100,000 Emp $305
How do we encourage that wealth into productive enterprises that maximize employment?
Do we tax companies on some sort of net profit/employee? While IP is important to the economy, I’m firmly on board with Trump’s efforts to return manufacturing to the US (to the extent possible).
Here are the top companies, based on revenues in 1960.
Revenue
1 General Motors $11,233,000,000 (employed 550,000 US)
2 Exxon Mobil $ 7,900,000,000
3 Ford Motor $5,356,000,000
4 General Electric $4,349,000,000
5 U.S. Steel $3,643,000,000
6 Mobil $3,092,000,000
7 Gulf Oil $2,713,000,000
8 Texaco $2,678,000,000
9 Chrysler $2,643,000,000
(By the end of the 60’s IBM was #2)
That’s a pretty good summary of how things have shifted in the economy since the 1960s, Brian E.
Great fortunes were made faster than anyone ever saw when electricity and fossil fuels came along. Edison and Rockefeller were the tech giants of their day.
Then we geared up for producing the planes, tanks, jeeps, ships, etc. that we needed for WWII. We were THE manufacturing behemoth of the world in the 1950s. I worked in the oil business sin 1954. Oil was plentiful and cost about $2/barrel. There seemed no future in oil at the time.
Japan and South Korea went into manufacturing, and by the 1960s they were becoming real competitors to American manufacturers. That’s when people began to get the idea of sending our manufacturing overseas for cheaper labor. By the 1990s, Japan was beginning to decline, but China was open for business and our manufacturing began moving there big time. When people asked how we would provide jobs for our citizens, the answer was, “We’re an information economy.”
The internet revolution has created more wealth more quickly than at any time in our history. When you can make money just by having someone use your site, click on your app, or sell information; and everyone has a computer in their hand, the profits literally explode.
However, we don’t have enough good paying jobs with benefits and a chance for retirement here in the U.S. Most of the manufacturing is done overseas and we have become a nation of financial and service workers.
Those who have been able to ride the tech wave are doing okay, but we don’t have enough jobs that pay “family” wages. And, of course, the government is spending way too much. We don’t know what the upper limit is…..yet, but history tells us that there is an upper limit to national debt.
I believe we need to go back to logging in the Pacifico Northwest, mining wherever we can find the deposits outside of urban areas, drilling for gas and oil, and bring manufacturing back.
Producing our own products and materials is a national security issue inasmuch as China, the ME oil sheiks, and many other countries cannot be relied on in times of need.
Well, enough of my bloviating. I’m just a toothless old lion roaring at the wind. 🙂
Niketas and Brian, thanks for your great comments. A lot to absorb there.
One nit: table of company values; I almost got tripped up with the change over from $T’s to $B’s. Perhaps a single metric instead? Personally, I would prefer we use $B’s in all discussions of federal budgeting and general economic metrics, as a way to improve understanding and context.
I am all in favor of growing the economy to help get us out of our debt situation, but I suspect 3% is still a very high reach, even with better policies on regulations, innovators, capital availability, etc. Especially if 40% (or whatever) of that is the “abstract financialization” component you discussed. I have read analyses that say we can, and that we cannot, grow our way out of this debt. We are bankrupt and need to accept and undergo a suitable set of “haircuts” if we want to be moral, virtuous, and honest about the situation. Off the top of my head, I would mention Larry Kotlikoff and the Peter J. Peterson Fdn as sources on this, but there are others, perhaps better?
It is terrible than none of the Republican candidates had the courage this election cycle to address debt/deficit reduction. Reality involves restructuring the entitlements (some of us will have to give up our SS even if we did “earn” it with payroll taxes, etc.); medical costs must become more public and market driven; medical insurance needs to return to being true risk mitigation for unknown and uncertain futures rather than a pass through for normal medical expenses; DOD must get its financial accounting in order and then do more with less; many agencies must be killed; and a culture of saving and investing needs to be more widely promoted and supported. Etc.
In regards to our “information age”, we can say all stages of economic development were information ages for their time and place. From making hand axes and reed baskets, to planting seasons and making steel, to microchips, all involved the recognition, capture, and transmission of knowledge to the following generations. Perhaps for the “computerized age”, besides the hardware advances of transitors to IC’s to gigahertz transmissions, I would suggest that the softwware development of global standards for network operating systems and bar coding and Q codes have been the greatest contributors to real productivity enhancements in human activities. I welcome feedback on the alternatives you might prefer.
Neo, is the spell checker off in the Comments Box? It was not present for my last comment.
In 2023, the finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing industry contributed 20.7% to the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP). This is higher than the long-term average of 7.29%. In 1947, the finance industry made up only 10% of non-farm business profits. By 2010, the finance industry made up 50% of non-farm business profits.
==
The share of value-added attributable to the real estate sector hit a plateau around 1985. That to the financial sector around about 1998. These people are gaslighting you.
Open Thread Sunday – What is this aboot?
Canadian Defence Strategy and Issues – Procurement Disasters, the Arctic & Alliances -Perun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27wWRszlZWU
I’m listening to Trump at Madison Square Garden. He’s hitting all the right notes. “Are you better off than you were four years ago? Kamala, you’re fired!”
Art Deco,
According to Statista, the 2023 GDP for the finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing industry did contribute 20.7% to the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP).
It’s the largest sector, followed by Professional and Business Services- 13%; Government- 11.4%; Manufacturing- 10.3%.
I haven’t found historical data for real estate or finance– maybe you can provide a link. While Zero Hedge is contrarian (this was a reprint, not Zero Hedge) I have no reason to doubt the author.
If you can’t get to the NYT’s article (I used the Epic browser), then use the Iran Update, October 27, 2024 at ISW.
IDF ‘inflicted serious damage to the Iranian integrated air defense network during its strikes on Iran on October 25.’
Israel Struck Air Defenses Around Critical Iranian Energy Sites
Balls in Iran’s court … they wanna go for another tit?
Re: Trump rally at Madison Square Garden
Burning down the house! Here’s a couple clips.
–“Tucker Carlson Goes Absolutely Insane at Madison Square Garden Trump Rally”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnNtrJ3n3nU
–“Elon Musk, Dark MAGA, NYC Trump Rally”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj2KPqpfVOM
The Force is with us.
A big difference between 2024 vs 2020 and 2016 is that Trump is more than just a lone outlier billionaire populist this time. He’s got some impressive people from all over the spectrum standing with him.
Elon Musk
Jordan Peterson
Tulsi Gabbard
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Tucker Carlson
How is Russia doing in its unprovoked war against the sovereign Ukraine?
Well enough that I hope Trump won’t ignore Ukraine’s sacrifices (not to mention the wealth of info & knowledge Ukraine has passed on to our Military) in this war, and give Ukraine to Russia. I voted against Democrats & Harris, and will be watching ‘n documenting Trump *VERY* closely this time around…
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 27, 2024
The paid WP article – Russian economy overheating, but still powering the war against Ukraine (I got past paywall w/ Epic browser)