Next couple of years: bad time to be "rich"

can we just go back to whatever clinton was doing back in the good 'ole days before i knew or cared about how much a gallon of gas cost?

 

You realize that the effects of a president's economic policy aren't necessarily reflected in their term of office, right?

For example, however is president next term will inherit a horrible economy and crippling debt. The economy will be in recession, whether officially or not, and it will be because of the previous administration.

Likewise, Bill Clinton, while there were some positives about him, can't just be associated with economic prosperity just because the economy was good while he was in office. In fact, his signing NAFTA into law greatly accelerated the trade deficit that now plagues our economy.



Clinton's economic policy was actually quite damaging in the long run, not only in direct trade deficits with Canada and Mexico through NAFTA, but in setting a very destructive precedent on free trade deals.

 

if you can't make it on a couple hundred thousand a year, you either have no idea where any of your money is going or you don't care.

people are so wrapped up in artificial needs and superficial crap...

 

All is not lost! Here is my 4 point plan:

1. Continue to borrow more money from China. Then, give just a drip of this money to the American people. Then simply lie and tell them they are getting some of their income tax money back.

2. Continue to artificially drop the fed funds rate (I'm holding out until it hits a negative number!) in an effort to make sure that when the recession hits, it will be absolutely catastrophic.

3. Of course continue to give $1 BILLION/Day of the taxpayers money to defense contractors to fight an oil "war" based on a lie.

4. Throw in another BILLION/Week to fight a war on the American people - the "war" on drugs. Keep those stoners in jail (at a cost of $50k/year/person) where they belong! If we don't, we may lose our status as the country that imprisons more of its people, per capita, than anywhere else in the WORLD. We're still #1!!! USA USA USA!

/wow are we (and our children/grandchildren) screwed

 

The current accounts deficit is what's ruinous; the trade deficit is merely a symptom. You're living in some neocon fantasy world if you think that foreign ownership of assets begins to approach the damaging effects of the doublings of the national debt which occurred under both Reagan and GWBush and which resulted directly from their policies of "borrow and spend".

 

Funny, isn't it, how people's definition of "Rich" depends on their own perspective. I've heard millionaires complain that they haven't really 'made it' because they still have to work for a living.

 

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If current trends continue, they soon will.

 

wow... comfortable is 300-500k/year? That seems awfully high... At 79k/year i consider myself very comfortable. I'm just two years out of college and buying 4 bed/2 bath house with 20% down payment. 30 year loan i expect to have paid off in half that time. I throw my money every week into softball, billiards, bowling and ski leagues, not to mention the eating and drinking out that is associated with all of those activities. And on top of all that, the only debt i have is my new mortgage.

On an income that is just a fraction of what you call comfortable, i want for nothing and have a sizable amount of income that goes towards saving/investments (or did, now it's going towards house payments, which is really just another form of investment).

Honestly, our national concept of rich/poor/comfortable is horribly slanted towards those that have no concept what so ever of financial responsibility. The horribly rich do know a thing or two about finances. The rich don't and thus end up making a ton of money and throwing most of it away and thinking they're middle class. The middle class complain a lot because they're in debt up to their eyeballs trying to afford luxuries the rich take for granted instead of planning for the future and retirement. The poor are a mixed bag - some of them are financially responsible and simply lack the skills and abilities needed to make money, while others are poor because they, like the middle class, try to buy luxuries instead of planning for the future. So what if you make 20k/year... go ahead and buy that car which will cost more per week to own than taking the bus will!

Our country is in shambles because no one understands financial responsibility and planning anymore.

 

Will it be bad for rich people or people who make a lot of money? There's a difference. I suspect it'll be bad for the latter.

 

That's what I am talking about! Good to see people with the same views.

 

I'm afraid I will never again in my lifetime see the kind of prosperity we had when the budget was balanced and the dollar strong in the Clinton years. Bush has damaged the country and the Republican party with his reckless tax cutting and spending. We will have to get out of Iraq as soon as another President takes over--simply because we can't afford to stay there. And people or families making over $250K are certain to be taxed further. McCain or Obama will have no choice--disregard the current campaign rhetoric. They both know the score.

 

No, both government spending and the trade deficit are having us diving into an empty pool. The account deficit had nothing to do with corporations moving jobs, production, intellectual capital (and thus our future) overseas.

Don't get me wrong, I think Reagan and GW Bush helped steer us in the wrong direction, but to say Clinton brought long-term economic prosperity because of his economic policy is a farce. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

To his credit, at least he tried to use the budget surplus to pay down debt instead of frittering it away on tax cuts for the rich like Bush Jr.

 

There are those that will say they just ran out of ways to spend the money. It was such a huge windfall in tax revenues that they just didn't have enough time to figure out how to spend all of it.