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> So while times are looking good, and there will inevitably be a certain momentum to that fact, there is no better time to contemplate what has always come nex

> So while times are looking good, and there will inevitably be a certain momentum to that fact, there is no better time to contemplate what has always come next: not good times. I’d argue that the good times are not good to begin with. Americans don’t save. Everyone is heavily indebted and creditors keep lending without restriction. How can economy be healthy if people don’t buy capital goods and are indebted in order to buy consumer goods? It’s quite the opposite.

squirrelicus 8y ago
Leveraging one's credit to accelerate their standard of living growth doesn't make an economic culture bad implicitly. People who leverage themselves too far and fail to pay it back do. Some people are trusted with credit more than they should be (empirically speaking), while other more reasonable people are misled by systemic incentives (e.g. home appraisals). The system isn't perfect, but in historical context, nothing has ever been better. I find it unlikely that public figures whose day job is to complain without offering solutions are capable of improving anything. We stand on the shoulders of giants; ancestors that were more thoughtful then us. We shouldn't reject the foundation they laid so willingly.
PeterisP 8y ago
The USA economy is flush with cash savings, and anything where it's plausible to invest to (i.e buying capital goods) either has been invested or is being invested. It's just that it's not the general population who are doing this; the savings are held by corporations (as a proxy for the few ultra-rich individuals) and accumulating because there's not much to invest in.
- tabtab 8y ago
  Re: "not much to invest in." - In the factory era, investing in new or better factories or stores was the usual use of excess cash. But most new industries are labor intensive, not asset-intensive. You can invest in start-ups, but many argue there are already too many questionable startups floating around, not unlike 1999.
  - bachbach 8y ago
    That is presently true but it doesn't have to be. A Silicon Valley business could start paying millions of people to perform tasks for it - like babysitting a semi-self driving car.

squirrelicus 8y ago

Leveraging one's credit to accelerate their standard of living growth doesn't make an economic culture bad implicitly. People who leverage themselves too far and fail to pay it back do. Some people are trusted with credit more than they should be (empirically speaking), while other more reasonable people are misled by systemic incentives (e.g. home appraisals). The system isn't perfect, but in historical context, nothing has ever been better. I find it unlikely that public figures whose day job is to complain without offering solutions are capable of improving anything. We stand on the shoulders of giants; ancestors that were more thoughtful then us. We shouldn't reject the foundation they laid so willingly.

PeterisP 8y ago

The USA economy is flush with cash savings, and anything where it's plausible to invest to (i.e buying capital goods) either has been invested or is being invested. It's just that it's not the general population who are doing this; the savings are held by corporations (as a proxy for the few ultra-rich individuals) and accumulating because there's not much to invest in.

tabtab 8y ago
Re: "not much to invest in." - In the factory era, investing in new or better factories or stores was the usual use of excess cash. But most new industries are labor intensive, not asset-intensive. You can invest in start-ups, but many argue there are already too many questionable startups floating around, not unlike 1999.
- bachbach 8y ago
  That is presently true but it doesn't have to be. A Silicon Valley business could start paying millions of people to perform tasks for it - like babysitting a semi-self driving car.