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Does anyone really think they can wrangle themselves out of this mess and get back to a "normal" deficit and balance sheet? Everything they do feels like duct

by spaceman_2020 4y ago

Does anyone really think they can wrangle themselves out of this mess and get back to a "normal" deficit and balance sheet? Everything they do feels like duct tape.

coffeebeqn 4y ago
It is duct tape. The world economy keeps getting into states it’s never been in before. They can’t pull up the manual for the current state of the world and apply the steps
ProjectArcturis 4y ago
This comment is true, but also you could have said the same thing any time in the last 40 years and it would have been true then too.
rybosworld 4y ago
The problem is policy makers don't do anything until the system breaks. We can all see that the train is veering off the tracks but parliament, senators, prime ministers, etc. don't fix things before they break. The Fed and other central banks are fairly limited in what they can do. Adjusting interest rates up and down is like adjusting the water levels of the ocean. It has broad effects when what we probably need are lots of smaller, targeted actions, like tax reform. That said, the central banks are a huge part of the problem because they also tend to act way too late. We should never have had 0% interest rates for as long as we did.
- amerkhalid 4y ago
  > The problem is policy makers don't do anything until the system breaks. This is off-topic but it reminds me of a conversation with my plumber. I tend to fix things before they are broken. It seems that this would avoid catastrophe. I have used same plumber for almost 10 years and apparently I had been calling him prematurely for many minor issues. He was, of course, happy to take care of those issues. Finally, after 10 years or so, we are friends enough where he told me that I should wait a lot longer before calling him. Basically, if I am not panicking and begging him to come over within 24 hours then I should wait. Even with potential water damage, I would have saved money overall. I don’t know how to calculate this but maybe it is cheaper sometimes to fix a catastrophe than to preventively fix something.
  - rybosworld 4y ago
    I look at as "duct tape" fixes as the person above was suggesting. Your plumber is likely fixing things in the correct manner. If he came to your house and duct taped your pipes it might be okay for a week but then you'll have a small amount of water damage. Do this 100 times over and I think that's the current state of the global economy.

Does anyone really think they can wrangle themselves out of this mess and get back to a "normal" deficit and balance sheet? Everything they do feels like duct tape.

coffeebeqn 4y ago

It is duct tape. The world economy keeps getting into states it’s never been in before. They can’t pull up the manual for the current state of the world and apply the steps

ProjectArcturis 4y ago

This comment is true, but also you could have said the same thing any time in the last 40 years and it would have been true then too.

rybosworld 4y ago

The problem is policy makers don't do anything until the system breaks. We can all see that the train is veering off the tracks but parliament, senators, prime ministers, etc. don't fix things before they break. The Fed and other central banks are fairly limited in what they can do. Adjusting interest rates up and down is like adjusting the water levels of the ocean. It has broad effects when what we probably need are lots of smaller, targeted actions, like tax reform. That said, the central banks are a huge part of the problem because they also tend to act way too late. We should never have had 0% interest rates for as long as we did.

amerkhalid 4y ago
> The problem is policy makers don't do anything until the system breaks. This is off-topic but it reminds me of a conversation with my plumber. I tend to fix things before they are broken. It seems that this would avoid catastrophe. I have used same plumber for almost 10 years and apparently I had been calling him prematurely for many minor issues. He was, of course, happy to take care of those issues. Finally, after 10 years or so, we are friends enough where he told me that I should wait a lot longer before calling him. Basically, if I am not panicking and begging him to come over within 24 hours then I should wait. Even with potential water damage, I would have saved money overall. I don’t know how to calculate this but maybe it is cheaper sometimes to fix a catastrophe than to preventively fix something.
- rybosworld 4y ago
  I look at as "duct tape" fixes as the person above was suggesting. Your plumber is likely fixing things in the correct manner. If he came to your house and duct taped your pipes it might be okay for a week but then you'll have a small amount of water damage. Do this 100 times over and I think that's the current state of the global economy.