TED Conversations

edward long

Association of Old Crows

TEDCRED 100+

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

The Dow is steadily improving while the national quality of life is consistently worsening.

Barack Hussein Obama's first term is over. The numbers are: 1) National Debt up 54.7%. 2) Unemployment up 0.7%. 3) Poverty up 6%. 4) Approval rating down 18%. 5) Dow Jones Industrial Average up 72%!! Explain this disconnect between America's vital signs.

+1
Share:

Closing Statement from edward long

25 contributors offered these points to ponder
~ we need new goals
~distribution of wealth is broken
~it's a bubble and it's going to burst soon
~statistics are inherently deceptive
~we are printing too much unbacked money
~the government is spending too much
~It's Barack Hussein Obama's fault
~5 folks said there is no more connection between Wall Street and Main Street
~we are loading debt onto future generations
~small investor confidence is at all time low
~younger folks American dream includes tech toys but no home ownership
~money can't but happiness
~the top secret TPP is to blame
~Big Pharma is parasitic
~the Military is a budget buster
~ It's NAFTA's fault
~we are living in the New World Order
~Deflation Depression
~Exessive China trade for shoddy merchandise
~Free Trade is good
~US corporate tax is world's highest
~the Landlord Bubble
~youth becoming deluded narcissists
~middle class being strangled by inflation
~the Media is way off target
~poor getting poorer is new phenomenon
~US is too big to fail
~need term limits for Representatives
~need to repeal the 17th Amendment
~need to revise the 16th Amendment
~need to reduce Cabinet positions to seven
~need to go Isolationist
~stop paying Dictators for permission to feed their starving masses
~we have a Placebo Democracy
~all profit comes from someone's pocket
~leaders are corrupt
~Government creates no wealth
~copyright laws benefit the elite only
~people are the whole problem
~Quantitave Easing
~Debt=Money
~all should read "The Creature From Jeckyl Island"
~only Economists can understand
~we elect politicians rather than people
~Debt and the Dow are proportional
~debt can be invested
~unemployment and wages are inversely proportional
~poverty causes wage reduction
~low wages stimulate profit and productivity
What was not mentioned, surprisingly to me, was if the DJIA got Barack Hussein Obama re-elected
Have a look at the 9 links in the post
Conclusion?. . . Wall Street and Main Street are independent!!

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.

  • Barry Palmer 50+

    • 0
    Jan 22 2013: The rich are getting richer by making the poor people poorer. Nothing new here except that the rich are getting much better at it, especially the political aspects. The notion that the Dow reflects the well being of the economy as a whole was always a partial truth. Now, as Pat Gilbert said, the connection between Wall Street and main street is completely severed, and the only people who do not realize this are the folks in the media.
    • thumb

      Krisztián Pintér 200+

      • 0
      TED Translator
      Jan 22 2013: it is new. 100 years ago, rich didn't get richer at the expense of the poor, and poor got richer too. life standards going down in the lower income percentiles is a recent "development".
    • thumb

      edward long 100+

      • 0
      Jan 22 2013: I always thought the players in the stock market were the folks who started and ran companies which employed people so the health of one indicated the health of the other. If that was true once, but is no longer, what changed? Have the folks with money found a way to prosper without hiring workers? That sucks! You mention the media folks. That is another sector of our (USA) modus operandi that seems to have morphed into something quite different. I no longer trust mainstream media to dispense truth. Damn! This post is turning into an alarming revelation!
    • thumb

      pat gilbert 100+

      • +1
      Jan 23 2013: Cuidado

      The change between the rich and poor is greatly exaggerated by the media. I have gone over this before. It has to do with falsely reporting household income, not counting government transfers to the poor, tax changes that incentivized reporting taxes as individuals under chapter S corps instead of a C corp.

      Of course the rich people make more as it should be, otherwise it would be Russia where you could work hard or not, smart or not, with innovation or not, with the same pay. In which the only thing for sure is the increased consumption of Vodka.

      What is definitely stealing the income of the middle class is government caused inflation and taxes and regulations and ridiculous government employee pensions.
      • thumb

        Ken brown 30+

        • 0
        Jan 23 2013: It's like you said, confidence is down. Not enough risk takers to push things forward, a little greed is good and real estate in the States at this moment has never been better except where are the Americans who should be buying these houses? I hope it doesn't turn into a landlord bubble like it has in Nz.

        How friendly is the States in helping small business get up and running through tax incentives? I get this distinct feeling that a lot of the young have romantic dreams of instant statrtups and millions flowing out of nowhere.
        • thumb

          Mary M. 100+

          • 0
          Jan 23 2013: Ken, you mention a landlord bubble.....could you explain it to me please?

          And yes, so many homes for sale here....mostly foreclosures and auction...
          Lots of homes for sale for over 250 thousand in our coummunity. But when you visit some of the online real estate sites that keep a list of homes sold in the last week, you see the homes sold for the mid 100"s......asking price does not equal selling price.

          And many who bought a home in the last 10 years, are stuck in it because they are worth much less than what they paid for.

          Plus, it seems nobody can afford the homes that are for sale to begin with. Where are the people that should be buying these houses?..........ah, look in the unemployment lines. :(
      • thumb

        edward long 100+

        • 0
        Jan 23 2013: Maybe this WSJ article is germane to this post?
        http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323301104578255663224471212.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us
        • thumb

          pat gilbert 100+

          • 0
          Jan 24 2013: What they fail to mention is that the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rates in the world.

          The senate typically goes with a CBO report that is static and does not account for human behavior or praxeology which changes when the rates are changed and would result in a higher revenue rate.
      • thumb

        edward long 100+

        • 0
        Jan 24 2013: RE: "What they fail to mention. . . "
        American companies traded on Wall Street can make higher profits and pay better dividends to shareholders by investing in other countries rather than reinvesting profits here at home because of our high corporate tax rates? Is that correct?
        • thumb

          pat gilbert 100+

          • 0
          Jan 24 2013: According to the article they are not paying dividends to the shareholders from foreign profits. Which is part of the problem because the core problem is lack of investment. So yes they are investing in foreign countries because of a higher domestic tax rate. But the money is kept in American accounts because of more stability in America but under accounts that are exempt from American taxes.

          Praxeology is the core of the problem, simply lower corporate taxes and the money will come to the domestic accounts.

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.