This is a pet peeve of mine. For the last several years, people on the Right from Commentators to average folk have been predicting an imminent economic collapse. While I agree that the Obama Administration and the Fed have done a great job of fucking up this economy & the recovery in particular, the risk of total economic collapse at any time now is very slim. To keep claiming that it will collapse every year, for the past 4 years, is doing nothing but advancing the stereotype that Conservatives are nuts and hurts what chance we have to get Conservatives elected and the economy rolling again.
I'll keep this brief, but let me make my case. The main reason I believe that the economic collapse myth is utter nonsense is because the underlying fundamentals of the economy are relatively strong. Company balance sheets are strong, profits & revenues are high, corporate & personal debt have decreased significantly, sales are robust, and the U.S. still makes the most innovative, high-quality products in the world. That innovation & technological lead gives us a monster competitive advantage, as does being home to most of the world's largest and most important companies, so while threatened by government's over-regulation & taxation, we still have a very strong foundation on which to build.
Compared to the state of the rest of the world - European recession & debt, Asian stagflation, & the rest of the world being unstable & undeveloped - the U.S. is by far the safest, smartest world economy for foreign investment. We've seen it for several years now; foreign government and companies are all pouring money & investment into the U.S. because of the strong foundation on which our economy is built and the potential for future growth through continued technological innovation. Frankly, the U.S. economy may be bad, but the rest of the world is on much, much shakier ground with far less growth potential.
That growth potential gives us bright prospects for long-term economic health. Companies, and the economy by extension, is just waiting to be unleashed. Companies have record amounts of cash on hand and have been on an investment & hiring freeze since Obama became President, and are just waiting for a decent political climate to unleash the growth engine of the economy: private sector investment. Combine that with huge new developments in oil & natural gas, the economy is poised to explode.
The issues holding the economy back are all self-inflicted. Stifling regulations, billions in new taxes, and massive uncertainty are killing the growth potential pent up in our economy. Obama's purposeful destruction of the coal industry, war on fossil fuels/affordable energy, tax, tax, tax & spend us into debt oblivion, crony capitalism, Obamacare, and just general war on business are keeping our economy from seeing the explosive growth of past recessions. Once we elect pro-business, pro-job, pro-growth politicians the economy will take off like it has in every other recession (save the Great Depression, exacerbated & prolonged by FDR in very much the same way as Obama has the Great Recession).
There are certainly large risks to the economy, but almost all are self-imposed by the government. The main risk, and the one in which most others derive, is QE infinity. The Fed's QE has created asset-bubbles in the stock market in particular, and on most risky investments in general, as well as bonds. By keeping interest rates artificially low, QE has pushed investors into riskier investments such as stocks, REITs, and lower-grade corporate & municipal bonds, which has raised the prices for these assets without a corresponding growth in GDP or the underlying economic value of the assets. The artificially low interest rates also have created a huge risk of an interest rate spike, causing the trillions of government bonds being bought to be all but worthless, killing the housing recovery, and making debt, private & public, far more expensive. This would reverse most of the small recovery gained so far and cause financial turmoil, but the underlying companies still remain strong and the risk of an interest rate spike is manageable, if taken on in time and honestly. Inflation is also a risk, but not nearly as serious a risk as the others I've mentioned and barring hyper-inflation will do far less damage.
Rather than talk about the coming economic collapse and resulting doom, we should be explaining why this economy is so sluggish, how Liberal economic policy is making the problem much worse & holding recovery back and how pro-growth, Conservative policies can unleash the private sector to do what it does best: create wealth & jobs. Preaching economic catastrophe will do nothing but hurt the Conservative cause, it's time that we recognize the true problems & risks, their cause (Progressive/Liberal/Democrat policy), and present Conservative solutions that ACTUALLY WORK!
I'll keep this brief, but let me make my case. The main reason I believe that the economic collapse myth is utter nonsense is because the underlying fundamentals of the economy are relatively strong. Company balance sheets are strong, profits & revenues are high, corporate & personal debt have decreased significantly, sales are robust, and the U.S. still makes the most innovative, high-quality products in the world. That innovation & technological lead gives us a monster competitive advantage, as does being home to most of the world's largest and most important companies, so while threatened by government's over-regulation & taxation, we still have a very strong foundation on which to build.
Compared to the state of the rest of the world - European recession & debt, Asian stagflation, & the rest of the world being unstable & undeveloped - the U.S. is by far the safest, smartest world economy for foreign investment. We've seen it for several years now; foreign government and companies are all pouring money & investment into the U.S. because of the strong foundation on which our economy is built and the potential for future growth through continued technological innovation. Frankly, the U.S. economy may be bad, but the rest of the world is on much, much shakier ground with far less growth potential.
That growth potential gives us bright prospects for long-term economic health. Companies, and the economy by extension, is just waiting to be unleashed. Companies have record amounts of cash on hand and have been on an investment & hiring freeze since Obama became President, and are just waiting for a decent political climate to unleash the growth engine of the economy: private sector investment. Combine that with huge new developments in oil & natural gas, the economy is poised to explode.
The issues holding the economy back are all self-inflicted. Stifling regulations, billions in new taxes, and massive uncertainty are killing the growth potential pent up in our economy. Obama's purposeful destruction of the coal industry, war on fossil fuels/affordable energy, tax, tax, tax & spend us into debt oblivion, crony capitalism, Obamacare, and just general war on business are keeping our economy from seeing the explosive growth of past recessions. Once we elect pro-business, pro-job, pro-growth politicians the economy will take off like it has in every other recession (save the Great Depression, exacerbated & prolonged by FDR in very much the same way as Obama has the Great Recession).
There are certainly large risks to the economy, but almost all are self-imposed by the government. The main risk, and the one in which most others derive, is QE infinity. The Fed's QE has created asset-bubbles in the stock market in particular, and on most risky investments in general, as well as bonds. By keeping interest rates artificially low, QE has pushed investors into riskier investments such as stocks, REITs, and lower-grade corporate & municipal bonds, which has raised the prices for these assets without a corresponding growth in GDP or the underlying economic value of the assets. The artificially low interest rates also have created a huge risk of an interest rate spike, causing the trillions of government bonds being bought to be all but worthless, killing the housing recovery, and making debt, private & public, far more expensive. This would reverse most of the small recovery gained so far and cause financial turmoil, but the underlying companies still remain strong and the risk of an interest rate spike is manageable, if taken on in time and honestly. Inflation is also a risk, but not nearly as serious a risk as the others I've mentioned and barring hyper-inflation will do far less damage.
Rather than talk about the coming economic collapse and resulting doom, we should be explaining why this economy is so sluggish, how Liberal economic policy is making the problem much worse & holding recovery back and how pro-growth, Conservative policies can unleash the private sector to do what it does best: create wealth & jobs. Preaching economic catastrophe will do nothing but hurt the Conservative cause, it's time that we recognize the true problems & risks, their cause (Progressive/Liberal/Democrat policy), and present Conservative solutions that ACTUALLY WORK!
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