Sometimes you wonder if Larry Summers is reading the blogs. The catch phrase Financial Balance of Terror has been coined by none other than 1990's Financial Terror Architect, Obama economic adviser Larry Summers!
President Barack Obama and fellow Group of 20 leaders are trying to end what Obama adviser Lawrence Summers has called the “financial balance of terror.”
World leaders, meeting in Pittsburgh last week, adopted a framework for more durable economic growth as they sought to prevent a replay of the worst crisis since the Great Depression. They also acknowledged the growing clout of China and other emerging economies by giving them a bigger voice in decision- making.
Business Week has an interesting article on baby boomers.
While we have already questioned the statistics on the jump in savings rate, the story shows just how focused policy makers are on Americans being consumers instead of producers.
Some statistics claimed in the article:
$400 Billion is the amount of spending lost
GDP growth until now has been at least 3.2% yearly since 1965
Future projected GDP growth is at 2.4% (see post overviewing skew in GDP)
78% of GDP growth in the decade from 1995-2005 is attributed to boomers
Now who thinks America is backwards and stuck on stupid? The focus is always on Americans shopping instead of Americans producing. Why doesn't our trade deficit or the shrinking middle class cause such an uproar?
The focus on Americans as simply consumers is part of the problem.
Consumer purchases fell 1.2 percent in September, extending the decline to three straight months, the first time that's happened since comparable records began in 1992, Commerce Department figures showed today. In another sign of weakening demand, prices paid to U.S. producers fell last month on lower fuel costs
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