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View Full Version : Deficit Going Down.



CattyWampus
12-13-2012, 08:07 AM
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

This morning on the Wall Street Journal Report on the radio, some talking head declared that the deficit is going down. He gleefully exclaimed that as a percentage of the economy, the deficit for this year will be less than last year and went on to explain how that was a really positive thing. This wasn't an opinion piece. It was part of the "financial news". I guess it doesn't matter that the deficit for November was a record $172 billion. Idiots! Every damn one of them.

CitizenBBN
12-13-2012, 09:10 AM
"I'm consumed by credit card debt and I bought a new LED TV this month and charged it too, but I got an extra weekend shift this month at McDonald's so in fact I was able to buy the TV and reduce my debt load at the same time."

I have known more than one MBA or PhD in economics and finance who I wouldn't trust to run my household budget. They can't see the trees for the forest and it will mean the doom of the forest.

An economy unburdened by the libraries full of regulations and bureaucracy could maybe grow us out of this disaster, but it would take the US economy of the latter 1800s to do it and it would require a) that we still stop deficit spending now, and b) we eliminate everything from the minimum wage to health care to environmental regulations. We'd have to become what China is today. That isn't happening, which means we aren't growing out of this debacle.

It also wouldn't hurt if Europe would fall into a devastating war that trashed their economies and forced them to rely on imports for a decade. That worked great for us to get out of the Great Depression.

Just like the guy who bought the LED TV and just piled it on his cards, they're looking for the painless way out of this mess. Suck it up buttercup b/c this one's going to hurt.

jazyd
12-13-2012, 09:55 AM
Our business was strong thru Labor Day then it was like someone turned off the lights. I have talked with several other owners who have said the same thing. I told my wife we are not to buy anything other than basic we must have at min levels to get our inventory down and cash up. I do not trust DC to do anything truly positive. We may see many small businesses go out because of this and ours may be one of them, and I mean truly small businesses and not what the gov declares a small business
I believe we are in for a rough ride and idiots like OP described hurts the recovery because the non doers listen to that crap

cattails
12-14-2012, 06:36 AM
Our business was strong thru Labor Day then it was like someone turned off the lights. I have talked with several other owners who have said the same thing. I told my wife we are not to buy anything other than basic we must have at min levels to get our inventory down and cash up. I do not trust DC to do anything truly positive. We may see many small businesses go out because of this and ours may be one of them, and I mean truly small businesses and not what the gov declares a small business
I believe we are in for a rough ride and idiots like OP described hurts the recovery because the non doers listen to that crap

Skip do you really see a recovery in our life time if at all? We have had one of our best years, but I have told my boys this is fools gold, get out of debt and create capital (liquid) while you can. I have to many contractors having nothing to do and looking at closing the doors. I have one contractor I turned in a cost proposal that I hope I can make something or break even just to help them get the project (which they did). They had almost everyone off work other than their AT&T work which is by contract, they needed this project and they have been very good to us for 30 plus years. Like you I keep telling our guys, at some point we hit the wall just like everyone else, so far it has not happened. When you run a business that has apx 225 workers all over the USA and all of a sudden you have 25 working but still the overhead you had before it doesn't take a smart person to see what is in front of them. You either pull the plug or let it all go out the window and go broke. We are only beginnning to see the effect of this down fall.