A sign of the times

[bigbadwolf]

This has been circulating:

"THE ECONOMY IS SO BAD THAT I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail. Wives are having sex with their husbands because they can't afford batteries. Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen. I bought a toaster oven and my free gift was a bank. Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America. Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore. A picture is now only worth 200 words."

 

[seventeen]

This too:

The economy is so bad that African television stations are showing 'Sponsor an American Child' commercials!

The economy is so bad, a picture is now only worth 200 words.

The economy is so bad, I saw the CEO of Wal-Mart shopping at Wal-Mart.

 

[STELLA53]

Is life sweeter in Argentina than in the US? Is there less poverty, less misery, less tragedy? Is it possible that comparatively speaking, things are still better in the US than most of the world?

 

[JoeBlow]

Is it possible that comparatively speaking, things are still better in the US than most of the world?

Where do you live, Stella?

 

[STELLA53]

In So America.

 

[Cathy Brown]

Hello bigbadwolf! I am working on a documentary called “Leaving America”, and we will be filming in BA at the end of March. The film is exploring why, when so many people across the globe literally die every day trying to enter the US, thinking it is the land of opportunity…why do so many US citizens voluntarily choose to take their dreams abroad? The director, while doing some research, came across this post of yours and asked me to contact you to see if you would 1) be in BA the last 2 weeks of March 2) be interested in filling out a short questionnaire about your reasons for moving abroad and 3) see if you would possibly be interested, depending on his needs for the film, in being interviewed and be included in the movie. If you have any interest, please contact me at [email protected]. Thanks!

 

[xibeca]

Is life sweeter in Argentina than in the US? Is there less poverty, less misery, less tragedy? Is it possible that comparatively speaking, things are still better in the US than most of the world?

It might appear like that because you are living off borrowed money. Once the rest of the world stops lending you money your living standards will look a whole lot more like Argentina's.

 

[clooz]

It might appear like that because you are living off borrowed money. Once the rest of the world stops lending you money your living standards will look a whole lot more like Argentina's.

These are historically unrelated. Domestic living standards are primarily the result of the creation of real wealth and value through domestic agriculture and engineering.

Being responsible for running the most popular reserve currency the planet has ever seen cannot be as much fun as its cracked up to be. Sure you have massive leverage in the morning. But in the evening, you have to balance the books so you know how much currency to print and burn tomorrow, keep liquidity coming somehow so the mob doesn't storm the palace, and try to sleep at night. It might sound like all you have to do is sell bonds, show up for dinner and eat, but most of us cannot balance our own check books reliably let alone keep track of what our dependents are doing with the IOU's they've written when we were asleep.

 

[xibeca]

These are historically unrelated. Domestic living standards are primarily the result of the creation of real wealth and value through domestic agriculture and engineering.

That's the way it used to be in the US, back in the days when you had an industry. Now it's all dismantled and the only thing you are exporting is debt. Contemporary domestic US living standards comes from buying cheap Chinese produced goods on down payment.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Hello bigbadwolf! I am working on a documentary called “Leaving America”, and we will be filming in BA at the end of March. The film is exploring why, when so many people across the globe literally die every day trying to enter the US, thinking it is the land of opportunity…why do so many US citizens voluntarily choose to take their dreams abroad? The director, while doing some research, came across this post of yours and asked me to contact you to see if you would 1) be in BA the last 2 weeks of March 2) be interested in filling out a short questionnaire about your reasons for moving abroad and 3) see if you would possibly be interested, depending on his needs for the film, in being interviewed and be included in the movie. If you have any interest, please contact me at [email protected]. Thanks!

Sorry, I'm not even in Argentina. The site owner allows me to post here out of the kindness of his heart (I met him in Buenos Aires in 2005 and 2006).

There is a myth that hordes of people are dying each day to come to the US. Sure, five years back, ten years back. Today Mexicans are returning to Mexico: if they have to be jobless, it's cheaper to be jobless in Mexico. The American dream is more a figment of the imagination than ever before; it's used by the US ruling class to mollify the rest of the country on how good they have it if foreigners are literally falling over themselves to cross the Rio Grande.