The March of Mankind

The woes of the American Consumer fails to touch my heart, even though I am one of that persecuted Tribe. The key point of the entire article may lay in the fact that One-Fifth of the American population traditionally has made up half of the Consumption Spending, and they can no longer maintain this Record. The angst of this Group may be that they can no longer get Consumer Credit at cheaper rates, or a more involved incapacity to propel their Income growth at a faster Percentage than the Inflation rate. Readers who do not understand the previous Sentence, think that the Bills keep growing, while the Income stays static; most Consumers starting from a position of Consumer Debt equal to 2.3 years of current Income, with the subtraction necessary for Burger King Hamburgers and Utility Bills. A growing greater number of Consumers could even gain a real advantage of being thrown out of House and Home, leaving the huge monster behind; this being the great dread of the financial world: abandonment of current debt. Even the new draconian Bankruptcy rules cannot calm of the churning souls of the Banking world.

Trichet thinks to keep Europe on a counter- cyclical Course from the route chosen by Bernanke and the Fed. Study of the previous article makes a good Case for the irrationality of the Fed argument, trying to incite further Consumer debt; still, it reflects Banking concern with extracting Payment for Debt already laid out. I am of the persuasion that the Debt balloon must go in order for the Economy to advance, and that there is an inability of the American Consumer to pay it off. It might have been simpler and incredibly easier to have left Tax rates at the level of the late 1990s, than it will be to watch those excess funds evaporate in higher Living Costs (I sound a lot grouchier than I feel this morning, maybe it is listening to School Snow Closings on the radio).

The Whole of the modern economy reminds Me of the great Carson debate of the 1960s-70s. The Argument today is couched in alternate terms. Here are just some of the component parts: Electrical Demand is increasing by 2% per year, and We can’t match it; Natural Gas involves less Greenhouse Gas, less Concrete and Steel, and less initial Capitalization, but is 40% higher in Operational Cost; Everyone worries about Fresh Water supplies, while still building for heavy water use; and a World-wide shortage of Food is being met with ethanol subsidies. Religion will never admit to the proposition that there are too many People on this old World, though I may be relatively lucky in being able to exit this World before things get real bad. And some fools thought life was good, except for a little Global Warming! The Reader should not worry excessively, as humanity will solve its problems until it fails to do so; just hope you are not around when the Music stops. lgl