The Rise of the Rest – Newsweek

[bsrsharma]

The article doesn’t seem to drill down to the root causes clearly enough:

1. The (misguided) Iraq war has caused skyrocketing oil prices, in turn causing commodity inflation. This makes Americans particularly poorer and commodity producers richer. The war induced oil price increase from probably around $40 to $120 is the largest transfer of wealth from US to the rest of the world. May be more than the cost of the war itself. As a secondary effect, this devalues US $ that makes Americans feel poorer due to inflation.

2. The (Greenspan induced) cheap loans – housing bubble mania has caused a great waste of capital due to misdirected use of wealth (to build unnecessary mansions). This loss of capital is now causing near or real bankruptcies, rising unemployment, inflation, devaluation of $ etc., making Americans poorer.

So, it is more a case of US screwing up on a grand scale as a nation than a big “Rise of the Rest” story.

Tell me: who cares about the tallest building, largest mall/casino/ferris wheel etc.,?

[blahblahblah]

The (misguided) Iraq war has caused skyrocketing oil prices, in turn causing commodity inflation.

Gas prices increase when measured in dollars. If you measure in euros, pounds, swiss francs, yen, etc… they haven’t increased substantially since the start of the war. The war has had very little effect on oil production. Iraq was limited in how much it could sell before the war by sanctions and now they are limited by damaged infrastructure, terrorism, etc…

Our gas prices here in the US are a reflection of the diminished purchasing power of our dollars. Because everyone buys oil, we compete with the rest of the world and when our currency sinks, oil becomes more pricey.

[blahblahblah]

The (misguided) Iraq war has caused skyrocketing oil prices, in turn causing commodity inflation.

Gas prices increase when measured in dollars. If you measure in euros, pounds, swiss francs, yen, etc… they haven’t increased substantially since the start of the war. The war has had very little effect on oil production. Iraq was limited in how much it could sell before the war by sanctions and now they are limited by damaged infrastructure, terrorism, etc…

Our gas prices here in the US are a reflection of the diminished purchasing power of our dollars. Because everyone buys oil, we compete with the rest of the world and when our currency sinks, oil becomes more pricey.

[blahblahblah]

The (misguided) Iraq war has caused skyrocketing oil prices, in turn causing commodity inflation.

Gas prices increase when measured in dollars. If you measure in euros, pounds, swiss francs, yen, etc… they haven’t increased substantially since the start of the war. The war has had very little effect on oil production. Iraq was limited in how much it could sell before the war by sanctions and now they are limited by damaged infrastructure, terrorism, etc…

Our gas prices here in the US are a reflection of the diminished purchasing power of our dollars. Because everyone buys oil, we compete with the rest of the world and when our currency sinks, oil becomes more pricey.

[blahblahblah]

The (misguided) Iraq war has caused skyrocketing oil prices, in turn causing commodity inflation.

Gas prices increase when measured in dollars. If you measure in euros, pounds, swiss francs, yen, etc… they haven’t increased substantially since the start of the war. The war has had very little effect on oil production. Iraq was limited in how much it could sell before the war by sanctions and now they are limited by damaged infrastructure, terrorism, etc…

Our gas prices here in the US are a reflection of the diminished purchasing power of our dollars. Because everyone buys oil, we compete with the rest of the world and when our currency sinks, oil becomes more pricey.

[blahblahblah]

The (misguided) Iraq war has caused skyrocketing oil prices, in turn causing commodity inflation.

Gas prices increase when measured in dollars. If you measure in euros, pounds, swiss francs, yen, etc… they haven’t increased substantially since the start of the war. The war has had very little effect on oil production. Iraq was limited in how much it could sell before the war by sanctions and now they are limited by damaged infrastructure, terrorism, etc…

Our gas prices here in the US are a reflection of the diminished purchasing power of our dollars. Because everyone buys oil, we compete with the rest of the world and when our currency sinks, oil becomes more pricey.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we should stop sending our tax dollars overseas to pay for things like: the African AIDS problem, building democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, food to people who hate us, factories to Indonesia and China, protection for S. Korea etc…
It’s time for Atlas to shrug.
Personally, I don’t give a crap what the rest of the world (dictators and commies) thinks of us. Especially the Europeans. They have no sense, as history has proved many times.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we should stop sending our tax dollars overseas to pay for things like: the African AIDS problem, building democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, food to people who hate us, factories to Indonesia and China, protection for S. Korea etc…
It’s time for Atlas to shrug.
Personally, I don’t give a crap what the rest of the world (dictators and commies) thinks of us. Especially the Europeans. They have no sense, as history has proved many times.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we should stop sending our tax dollars overseas to pay for things like: the African AIDS problem, building democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, food to people who hate us, factories to Indonesia and China, protection for S. Korea etc…
It’s time for Atlas to shrug.
Personally, I don’t give a crap what the rest of the world (dictators and commies) thinks of us. Especially the Europeans. They have no sense, as history has proved many times.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we should stop sending our tax dollars overseas to pay for things like: the African AIDS problem, building democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, food to people who hate us, factories to Indonesia and China, protection for S. Korea etc…
It’s time for Atlas to shrug.
Personally, I don’t give a crap what the rest of the world (dictators and commies) thinks of us. Especially the Europeans. They have no sense, as history has proved many times.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we should stop sending our tax dollars overseas to pay for things like: the African AIDS problem, building democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, food to people who hate us, factories to Indonesia and China, protection for S. Korea etc…
It’s time for Atlas to shrug.
Personally, I don’t give a crap what the rest of the world (dictators and commies) thinks of us. Especially the Europeans. They have no sense, as history has proved many times.

[SD Transplant]

bsrsharma,

You bring up a couple of good points, but I disagree with you about your last point ” Who cares about the tallest building, largest mall/casino/….?”

I’d say WE ( the US) did care for many years (except the last few – since we’re falling behind on infrastracture projects due to local governments deep in debt). In other words – there is nothing to brag about. In fact, that’s what we were known for around the world (everything big – “a la Trump style”)…that’s fading big time… In my mind we are neither perceived as “what power we used to be” or “what the US stood for”…..). This was part of the big marketing/PR campaign that won wars….and buying into capitalism, democracy, freedom of any kind…. “The land of the free”…….now we’re more like “The land of the debters”.

[SD Transplant]

bsrsharma,

You bring up a couple of good points, but I disagree with you about your last point ” Who cares about the tallest building, largest mall/casino/….?”

I’d say WE ( the US) did care for many years (except the last few – since we’re falling behind on infrastracture projects due to local governments deep in debt). In other words – there is nothing to brag about. In fact, that’s what we were known for around the world (everything big – “a la Trump style”)…that’s fading big time… In my mind we are neither perceived as “what power we used to be” or “what the US stood for”…..). This was part of the big marketing/PR campaign that won wars….and buying into capitalism, democracy, freedom of any kind…. “The land of the free”…….now we’re more like “The land of the debters”.

[SD Transplant]

bsrsharma,

You bring up a couple of good points, but I disagree with you about your last point ” Who cares about the tallest building, largest mall/casino/….?”

I’d say WE ( the US) did care for many years (except the last few – since we’re falling behind on infrastracture projects due to local governments deep in debt). In other words – there is nothing to brag about. In fact, that’s what we were known for around the world (everything big – “a la Trump style”)…that’s fading big time… In my mind we are neither perceived as “what power we used to be” or “what the US stood for”…..). This was part of the big marketing/PR campaign that won wars….and buying into capitalism, democracy, freedom of any kind…. “The land of the free”…….now we’re more like “The land of the debters”.

[SD Transplant]

bsrsharma,

You bring up a couple of good points, but I disagree with you about your last point ” Who cares about the tallest building, largest mall/casino/….?”

I’d say WE ( the US) did care for many years (except the last few – since we’re falling behind on infrastracture projects due to local governments deep in debt). In other words – there is nothing to brag about. In fact, that’s what we were known for around the world (everything big – “a la Trump style”)…that’s fading big time… In my mind we are neither perceived as “what power we used to be” or “what the US stood for”…..). This was part of the big marketing/PR campaign that won wars….and buying into capitalism, democracy, freedom of any kind…. “The land of the free”…….now we’re more like “The land of the debters”.

[Author]

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