American Economics Thread
- Thread starter Bernard
- Start date
It's rotten! Just calmly get rid of it
Americans fail or refuse to realize that capitalism systemically erodes social relations, deconstructs the social fabric and replaces it with a complex of profit-based power and dependency relations. Not the money per se, but the relationships it symbolizes. Money is a mental abstraction that can become a fetish from what appears to be, as it is also a commodity, Karl Marx talked about this many years ago. What is the f@cking reason for someone to own 50 billions and play the hard boss? Why? Depending on the relationships money symbolizes, it can be turned into a weapon in the hands of any capitalist like Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and a long line of American and not only presidents. Capitalism is doomed to undo itself as it is still an imperfect system of social organization in the long history of humanity. This is how the process of thinking, learning and social evolution works. First the material conditions are created and then the consciousness follows, or flows to say it with Chinese poetry. They cannot understand what a cultural revolution is when, let's say, in your country prostitution, drugs, fascism and racism are prohibited. In practice and systematically, not in the way that drugs, prostitution, fascism and racism are "forbidden" in Western societies. The system rots so much that it simply cannot stand and causes revolutions, until it is replaced by the next one.
Americans fail or refuse to realize that capitalism systemically erodes social relations, deconstructs the social fabric and replaces it with a complex of profit-based power and dependency relations. Not the money per se, but the relationships it symbolizes. Money is a mental abstraction that can become a fetish from what appears to be, as it is also a commodity, Karl Marx talked about this many years ago. What is the f@cking reason for someone to own 50 billions and play the hard boss? Why? Depending on the relationships money symbolizes, it can be turned into a weapon in the hands of any capitalist like Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and a long line of American and not only presidents. Capitalism is doomed to undo itself as it is still an imperfect system of social organization in the long history of humanity. This is how the process of thinking, learning and social evolution works. First the material conditions are created and then the consciousness follows, or flows to say it with Chinese poetry. They cannot understand what a cultural revolution is when, let's say, in your country prostitution, drugs, fascism and racism are prohibited. In practice and systematically, not in the way that drugs, prostitution, fascism and racism are "forbidden" in Western societies. The system rots so much that it simply cannot stand and causes revolutions, until it is replaced by the next one.
Ah this is where Marxism and dialectical materialism helps China to make sense of the world.
You tired of winning yet?
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It doesn't have anything directly to do with China so I don't think it belongs.
It will have an effect on all the tariff discussion they've been having, but Grandpa Joe is a strange fellow and it's hard to predict what he will do, so we can only wait and see. When he finally announces he will lower tariff then it belongs on that sub.
"I don't think it's time to taper. I don't think it's time to raise rates. Our policy is well-positioned to manage a range of plausible outcomes."
"We understand the difficulties that high inflation poses for individuals and families... Let me say that what's happened, is that inflation is coming higher than expected. We see that just like everyone else does, and we see that they're now on track to persist well into next year... I do think it would be premature to raise rates today."
"The word 'transitory' has different meanings to different people. It's a confusing word that needs to be retired."
"We're always just going to do what we think is right for the economy and for the people we serve."
"The old system was in place for decades and then suddenly it was revealed as insufficient... We do take the need to protect our credibility with the public very seriously."
"I'd say that the inflation situation is about the same or slightly worse... It hasn't gotten better and that's been the pattern... What we're learning is it's just taking much longer, and that raises the risk that high inflation will be more persistent."
Jerome Powell re-elected as Chairman of the Federal Reserve System.
"The inflation that we are experiencing is just nothing that we have experienced in decades... All the things we did during the pandemic, we turned our dials as hard as we could... Part of what we did and what Congress did is the reason why inflation is so high."
"These higher prices have real effects on people's well-being and it takes a toll on everyone. If you're at the lower end of the income spectrum it's very hard because you are spending most of your money on necessities, but it's punishing for everyone... We can't blame the framework. It was a sudden, unexpected burst of inflation and then it was the reaction to it, and it was what it was."
"The rise in inflation has been much greater and more persistent than forecasters generally expected... We're not expecting near-term progress on inflation."
"It is appropriate in my view to be moving a little more quickly... We had an expectation that inflation would peak around this time and then come down over the course of the rest of the year. These expectations have been disappointing in the past and now we want to see actual progress... Are we going back to the old economy? Probably not. What's the new one going to look like?"
"We have a good chance at a soft or softish landing... There's a false precision in the discussion that we as policymakers don't really feel... the economy is doing fairly well... I think we have a good chance to restore price stability without a recession."
"I have said, and I will say it again, if you had perfect hindsight, you'd go back and it probably would have been better for us to have raised rates a little sooner... So the question whether we can execute a soft landing or not, it may actually depend on factors that we don't control."
"We all read the inflation reports very carefully, and look for details that look positive, but truthfully, this is not the time for tremendously-nuanced readings of inflation... Sometimes the landing is just perfect, sometimes it's a little bumpy. It's still a good landing, you don't even notice it... There could be some pain involved in restoring price stability, but we think we can sustain a strong labor market."
"We're not trying to induce a recession now, let's be clear on that. We're trying to achieve 2% inflation and a consistently strong labor market... We think that the public generally sees us as very likely to be successful at getting inflation down to 2%."
"The American economy is very strong and well-positioned to handle tighter monetary policy... It is a possibility our rate rises could cause a recession... We're not trying to provoke and don't think that we will need to provoke a recession."
"During the summer months of 2021, inflation was coming down month-by-month. So that told us that our thesis that this was going to be a passing inflation shock was at least plausible... We did underestimate it, we clearly did... In hindsight, it [inflation] was not transitory."
"We now understand better how little we understand about inflation. This was unpredicted... We fully appreciate the pain people are going through."
- Jerome Powell October 22, 2021.
- September 2021 inflation rate: 5.39%
"We understand the difficulties that high inflation poses for individuals and families... Let me say that what's happened, is that inflation is coming higher than expected. We see that just like everyone else does, and we see that they're now on track to persist well into next year... I do think it would be premature to raise rates today."
- Jerome Powell November 3, 2021.
- October 2021 inflation rate: 6.22%
"The word 'transitory' has different meanings to different people. It's a confusing word that needs to be retired."
- Jerome Powell November 30th, 2021.
- October 2021 inflation rate: 6.22%
"We're always just going to do what we think is right for the economy and for the people we serve."
- Jerome Powell December 15th, 2021.
- November 2021 inflation rate: 6.81%
"The old system was in place for decades and then suddenly it was revealed as insufficient... We do take the need to protect our credibility with the public very seriously."
- Jerome Powell January 11th, 2022.
- December 2021 inflation rate: 7.04%
"I'd say that the inflation situation is about the same or slightly worse... It hasn't gotten better and that's been the pattern... What we're learning is it's just taking much longer, and that raises the risk that high inflation will be more persistent."
- Jerome Powell January 26th, 2022.
- December 2021 inflation rate: 7.04%
Jerome Powell re-elected as Chairman of the Federal Reserve System.
- Jerome Powell February, 2022.
- January 2022 inflation rate: 7.48%
"The inflation that we are experiencing is just nothing that we have experienced in decades... All the things we did during the pandemic, we turned our dials as hard as we could... Part of what we did and what Congress did is the reason why inflation is so high."
- Jerome Powell March 2nd, 2022.
- February 2022 inflation rate: 7.87%
"These higher prices have real effects on people's well-being and it takes a toll on everyone. If you're at the lower end of the income spectrum it's very hard because you are spending most of your money on necessities, but it's punishing for everyone... We can't blame the framework. It was a sudden, unexpected burst of inflation and then it was the reaction to it, and it was what it was."
- Jerome Powell March 16th, 2022.
- February 2022 inflation rate: 7.87%
"The rise in inflation has been much greater and more persistent than forecasters generally expected... We're not expecting near-term progress on inflation."
- Jerome Powell March 21st, 2022.
- February 2022 inflation rate: 7.87%
"It is appropriate in my view to be moving a little more quickly... We had an expectation that inflation would peak around this time and then come down over the course of the rest of the year. These expectations have been disappointing in the past and now we want to see actual progress... Are we going back to the old economy? Probably not. What's the new one going to look like?"
- Jerome Powell April 21st, 2022.
- March 2022 inflation rate: 8.54%
"We have a good chance at a soft or softish landing... There's a false precision in the discussion that we as policymakers don't really feel... the economy is doing fairly well... I think we have a good chance to restore price stability without a recession."
- Jerome Powell May 4th, 2022.
- April 2022 inflation rate: 8.26%
"I have said, and I will say it again, if you had perfect hindsight, you'd go back and it probably would have been better for us to have raised rates a little sooner... So the question whether we can execute a soft landing or not, it may actually depend on factors that we don't control."
- Jerome Powell May 12th, 2022.
- April 2022 inflation rate: 8.26%
"We all read the inflation reports very carefully, and look for details that look positive, but truthfully, this is not the time for tremendously-nuanced readings of inflation... Sometimes the landing is just perfect, sometimes it's a little bumpy. It's still a good landing, you don't even notice it... There could be some pain involved in restoring price stability, but we think we can sustain a strong labor market."
- Jerome Powell May 17th, 2022.
- April 2022 inflation rate: 8.26%
"We're not trying to induce a recession now, let's be clear on that. We're trying to achieve 2% inflation and a consistently strong labor market... We think that the public generally sees us as very likely to be successful at getting inflation down to 2%."
- Jerome Powell June 15th, 2022.
- May 2022 inflation rate: 8.60%
"The American economy is very strong and well-positioned to handle tighter monetary policy... It is a possibility our rate rises could cause a recession... We're not trying to provoke and don't think that we will need to provoke a recession."
- Jerome Powell June 22nd, 2022.
- May 2022 inflation rate: 8.60%
"During the summer months of 2021, inflation was coming down month-by-month. So that told us that our thesis that this was going to be a passing inflation shock was at least plausible... We did underestimate it, we clearly did... In hindsight, it [inflation] was not transitory."
- Jerome Powell June 23rd, 2022.
- May 2022 inflation rate: 8.60%
"We now understand better how little we understand about inflation. This was unpredicted... We fully appreciate the pain people are going through."
- Jerome Powell June 29th, 2022.
- May 2022 inflation rate: 8.60%
If you save up, and work really hard, and plan ahead, you might...just might
be able to live in a van down by the river!