It's the Economy, Stupid.....

Here is a series of posts from a site I frequent called IRC Images. The image they were posted under had nothing to do with the economy. (It was a tank crashed unto its turret):


Jason>
at the rate of inflation with the USD, $5,000,000 is about what we'll be paying for a happy meal shortly.

kirbdog>
Jason: You're kidding right? inflation is incredibly low right now......unless you live in Zimbabwe

Jason>
kirbdog, the dollar has fallen about 25% in the last 3 years. The canadian dollar is now worth more than the USD. With our outstanding debts reaching new highs and the treasury needing the ceiling lifted, it doesn't look like it's going to get any better.


kirbdog>
1) That's not inflation. 2) So what? all it means is that it's more expensive to buy things from other countries, and cheaper for other countries to buy things here. That's a good thing


357MAG>
NO ^ considering that america doesnt make anything anymore it actually does matter because you seem to have the right concept but the wrong meaning - 1) its more expensive for america to import goods 2) who is going to buy anything from here when its cheaper to 'cut out the middle man'?


Killawife>
"Inflation is a persistent rise in the general price level, as measured against a standard level of purchasing power" Exactly what Jason said. And its a really really bad thing considering that everything the US buys from other countries will force them to dig deeper in their pockets. And that extra money doesnt grow on trees.


kirbdog>
Tell you what. take an economics course, and then come back and explain the difference between the terms exchange rate, and inflation, because they are not the same thing, and not necessarily even linked.


kirbdog>
Currently, the dollar is near its worst exchange rate in 50 years, but inflation is at historical lows.


357MAG>
ok, ok inflation smation.... for now - you proved that u didnt take econ. above by stating what you did - that the monetary situation here is 'good' for us, so why try and tell someone else that they dont know what they're talking about when you clearly dont have a fuckin clue yourself? no offence by the way, jason is probably right in the end of it all, because even in econ. 101 it becomes clear that even the smallest change of spending in an area of the 'micro' markets can affect everything dramatically in the 'macro' markets.
kirbdog>


anything that decreases imports, and increases exports is good for us
357MAG>


right - so what does the US export?? other than some crops...etc. cause everything here is IMPORTED


kirbdog>
http://www.commerce.gov/opa/press/Secretary_Gutierrez/2007_R­eleases/May/10_Fact_Sheet_March_2007_Exports.pdf
kirbdog>
Why is there a reflexive need to take any economic news and attempt to use it to show how bad the US economy is?


kirbdog>
Besides the fact that there is a Republican administation I mean....


357MAG>
excellent report: $180billion difference between import/export... that aint good my friend. even the democrats couldnt help there


kirbdog>
357mag...pay attention...better, not perfect. And exports are rising at double the rate that imports are.



I am kirbdog above. Now this bugged me for several reasons.



First, it was an obvious attempt to take a piece of economic news, and use it to show how bad the economy is. I just don't get it. Our economy is performing better than almost everyone else in the world, and definitely better than any major economy. (We simply can't tell about China...but their economy is certainly growing fast) Our economy is doing great! If a Democratic administration was in office the news would be full of stories about how great everything is.



Second is the obvious ignorance shown. These guys couldn't tell the difference between the exchange rate and inflation, or the effect (or lack of effect) one has on the other. Yet they felt expert enough to interpret a piece of data to bad talk the US economy.



Third, When I provided a link explaining the improvement in our trade deficit, one guy actually went to the site linked, but merely cherry-picked the current trade deficit to again try and run down the economy, and either failed to realize or ignored the fact that the site was talking about how quickly the trade deficit was bing narrowed, and the record pace that exports were increasing. It also explained that much of the trade deficit was due to rising gas prices. He also apparently failed to realize how low the trade deficit is when compared to recent history.



The site I linked to is a report released by the US Commerce Department. It explains:

• US exports were up 9.8% in the first quarter of this year over the first quarter of last year.


• Our biggest gain in exports was to China, a huge and growing market


• We have had 17 straight quarters of export growth since the fourth quarter of 2002

Now why haven't we been hearing about this? Who has been in office since the fourth quarter of 2002?

Maybe the stupid ones are the people who are supposed to be covering economics?

Update 10/1/07 5:45 PM: I've just found out that the Dow Jones has hit another new high, and that the other markets are near their all time highs. I'm all a-twitter waiting to see how the left will explain how this is so bad for our economy. Of course the MSM will probably just ignore it.