51–60 of 94 posts
What does it look like when a nation becomes insolvient? How does it affect its citizens? Its public services?
Hope it helps.
We're borrowing 43% of our budget? Talk about unsustainable. I would seriously make plans for when the US is forced to stop this destructive pattern. Its going to be ugly.
Don't worry about it. Krugman says deficits are ok.
Now, you can say that after 8 years of castigating Bush for deficits, he's all of a sudden ok with them under Obama. And you'd be right.
But it's also true that Bush took inherited a surplus and doubled the national debt in a "boom" economy, while Obama inherited an already-massive deficit while in the most severe economic crisis we've seen in decades.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> and I was very surprised by their lack of work ethic/prospect from my first time in Japan Why would you be surprised by their "lack of work ethics"? They got fucked hard, so it's understandable that they aren't going to care much for "the man" anymore: they were told their contract was to work like mad in their studies, get to a good university and end up landing a good job in a multinational where they'd work thei…
Oh bullshit - I'm surprised you got as many upvotes given that this is supposed to be the entrepreneurial bunch (and our previous mega-thread involving Scott the useless college grad). Boo hoo, so the economic sucks and you were lied to your whole life about how your employment situation was going to work. So? This does not excuse laziness and a crappy work ethic. Perhaps their chronic unemployment stems from the fac…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For Japan, it's all about 'tradition'. So society/entranched interests resist changes heavily. For example, the entrepreneur who started 1000-yen haircut chain in Japan (severely undercutting the barbershops) used to get death threats on his life, and had to fight tooth and nail to get spaces in shopping centers. You should see the blank stare I get, when they ask me about how to be successful in life (I'm a bit olde…
seems like this would be an awesome opportunity for someone willing to start a business and dispel some of the apathy by hiring the kids in the trouble situations. a focal point to induce some change. especially if the laws are generally favorable, and its just society that views new businesses unfavorably.
Maybe they can adopt what the Chinese have started doing by paying a foreign person to appear to be the CEO for publicity purposes, even though the company would actually be owned and run by Japanese people. If the Japanese were made to believe that the company is a foreign one, would they be less opposed to its existence in their country?
Once "tradition" has changed in Japan not to frown on entrepreneurs, they can stop pretending to be foreign-owned.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't worry about it. Krugman says deficits are ok.
Krugman says that we're in a depression and that the one economic climate where you should run a temporary deficit is in severe recession or depression. Now, you can say that after 8 years of castigating Bush for deficits, he's all of a sudden ok with them under Obama. And you'd be right. But it's also true that Bush took inherited a surplus and doubled the national debt in a "boom" economy, while Obama inherited an…
For eight years he castigated Bush for not paying down the debt. Krugman's advice is: borrow your way out of the bad days, pay it back on the good ones.
There's plenty of policy there to disagree about. There's no reason or benefit to misrepresenting people's positions.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Krugman says that we're in a depression and that the one economic climate where you should run a temporary deficit is in severe recession or depression. Now, you can say that after 8 years of castigating Bush for deficits, he's all of a sudden ok with them under Obama. And you'd be right. But it's also true that Bush took inherited a surplus and doubled the national debt in a "boom" economy, while Obama inherited an…
> "he's all of a sudden ok with them under Obama. And you'd be right." No, you wouldn't. For eight years he castigated Bush for not paying down the debt. Krugman's advice is: borrow your way out of the bad days, pay it back on the good ones. There's plenty of policy there to disagree about. There's no reason or benefit to misrepresenting people's positions.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> and I was very surprised by their lack of work ethic/prospect from my first time in Japan Why would you be surprised by their "lack of work ethics"? They got fucked hard, so it's understandable that they aren't going to care much for "the man" anymore: they were told their contract was to work like mad in their studies, get to a good university and end up landing a good job in a multinational where they'd work thei…
Oh bullshit - I'm surprised you got as many upvotes given that this is supposed to be the entrepreneurial bunch (and our previous mega-thread involving Scott the useless college grad). Boo hoo, so the economic sucks and you were lied to your whole life about how your employment situation was going to work. So? This does not excuse laziness and a crappy work ethic. Perhaps their chronic unemployment stems from the fac…
Regardless, in any first world country there are plenty of people who are willing to sit on their butts and not try to do better for themselves unless they're pushed through life with social programs and social "contracts" as were mentioned. I don't like it either, but, sadly, I'm not convinced we can get everyone to be eager, enthusiastic, ethical go-getters either.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't worry about it. Krugman says deficits are ok.
Krugman says that we're in a depression and that the one economic climate where you should run a temporary deficit is in severe recession or depression. Now, you can say that after 8 years of castigating Bush for deficits, he's all of a sudden ok with them under Obama. And you'd be right. But it's also true that Bush took inherited a surplus and doubled the national debt in a "boom" economy, while Obama inherited an…
The deficit under the last Repub congress was $100B/year and the trend was downwards. That changed when the Dems took congress for Bush's last two years. The current deficit is $100B/month.
Note that Congress didn't pass a budget in 2008 - they held back until after Obama became president.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh bullshit - I'm surprised you got as many upvotes given that this is supposed to be the entrepreneurial bunch (and our previous mega-thread involving Scott the useless college grad). Boo hoo, so the economic sucks and you were lied to your whole life about how your employment situation was going to work. So? This does not excuse laziness and a crappy work ethic. Perhaps their chronic unemployment stems from the fac…
If you are implying that the opportunities in Japan are equal to those available in the US, then I wholeheartedly disagree. Both in terms of startup culture or slogging through a corporate job, Japan is vastly different from the US. Opportunities exist everywhere, and a poor economy is certainly no excuse for apathy. However, discounting the challenges the economy posed to the rising generation of Japanese is pretty…
You are encouraging people to live in denial of reality. If the economy is bad, then a wise investor will take into account the fact that the economy is bad. And, when it comes to our careers, we are all investors. In the face of a bad economy, many investors will go to cash. Cash is a rational option in the face of a bad economy. When we are speaking of individuals, the equivalent of "going to cash" is to focus less on one's career and more on the other parts of one's life.