There Is a Silver Lining

cani77 is a spammer. Hits multiple stories with this same post over and over. Probably works for or is a volunteer for the Obama camp. I hate spammers. Go away.

"Since the 1980s, Americans have consumed more than they produced???and they have made up the difference by borrowing."
You're right about that, but WHY aren't we producing? Cause all our factories went OVERSEAS. We no longer lead the world in manufacturing. They tried/are turning us into a more 'services' oriented country....and now they are even outsourcing THOSE jobs, and IMPORTING cheaper labor to fill the ones left. We import HUGE quantities of cheaply made JUNK that is supposedly 'affordable'...contributing to the global economy. Isn't that what your book said? That America HAS to move forward with the global economy? And now you bash people for buying the stuff that our government let into this country, for getting into the credit market that financial institutions SUCKED them into by easy access and no limits.
Frankly Mr. Zakaria....I'd rather opt out of this new 'global economy'. You can see where it got us. Now people all over the world can hate us for our poor financial habits. After all...WE affect the financial economies the world over now. So when WE go bust....THEY go bust...and they affect us now too. It's a vicious cycle. And just gives them MORE reason to hate us. I've been reading the comments on foreign newspaper websites. They are not happy with us. Thanks but no thanks.
And..from I can tell from your second paragraph in the article...you are talking about socialism. Let the governement step in and control everything. Again...no thanks.

THE GREAT BUSH DEPRESSION
I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
He perfectly predicted the current meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen next
is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
The government took them over because they are bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything seen in generations
McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand how its been broken.
It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use quantum mathematical models very few people understand.
Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He was the last to know somthing was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a budget surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
So why are the polls even close then ?
Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
Let's teach him we are smarter than that
Stand up and hold them accountable
Bush isn't on the ballot this year but his policies are
Elect Obama Biden 2008






Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

THE GREAT BUSH DEPRESSION
I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
He perfectly predicted the current meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen next
is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
The government took them over because they are bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything seen in generations
McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand how its been broken.
It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use quantum mathematical models very few people understand.
Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He was the last to know somthing was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a budget surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
So why are the polls even close then ?
Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
Let's teach him we are smarter than that
Stand up and hold them accountable
Bush isn't on the ballot this year but his policies are
Elect Obama Biden 2008






Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

Hear, hear, Fareed! As always, you've nailed it! There is such an interesting dichotomy among Americans, and I happen to be a proud member of that club. We do have immense discipline when it comes to chasing the dollar, equipping ourselves with all the "right" things, e.g. the thinnest-screened TVs, 4 cars in the driveway, houses with at least 2500 square feet that's completely unused. It's only there to show everyone else that "I have a big house!!"
But the self-discipline that we now desperately need, that of self-denial and for some, downright asceticism, is far more elusive, and very foreign to many millions of us. I hope we can apply our ingenuity to mustering the strength and courage to show we can develop the discipline of doing a lot more with a lot less.

Anita72: I don't see what you see, namely that this is a campaign stump for Obama, in fact it disagrees with a few of his policies like the middle class tax cut, while agreeing with others such as an investment and job creation in new energies. Regardless just because you think Obama and the author agrees on some points is not a valid reason to disregard what you thought was a good article with balancing short term and long term fixes to our economy, unless so biased against Obama that you can not take good advice when given.

When I wake up November 5, I look forward to the dawn of an exciting future that rewards and encourages the inventors of new technologies and the innovators and entrepreneurs of sustainable businesses. I have great hope that with the right leadership, Americans have the resources and abilities to begin a new industrial revolution that moves us beyond the tangled web of our oil-based infrastructure and international dependencies. Imagine the funding that would be available for these changes if we no longer had to fight oil wars to sustain an outmoded economic system.

We're at a critical crossroads with international economies desperate for stability, confidence, and leadership. I believe this is the end of an era, and that Barack Obama is the leader who has a vision of a new Twenty-first Century civilization and will help usher in its arrival.

As part of the greater discipline, we need to demand to know how every tax cut or spending increase will be paid for. And don't try to say "through future growth"; in 20 years in office under that philosophy, Reagan and the two Bushes produced ZERO balanced budgets, despite Bush 43 inheriting a surplus! What would McCain change? Nothing! He's still talking about hefty tax cuts weighted toward the top, but hasn't said how he'll pay for them and that means deeper deficits. And the money put in at the top will just go toward more outsourcing, bubbles, t-bills or other uses that are producing highest returns but little or no social benefit.

I started to think what a good article - but then - of course - by the third page a campaing stump for Obama! Silly me for expecting more from Newsweek!

Excellent comment, M. Sakaria. It-'s more clear for me the direction that the USA must follow. The growth at any price is a bridge to nowhere issue

Please ask the author to just report facts. The article started on track However the author then morphed the artlicle into opinion and a political advertisement. Opinion and advertisements have their place, but not disseminated as news. Maybe the news media should turn the same scrutiny on themselves as the author suggests be turned on our economic situation, I belive that objective scrutiny would find much of the news media has been acting just as irresponsibly as those taking on unsustainable amounts of debt.

So let's all do the right things from now on. Let's live within our budgets, not mortgage our futures to pay for today's pleasures, let actions not words be the basis for judging others, and report news instead of twisting the news into Opinion/Educational pieces. Then there may be a silver lining to this whole mess making all our futures brighter.

In response to an earlier comment about the McCain campaign smearing Obama, Republicans usually turn to mud-slinging when issues get too complicated for them to confront. Republicans seem to be very out of touch with reality. They preach propaganda and its sad to see the uniformed abide by it.
I remember a line that a college professor shared with his microeconomics students, "Anytime you have a Republican Administration serve at least two-terms there will be a recession." If you look at history this statement stands correct. One of the ways that the U.S. economy will get back on track is to raise taxes. I cannot imagine any other solution that will get us out of this mess.

Excellent analysis. I would like to add to add that there must be an attitude change . The high tech advertising efforts to spend as if there is no tomorrow must stop and people must learn to rein in their wishes . By mortgaging our future for our todays excesses we have landed in this mess. Government must play a responsible role to usher in this attitude change. USA must now look to reduce their debt rather than increase it and its true for every individual as well as for the government.

Fareed,

This is all fine and good but you left out a major element of the story -- why Americans consume more than they produce. Or more correctly, why they borrow more than they earn to consume. A huge component of the pain Americans are feeling today is attributable to hugely rising costs of health care, college and retirement, while at the same time real income has been declining or flat-lining (take your pick) for the last decade or more. The fact is, America has lost so many good paying jobs in the manufacturing sector, as companies sent operations offshore in the wake of NAFTA, CAFTA and other free-trade initiatives it's hard to see what we produce as a nation anymore -- except weapons systems and creative debt instruments, of course. Frankly, lawmakers and regulators in Washington have been adherents of a new religion and the holy trinity of that religion is: (1) deregulation and privatization (coupled with preemption of any state efforts to regulate), (2) unconstrained free-trade, and (3) deficit spending (coupled with tax cuts that favor primarily the wealthy and large corporations). These are, or at least were, articles of faith in Washington, DC. As a state regulator who has been fighting the federal deregulation/state preemption mania for the past 10 years, believe me, I know just how firmly and illogically held these beliefs are.

We might, just might, be able to set our financial system's house in order but unless we do something to reverse course on eliminating US manufacturing and high-paying jobs, the need to borrow and spend will continue unabated.

You have a way of making complicated issues understandable and I only wish more people were listening to you. Perhaps now they will. Somewhere in our consciousness we knew this day would come and, frankly, I'm glad it did. I'm not happy about seeing the retirement funds I live on shrink, but if it means we all get a reality check, then so be it. I want my country to return to a position of respect and honor. Enough of the bravado and arrogance!