US Economy is in Sizzling Trouble
Kalyan Dutta-Choudhury
The red hot sizzling US economy of few years ago is now in cold-state hibernation — just simmering with little heat or no heat at all. There are massive layoffs in all sectors of the economy. Big and fancy stores are closing in hordes. Their merchandise is going on sale at huge 80 per cent or more markdowns. So are many dealerships of domestic car-manufacturers which have been in business for decades. They are closing too.
A high-end electric car manufacturer in the Silicon Valley has put his ambitious enterprise in cold storage for now. How could he possibly entice buyers to spend their money on high-priced fancy electric cars when gas is selling for $1.67 a gallon or less? Just a month ago, gas was selling at over $4.00 a gallon.
Even Star Bucks which sells fancy coffee in thousands of stores in the country and abroad is closing many of its stores because of the customer apathy to part with their money. The outfit is sending coupons to residents to lure them back in stores. Closing stores mean vacant store-fronts, which means fewer real estate agents to push those properties for rent. Who wants to start a business in this soured economy?
The effects are migrating with vengeance to ‘‘ma-pa’’ stores which further affects the overall economy not only of this country but all the trading countries as well. Increasing number of people cannot pay mortgages for the houses they live in. Consequently, the houses are foreclosed by banks leaving people in the streets to fend for themselves or being in homeless shelters. The soup kitchens are in dire straits coping with the huge influx of the newly poor. Their public donations are dwindling whereas the burden is growing day by day. The donors themselves are asking for food and shelter. There is no quick fix in sight.
Every State in the country is facing humongous revenue shortfalls. California has a gargantuan shortfall of $ 42 billion this fiscal year. By their constitutional mandates, the States must have each a balanced budget. So, how California is coping with budget? Not very well. Government offices would close for two days in a month with no pay to the employees who would buy less to conserve their resources which further stresses the economy. The State with the Motor City Detroit is faring no better. The unemployment rate there is the highest in the nation. Fun and merriment have gone out of the State of Nevada which is the gambling capital of the world. The State has foreclosed homes in every city and town of the State. This is the face of supercapitalism.
As the saying goes, when the US catches a cold other countries catch viral pneumonia. The most affected country is the People’s Republic of China which relies on bulk exports to the US for its then booming economy. Now, there are massive layoffs, plant closures, suicides, mass protests and those ‘ugly’ things in China. No, in this global economy, no country is insular living in its own cocoon.
Side shows like mixing melamine in milk to boost its protein content have come into play. The kidneys and the general health of thousands and thousands of babies in that country have been affected. Six babies died of kidney failure. Last year, it was the case unsafe toys exported to the US. The Wall Mart chain of stores buys cheap things at cut-throat rates in China and sells the goods cheapest in the US. All these show that the Chinese are as greedy and manipulative as the rest of us though they got a heavy dose of Mao’s preaching and all that.
Investment guru Bernie Madoff made off with more than $ 50 billion in a ‘ponzi’ scheme of taking money from new gullible investors and paying that to the ‘old’ investors. The grand scheme came to a head when Madoff’s sons spilled the beans of their loving father. Sons, do not look for inheritance from your father. He would be in jail for a long, long time. Maybe, he would die in jail. You should take some flowers when he dies. He is better off in jail. The losers are so angry that they would strip off every bit of flesh on him. Figuratively speaking, of course.
There is an American adage, ‘‘What goes up must fall.’’ Is the current economy an enactment of that curse? Or is it just the stupefying stupidity of Bush who hated all kinds of regulations and controls in the name of free enterprise? The country’s hope is Obama who has a proposal to infuse a massive amount of cash inflow into the economy. That money would, probably, come from China which has a huge trade surplus from exporting toys, bicycles, make-believe food and those odd and end things for the people of this country
But, having lived long in the country and knowing the history of ups and downs, I know the country’s psychology. Once the huge bumps in the economy are taken care in two or three years or less, Americans will start spending money on luxury as well as Chinese-made goods. They will say in chorus, ‘‘Good times are here again. So, let’s spend some time on eating, drinking and buying things which we may need or not. What are you waiting on, you dummies? You won’t live forever. Would you? After we have fun doing all those fun things, let’s have some fun doing extraordinary fun things like having an accurate count of things in the Milky Way. Nobody has done that yet. That would be something to do. Let’s go. Don’t waste your time.’’
A happy new year, my good friends, even if some of you do not like me and my angry rumblings which are for real, real. Having lived in this country, I learnt one thing good: Do not keep quiet. Always halla machao.
(The writer is settled at Berkeley, California) source: The sentinel assam
Kalyan Dutta-Choudhury
The red hot sizzling US economy of few years ago is now in cold-state hibernation — just simmering with little heat or no heat at all. There are massive layoffs in all sectors of the economy. Big and fancy stores are closing in hordes. Their merchandise is going on sale at huge 80 per cent or more markdowns. So are many dealerships of domestic car-manufacturers which have been in business for decades. They are closing too.
A high-end electric car manufacturer in the Silicon Valley has put his ambitious enterprise in cold storage for now. How could he possibly entice buyers to spend their money on high-priced fancy electric cars when gas is selling for $1.67 a gallon or less? Just a month ago, gas was selling at over $4.00 a gallon.
Even Star Bucks which sells fancy coffee in thousands of stores in the country and abroad is closing many of its stores because of the customer apathy to part with their money. The outfit is sending coupons to residents to lure them back in stores. Closing stores mean vacant store-fronts, which means fewer real estate agents to push those properties for rent. Who wants to start a business in this soured economy?
The effects are migrating with vengeance to ‘‘ma-pa’’ stores which further affects the overall economy not only of this country but all the trading countries as well. Increasing number of people cannot pay mortgages for the houses they live in. Consequently, the houses are foreclosed by banks leaving people in the streets to fend for themselves or being in homeless shelters. The soup kitchens are in dire straits coping with the huge influx of the newly poor. Their public donations are dwindling whereas the burden is growing day by day. The donors themselves are asking for food and shelter. There is no quick fix in sight.
Every State in the country is facing humongous revenue shortfalls. California has a gargantuan shortfall of $ 42 billion this fiscal year. By their constitutional mandates, the States must have each a balanced budget. So, how California is coping with budget? Not very well. Government offices would close for two days in a month with no pay to the employees who would buy less to conserve their resources which further stresses the economy. The State with the Motor City Detroit is faring no better. The unemployment rate there is the highest in the nation. Fun and merriment have gone out of the State of Nevada which is the gambling capital of the world. The State has foreclosed homes in every city and town of the State. This is the face of supercapitalism.
As the saying goes, when the US catches a cold other countries catch viral pneumonia. The most affected country is the People’s Republic of China which relies on bulk exports to the US for its then booming economy. Now, there are massive layoffs, plant closures, suicides, mass protests and those ‘ugly’ things in China. No, in this global economy, no country is insular living in its own cocoon.
Side shows like mixing melamine in milk to boost its protein content have come into play. The kidneys and the general health of thousands and thousands of babies in that country have been affected. Six babies died of kidney failure. Last year, it was the case unsafe toys exported to the US. The Wall Mart chain of stores buys cheap things at cut-throat rates in China and sells the goods cheapest in the US. All these show that the Chinese are as greedy and manipulative as the rest of us though they got a heavy dose of Mao’s preaching and all that.
Investment guru Bernie Madoff made off with more than $ 50 billion in a ‘ponzi’ scheme of taking money from new gullible investors and paying that to the ‘old’ investors. The grand scheme came to a head when Madoff’s sons spilled the beans of their loving father. Sons, do not look for inheritance from your father. He would be in jail for a long, long time. Maybe, he would die in jail. You should take some flowers when he dies. He is better off in jail. The losers are so angry that they would strip off every bit of flesh on him. Figuratively speaking, of course.
There is an American adage, ‘‘What goes up must fall.’’ Is the current economy an enactment of that curse? Or is it just the stupefying stupidity of Bush who hated all kinds of regulations and controls in the name of free enterprise? The country’s hope is Obama who has a proposal to infuse a massive amount of cash inflow into the economy. That money would, probably, come from China which has a huge trade surplus from exporting toys, bicycles, make-believe food and those odd and end things for the people of this country
But, having lived long in the country and knowing the history of ups and downs, I know the country’s psychology. Once the huge bumps in the economy are taken care in two or three years or less, Americans will start spending money on luxury as well as Chinese-made goods. They will say in chorus, ‘‘Good times are here again. So, let’s spend some time on eating, drinking and buying things which we may need or not. What are you waiting on, you dummies? You won’t live forever. Would you? After we have fun doing all those fun things, let’s have some fun doing extraordinary fun things like having an accurate count of things in the Milky Way. Nobody has done that yet. That would be something to do. Let’s go. Don’t waste your time.’’
A happy new year, my good friends, even if some of you do not like me and my angry rumblings which are for real, real. Having lived in this country, I learnt one thing good: Do not keep quiet. Always halla machao.
(The writer is settled at Berkeley, California) source: The sentinel assam
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