Economic Shenanigans / Market Crisis

[edyzmedieval]

Simmering away under all of this is, I believe, the biggest single attitude shift in the USA in favor of European-style Democratic Socialism in our history.

You're not wrong about this. With this crisis all of a sudden people realised how important it is to have safety nets to protect those vulnerable.

[edyzmedieval]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...s-lockdown-hit

The U.K. economy shrank almost 6% in March as the nation went into lockdown, plunging into what may be its deepest recession in more than three centuries.

The sharp decline is only a small part of the damage of the restrictions to control the coronavirus, which were in place for all of April and look set to endure in some form for months to come. The measures heaped misery on an already tepid economy, with the Bank of England forecasting a staggering 25% contraction this quarter.

That highlights the monumental task the government faces in restarting the economy as it begins to take small steps toward easing the lockdown. It’s extended an aid program for workers, while the central bank will probably pump even more stimulus into the economy to keep the motor running.

[ReluctantSamurai]

It’s extended an aid program for workers, while the central bank will probably pump even more stimulus into the economy to keep the motor running.

Printing more money in the 2008 crisis worked for just over a decade, but resulted in more countries carrying more and more debt as compared to their GDP. Printing absurd amounts of money now will only result in a worse crash the next time there's a financial crisis. It's also interesting to see which jobs have been considered "essential" throughout all of this. Anyone read any stories of how "essential" a bankers job is? I haven't (although they are essential, albeit of the work-from-home kind). There's going to be fallout over how "essential" workers have been forced to go back to work despite the risk involved, and with many of these "essential" businesses not bothering with even minimal measures to protect said workers, many of whom are migrants/immigrants.

[Beskar]

The people bailed out the banks so perhaps it is time for them to bail out the people.

[Idaho]

You're not wrong about this. With this crisis all of a sudden people realised how important it is to have safety nets to protect those vulnerable.

Especially, now that many Americans have realised that all working people who rely on a steady income are vulnerable.

[rory_20_uk]

I would have thought this is a no brainer - but given massive economic events have happened several times previously (I mean, Detroit not only imploded over a number of decades but then went bankrupt) and within a few years we're back to again discussing the fact the USA has no safety net I'm not convinced that this will be different to another bump in the road.

[edyzmedieval]

Honestly it should. As an European, and a European who lived in other countries too and has seen almost 30 of them, some things for me related to America are absolutely baffling and incomprehensible.

I genuinely think it's high time that systemic changes are done otherwise it will only spiral worse.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Honestly it should. As an European, and a European who lived in other countries too and has seen almost 30 of them, some things for me related to America are absolutely baffling and incomprehensible.

I genuinely think it's high time that systemic changes are done otherwise it will only spiral worse.

Most of those comparisons in your head are unified states. As in, one national government that wields the large bulk of political power. That does not obtain in the USA (at least yet) despite the efforts of Hamilton, Lincoln, Roosevelt, FDR, and others to shift us away from dispersed (what we label "federalized" power) to that of a stronger Central government. Our national government is our biggest power bloc, but often cannot do X, Y, or Z over the opposition of various state governments.

[Montmorency]

Funny saw about real-life events:
The world is on the cusp of an economic depression.
International relations are an increasingly-violent maelstrom of great-power posturing.
A US Republican lawmaker named Hawley takes the Capitol floor to declaim against free trade and the reds...
What is the year?

Most of those comparisons in your head are unified states. As in, one national government that wields the large bulk of political power. That does not obtain in the USA (at least yet) despite the efforts of Hamilton, Lincoln, Roosevelt, FDR, and others to shift us away from dispersed (what we label "federalized" power) to that of a stronger Central government. Our national government is our biggest power bloc, but often cannot do X, Y, or Z over the opposition of various state governments.

Heretofore the United States was as close to unitary union as any federal state has come. Congress could preempt vast bodies of state law if it chose to (as it often has in the past, e.g. regulatory matters). The states have been desperate for the federal government to take the lead in this crisis. That it hasn't this time, choosing instead to undermine the states, is not an element of our federalism but of our descent toward failed state status a la early-90s Russia or Somalia - pick your poison.

Anyway, on the subject of the thread the bottom line remains that neglecting to borrow trillions at zero interest rates in order to provide relief, sustain government services, prime the economy, or even refinance outstanding debt, during one of the worst downturns
- in the context of an increasingly-brittle world system - of all time is a world-historical level of fiscal irresponsibility, of Hetty-Greenism, that will reverberate for the remainder of recorded time. One more casual theft from future generations.

This has been your correspondent from the Regional Advisory Council.

[CrossLOPER]

Excuse my departure from my usual aloofness but what in the f*** are you doing over there?