me: ugh, i hate waiting on the phone for companies
9:28 PM Doughnuts: who are you waiting for? that’s so frustrating
me: godaddy.com
trying to fix my account login
and also a domain forwarding issue
9:29 PM Doughnuts: fun
me: 1 sec
got him
9:30 PM Doughnuts: k i’m going to get ready for bed brb
me: k
9:44 PM Doughnuts: hey
did they fix your problem?
9:47 PM me: still talking to the dude
9:50 PM alright finished
i have to wait for an hour to see if the fix worked…. gay
9:51 PM probably just go to bed soon
you are about to crash yourself?
9:52 PM Doughnuts: yeah i’ll probably go to sleep soon
me: what’d you do today? it was all classes, right?
Doughnuts: yeah i had all three…they were pretty good actually
9:53 PM my physiological psych class isn’t spectacular…the professor just sort of sounds like a student doing a powerpoint presentation
but my other two classes are great
i love my econ professor
me: oh that sucks, i hate that
econ is fun
Doughnuts: and atwood and ondaatje is really cool so far too
me: especially with all the crazy stuff in the economy today
and recently
Doughnuts: yeah its the perfect time to be taking econ
9:54 PM me: did your professor talk about the economy at all?
Doughnuts: we talked about it at the start of class
we usually do current events at the beginning
and today there was lots of discussion
9:55 PM he personally thinks lowering the interest rate is sort of an artificial fix
me: it is
Doughnuts: and tax cuts can backfire too…if people don’t spend the money
me: staving off the crash a little bit longer
yeah
what do you think about it?
9:56 PM Doughnuts: i don’t know actually…i’m definitely a beginner in econ b/c this is only my second class, so my understanding of these issues basically comes from my professor’s opinion and the news
9:57 PM i guess i just don’t fully understand how
the sub prime housing loans were able to have such a widespread effect…or are there other things causing this potential recession
9:58 PM me: subprime is the tip of the lending iceberg
subprime are people who can barely afford their loans
and so they are the first to get squished in the bank changes crunch
9:59 PM but if there is a continued lack of bank changes to people and businesses, a hell of a lot more people and companies and governments will begin to go bankrupt
the government will try to stop it by pumping cash into the economy, causing inflation
starts a vicious cycle in which the economy could eventually overheat and collapse
10:01 PM Doughnuts: but is it really “pumping cash” into the economy…i thought the idea was that less cash is being set aside for the federal government, returning it to consumers so they’re more likely to spend
are you saying that causes the economy to overheat
10:02 PM me: the government just prints cash
they are already running a one and half billion dollar annual deficit
10:03 PM Doughnuts: wow
me: oops
it’s actually half a trillion
lol
my numbers are a little off
http://zfacts.com/p/519.html
10:04 PM Doughnuts: that’s interesting, i didn’t realize that deficit and national debt are different
10:05 PM me: yeah
deficit is just the deficiency each year
Doughnuts: so when clinton balanced the budget did he eliminate the deficit or the debt
me: he did neither
the debt stands at 9 trillion
10:06 PM and he counted income the government pays itself on the social security trust funds as a true income… whereas it’s just more debt
he supposedly had balanced the deficit
but it was really just a cheap accounting gimmick… but it was better than anyone had done for quite some time
10:07 PM our generation and the following generations are going to have to pay very dearly for our parents and grandparents consumption
10:08 PM for the rest of our lives were going to either have to pay back what they spent on themselves or face economic ruin
unpleasant.. they definitely aren’t the supposed “greatest generations”… they screwed everyone who is following them
10:09 PM Doughnuts: so before “the greatest generation” there was no national debt
10:10 PM me: there was none to speak of before FDR and all of his policiies
he tried to use deficit spending to dig his way out of the great depression, and when that failed he took us to war, which did help
and then ever since then people have used deficit spending to get things they wanted… only they did it on a nationwide scale, so it hid their greed
10:11 PM they had the korean war, vietnam war, iraq wars 1 & 2, social security, medicare, welfare, extensive regulatory agencies, massive prison system, the drug war, etc. etc.
10:12 PM and now the dollar is beginning to fall and people globally are starting to realize that many of their own economies are attached to ours and could crash
10:13 PM that’s why germany, japan and many other countries saw their financial markets slide 6-7% down in two days- a huge decline
ours would’ve crashed harder if it wasn’t for the massive fed funds rate cut
but that will only hold the inevitable at bay for a while longer
10:14 PM Doughnuts: what is the inevitable
me: i think we have somewhere between 6-20 years before we have a massive collapse that will make the great depression look pretty cheery
it could come sooner
but right now we have $150k in debt for every man woman and child in the US
10:15 PM and the day will come when no one will give us bank changes anymore
right now china, india and the oil countries are pumping trillions into our economy helping us stay afloat… but eventually they’ll see we cant pay and will stop
10:16 PM it’ll actually be a really fast process… people will sit there asking how did this happen?
but they have been too lazy and bored to listen to all the economists who have been saying it will for the last 70 years
sorry about my giant lecture
lol
i probably have bored u to tears
10:17 PM Doughnuts: no you haven’t
but i’m going to remember this stuff and ask professor keeler what he things
thinks
luckily gmail never forgets anything…
10:18 PM so normally
when people say the economy is “strong” they’re not taking national debt into account at all
?
10:19 PM me: the economy (production & consumption) can do very well
but eventually you have to pay the piper
Doughnuts: oh ok
me: you can put him off for a long time
simplest way to look at it
is think of having a bank changes paper when you are 18 and stupid
10:20 PM and going out and spending and buying yourself tons of clothes, a car, csandy, movies, etc.
Doughnuts: right
me: 2 years later you are $20k in debt
and no one will give you more money
and there are big men with tire irons coming to break your legs
lol
10:22 PM Doughnuts: hmmm
i don’t even know what to say now
me: say, “what do i do?”
Doughnuts: what do i do?
me: run for the hills
lol
buy things
10:23 PM your dollars won’t do that pretty soon
everyone criticizes the american consumer, saying he should save more
and stop buying everything
why save worthless paper?
10:24 PM i personally am putting my money in foreign mutual funds
and am applying for an options trading account with scottrade so i can short sell stocks
Doughnuts: oooh tricky
10:25 PM you should use morningstar to find those mutual funds…
me: hahaha
okey dokey
Doughnuts: i can get you a discount
me: u should send me free insider info
Doughnuts: when i have insider info i will
10:26 PM they sent an email “newsletter” today
me: exciting
whatd it say?
Doughnuts: they’re going to send out the list of everyone in the development program soon
it wasn’t that interesting
10:27 PM it listed recent achievements of morningstar employees
me: “john milked the cow”
“mary helped him”
Doughnuts: and then had some random information about the “social lives” of development program participants
