Gregory Williams7 said:Regarding the initial point, please refrain from attacking me. I have listened patiently to your views, read everything you wrote, and did my absolute best to explain why certain things won't work quite the way you imagined.
As for the other matter, take my word for it: people are not idiots.😉 They might act foolishly as a crowd, but they aren't mindless. They know what serves them and what doesn't. It simply comes down to which group holds the majority. Is it the spenders or the savers? One side will inevitably face the consequences. Which one? That remains to be seen.
Furthermore, since our debts are held in dollars, someone printing more dollars means nothing to us. Even if the Fed decided to print more, it wouldn't change our situation because our national reserves are held in dollars.
Flawed logic leads to flawed ideas. Eventually, a leader will emerge who attempts to use the Federal Reserve's reserves to pay off external debt. And then, we see the fallout.
I have listened to your opinions and attempted to highlight the errors. Now, I suggest you try to understand an opposing view and think for yourselves...
I'm sorry, but that post wasn't actually directed at you.
Besides, you actually know how to hold a decent conversation, unlike some people around here...
Honestly, I think the biggest mistake anyone can make is closing themselves off to a different perspective...
There was a crucial point mentioned just a few posts up, and it’s something we shouldn't overlook: the idea that "people are unpredictable idiots." When you factor in that kind of irrationality, any model becomes incredibly hard to pin down. It’s likely that trying to account for such an erratic variable makes their entire calculation fall apart, which probably turns into a massive headache for their statistical modeling😬
Gregory Williams7 said:Maria Thomas48, you are truly driving me to the brink of madness. I feel physically ill. 🙂 But I will try one more time...
Here is a perfect example of how competition can actually backfire. You go to a local farmers market and look at the prices for lettuce. Everyone is selling it at the exact same rate. $5.00It is highly unlikely that everyone uses the exact same supplier. Consider this alternative perspective. I am aware my product is inferior, yet I choose to highlight the price just as aggressively as the others. In doing so, I effectively undermine those who invest significant effort into offering high-quality goods at a premium. My salad costs less to produce, even if the quality is lower, because I am simply exploiting an uninformed customer base. To the casual observer, the products look identical. Meanwhile, a truly excellent producer is being driven out of business.
Suppose your cousin Luka offered to sell you some firewood at a discount. What would you say to him? It’s pure greed. Yet, he could easily do it. That is simply how the market works.
Competition and profit margins can exist in total opposition. Take the banking sector, for example. Banks often have little incentive to truly compete when they operate within a monopoly. If one major bank raises its fees, another might follow suit simply to capture more market share. Once that first bank sees there is still room to maneuver, they raise prices even further. It isn't a matter of intellect; it is purely a matter of greed. Everyone is at fault when a serious predator decides to pour massive capital into a business just to squeeze out a small amount of high-margin profit.
Here is another textbook example of what people call "healthy competition." Consider the cost of higher education. Universities operate as independent entities, and theoretically, they could hike tuition rates whenever necessary to balance supply and demand. It is a pure economic maneuver. They aim to transform academic institutions into profit-driven corporations where maximizing margins is the primary goal. The pharmaceutical industry operates under a similar logic. When drugs are effective but cannot be easily patented, companies find every possible way to obscure them from the market. The objective remains the same: maximize revenue, even if it comes at the expense of patient care. Is this truly how a society should function?
Take the salad analogy. It represents a genuine possibility within a functional system. However, to make the logic hold up, you have to introduce one more vital premise into the equation. It is this: "All people are idiots." Once you accept that, then you have:
Everyone is selling salad for fifteen dollars. Is this really happening? The quality of this salad is simply inferior to the other options available. Is it too much to ask for consistency? It seems everyone is simply an idiot. This is extremely important. ---------------------------------------------------------- The conclusion? Every vendor out there is selling the exact same salad for fifteen bucks.
In a system where not everyone is an idiot, rumors spread incredibly fast. You see it with your own eyes. If you serve a salad that is subpar—dry, stale, or just plain old—the whole thing falls apart. Why would anyone settle for less? If I am going to buy inferior wood from my brother Luka, the premise remains the same. Suppose I were an idiot.Without that underlying premise, the entire system falls apart. How can it hold weight? If I spot a superior offer from another supplier, the logic fails.
What can one even say about the banks? It isn’t easy for them either. Nowadays, half the population—if you consider how many people actually think about their responsibilities—simply refuses to pay back what they owe. On top of that, a significant number of people are looking for capital abroad. How is a bank supposed to return funds to depositors when the borrower refuses to settle their debt? They resort to fees. They hike interest rates. They charge for late notices. The honest citizens are left struggling to make ends meet however they can. From the bank's perspective, they lent the money fairly. They drafted the contracts honestly. They laid out the terms transparently. Now, they are left hoping some shady, dishonest fraudster who signed those papers actually honors their obligation before disappearing. But let us get back to the main topic.
Universities. Let's take this on as a topic for a research paper. Why is it that in America, we have such a vast landscape of private universities, yet here in our country, everything seems centered around just one major public institution? In a place like Miami, you might see specialized programs for tourism management, but is that all there is to it? Does anyone else have any insights on this?
I will say it once more: you are profoundly mistaken. You have constructed a personal theory, convinced yourself that you have finally unlocked the hidden mechanics of the system, and yet you are completely off base. You are staring at a single pixel and claiming to understand the entire portrait. I repeat, you are wrong. You are deeply, fundamentally wrong. Go back to the beginning. Study the facts from scratch. And then, perhaps, reconsider your position.
A professor once told me this during my college days: when you stumble upon a brilliant idea—one that feels like pure strokes of genius—don't let your ego run away with you. You might feel incredibly lucky to have conceived it, wondering why nobody else thought of it first. But before you rush headlong into execution, stop. Do your homework. Research whether someone else has already attempted this and, more importantly, what their results were. Education is the only way to validate intuition.
I could offer you the exact same advice. The concept of printing money to solve liquidity shortages is an ancient idea—far older than you likely realize. Even in the Roman Empire, they used to debase coins by using lead cores wrapped in gold. It didn't take long before no sane person would trade for them. Have you ever wondered why the custom exists to bite a gold coin when someone hands it to you? It was to check its purity.
There is still so much you don't know. With such limited knowledge, you are attempting to lecture people who possess far more expertise than you—the administration, the President's advisors, the Federal Reserve, and university economics professors. To be perfectly honest, if I had received an email like yours, I wouldn't even bother replying. At most, I might send a brief note stating that your position has been noted.
I feel like I should weigh in here for a second too.
The main difference between our college experiences boils down to this: we don't have to reinvent the wheel anymore because everything is already laid out online 😉
I realize that having all those answers at our fingertips can definitely stifle true creativity, though it certainly makes things efficient...
Nowadays, most ideas are just slight variations on existing themes rather than anything truly groundbreaking.
At the end of the day, it really just comes down to timing—whether the people in charge are actually open to new ideas or if they're just being stubborn...
Honestly, anyone who thinks they have a PhD in economics is probably part of the reason everything is falling apart in the first place... because while all those theories look great on a chalkboard in some Ivy League classroom, they rarely hold up once you actually step out into the real world and see how things truly work
wearysailor71 said:Maria Thomas48, I tip my hat to you for putting in all that effort.🙏 You are clearly brilliant—your logical reasoning is quite something to behold.
In my humble opinion, things are looking bleak... the Government is getting stupider by the day, while the common people are finally starting to wake up...http://hrsvijet.net/index.php?option...rstvo&Itemid=8
I'm worried—the outlook is grim... once the summer passes (after a failed season), the real chaos is going to hit.☕
Personally, I always find it amusing when a single economist acts like they're the only ones who actually understand how the economy works.
They couldn't be more wrong, and if you look at what's happening right now, it just proves the point...
I'm not sure if everyone realizes how scientific circles and research groups actually operate. They spend ages researching and building up these complex theories that make perfect sense to them within their own little bubble, even if those theories are riddled with flaws—it's just how their brains are wired, I suppose. That's why they often bring in outsiders from completely different fields to shake things up with "stupid" questions or assumptions that seem totally nonsensical to them. And usually, that's exactly how they end up proving that their original theory wasn't all that great to begin with.
At the end of the day, it's all just approximations of the truth, but every time we go through this process, we move just a little bit closer to the actual solution... much like a mathematical limit approaching a value 🙂
Maria Thomas48 said:My attempts to alert the Government and the President about why this crisis is happening have actually paid off. Alright, all jokes aside. I got a response from the President's office saying they’ve taken note of my position. There's really no need for me to elaborate further.
By the way, anyone who thought my equations were wrong can go ahead and start attacking Professor Dirkety Krueger too. In his book "Macroeconomics", specifically on page 27, he lays out the exact same thing for the open market. He just doesn't draw the necessary conclusions regarding the credit-based financial system and how inflation impacts the economy in that specific context.
For those interested in reading exactly what I sent to the Government, the President, and the Fed Chair, you can find everything right here: http://sites.google.com/site/financijskisustav/
And apparently, nobody cares. Even the President claims he'll fight for fairness and will never back down. Honestly, it feels like he isn't a man of his word.
I'm still holding onto the hope that the truth will be what saves us.
It honestly makes me a little sad to see people walking around with such massive egos, though maybe I’m just totally missing the point here...
I’m having a really hard time seeing what exactly was supposed to be "trolling" in this situation...
The only thing I can take away from all this is that someone’s ego took a serious hit, so they decided to go out and try to grab control of everything themselves...
But hey, whatever helps them sleep at night, I guess...
I honestly feel like we’re all just waiting for that one big shift to happen, you know... it feels like everything is hovering in this strange state of limbo where nothing quite makes sense yet, but I suppose that’s just how things go sometimes... turns out, staying patient is much harder than anyone ever warns you it would be... As if I could just ignore what was said... because honestly, when you look at how things are shifting, it really makes you stop and think about where we all stand in this whole situation... I see this thread is all about investing, so I was hoping you guys could point me in the right direction since I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to this stuff... where would be a good place to put about $3,500 to $5,500? And honestly, is that actually a decent amount to start with, or am I just playing around with pocket change here...🙂
If you haven't quite figured out where you want to park your cash just yet, it might actually be a smart move to tuck it away into a high-yield savings account or a CD... It’s a simple way to cushion the blow from inflation, at least... Whether that amount feels like a lot or a little really depends on your specific situation, but I truly believe having a solid reserve is vital for all sorts of scenarios. Having that kind of cushion could easily carry you through six months of tough times if things ever get shaky...
Personally, I’d probably just keep my cash sitting in a high-yield savings account or tied up in a CD until a real opportunity actually presents itself...
Terry Martin30 Asks: It looks like that third pillar isn't going to be worth much to me, because heaven forbid I actually need that cash during some specific stretch of my life... if I can't touch it until I hit fifty, then what's even the point? It feels pretty silly to me, honestly, being unable to access my own money whenever I want, especially since life is so unpredictable... What I find most appealing is the way they’ve structured the savings plan... I was actually thinking about tucking away somewhere around... $83 I was just wondering about the monthly stuff... I'm mainly curious if I can jump in at any time and check my account balance whenever I need to...
I mean, if you’ve got online banking set up with JP Morgan Chase, you can always check your balance whenever you want, but honestly, the tellers there are usually more than happy to walk you through everything in person too... 😬
Charles Ramos7 said:I’m not a fan of that third pillar either; there are way too many conditions that could easily be adjusted. I’d much rather just set up my own fund and manage it however I see fit.
Plus, you pretty much have access to those funds whenever you need them, which is honestly the most important thing to me...
I'll go ahead and pay into the life insurance plan since it's a total certainty that I'm eventually going to pass away 😬
That’s true, though you’re definitely going to end up paying taxes on it eventually.
I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I’ve just never been a huge fan of that third pillar system, if that makes sense... it’s just a gut feeling. It feels like there are way too many hoops to jump through, and so many specific things have to line up perfectly just to make it worth your while.
Is the Democratic Party actually guaranteeing this? Like, is it legally binding, or is it more like a mortgage where the government could just decide to stop or scale back payments whenever they feel like it?
I suppose it would be a brilliant idea in a highly organized, wealthy nation, but in a country that’s already struggling to cover basic salaries and pensions, I’m not sure it’s the right move...
By the way, what is the current ratio of workers to retirees over in Rhode Island?
It all sounds wonderful on paper, but I’d much rather hear from the actual people out there living it 😉
And this whole tax situation—it feels like they give you a break now just to tighten the screws later, doesn't it? It's a lot like how life insurance policies work sometimes...
But I really do agree, it all comes down to individual interpretation, and it’s nearly impossible to say one specific model is objectively better than another since everyone finds what works for them differently...
Personally, I’m just not seeing how this whole third pillar thing is going to work out for us...
Does anyone here actually use one of those third pillar accounts already?
From what I’ve been hearing through the grapevine, things have already started hitting some snags with that setup, so I’m starting to think it might not be the smartest move after all...
You haven't actually said anything of substance here, other than pointing out that enrollment numbers went up.
Is there any truth to the idea that consumer spending or demand has actually dropped?
And if so, did that trigger issues across various sectors of the economy?
I mean, if the money supply remains the same, then what exactly has shifted compared to how things used to be...
Why are we even talking about a crisis in the first place?
It really rubs me the wrong way when certain people act like they hold the ultimate truth, when in reality, they’re just offering one specific interpretation of events rather than describing the actual state of affairs. Because if everything were as obvious as some people claim, we probably wouldn't be facing these problems at all, or they wouldn't exist to begin with...
So, I just can't get behind someone being contrarian without them presenting a complete and holistic view of the situation.
After all, it's much easier to just say "no" than to actually explain why...
I’m talking about the wealthy, those people sitting on massive piles of capital. Because if they suddenly stop spending, it triggers this domino effect of stagnation and minimal consumer activity...
Basically, we have to find ways to motivate the healthy parts of the economy—read: the rich—to start spending, investing, donating, and so on, because it’s pretty obvious that the momentum has to start somewhere...
My take is that everyday Americans are actually the ones who enabled certain individuals to amass such significant wealth in the first place. You could argue it from the opposite direction if you wanted to, but regardless of how you look at it, we're all caught up in some kind of symbiotic relationship with one another...