1906: Bridging the Gap

[Enunciated Piffle]

Originally Posted by DaveNJ

As far as printing currency goes, that actually is how the US government has managed to historically reduce debt as a percentage of GDP, which is really the issue that matters.

Yes but merely printing more currency to pay debt has the negative consequence of inflation. Our dollars have a value. When the Federal Reserve prints more; it lowers the value. More is actually less.

I think it's dangerous.

[starscream]

I didn't watch the whole thing, but it seemed like How She Did It was by stopping time.

[DaveNJ]

Originally Posted by Enunciated Piffle

Yes but merely printing more currency to pay debt has the negative consequence of inflation. Our dollars have a value. When the Federal Reserve prints more; it lowers the value. More is actually less.

I think it's dangerous.

Inflation is not strictly linked to dollars printed. That's only one of many impacts. The choice to print money is serious, but dangerous?

In the height of a historic bond-buying program, core US inflation is historically low.

[WittyReference]

I can see why Piff got confused because it has become the rhetoric (maybe mostly from comedians?) that the USA is "owned" by China or one day will be. I was certainly given the impression that the debt to them was a lot higher then what Dave says it is. Thanks for clearing some stuff up. I'd never heard of countries buying debt to keep their own dollar low but it makes sense. The Australian government also likes to keep our dollar down so exports are cheaper (hasn't worked for the last few years) so why aren't we buying up American debt?

[andsoitgoes]

Couple things:

The IAP issue with apple has changed quite a bit since the whole drama came up. The lawsuit that's being settled was started a couple of years ago.

since then, apple has Instituted changes to the protection against unwanted IAP purchases in the following way:

* there are multiple places that discuss how IAPs work,many are highlighted on the main screen of the App Store.
* there are now 2 settings for App Store purchases. The first leaves the window open for 15 minutes. The second requires the password to be put in immediately after a purchase. That is what is encouraged for parents, and prevents the accidental purchases when parents download something for their children. Of course this is all pointless if stupid parents share passwords with their children.

Regarding Jordan Belfort, the million they are talking about was from his motivational books. He did not make anything from his memoir, all of that was donated to go against his debt.

He was supposed to pay back 50% of all earnings to the restitution, and he's being his typical douchebag self while trying to keep as much money as possible.

If you look at the story of his co conspirators, specifically the real life counterpart of Jonah Hill; they're all STILLL shady as fuck and are ripping people off in different ways.

[DaveNJ]

Originally Posted by WittyReference

I can see why Piff got confused because it has become the rhetoric (maybe mostly from comedians?) that the USA is "owned" by China or one day will be. I was certainly given the impression that the debt to them was a lot higher then what Dave says it is. Thanks for clearing some stuff up. I'd never heard of countries buying debt to keep their own dollar low but it makes sense. The Australian government also likes to keep our dollar down so exports are cheaper (hasn't worked for the last few years) so why aren't we buying up American debt?

Buying American debt isn't the only way to gain access to currency. A country can also build up currency stores by running a trade surplus (i.e. the US buys more from Australia than vice versa in currency terms, allowing Australia to build up said reserves).

However, the bigger issue is that large debt purchases on the retail market by governments tend to occur when those governments have a budget surplus, which is relatively rare in developed economies with substantial citizen representation in politics. It's hard to justify buying other countries' debt when that money could go to investment in the citizenry's needs. Therefore, it's relatively uncommon to see such action on the part of a country like Australia. Again, though, buying debt is just one way to try to keep rates favorable. A more common way to try to expand trade is through free trade agreements that eliminate tariffs, as in the case of NAFTA, the European Union, etc.

[Enunciated Piffle]

Originally Posted by WittyReference

The Australian government also likes to keep our dollar down so exports are cheaper (hasn't worked for the last few years) so why aren't we buying up American debt?

Good question. Allow me to speak for 600+ billion Americans by saying, "America would much rather be in debt to Australia than China"

Failure to pay results in 'roo burgers. Perfect.

[Enunciated Piffle]

Originally Posted by DaveNJ

. A more common way to try to expand trade is through free trade agreements that eliminate tariffs, as in the case of NAFTA, the European Union, etc.

Has NAFTA had positive effects for America?

[DaveNJ]

Originally Posted by Enunciated Piffle

Has NAFTA had positive effects for America?

That depends on who you ask. It certainly has opened up trade and allowed for cheaper prices for everyday goods, but at the expense of certain jobs and the revenue that came with them. The question really ought to be "positive compared to what?", as the case has been made the US jobs that went to Mexico under NAFTA would have simply ended up elsewhere at some point due to the pricing inherent in foreign labor markets.

[Enunciated Piffle]

Should there be more Congressional effort to prevent foreign labor markets from eroding American ones?