…America may be its strongest since the end of WW II. Makes sense to me; we defeated the Soviets, and we’re a net energy exporter.
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…America may be its strongest since the end of WW II. Makes sense to me; we defeated the Soviets, and we’re a net energy exporter.
Comments are closed.
” The zenith of this vulnerability was the oil crisis of the early 1970s, when OPEC’s embargo led directly to shortages, rationing and severe recession in the US.”
Well, no. The United States had for decades imposed price controls on oil and its derivatives. That, and only that, was what led to shortages, rationing, and severe recession in the US.
President Carter had, in a rare bout of sanity, vowed to phase out oil price controls…sloooowwwly. When Reagan took office, he did away with them all at once, and the United States has never had (and will never have) an oil shortage since. Of all of Reagan’s great achievements (and he had many, along with some failures), I think this was his greatest: an irrefutable demonstration that removing the market distortion of price controls removes the phenomenon of shortages.
Don’t agree. There’s a lot that has grown worse since the end of the Second World War. Notice also how much of the supposed power is actually due to the weakness of other countries (particularly, the EU countries). If your strength is measured mostly (as in this case) by the failings of others, then you’re not really strong at all.
“If your strength is measured mostly (as in this case) by the failings of others, then you’re not really strong at all.”
Perhaps…but you could make the same statement about our relative strength after the 2nd World War. From the posted link:
“At the end of the Second World War, the United States was by far the strongest nation on earth. In fact, it was the strongest nation ever. But the playing field was littered with craters.
Europe had been ravaged by war from one end of its continent to the other. Its major powers either lie in ruins (Germany, Italy, and France) or had expended vast sums to prosecute the war (Great Britain, the USSR) and lay in partial ruins. Cities in all of the major European countries were fractured and devastated, their manufacturing turned to wartime footing and then, if they were among the Axis Powers, crushed by allied might. In Asia, China and South Korea had yet to rise. Japan was as devastated as the major European powers. The United States stood alone, relatively unscathed by the war, its manufacturing base which had been retooled for war now easily turned back to peacetime production.”
We rose while others stumbled; you could say that about allot of things.
Yes the US is strongest ever. Just look at that chart and some real numbers. Though guess like under Socialism everything is good as long as you have other peoples money to spend.
“Yes the US is strongest ever. Just look at that chart and some real numbers. Though guess like under Socialism everything is good as long as you have other peoples money to spend.”
Yes the national debt is a very serious problem although the chart you posted lists debt in current dollars; not adjusted for inflation. We owed plenty of money in unpaid T-bills after WW2; but just like now we owned it mostly to ourselves. Not like there is some kind of hostile power waiting to invade if we “renegotiate” the interest payments on said debt.
It still looks very ugly, if you look at publicly held debt as a share of GDP. Presently, the federal government owes over 78% of GDP to parties outside of the US government – private parties and other governments. In comparison, peak US publicly-held debt load during the Second World War was around 110%.
In other words, debt is three quarters as bad as it was during the last world war. In the thirty years after the Second World War, the US was able to get that fraction down to a low of 21% in 1974. After Clinton, it was still down to 31% in 2001. Obviously things were much more unhealthy than that due to Medicare and Social Security obligations, but that should put things in the necessary light.
A five year period under Obama pushed it up from 36% to 70% which I think gives a good idea of just what a disaster he was. But unlike the early postwar period, we’re just heading up.
What happens should we get into another major war or some large scale disaster (economic or physical)? Where are we going to borrow from to save the US? This is a huge part of why I think we’re considerably weaker now than in 1945. The debt load was higher then, but we could and did grow the economy relative to our debt so that in the 1970s, debt was a relatively small part of our finances.
“This is a huge part of why I think we’re considerably weaker now than in 1945. The debt load was higher then, but we could and did grow the economy relative to our debt so that in the 1970s, debt was a relatively small part of our finances.”
Yes in some ways; after all the post WWII economic boom very much made that much higher debt manageable. Which makes Trump’s efforts to juice up economic growth (re-doing trade deals with Mexico/Canada/China etc.) to say nothing of his slashing of stifling Federal regulations that hurt business the economy that much more important.
On a different subject:
President Obama Buys Home on Edgartown Great Pond
“Former President Obama and his family are now permanent homeowners on Martha’s Vineyard, after completing the purchase this week of a large home situated on nearly 30 acres in the coastal perimeter of Edgartown.
The purchase price, recorded at 3:31 p.m. Wednesday with the Dukes County Registry of Deeds, is listed at $11.75 million. The buyer is a nominee trust representing the former First Family. The sellers are Wycliffe Grousbeck and Corinne Basler Grousbeck. Mr. Grousbeck is a private equity investor and owner of the Boston Celtics basketball team.”
“The sprawling 6,892-square-foot house sits on 29.3 secluded acres fronting the Edgartown Great Pond between Slough Cove and Turkeyland Cove, with views of a barrier beach and the ocean beyond.”
https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2019/12/04/president-obama-buys-home-edgartown-great-pond
To any and all a question: would a guy who believes global warming is the biggest problem we face with major sea level rise on the horizon in a few decades drop 12 million bucks of his own stash to buy beach front property? Aren’t these the folks (Obama, Clintons, etc.) the ones who believe in the most apocalyptic greenhouse gas fueled ice melty sea rise coastal areas flooded scenarios? Their actions (buying expensive beach front property) seems some sort of cognitive dissonance of their supposed views. To say nothing of how they managed to afford such on a Senator/President/ex-President’s salary.
You forgot his community organizer’s salary. And let’s face it Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island have the tightest organized communities in the country.