True, Mr. Schiff is not an economist, he's a financier. Similar field but not the same I do agree; he is
not technically an Economist and I am - I had 15 seconds to type my response above before the Net Nannie locked me out of the Web so I didn't elaborate on what was an intro rather than really my point
.
What I was getting at is what I have said a few times in these pages already - the USA has not even begun to address it's deficit issues as it has been keeping the economic motor limping along with the printing press whilst waiting for the global situation to stabilise. Over here in Europe-land, some steps have been taken at dealing with the structural debt but not enough to make any real difference I fear. In Asia, things have been better but growth has still tailed off, so still not huge help there either.
This means that the global upturn that the American government has been hoping to see, so that they could begin unwinding their debt, has not come to pass. It was a good idea to try it but the wait hasn't paid off - indeed, there is some talk in serious economic circles (the sort of circles that don't often get quoted on 'tabloid' internet sites) of a 'generational' depression. Not so devastating in the short term as the Great Depression but lasting for twenty or thirty years. That is scary and I, in a most un-mathematical way, have my fingers crossed that it doesn't come to that.
Even if it does't take that long to climb back out of the hole, globalisation of labour and the over-emphasis of the financial sector means that for most of us, times are going to stay lean for a long while. This is especially so when the action of the system has been to drain wealth out of the real economy and into the 'virtual' one, converting it from 'wealth' to 'money' in the process. These are not the same thing, which I know is confusing. But one generates more wealth, benefiting everybody, whilst the other only generates more money, most of which does not touch the real economy where most of us dwell.
If the real economy falters too much, then the more doom-laden of the predictions may come to pass.
