Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

[Jay]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

I bet you could put gm and others to work building a whole bunch of robots. I'm not kidding.

Oh wait, this is the plot of "Terminator."

Won't effective robots eventually increase productivity and capacity?

[metalman]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

Won't effective robots eventually increase productivity and capacity?

no, not that kind of robot. this kind of robot...

[goadam1]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

no, not that kind of robot. this kind of robot...

Thanks Metalman. I knew a guy named Metalman would understand. But think about it, robots building robots to blow up other robots gives us all so much more time to relax and enjoy life.

[goadam1]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

and these kinds of things:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/bu.../17uav.html?hp

A missile fired by an American drone killed at least four people late Sunday at the house of a militant commander in northwest Pakistan, the latest use of what intelligence officials have called their most effective weapon against Al Qaeda.

[Jay]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

Okay, what if the war is over and no one fired a shot? Devil's advocate here. Retail sales have bottom, the drop in capacity utilization has slowed, the drop in retail sales have slowed...

Now kick my ass.

This is a good spot to put FRED's post from the Brzezinski thread:

"It is easier for a government to kill a million people than to control a million people. It is easier for a government to kill a million people than to control a million people." (Brzezinski repeats the phrase)

In other words, it is easier for 1 million people to control their government than for their government to control them. What's wrong with that? How does the thought of government killing a million of their own people come up?

Who thinks this way? Why? He can only be talking about China.

If this is a possibiliy things could get very weird.

[goadam1]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

This is a good spot to put FRED's post from the Brzezinski thread:



If this is a possibiliy things could get very weird.

When someone says, "it's easier to eat a million people, than just kill them."

[GRG55]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

i disagree re the efficacy of a "cold" war. you needn't blow up capacity, instead you use it to make weapons. just producing them is as wasteful as blowing them up. steel goes into tanks and ships instead of cars and washing machines. chips go into weapon systems instead of dvd players. big lcd's go into war rooms and little ones into war-fighting vehicles. this produces lots of defense employment, and it can't be offshored. no worry about finding consumers to take on debt for the purchase; that's the role of uncle sam.

.

Not to mention all the funding and employment that comes from a desire, during a time of conflict, to push weapons technologies along faster and faster, which when successful results in the need to replace the now obsolete weapons cache with something "better"...all it takes is money.

So who exactly was the idiot that came up with the concept of "the peace dividend"??? Quick, send him back to Econ 101.

[Jay]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

When someone says, "it's easier to eat a million people, than just kill them."

Soylent green is the only answer. ;)

[metalman]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

and these kinds of things:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/bu.../17uav.html?hp

A missile fired by an American drone killed at least four people late Sunday at the house of a militant commander in northwest Pakistan, the latest use of what intelligence officials have called their most effective weapon against Al Qaeda.

it's still robots vs humans at this stage. next the russians need to develop and sell pakistan drones to shoot down our drones. then we got an exciting new arms race going that will cost trillions and... bonus!... fewer humans die.

[goadam1]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

it's still robots vs humans at this stage. next the russians need to develop and sell pakistan drones to shoot down our drones. then we got an exciting new arms race going that will cost trillions and... bonus!... fewer humans die.

Someone gets it! Believe me, there will be an economy of this kind of crap.

[jk]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

it's still robots vs humans at this stage. next the russians need to develop and sell pakistan drones to shoot down our drones. then we got an exciting new arms race going that will cost trillions and... bonus!... fewer humans die.

U.S. Says It Shot Down an Iranian Drone Over Iraq

By ROD NORDLAND and ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: March 16, 2009

BAGHDAD — The American military confirmed on Monday that it shot down an Iranian drone over Iraqi territory last month, in what is believed to be the first time that has happened.

Col. James Hutton, a spokesman for the United States military commander in Iraq, said allied aircraft shot down an “Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle” on Feb. 25, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Although that location would put the drone relatively close to the Iran-Iraq border, Colonel Hutton denied speculation that it had simply strayed across the border accidentally.

“This is not true,” he said. “It was in Iraqi airspace and tracked one hour and 10 minutes before it was engaged.” Colonel Hutton added that allied jet fighters had shot it down without causing any civilian casualties. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/wo...20drone&st=cse

[goadam1]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

Will our droid army be defeated by their clone army?

[goadam1]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

.

Not to mention all the funding and employment that comes from a desire, during a time of conflict, to push weapons technologies along faster and faster, which when successful results in the need to replace the now obsolete weapons cache with something "better"...all it takes is money.

So who exactly was the idiot that came up with the concept of "the peace dividend"??? Quick, send him back to Econ 101.

The question is who is the asshole who said it was "the end of history."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End...d_the_Last_Man

[ASH]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

i disagree re the efficacy of a "cold" war. you needn't blow up capacity, instead you use it to make weapons. just producing them is as wasteful as blowing them up. steel goes into tanks and ships instead of cars and washing machines. chips go into weapon systems instead of dvd players. big lcd's go into war rooms and little ones into war-fighting vehicles. this produces lots of defense employment, and it can't be offshored. no worry about finding consumers to take on debt for the purchase; that's the role of uncle sam.

If there is no destruction of capacity (preferably the other guys'), how is government spending on military hardware any different from spending on infrastructure, or direct payment of benefits for that matter? The government doesn't need a national security justification to borrow massively anymore, and as far as I can tell, unless the weapons are used to blow up competing industrial capacity, there's not much to differentiate military spending from any other category of federal stimulus.

Are we talking 1950's buildup (~11.4% of GDP vs. 3.6% of GDP for payments to individuals in 1955) or 1980's buildup (~6.5% of GDP vs. 10.3% of GDP for payments to individuals in 1985)? (Figures from OMB.) I think the argument was more apropos in the 1950's when military spending dominated federal outlays. Defense spending was federal spending. Since then, the ratios have inverted, and direct payments to individuals dominate. Why go to the trouble of ginning up a security justification for the government to borrow money and distribute it in the economy when that's already the status quo?

[ax]

Re: Who stole my cheesy economy? - Eric Janszen

Be careful shorting the market this week. It is a triple witching week on options.

Not as concerned about this as the inevitable return of the "uptick rule." Any thoughts on whether that false rally will run concurrent with this one?