Ah, ---- but the question is -- What is a valid concern? Between the hype, illusions, "truth", lies, those that push an agenda, natural cycles, etc. That, is the question. And what then is the right thing to do?
Most of us realize that to end the corruption at this late date would take us all down with as we are dependent on the financial streams the runoff this corrupt government produces. Regardless, we will still go down, but more and more people I speak to would rather get it over with now, even if it precipitates a confrontation with government. It should have failed long ago and many who prescribe to a more conservative or frugal economic principle could have survived it, but instead it has been pretend and extend bleeding us dry. We are seeing a continuing failure of small and mid size businesses because of this poor economy. Big business, that has access to capital through lending, stocks and crony contracts are instead buying up their competition. A relative is a manager in a large grocery chain that was recently bought out by another larger but less profitable competitor. They plan on shutting down most of the stores effectively eliminating their competition. Access to capital but no profits. The must sell most of the acquired real estate to pay down the debt from the acquisition. Hell of a thing. Borrow the money to buy your competition and then sell them off piecemeal to pay down the loan. Not exactly winning for the consumer, nor winning as an economic indicator. But this is what we see now. You can't profit from competition so you simply buy market share using borrowed money, creating less competition and ever greater, too big to fail, monopolies. ow
http://gdxforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... tes#p23680
http://gdxforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... 040#p24222
According to the consensus forecasts, growth will probably average about 3.3% for the final three quarters of 2014 and 3% in 2015, compared with a 2.2% average since the recession ended.
Wrightson ICAP, also among the most accurate forecasters in the Reuters poll, expects 3.0-3.5 percent growth.
On the lower end, 2.7-3.0 percent, were Barclays, RBC, UBS, Wells Fargo and First Trust Advisors.
Morgan Stanley, Scotiabank, Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank are at the higher end, expecting 3.8-4.2 percent.
If Q2 GDP growth comes within this narrower range, the U.S. recovery story remains intact and won’t likely sway the Federal Reserve off its current policy path, which is to carry on reducing its monthly bond purchases to nil but leave interest rates unchanged well into next year.
When Money Dies, Adam Fergusson, 1975
http://thirdparadigm.org/doc/45060880-W ... y-Dies.pdf Free .pdf copy The book ends with these haunting lines...
"In hyperinflation, a kilo of potatoes was worth, to some, more than the family silver; a side of pork more than the grand piano. A prostitute in the family was better than an infant corpse; theft was preferable to starvation; warmth was finer than honour, clothing more essential than democracy, food more needed than freedom."