Peter Schiff on the state of the US economy+ Imperial decline

[Glenn Beck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h2x7R8pxUs

What do you think of this guy's analysis? If he's right what does that mean for us as Leftists, given that his explanation was entirely focused on saving capitalism?

[peaccenicked]

I think he is more or less right. He says private enterprise creates wealth but that "'forgets" that is the workers are the one's who create the surplus value that private enterprise hives off. Yet the financial crisis is doing untold damage to the real economy.
Peter Schiff talks about savers but what he means is investors. He is basically saying that
the US is bankrupt and that the solution is to protect the investors in industry from those
in finance by allowing them to go bankrupt and stop throwing money at them. He reckons the bailouts will sink the dollar and bring about hyper-inflation.

Of all the modern economists, I think Jim Willie calls it best.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article8030.html

[Lynx]

Well, Jim Willie and others are basically saying we should buy gold.

[peaccenicked]

It is true that the most pessimistic economists are also gold bugs. There is a reason for this historically. This is video explains something of that,
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1222852/gold_vs_dollar/

In essence those who are following the gold market have some ''nerd'' kudos, but any analysis no matter where it comes from has to be viewed objectively.

[cyu]

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1964637

When people are concerned about their future economic security, they often do a lot of thinking over the question of how to preserve their wealth. It is during times of inflation or currency collapse that calls for returning to a gold standard become increasingly common.

However there are alternatives to both gold and fiat currency.

You could have a grain-standard, where paper notes were backed by grain, but grain is perishable... though it wouldn't go as quickly as a fruit-backed currency.

You could have a technology-standard, where paper notes were backed by computers, televisions, and cars, but all of those lose value because technology advances and old models are thrown out.

You could have a housing-standard, where paper notes were backed by places to live, but homes deteriorate over time as well.

If you wanted a currency that was by definition not going to inflate or deflate, then you would back it with the basket of goods used to calculate things like the consumer price index... of course, those goods are all perishable to some degree. If you then decided to build in a natural devaluation to the currency you issue, then you're not really preserving the wealth you supposedly got.

Organizing a gl0d-strike.

If you had some indestructible material that was lightweight and easy to recognize (say gl0d), then you might use that as currency - but it is purely a social construction. If one person accumulates vast amounts of this "gl0d" and the rest of the population resented him and were vindictive, they would simply organize a gl0d-strike and stop accepting it as money, thus effectively rendering that person broke.

The wealth of nations.

Ultimately though, you have to look beyond personal finances to the big picture of how what you consider to be wealth gets to you. If you want food, you have to ensure there are enough food producers. If you want LCD monitors, you have to ensure there are enough LCD monitor producers. Because humans have become so economically specialized, each person can no longer produce everything he wants by himself. Like it or not, if you want to be wealthy, it has to be collective wealth. You have to ensure the people around you can produce the things you need. This may be at a community level, maybe a national level, maybe a global level. You have to stop worrying so much about how much gl0d you can gather, but how you can help the people around you to produce the things you want. You'd have to get them access to resources, technology, knowledge, equipment, etc, but not only that, you also have to make sure they're relatively happy. If they're a bunch of pissed off producers, that makes it less likely for you to get access to the things you want.