tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post7133341063755813790..comments2023-10-30T09:23:42.803-05:00Comments on Some Assembly Required: SAR #13354Charles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-91690984660805637892013-12-21T18:05:49.037-06:002013-12-21T18:05:49.037-06:00«Snappy Quiz: Who is investing in America's fu...«Snappy Quiz: Who is investing in America's future? Right, trick question; no one is.»<br /><br />Well, I think that the financial community and the political community have been applying the Bain Consulting Matrix to whole countries.<br /><br />In the Bain Consulting Matrix the USA economy is part cash-cow, and part dog.<br /><br />What people do with "dog" situations is asset-strip them, taking out all implicit and explicit capital, load them with debt, cut depreciation, investment, employment and wages to the bone to extract as much cash flow as possible, and let them sink.<br /><br />Interestingly this strategy has been enthusiastically endorsed and practised by most middle class Usians on *themselves*. Just consider that house equity extraction borrowing (which is a rule fully used in consumptions) has amounted to 104% of GDP growth in the USA (and the UK) in the past 30 years.<br /><br />Kevin drum's pithy summary about the "conservative" turn in the Republican (and the Democratic) party is:<br /><br />«Rather than workable solutions, my party is offering low taxes for the currently rich and high spending for the currently old, to be followed by who-knows-what and who-the-hell-cares. This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation.»<br /><br />And high debt and disinvestment for everybody. Cheered by the majority of voters, who are delighted to asset-strip themselves.Blissexnoreply@blogger.com