06/23/10 Baltimore, Maryland – How does it feel to be a has-been? Well, we don’t feel too bad about it. How about you?
Almost all the developed countries are headed for crises, collapse, and used-to-be status. Their debt is still rising. They have made promises to retirees that can’t be kept. They have expenses they can’t meet…an aging population…uncompetitive industries…and zombies on every street corner.
Who has the money? Well, the biggest piles of it are in the hands of Asian nations. Who buys more cars? The Chinese. Who buys more stuff, generally? The emerging markets. Who has the biggest economy? Ah…at least we’re not has-beens yet. The developed countries still have the world’s biggest economies. But that will change soon.
When Goldman Sachs first did a report on the BRICs, it projected out growth rates in India, Brazil, Russia and China and estimated that their economies would overtake the big 4 developed economies by 2040. Now, the estimate is 2027.
Developed countries can’t grow fast; they can barely grow at all. They have too much debt and too many zombies. Too many retirees who need to be supported. Too many government employees. Too many lobbyists and government contractors. Too many privileges and too many people trying to protect them…
Everybody wants something for nothing. As an economy ages, more and more people find a way to get it. On CNN en Español, for example, we learned that a town in Nebraska is trying to prevent illegal aliens from gainful employment. The citizens of Fremont, Nebraska, want try to use the law to prevent others from competing for jobs.
Zombies always vote.
Regards,
Bill Bonner
for The Daily Reckoning
Bill Bonner
Since founding Agora Inc. in 1979, Bill Bonner has found success and garnered camaraderie in numerous communities and industries. A man of many talents, his entrepreneurial savvy, unique writings, philanthropic undertakings, and preservationist activities have all been recognized and awarded by some of America's most respected authorities. Along with Addison Wiggin, his friend and colleague, Bill has written two New York Times best-selling books, Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt. Both works have been critically acclaimed internationally. With political journalist Lila Rajiva, he wrote his third New York Times best-selling book, Mobs, Messiahs and Markets, which offers concrete advice on how to avoid the public spectacle of modern finance. Since 1999, Bill has been a daily contributor and the driving force behind The Daily Reckoning. Dice Have No Memory: Big Bets & Bad Economics from Paris to the Pampas, the newest book from Bill Bonner, is the definitive compendium of Bill’s daily reckonings from more than a decade: 1999-2010.
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Worked 40 years. Paid income taxes, FICA and a myriad of others, Served in Vietnam, never asked for anything free. Now I’m a has been because American corporations and government sold us out for dirt cheap wages and no benefits. I think a fool would be closer to the mark than a has been. Agree?
Somewhat agree…we allowed gov. to take on our responsibility to keep us healthy, fed, retired, and etc…but they can’t do it. Only the individual can take care of themselves. If you give that responsibility away, then you are but a child. Our generation was never a has. The Baby boomers gave it away years ago. They were not the greatest generation…but the last free generation.
kenn – we didn’t get sold out so much as we sold ourselves out for cheap/shoddy stuff made in 3rd world countries… but look on the bright side, in a hundred years the US will be 3rd world status and our cheap labor will steal back the manufacturing that we lost over the past 30 yrs and your great great grandchildren will reap the benefits
zombies blog, tooooooooo…
Not only developed countries, but third world countries feel the same pain. Reason is relentless process of globalization in which government power for sovereign people is replaced by world wide corporate power for profit. And when profit is the master, then people and environment are disregarded.
In the past, America had freed Europe from fascism, put man on the Moon. But today, it can’t even close a hole at the bottom of the ocean.
to Zlo – you are so wrong… LOL… shame on you, BP, for giving us all that oil that has powered our economic growth for the past 100 yrs