out look forcast for the next year or two

The "Talking Heads" have a huge effect (unfortunately). Their main goal is to influence the "Bobbling Heads", just like the bobbling head little doggies in the back of the car, they are just going for a ride (unfortunately)! The "Truth" is 90% perception and facts to hard for most to comprehend (unfortunately). That's a fact from my perspective and my $.02 for what it's worth.

My fear is the pendulum will swing to far in this correction, just as it did six years ago. Did we just create a pissing match between skunks? Yes I am a conservative financially, socially, and politically. Many strong convictions provide this perspective. At the same time, no one has all the answers. We need balance and need to return to the basic concepts our country was founded on.

Originally Posted by Metalbestos

I live in the bluest state in the country , we just elected a republican in a state that has 80% democrats .

Same thing in Massachusetts >> also a VERY Blue state

Even Illinois has a Republican governor, now.


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I agree with Olddude. I think that the metal prices will be down. As the dollar gains, though (If it does), people may become a little looser with their money, so that may help those of us that do More than Scrap Value items.

I don't think the world's imploding yet. But, the future doesn't look very good. We have high employment, low spending, and a large group of people with no motivation to work.

What could possibly go wrong?

< Sigh> I dunno .... it just seems to me that all of those politicians left of center and right of center have been doing their darndest to ignore the 600 lb gorilla in the room.

Different people have different ideas about the correct role of government. Some say that we should level the playing field so that everybody gets a fair share. They want to provide bread to the people.

Others say no ! It's the government's role to provide for the common defense,provide a system of roads & bridges, and provide a system of law courts.

I guess it really doesn't matter whether your priority is bread or bombs. It takes three key things for every human undertaking to succeed. They are Money,Management, and Manpower. If you lack any one of these three key elements your endeavor is sure to fail. Let's take em' one at a time:

Manpower: That really doesn't seem to be the problem. We have enough people to do the work that needs to be done.

Management: I think it's fair to say that the Federal government has grown so large & complex that it can't be effectively managed anymore. We have some good people and far more than a few complete idiots in positions of leadership.

We, as a nation of people, really need to stand up and demand better. Doesn't matter whether you're red,blue,or pink. When you're a servant of the people just walk into your office in the morning just park that stuff at the door. Ditch all of the political agendas and start making rational well thought out decisions for the rest of us.

Money: That's the 600 lb gorilla ! We're spending about twice what we're taking in every year.

This is simple. Get that straightened out first. Once that's done go back to arguing over bread and bombs.

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There is an alternative: Keep the skunks so busy pissing at each other that they can't get anything done. It would give the rest of us some breathing room and maybe we could get this mess sorted out ourselves.

If you count up everything you have you still have everything that you have. You can only make what you make. You can only get what you get. It is all up to you...

I hope this isn't turning into a rant .....

People don't seem to understand that you ALWAYS have to pay for the thing you get from the government.

Want a road ? .... you gotta pay for that.

Think global projection of American military power is essential to national security ? .... you gotta pay for that.

Free college education for everybody ? ... you gotta pay for that.

The list of things that the government does is endless. The problem is that if you have to BORROW the money for the thing you want then you really can't afford it. That's especially so if you're spending twice what you're making every year.

Wouldn't it make more sense to live within our means ?

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< facepalm > We have a balanced budget amendment here in Maine but in the last election we passed ten bond issues by a large majority.

D'oh !

Then people complain about taxes ................

Oh yeah, everyone pays, even the ones that get stuff, or are here illegally or in jail or prison. But it still is up to them on what to do...

Living within your means is no fun, though! I want to stay at home and play video games! And, I want a shiny BMW outside!

What do you mean? What is this work thing?

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Some people....

Okay ... well ... getting back to the old gent.

We're spending well beyond our means and racking up a huge debt. We know that you ALWAYS have to pay.

One way of bringing the debt back under control is to inflate / devalue the dollar. It's an invisible tax !

Let's say that you've got a million dollars in the bank and they devalue the currency by ten percent that year. Here it is 365 days later. Your bank statement still says you've got a million bucks but it's been devalued by ten percent. You just paid 100 grand of invisible tax to the government.

Maybe you own property or a business and have a net worth of 500 grand. They just took ten percent of everything you own.

Maybe you are working for an hourly wage and living paycheck to paycheck. You go to the grocery store and you want to pay your rent but there just isn't enough to make ends meet anymore. It's because they took ten percent more out of you in taxes that year.

Maybe you're a retired person living on social security. They just reduced your monthly check by ten percent.

Maybe scrap gold goes up because of currency inflation. You're still no further ahead because they're paying you in devalued dollars.

Maybe you're living on food stamps. You've gone from living at the poverty level down to living in grinding poverty. Life gets very hard.

As near as i can tell just about everyone is affected in one way or another by the invisible tax.

What this means for the future i couldn't say for certain. I guess it's all up to us.

It doesn't look promising H.F.

This is just as much an economic problem as it is a political one. If the average person doesn't understand the problem then how could we ever go about fixing it ?

Sure ... we're "feeling" the pain and because of that we're trending to a more conservative approach to things but let's not forget that the groundwork for this mess was laid early on in the GWB administration.

If you judge them by what they do, and not what they say, you begin to see that there's little difference between the left and the right.