#1 problem with USA? Compare Japan disaster vs NO/Katrina

[bodecea]

How come people want to turn a blind eye to all the good things American communities have done to come together during a crisis? Why harp on only one element of one situation?


How about every community who sent help to NYC after 9/11 or all of the other communities across the country who always come together during natural disasters such as massive flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, etc...?

How about all the financial aid our tax dollars provide for all sorts of crises around the country and around the world...?

Apparently, they are no longer proud to be American.

 

[boedicca]

Once things are back to normal then you can speculate who was at fault, not during an emergency. It's plain to see that Japanese society is better suited to handling emergencies then the United Nations, a prime example of the faults inherent in true Democracies.

The United Nations is not a democracy. It's a club for the legitimization and mutual protection of thugocracies around the world.

The few free societies which belong to it provide a veneer of respectability. We're chumps to do so.

 

[Valerie]

Oh, isn't America just sooo awful!

This Is USAID

The United States has a long history of extending a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country. It is this caring that stands as a hallmark of the United States around the world -- and shows the world our true character as a nation.

U.S. foreign assistance has always had the twofold purpose of furthering America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world. Spending less than one-half of 1 percent of the federal budget, USAID works around the world to achieve these goals.

USAID's history goes back to the Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe after World War Two and the Truman Administration's Point Four Program. In 1961, the Foreign Assistance Act was signed into law and USAID was created by executive order.

Since that time, USAID has been the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.

USAID is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. Our Work supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting:

* economic growth, agriculture and trade;
* global health; and,
* democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance.

We provide assistance in five regions of the world:

* Sub-Saharan Africa;
* Asia;
* Latin America and the Caribbean,
* Europe and Eurasia; and
* The Middle East.

With headquarters in Washington, D.C., USAID's strength is its field offices around the world. We work in close partnership with private voluntary organizations, indigenous organizations, universities, American businesses, international agencies, other governments, and other U.S. government agencies. USAID has working relationships with more than 3,500 American companies and over 300 U.S.-based private voluntary organizations.

For more information on our business and procurement opportunities, please visit our Business section. If you would like to know more about employment opportunities with USAID, please visit our Careers section of our web site.

U.S. Agency for International Development

 

[boedicca]

They are proof that Keynesianism is an Epic Fail.

When did the Japanese attempt Keynesian economic policy?

<Hint: the closest Japan ever got to Keynesian strategies was the postwar period.>

Were you in a coma in the 1990s?

To be clear, the Keynesian Endgame is a scenario whereby big government intervention (known in academic circles as "countercyclical government stimulus") in the form deficit spending, debt buildup, and cheap money monetary policy fail to produce the desired results. Instead, it produces depressed growth rates, which we have seen from Japan over the past two decades.

How Keynes failed Japan - Fortune Finance

If you knew how to use a search engine, you could find many articles such as this one for 2009:

apan's debt-laden government said Monday it planned a new round of stimulus spending worth more than 31 billion US dollars to prop up a feeble economic recovery that is threatened by the strong yen.

Japan, which has this year been digging itself out of its worst post-war recession, now faces the threat of the yen trading at a 14-year high against the dollar, which hurts the profits of exporters such as Toyota and Sony.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama at the weekend ordered his cabinet to work out measures to cope with the surging yen and its effects on the stock market.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Chief government spokesman Hirofumi Hirano Monday announced spending of "no less than 2.7 trillion yen (31 billion US dollars)," calling it "policy action in view of the strengthening yen and problems surrounding share prices."

It would be the second extra budget for the current fiscal year to March 2010, reinforcing a market view that government bond issuance for the year would by far exceed the initially planned 44 trillion yen.

The spending will further stretch state coffers in Japan, which already has a massive public debt after trying to spend its way out of the economic "lost decade" of the 1990s with a series of large stimulus packages.

The outstanding balance of state debt reached 864.5 trillion yen at the end of September -- some 180 percent of expected gross domestic product for the 2009 fiscal year, according to the finance ministry....

Japan's debt-ridden govt plans new stimulus

 

[boedicca]

More on Japan's failed Keynesian Stimulus policies:

To review a little history: After a stunning rise in Japan's real-estate and stock prices in the 1980s, both bubbles burst to create a mess similar to the one the United States. is experiencing now. Over the next several years, the Japanese government launched several stimulus packages to jump start the economy through public-works projects and loan programs. And yet from 1996 to 2002, the country's economy stalled: per capita GDP grew a paltry 0.2%.

...

For one thing, there was dubious logic behind too many of Japan's infrastructure projects. "It was the epitome of bridges to nowhere," says economist Ed Lincoln, director of the Center for Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies at New York University. "There was apparently a $2 billion bridge built to an island of 800 people."

And even before the financial crisis hit, Japan was wasting money on pork-barrel projects, so by the time the Japanese ramped up spending in the 1990s, they had run out of worthy projects to fund. The United States, by comparison, has a long list of needy spots. (Witness the Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007.)

Lincoln adds that at its peak in the 1990s, the government was spending 8% of GDP on public works projects. By comparison, the United States now spends about 3% - even several hundred billion dollars in proposed projects would not get the United States to Japan's peak....

...

One thing is certain: Japan still faces a mountain of debt from all its spending; debt is now around 200% of GDP, vs. 45% for the U.S. And the U.S. can count on a similar situation if it embarks on more big-government spending.[/b[

Myths and truths about Japan's stimulus - Jan. 21, 2009



And tragically for the U.S., Obama is bound and determined to emulate Japan. Note, our debt level is now 100% of GDP.

 

[bodecea]

It's pretty embarrassing to be an American these days. The way we handle serious issues, to put nicely, is childish in general. Way too few people have any sort of long-term view of themselves, their family, and the country. It's always right here right now and deal with the consequences when they come later. I think that's part of the problem. And the supreme US federal government really sets the example on that one...

its called lack of leadership.....and the guy in the center chair is....well lets just say....he aint much of a leader....but then neither are the other "leaders" in the Country at the moment....hopefully that will change in time.....this Country needs leadership.....not "squabbleship"....

You, of course, are slamming the guy in the center chair during Katrina, right?

 

[8537]

They are proof that Keynesianism is an Epic Fail.

When did the Japanese attempt Keynesian economic policy?

<Hint: the closest Japan ever got to Keynesian strategies was the postwar period.>

Were you in a coma in the 1990s?

No.

To be clear, the Keynesian Endgame is a scenario whereby big government intervention (known in academic circles as "countercyclical government stimulus") in the form deficit spending, debt buildup, and cheap money monetary policy fail to produce the desired results. Instead, it produces depressed growth rates, which we have seen from Japan over the past two decades.

^This is not a description of Keynesian policies.

How Keynes failed Japan - Fortune Finance

If you knew how to use a search engine, you could find many articles such as this one for 2009:

apan's debt-laden government said Monday it planned a new round of stimulus spending worth more than 31 billion US dollars to prop up a feeble economic recovery that is threatened by the strong yen.

That's not Keynesian economic policy.

Japan, which has this year been digging itself out of its worst post-war recession, now faces the threat of the yen trading at a 14-year high against the dollar, which hurts the profits of exporters such as Toyota and Sony.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama at the weekend ordered his cabinet to work out measures to cope with the surging yen and its effects on the stock market.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Chief government spokesman Hirofumi Hirano Monday announced spending of "no less than 2.7 trillion yen (31 billion US dollars)," calling it "policy action in view of the strengthening yen and problems surrounding share prices."

I'm afraid you actually think any of the above is Keynesian policy.

Hint: It's not.

 

[The Rabbi]

What you know about economics could be fit into the letter o in the word "idiot."

When did the Japanese attempt Keynesian economic policy?

<Hint: the closest Japan ever got to Keynesian strategies was the postwar period.>

Were you in a coma in the 1990s?

No.



^This is not a description of Keynesian policies.

How Keynes failed Japan - Fortune Finance

If you knew how to use a search engine, you could find many articles such as this one for 2009:

apan's debt-laden government said Monday it planned a new round of stimulus spending worth more than 31 billion US dollars to prop up a feeble economic recovery that is threatened by the strong yen.

That's not Keynesian economic policy.

Japan, which has this year been digging itself out of its worst post-war recession, now faces the threat of the yen trading at a 14-year high against the dollar, which hurts the profits of exporters such as Toyota and Sony.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama at the weekend ordered his cabinet to work out measures to cope with the surging yen and its effects on the stock market.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Chief government spokesman Hirofumi Hirano Monday announced spending of "no less than 2.7 trillion yen (31 billion US dollars)," calling it "policy action in view of the strengthening yen and problems surrounding share prices."

I'm afraid you actually think any of the above is Keynesian policy.

Hint: It's not.

 

[8537]

What you know about economics could be fit into the letter o in the word "idiot."

Sadly, it appears the rabbit has chose to take me off ignore in order to spew his ignorance.

Did you have something constructive to add?

 

[The Rabbi]

What you know about economics could be fit into the letter o in the word "idiot."

Sadly, it appears the rabbit has chose to take me off ignore in order to spew his ignorance.

Did you have something constructive to add?

Yes. You're an ignoramus. Virtually everything you post on economics is woefully uininformed and simply incorrect. Someone reading your posts would do well to think the opposite and they would likely be right.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Can you imagine all the people on this thread giving up against the Japanese in WWII?

yea im sure that would have gave the Japanese a big advantage.....the numbers are just staggering....

 

[Harry Dresden]

It's pretty embarrassing to be an American these days. The way we handle serious issues, to put nicely, is childish in general. Way too few people have any sort of long-term view of themselves, their family, and the country. It's always right here right now and deal with the consequences when they come later. I think that's part of the problem. And the supreme US federal government really sets the example on that one...

its called lack of leadership.....and the guy in the center chair is....well lets just say....he aint much of a leader....but then neither are the other "leaders" in the Country at the moment....hopefully that will change in time.....this Country needs leadership.....not "squabbleship"....

You, of course, are slamming the guy in the center chair during Katrina, right?

i have said more than once that Bush and Obama were and are, two piss poor leaders......Bill Clinton had more leadership in his Pecker, then both of those clowns combined, have in their whole being.....