Comments on: Stephen Roach: Economic Armaggedon Here We Come

By: The Entrepreneurial Mind

The Entrepreneurial Mind — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 01:13:32 +0000

Welcome to the Carnival of the Capitalists!
Welcome to this week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists from my office at Belmont University in Nashville! This is the second opportunity I have had to host COTC. My has it grown! I hope you enjoy what my...

By: John Thacker

John Thacker — Thu, 25 Nov 2004 06:51:13 +0000

Actions to "reduce the trade deficit" (and the trade deficit is always very dubious anyway, considering that services, including education, that the country does very well aren't well counted) almost inevitably make us all poorer. That's hardly a solution.

Excess worrying about the trade deficit is one of the first signs of economic quackery. The federal government deficit is another thing, of course. (Yet our debt as a % of GDP is still below the other industrial nations, none of which have collapsed either.)

By: Robert Prather

Robert Prather — Thu, 25 Nov 2004 03:29:29 +0000

This has been a hot topic lately, and with good reason. There probably will have to be adjustments -- increased interest rates should do it, though I hope it is timed well -- but it won't be the catastrophe Roach suggests. I remember that Batra book and was trying to remember the title a few weeks ago. Thanks for the reminder.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 23:18:30 +0000

It would scare me, if I thought for a split second that they could profit by taking it away. As it is, doing so eliminates their own successes.

Who would they be trading with, afterward?

By: Anjin-San

Anjin-San — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 23:01:12 +0000

Roach may be blowing smoke, but that does not change the fact that the deficit is scary, spending is out of control, and there the Bush admin does not seem to have a plan to deal with any of it.

Overseas banks are financing a large portion of the Bush deficit. What they give, they can take away.

If this does not scare you, you are watching too much "reality tv".

By: M. Murcek

M. Murcek — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 21:35:59 +0000

Right up there with that fantastic movie "The Late, Great Planet Earth"

By: Bithead

Bithead — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 21:27:44 +0000

Also, I question the timing.

Ask yourself; would Roach be making these pronouncements had John Kerry won the election? More; if he had, and had Roach made the predictions anyway, would the press be quite so eager to serve them up?

I doubt it.
I smell a fish.

By: k

Wed, 24 Nov 2004 21:14:57 +0000

Mr. Roach has been saying and writing similar things for several years. This is not anything new IMO.