Re:Lehman going bankrupt. Bank of America buying Merrill Lynch
by cturner on Monday September 15, 2008 @12:38PM
(#304805)
This idea of the war as a creator of strong economies doesn't stand up.
If it was then we could create wealth by wandering down the road and throwing bricks through people's windows and smashing up their cars.
Wars cause a sudden drop in population, which causes labour to become more valuable (historically something that tended to happen after major plagues), so there are individual stories of improved circumstance. Wars also require people to make sacrifices in their standard of living and succeed in achieving this more easily than under other circumstances.
Regardless of all of that - you can't demonstrate that the US in the 50s had a stronger economic situation than it would have done had it been allowed to continue along its course without a war.
> Nothing will happen to China once its main customer
> goes bankrupt.
If we see a major downturn in consumption as a result of the things that are unfolding now, I'll be expecting massive upheaval in China. People have seem general improvement with the party's policies to date but will become less accommodating when the state continues to take a share of a shrinking pie.
If it was then we could create wealth by wandering down the road and throwing bricks through people's windows and smashing up their cars.
Wars cause a sudden drop in population, which causes labour to become more valuable (historically something that tended to happen after major plagues), so there are individual stories of improved circumstance. Wars also require people to make sacrifices in their standard of living and succeed in achieving this more easily than under other circumstances.
Regardless of all of that - you can't demonstrate that the US in the 50s had a stronger economic situation than it would have done had it been allowed to continue along its course without a war.
> Nothing will happen to China once its main customer > goes bankrupt.
If we see a major downturn in consumption as a result of the things that are unfolding now, I'll be expecting massive upheaval in China. People have seem general improvement with the party's policies to date but will become less accommodating when the state continues to take a share of a shrinking pie.