In a continuation of the previous post, here are the remaining 27 topics:
I am struggling with a problem – how do I protect my savings against the obvious fallout that could occur when the US defaults. In desperation I have written a book to help clear my thinking. My top 6 questions differ from yours:
1. Does later retirement, the “solution for pension funds to be viable” lead to increased unemployment?
2. If computers/digitalisation/modern invention enable jobs to be done with remarkably fewer people, how can we expect anything else but a rising unemployment rate?
3. Governments’ weak anti-trust activity allows large companies (usually through easy borrowing)to grow ever larger by swallowing smaller opposition; does the consequent lack of competition drive prices up to a point where capitalism fails i.e. where the proletariat has no defence against the shrinking number of dominant companies…Walmart, Coca Cola, Microsoft, GE..
4. A country’s interest rate tends to reflect the amount of trust the citizens have for their country’s financial situation. Because the citizens in the US tend to look heavily askance at the goings on with their banks and government, can we conclude that the low interest level in the US is artificially engineered? If interest rates were solely subject to market forces, would they rise to levels that would make government debts unmanageable?
5. Is the measure debt:GDP ratio useful? Rating agencies like Standard and Poor appear rather to regard a government’s debt repayments: income ratio as much more appropriate, and for most countries they tend to downgrade from AAA status when this ratio tops about 13%. If borrowings from it’s own entitlement fund (of about $4 trillion) are counted, the US’s interest bill as % of income stands at about 18%. Because this is well beyond the ratings agencies’ threshold for downgrading, how long can the US hope to hold it’s AAA status?
6. If a downgrade in the US is unavoidable will the result be inflationary or lead to a 1930’s style depression?