Federal Reserve funding US budget deficit

[vankirkc]

Yeah, cause unlike the mainstream media, bloggers might use faked documents and crafty editing of video as evidence

Nobody cares enough about what the bloggers have to say to undertake any serious challenge of its factual basis. That's not the case for mainstream media.

10 years ago that was true. Today, Drudge has a bigger audience than CBS.

Needless to say, jammies isn't drudge.

[MSimon]

Nobody cares enough about what the bloggers have to say to undertake any serious challenge of its factual basis. That's not the case for mainstream media.

10 years ago that was true. Today, Drudge has a bigger audience than CBS.

Needless to say, jammies isn't drudge.

Uh. Popularity of the author (site) has nothing to do with the quality of the actual argument.

So I take it you are unable to refute the arguments presented?

[vankirkc]

10 years ago that was true. Today, Drudge has a bigger audience than CBS.

Needless to say, jammies isn't drudge.

Uh. Popularity of the author (site) has nothing to do with the quality of the actual argument.

So I take it you are unable to refute the arguments presented?

I'm not going to sit through a 15 minute video unless the presenter has some credibility. What is the basis of this guy's credibility on this subject? Anybody can make a pretty video to say anything they want, and it doesn't make it true.

[MSimon]

Bill Whittle.

You ought to buy his book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097640 ... 0976405903

Or read some of his on line essays.

Or try this 18 minute history of the military/political issues surrounding the dropping of the atomic bombs.

http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afterburner_/ ... ombs/1808/

Or you can pick an essay to sample:

http://pajamasmedia.com/ejectejecteject/

His best one about Joshua Chamberlain is no longer on line

I did like this one:

http://pajamasmedia.com/ejectejecteject ... -the-rich/

[MSimon]

I'm not going to sit through a 15 minute video unless the presenter has some credibility.

How about checking out some of the arguments and then deciding?

You know the scientific method.

You know van, all your backpedaling tells me you got nothing except squid ink.

[vankirkc]

I'm not going to sit through a 15 minute video unless the presenter has some credibility.

How about checking out some of the arguments and then deciding?

You know the scientific method.

You know van, all your backpedaling tells me you got nothing except squid ink.

Ok, so I watched the culture section of that first video. The jammie argument is that the U.S. culture is dominant because it has the highest grossing movies and records.

Several points there.

1) culture is not measured in dollars, and certainly is not limited to movies and records. there really is no meaningful yardstick for culture.
2) bollywood produces more movies, sells more tickets to more people than hollywood, albeit for much lower prices.
3) movies are a vanishingly small part of life outside the U.S. apart from europe, most countries have their own music industry and tastes.

But really, it's self evident if you step off the plane in a foreign country. Have you done that Simon?

Shrug. And it rose in 2H 2008. Anyways, it would have to fall a lot further to even come close to closing that gap. And the effect would be so devastating to export economies like Japan's that the gap might actually increase.

Your figures: ~34000 PPP for Japan, ~45000 PPP for US. Currency rates shift by 15%, then ~34000 PPP for Japan and ~38000 for U.S. When I posted that the Yen was at 95, now it's down to 93. Maybe this time next month Japan will outstrip the U.S.

You're right about hard times in Japan, though. The drought in U.S. imports has affected things badly here, and the currency situation only makes things worse.

[MSimon]

1) culture is not measured in dollars, and certainly is not limited to movies and records. there really is no meaningful yardstick for culture.

Well we will have to stick with the meaningless ones then since they are the best we can do.

[TallDave]

there really is no meaningful yardstick for culture.

Sure there is, Q ratings and market penetration. American celebrities are better known to the world than those from any other country.

bollywood produces more movies, sells more tickets to more people than hollywood,

But far more Indians have seen American movies than Americans have seen Indian movies, as is the case with every other country in the world. Also--- "Bollywood." That in itself says something about American cultural dominance.

movies are a vanishingly small part of life outside the U.S. apart from europe, most countries have their own music industry and tastes

It's a bigger deal here, but again most movies now gross more outside the U.S. As people in other countries become wealthy and Westernized, their tastes change, and American culture becomes more and more of an influence. Some countries are so threatened by this they pass laws mandating and heavily subsidizing their own cultural products.

[vankirkc]

1) culture is not measured in dollars, and certainly is not limited to movies and records. there really is no meaningful yardstick for culture.

Well we will have to stick with the meaningless ones then since they are the best we can do.

Ok then. I prefer this meaningless yardstick:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_No ... Literature

No sign of U.S. dominance there.

[vankirkc]

there really is no meaningful yardstick for culture.

Sure there is, Q ratings and market penetration. American celebrities are better known to the world than those from any other country.

bollywood produces more movies, sells more tickets to more people than hollywood,

But far more Indians have seen American movies than Americans have seen Indian movies, as is the case with every other country in the world. Also--- "Bollywood." That in itself says something about American cultural dominance.

movies are a vanishingly small part of life outside the U.S. apart from europe, most countries have their own music industry and tastes

It's a bigger deal here, but again most movies now gross more outside the U.S. As people in other countries become wealthy and Westernized, their tastes change, and American culture becomes more and more of an influence. Some countries are so threatened by this they pass laws mandating and heavily subsidizing their own cultural products.

You and MSimon remind me of the English language teachers in Japan. English is a big part of the high school entrance exam here, and is taught for at least 6 years in grades 1-12. By and large, though, the Japanese English language teachers can neither speak, read, nor understand the English they are teaching, and as a consequence the average Japanese person who has sat through six years of lessons can't communicate with anyone in English.

The problem with these guys is that they read the grammar books and take the courses, but they never actually engage with the subject matter. They don't speak, read or write English. It's all an abstract intellectual exercise for them.

In your case, you are convinced that you know what the cultural impact of America is without ever having stepped outside your door to have a look. This is simply arrogance and hubris. Explaining cultural differences to you is like trying to explain the color red to someone who has been blind from birth.

Movie sales figures doesn't mean anything. Familiarity with U.S. movie star and recording star names doesn't either. Brand is not culture, it's business. If anything America's culture revolves around the idea that money is the only meaningful thing in life (especially for you two). This is just not the case elsewhere in the world.

[MSimon]

Brand is not culture, it's business.

OK. Then the USA is tops in the culture business. i.e. we are pretty good at monetizing our culture (getting people to pay for it).

And speaking of Japanese not understanding English - I heard that it was a fad in Japan to wear T shirts with meaningless American phrases at one time.

[TDPerk]

vankirkc cites Nobel Prize awards as being evidence of culture...

From http://dailyreckoning.com/fixers-aim-to ... phony-fix/

"But the brains kept at it. When the forensic experts sifted through the debris from the 2007-2008 financial blow-up they found fingerprints from a whole list of Nobel winners. It was they who had developed the formulae and the theories that deceived investors, and themselves. They believed they could tame risk…by calculation!"

Outside of awards for achievement in the hard sciences, the Nobel Prize is solely indicative of what artist has most slavishly and successfully labored at the fad of their time, WRT Al Gore, this certainly includes the political fads infecting the hard sciences.

If they'll let Arafat have one for Peace, then it can't mean much, can it?

Bill Whittle has more credibility than Dan Rather.

And he should have it; unlike Dan, he hasn't lied yet.

[choff]

My impression of the global economy is that the rest of the world looks at the US consumer as a cash cow. A relative from China was bragging about Asia's economic growth and that everyone else in the world is a frugal saver but Americans were wastrels.
I pointed out that without Americans being wastrels there would be no Asian economic growth because nobody would buy Asian products.
The rest of the world is trying to rely on exports to the US and keeping wages down/savings up for growth, they push that in the local culture and advertising.
Americans are being pushed by culture and advertising to be aggressive, impulse shoppers. You are constantly being pressured into buying bigger vehicles, larger homes, even eating more. At the same time the buy more pitch goes on Illegal immigration undercuts wages and tax base, and large corporations and the wealthy avoid taxes offshore. The American consumer gets more of the tax burden.
The only way to keep the American consumer spending is with extra credit, but then business also wants to hit you with buy/now pay later deals. Fair to say the rest of the world has slaughter the cash cow.

[IntLibber]

vankirkc cites Nobel Prize awards as being evidence of culture...

If they'll let Arafat have one for Peace, then it can't mean much, can it?

Bill Whittle has more credibility than Dan Rather.

And he should have it; unlike Dan, he hasn't lied yet.

Thats ok, we can use Nobel prizes as evidence of culture. Jews make up 0.3% of the population of the world yet win 20% of Nobel prizes, the largest disparity of any cultural group on the planet. Does this make Jews the most cultured? Why isn't Israel the cultural capital of the planet?

Because vankirkc's standard is obviously wrong.

But lets still roll with it, as he seems to be someone who pouts if spanked in a debate with an American.

"Usually, most countries have a good-spirited competition regarding their numbers of winners of Nobel Prizes. The United States has clearly led the pack with over 260 Nobel Prizes. The United Kingdom does not hold nearly as many in the second place with just over 90 Nobel Prizes. Germany currently holds 61 Nobel Prizes. France and Switzerland hold 28 and 22 respectively. Sweden and Russia both can boast of greater than 10 Nobel Prizes. The Netherlands, Denmark and Japan each hold less than 10." http://www.wisegeek.com/what-countries- ... prizes.htm

Wow, France has only about 10% as many Nobels as the US, yet most people who regard themselves as 'cultured' consider France to be the most cultured country on the planet. How can this be?

The answer is that the US is the most cultured country on the planet, but it is primarily POPULAR culture as opposed to HIGH culture, that the US excells at. Popular culture can be readily measured by dollar sales of movies, music, tv show ratings, etc etc.

Snobs have a problem with this because they are elitist snobs who only see HIGH culture as "real" culture.

[TallDave]

In your case, you are convinced that you know what the cultural impact of America is without ever having stepped outside your door to have a look. This is simply arrogance and hubris. Explaining cultural differences to you is like trying to explain the color red to someone who has been blind from birth.

LOL What is saying "movie sales don't mean anything?" Deliberate ignorance?

You remind of a friend's grandfather, who had farmed all his life and never learned much about science or figures. One day, while out in the field, he told my friend he knew men could never have walked on the Moon. "Look at it," he said, "it's too small!"

He probably knew more about corn and beans and wheat than anyone in Georgia, but he just couldn't process that kind of data.

If anything America's culture revolves around the idea that money is the only meaningful thing in life (especially for you two).

Now I'm not sure you've ever actually seen an American movie or heard an American song. I'm trying to think of one of either with that message. It's generally quite the opposite; much of pop culture is very explicitly anti-materialist.

American culture is uniquely well-known in the world, from Nikes to McDonalds to Hollywood to rock music. Why so many leftists hate this fact is a bit mysterious, but its a fact nonetheless.