Thursday 14 May 2020

On the Topic of Economics

Somewhere around year three of my Air Force period (22 years), they offered up a retraining deal, and I went off to work around a lot of curious and interesting people.

At one point, I worked with a Captain who had a degree in Civil War history, and we'd get into those forty-minute discussions about such-and-such battle, or this general versus that general.  These were like lectures but they provided a lot of insight that you simply didn't get via high school, or normal college professors.

At another point, I worked with a Major who had a background in physics and planetary science.  He'd readily admit that they were worthless with the Air Force job, but again....we'd have these afternoon twenty-minute talks and he added tons of information that you typically would never get.

The peak of this business was a junior Captain who had a degree in economics.  In an average week.....we'd dabble in economic 'chatter' for a minimum of 90 minutes.

One day, he got onto this 'lecture'....talking about the 'car-engine' of economics relating to countries, with this massive wheel he'd drawn on the white-board, and then talked to the subject of how most leaders simply didn't understand the dynamics of their economy, or how fragile it could be.

His key point was that the political machine of a country, relied upon a safe, secure and dependable 'cycle'......if someone or some 'thing' came along to screw this up.....these 'dimwits' had no grasp what was screwing things up or how to restart the machine.  You needed politicians for political stuff, but they were useless for revenue processes, economic systems, or improving job quantity.

I'm reminded of this chatter from years ago.....as these virus problems continue on.  Mayors, Governors, Senators, Representatives, and medical folks....all attempting to fix something that they really don't have much understanding over.

Some don't care if you spend 3-trillion that you don't have.  Some are willing to pay out $24,000 over six months to a couple.....but never thinking of the imaginary money situation in 2021, and how much debt has to be resolved in some fashion.

The chief problem, after you've pondered over this for a while....a whole lot of folks aren't that bright over economics, and there is no fix-it strategy.  You better prepare for a long spell of negativity. 

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