Question

Topic: Other

The Party Is Over

Posted by adammjw on 10/20/2011 at 7:13 AM ET 5000 Points
Dear Friends,

History seems to come in cycles. The time we are now closely resembles the years 1934- 1937.
What does the world today look like?
America is technically bankrupt. Billions upon billions of dollars have been pumped into the economy just to buy time.
To no avail. Banks' losses have been nationalized and budget deficit exploded even further. Interest rate have been kept at an artificially low level for a long long time. Inflation is looming large, unemployment goes up instead of going down.
How do you fight inflation? Raising interest rates and dramatically to boot. This will add up to housing market problems. How long will investors put their money into T-bonds of diminishing value?

Now Europe. Eurozone is disintegrating at a fast pace. How long can we expect that Germay, the only real engine of the European Union, will keep on financing the show?
It looks its coming to its end.

The prospects are somber.

So my question is. If the decision what to do was yours, what would you do to save the world?

Adam
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 10/20/2011 at 8:24 AM Accepted
    Adam - what does your question have to do with marketing?
  • Posted by mktgcbb on 10/20/2011 at 11:37 AM Accepted
    Find a way to:
    make education a priority - there's no excuse for ignorance
    encourage people to take a risk and get involved in their communities and the issues that affect their lives.

    . . .oh, and I think the market won't stabilize until we stop tinkering with it. . .and then, it won't be pretty.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 10/20/2011 at 1:01 PM Accepted
    Guess I am not so negative about the state of the world as you are. And I would not suggest the solution we did last time to get out of this (a world war).

    I don't think we (U.S.) are bankrupt yet, as we can still borrow. Bankrupt means you can't even do that. And our borrowing rates are still quite low, which is a sign that we are no where near our true borrowing limit.

    Short term borrowing to keep us going as we take steps to keep the economy going and help make it grow. Use to pay for unemployment insurance and to make true investments in the future. Not talking about fixing a bridge, but instead things which can have large multipliers in the future. High speed trains, air traffic improvements, research in clean energy, etc.

    The problem has been that the politicians don't do short term well, nor do they stop borrowing when the economy is doing well.
  • Posted by adammjw on 10/20/2011 at 1:11 PM Author
    Peter

    Thanks for your input. I know that the government still can borrow money selling bonds. How long and who's buying it for the most part? I think not too long and the buying side are Chinese mostly.
    I think that depreciating dollar and rising inflation will affect their decision pretty soon. So what to do? There's only one way adopted in the 1980's. High interest rates which will kill off the housing market. Who is responsible for that? Politicians. How can you allow that profits are privitized and losses nationalized?

    As to the world war I hope it will not come to this, though listening to some voices on the " Occupy" side of the barricade I heard same mantra i.e. Jews are responsible as they own the Wall Street.

    Adam
  • Posted by Harry Hallman on 10/20/2011 at 2:11 PM Accepted
    Adam, is your manifesto appropriate for use simple marketing folks? Perhaps you can post your question on Linkedin or the Huffington post or send it to your congressman or post on 2012theendisnear.com.
  • Posted by adammjw on 10/20/2011 at 2:29 PM Author
    Harry,

    Not quite spot on to put it mildly. I live in Poland, that's in Europe, so your advice is hardly applicable. One could say then what do I care. I do care as I think we, all of us, marketing people also helped make it happen. How? Earning our bread and butter we supported the new economy. Some call it experience economy which became a virtual one in the internet era. However we sort of forgot that internet does not create jobs the way industry does. Bank speculation does not create added value, only bubbles. In the meantime, production has been moved to China, India, Mexico and so on. How can we bounce back to life and give jobs to millions of people in the so-called civilized world if we have gotten rid of our production base?
    Can we unlearn those 20 years and get back to the roots?
  • Posted on 10/20/2011 at 5:28 PM Accepted
    Somehow it seems that the end is always right around the corner.

    There have always been insurmountable problems facing us, and each bogeyman and each white knight has appeared and then been supplanted by the next one. (I remember when the Japanese owned much of the US real estate, only to sell it off at a loss so the Chinese could buy it. Recently the US was about to default on its debt, only to be bailed out by another legislative contortion. Etc. Etc.)

    Where will it all end? Probably with the next crisis. Somehow we get up each morning and do what we have to do, then retire and repeat the cycle tomorrow.

    I'm tired of doomsday prophets. Remarkably the world will not end in the next 10 or 20 years. We'll come up with solutions and new problems will arise. It's the cycle of life.

    And what does this have to do with Marketing?
  • Posted by michael on 10/21/2011 at 11:09 AM Accepted
    Adam,
    I'm an American thru and thru and, as you probably do, I believe my country is the best. But the biggest difference is that US economy still drives the world economy. So my solution would start here, not in Europe.

    I would require that all politicians (you can pick the definition) be limited to ONE secretarial person. No aides, no other staff. If they don't have time to read or write a bill or legislation, then it's too complicated.

    I would move election day to the day after taxes are due.

    If it seems like I'm in a "throw the bums out" mood, I am.

    Looking for advice on how to market this.

    Michael
  • Posted by adammjw on 10/22/2011 at 4:41 AM Author
    Michael,

    As a matter of fact you said something I was sort of counting on and expecting to hear from you guys. America's is the home of modern democracy and most of the best and worst things involved were born here. That's why I think the change should start here as well. You asked the best question that could be uttered" how to market it".
    Let's be a bit specific. Some 20-30 years ago the banking system gave 20% of the US GDP. Now it's 60%. It's easy to imagine if the share is so large what the pull the guys have with the powers that be.
    Pls do not ask me what it has to do with marketing. The question was not asked in the category of branding, taglines, etc. It's in the category of Other. I think we can expect that very well educated smart people who know the ropes and keep the ball rolling can go an extra mile and see things clearer than a man in the street. I do not think we should be proud of what things look like today. Marketing people in the US form a large community of very clever professionals and their voice should be heard out. Some very well known investors like Warren Buffet has already had a say.
    I think we should not wait for " los indignados" of the world to take over and do the street riots sort of revolution.
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