For Americans - How does it feel that all your wealth is getting siphoned out...?

Question

by the huge increases in the price of gasoline, the hard earned dollars you pay largely goes to the oil companies who in turn pay it over to the..Russians and elsewhere abroad. So with your huge trade deficit are you lot going bankrupt?

My thoughts exactly too Kev D. In the UK the wealth is just going down a hole. In the US the wealth is not what it used to be. Just wondering where we are headed.

Thanks Platukism I will read that book for sure. Just this time round America has a huge trade deficit (more wealth leaving the country) and negative reserves and a lot of people borrowing against their homes which they haven't paid off with a housing burst looming and so on..

Answer 1

hey at least their government doesnt slap an 80% increase in the price in taxes just to line their own pockets. gasoline is now at $1.80 a litre over here (£1) in some places.
If Americans had our situation then for every $10 you spend on gas, $8 of that would go directly to the government in taxes.
There'd be a revolution!

Answer 2

I don't think out wealth is getting siphoned out through oil payments or any other kind of trade deficit. Ultimately, all a trade deficit represents is an exchange of currency for goods. We give another country our dollars, and they give us goods. For every dollar we have "siphoned," we get a good or service we didn't have before. And at some later point, those dollars we send away will be used to purchase something in America.

In the end, it all balances out. Gas prices are increasing here, and by itself that would mean a lower standard of living. But at the same time, several other trends are raising the standard of living. While gas prices make us pay more, higher productivity and more trade make us pay less in other areas.

Ultimately, when prices get high enough, people will start using alternative fuels or will come up with new ways of living that use less fuel. In the long run, gas prices will be as insignificant as whale oil prices are now. So I'm not too worried.

Answer 3

no, i'm afraid you dont understand our economy, in a free market economy the price of gas, or any product for that matter, will eventually reach a price (its market equillibrium) that consumers are still willing to spend. if it goes over that price consumers will not buy it. this will have other implications on the market as well. if the price keeps rising there will be more incentive to produce alternative energies, or to ride a bike or public transit to work. As far as our money being funneled elsewhere, that is the global economy today. Our money is going to them for oil whereas their money is coming to us through our exports. Americans have always paid less for gas than most other countries. I seem to remember the last time I was in germany the price was 4 euros or so a litre. we pay that per gallon. it will all even out. read this book - The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman.

addition- hey no problem, i guess i didnt fully read the question and started talking about the gas price aspect. yes there is a trade deficit however the market does go in cycles. people will adjust to this eventually. perhaps there will be some kind of depression like in the '30s (hopefully not as bad) but it should rebound. seriously though, that book is amazing

Answer 4

I was an upper-middle class small business owner for over 25 years, until the internet boom & recession of 2001 ended all that. Then my job & the job of my journeyman partner, installing flooring of all types, were given to those from Mexico who would work for less & not demand "prevailing wage" on government funded projects like schools...Now I'm a 48 y/o, single father of a 2 1/2 y/o son, diagnosed with "Full Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder" and we barely exist on less than 2/3rds of the poverty level income we get from SSI & AFDC (I'm prevented by law from working outside the home because of my son's severe issues that can be dangerous to other children)...

It's a race to see if Global Warming Climate Shifting kills us all before Aids / HIV grows into an unstoppable epidemic...How do I feel at this point in my life? NUMB and frustrated at the mass public Active Ignorance & Denial...

Answer 5

It’s like this, US is the biggest most powerfully military force of the planet.

The US and the rest of the nations can 'play' at monopoly, but if the US is even close to losing, or just doesn’t like the way the game going they simply change the rules.

Example. All countries deal in US dollar to trade in oil.

If a nation decides to change or threats to change to Euros to trade oil, the player is branded 'a member of the Axis of evil' and send to jail. and the countries wealth is ‘re-distributed’ like IRAQ . So don’t worry the US 'wealth' is very safe.

However it makes the game easier if as few as possible nations have nukes. Especially any producing oil and treating to change to Eruos. - Iran YOU HAVE BEEN WARNING – PLAY ‘FAIR’ NOW.

Personally I don’t agree with the game or the rules - but what can you do !

Answer 6

Some of us feel our toes had been stepped on or being squeezed harder to fit in a box that don't normally fit us. And some asked a question when America will invade Iran, and my response was right now our federal reserve has already been depleted and in so much debt we can afford to invade Iran yet, even if we had another "Terrorist attack." All we can do is beech and moan, when that happens now. Good enough, yes, my dear?

Answer 7

It is an old story in the capitalistic system, the rich get richer and the poor and middle class go down the drain. Gas prices lead the way for every price to rise.

Answer 8

I know enough that any jobs needed here in the usa will be health related, and that a famine draws near. So I prepare to save food, and go to school for nursing. There will be no more factories but need for farmers, educators and health feild.
We will soon be like Africa if we are not careful.

Answer 9

You need to get smaller cars in the US.
I agree with Kev D.
You'd maybe start shooting people, if you had the prices we pay in the UK.

Answer 10

I am very upset about it.

But not just the oil companies.

The defense contractors.

And most imporantly the money stealing machine known as the Federal Reserve.