US isn't alone - UK and Japan are also hit hard!

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Picking up where I left off on yesterdays blog (48 out of 50 states are broke):

Although my blog was about the condition of the United States, we are by no means alone in the economic crisis. The United Kingdom and Japan are also greatly suffering from this recession. They differ in the US in that they don't have the additional serious issues like we do, namely the broken education and health care systems.

Yesterday, Japan did something that was unthinkable: The Prime Minister Taro Aso went on TV and apologized for his (and his party) failures. Just before the Japanese Parliament could remove him from power, he dissolved the Parliament and called for general elections to be held at the end of August. His party has been in control for almost fifty years, so it will be interesting to see how the election turns out.

This would never work in the US, because both the Republican and Democratic parties are dysfunctional and corrupt. The lobby groups here "bet on all of the horses", meaning they backed both major candidates so no matter who wins - nothing changes.

Starting in 2008, the United Kingdom GDP has been in a freefall, and experts there say it will be at least five more years before things may begin to return to pre-recession numbers. The current UK government debt is at a record �799 billion, or 56.6% of the total UK GDP.

The US isn't alone, but no other country is facing our issues in addition to the recession. The government is backed into a corner, and either way they decide to go will not end well. Manipulating interest rates worked for a while, but their bag of tricks is now empty.

-- Gary Wright II

This discussion is related to the following blog entries:
Is the end near for America? It's pretty broken right now!
Current State of the US Economy

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