Tuesday, September 04, 2012

The Coming Economic Boom


                                                      The Coming Boom in the US

           Roger Altman has written an OpEd in the Financial Times in which he argued that a Boom is coming our way in the United States for the following five reasons. Please read and comment . Be sure to use your real name, Non Anons!!!
  
Rising home prices. Home prices are rising in half of the major housing markets in the U.S.

Booming energy production. Gas and oil production in the U.S. has increased at “breathtaking” rates.

Financial sector health. The banking sector, nearly nationalized while on its deathbed just a few years ago, has recovered faster than anyone thought possible.

Competitiveness. A few years ago, we were becoming a post-industrial nation. Now we’re back in the game of making big, hard things.

Budget balancing. Here Altman gets a bit partisan, predicting that an Obama re-election could result in a budget deal that brings down our mounting debt levels.

16 comments:

alberto mancusi said...

Alberto Mancusi said:
the competitiveness is a minimal factor on Altman's assumption because China is still producing the majority of goods througout the world.For a financial boom to come i believe that the United States needs to produce a lot more goods for themselves. Also the rising of home prices is a weak arguement because the economy is still low and many people cannot afford housing costs. Charging more money for something would only create a boom if people can afford it.

Nick Terrasi said...

I feel that a boom is not coming. The prices of houses right now are falling not rising. However, gas prices have increased dramatically. I also feel that reelecting President Obama will make out debt even worse than it is now at 16 trillion. Or economy has been plummeting and I think the government has to find a way to make this economy more profitable. Most products are produced in China and the United States is not that profitable because they do not make that many products here than they do in China. If we were going to have a boom people would be buying more products than worrying about the prices of them.

Luis Lleshi said...

A boom is certainly not coming. The unemployment rate is at 8%, and also it's just a fact that the rising home prices are just too expensive for a good percentage of Americans to afford. It is the same case with the rising gas prices. I doubt that we are ever going to be as competitive as China because of the cheap labor they have. American businesses, such as Apple, go to China to produce items inexpensively and sell them here in America. We need to start producing products here, and have more Americans working to have a "Boom." I also doubt that a re-election of President Obama is going to result in bringing down our national debt. It has risen drastically under his presidency and it would not make sense that he is going to bring the debts down.

Nick Ramos said...

I believe that Altman does have good reasons as to why he believes that a boom is coming; however, I do not necessarily agree that this economic boom is coming. Sure, house prices in certain states may be on the rise again but that's after the prices were already at a several year low. Gas and oil production in the country may be increasing but the U.S. still has a high unemployment rate so although we may be increasing our production of goods, many people may not be able to afford the goods because of the high price tag on them. Also, we are producing more goods in the industrial world but that does not necessarily mean that a boom is coming. The country still imports goods from other, cheaper countries which causes these products to be cheaper and therefore more attractive to the consumer because of their affordability. If we really want an economic boom to be caused by our production of goods we will have to cease our importing of goods that can be domestically manufactured and be of greater quality. Although I disagree with Altman in that a boom is coming I do believe that his reasons are a sign that economy could be on its way to improving which is definitely something that this country needs.

Kaitlyn Siriano said...

I do not feel that a boom is coming. I feel this way because while Altman argues that the prices of houses are rising and the market is getting better, it actually is not. The prices of houses are falling and it is very hard to buy or sell a house in this economy. Also, the oil production rate in this country might be rising, but prices are also rising. It is hard for many people to afford these crazy prices. I also feel that Obama has had four years to make the economy better, but has only made it worse, so we need a change because we can not count on him.

Aaron Berube said...

I believe that the the boom will be coming, however not in the near future. One generalized example of how our economy has recovered is the stock market. Back in late 2008 to 2009, the stock market was in horrible shape. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was hovering at about 8-9 thousand, the NASDAQ was about 1,500, and the rest of the stock market was struggling too. The economy of the United States, as with any other economy, has cycles of growth and recessions. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average currently at 13,306.64, the NASDAQ Composite at 3136.42, and the rest of the stock market growing, our economy is in fact in a period of growth. In addition, Unemployment has fallen from its recent high of 10% in 2009 to 8.1% this month, I believe it is safe to say that our economy is improving. However, I also believe that the actual "boom" is yet to come.

Briana Finelli said...

With the economy in its current state, I don't believe an economic "boom" is impending. I do, however, believe that our economy is in a state of improvement. As far as competitiveness goes, China will continue to trump the United States, especially if we continue to depend on other countries for cheap labor and supplies, etc. We will only see major growth in our economy when the unemployment rate lowers dramatically, we begin producing our own supplies, etc. However, I do believe that an Obama re-election could result in a lowering of our national debt. The Obama administration has finally gotten realistic about the programs that are "worthy, but unaffordable." $1 trillion in budget cuts have already been made, and the Republican plan to cut $5 trillion in taxes would inevitably only hurt the middle class and the poor.

Ariana Lulani said...

I feel that there is not an economic boom arriving in the near future. Though there are some reasons to be hopeful, I don’t think we’re out of the woods just yet. There is still too much uncertainty, too many problems left unresolved from the financial crisis. There have been some positive changes. For example, the addition of jobs. Also,China appears to have kicked their inflation problem, allowing them to ease money and pursue faster growth, which is good for the global economy overall. But that is not enough for the upcoming economic boom. The global economy is doing poorly which effects the US greatly. I believe that if Obama is elected our national debt will continue to increase. House prices are on the rise and the buyers are declining. Gas prices are higher than they have ever been. Our economy is worse than it was last year and there needs to be a change.

Blair Wynn said...

I think that President Obama has done a fair job in decreasing our debt levels; or atleast slowing them down. The fact that the U.S. has been producing more oil, gas, and other products points us in the right direction, economically. The anticipated boom will come, soon.

Stephanie Cappa said...

I absolutely do not think an economic boom is coming. There are no signs of significant job creation or a decrease in national spending levels. Obama has done nothing to improve the state of our economy. There are absolutely zero signs of the housing market rising because the banks are still not lending. We need the election of someone who has a clear cut plan for economic development and change. Although I do realize that Obama has advisors and may not be directly responsiable for all of this countries issues. He does not listen to the advisement of his team.

Chris Olsen said...

I agree with Altman in believing that there will be an economic boom in the future. I think the facts that we are increasing our production of gas and oil rapidly is a big indicator of this future boom and with our nation becoming more competitive in means of producing goods shows us that we are getting back economically. Although I believe there will be a boom some factors might slow this from happening. The unemployment rate is still extremely high. Also we need to be less dependent on Chinese goods and continue to produce them in the US which we have already started. An economic boom is coming but might not be in the near future.

Chad Delgado said...

Chad Delgado

I feel there can be a chance of an economic boom. If Altman's arguments can be provided with facts, he has very strong points. Although it seems house pricing has actually decreased, this can allow growth for the masses. If more jobs become open this broadens the ability for the people to buy more homes. Booming energy production would be a great reason as to why we could have an economic boom. If production in the U.S increases then we can pull our resources out of other countries such as Afghanistan, end the war and focus on more important things than overseas oil. Obama's re-election could be a very good thing for our country. After being in office he can look back at the positives and negatives of his last run. Learn from his mistakes and further his accomplishments. I feel the United States should keep him as our Commanding Officer for at least another term to see how he handles these next few years. Although our economy is far from its peak, we are doing better than other countries. Also, we cannot point all fingers of our economic decrease at Obama solely. Over time these problems have occurred, even while he was running for President.

KaitlynMcCormickCavanagh said...

Roger Altman's article "The Coming Boom in the U.S." discusses his five reasons why he thinks the United States of America is about to enter into an economic boom period. The five reasons that Roger Altman states are rising home prices, booming energy production, financial sector health, competitiveness, and budget balancing. I think these are all important and true facts. The reason about the financial sector's health is very uplifting. As stated in the article, a few years ago everyone was fearful of the future of the banks around the nation. It is nice to know how far the banks have come and improved in only a few short years. Another important reason stated by Altman is the rising prices of homes that shows that the real estate market is also on the rebound. I agree with Roger Altman's point of view and find it very reassuring. I think it will be wonderful if his assumptions comes true and the United States of America enters into an economic boom.

Imerlyn Ventura said...

I believe an Economic Boom is on its way even though Roger Altman’s reasons are more factual facts than anything else. The reasons the Economic Boom will occur is because the economy goes through a business cycle. The cycle shows that after a period of recession the economy goes through recovery and then reaches expansion. In addition, I believe whoever is elected will also have a major part in the economic boom. Four years to fix an economy is a lot to ask for, but Obama helped the United States from completely falling apart. My last statement is the simple quote “whatever goes down, must come up”; Hence, we are in a rise to recovering our economy.

Alison Wu said...

I do not believe that there is a boom coming. Altman's reasons are not strong facts. House prices have been falling. Although the production of gas and oil has increased the price has also increased. Obama saved the United States from the economic crisis in 2008. It has taken so many years to make some progress that if he gets reelected I predict that he will continue to decrease the amount of debt that we are currently in. Some may feel that Obama has not helped with our economy but he entered office when there was already a lot of trouble so he has been doing really well. For the next few years it does not seem like a boom will happen because we just started to get over one.

Tessy Punnose said...

Tessy Said..

Roger Altman does have good points of an economic boom coming, however I believe that all of his points can't cause the economic boom to happen now maybe in the near future if there is a miracle . Yes it is true that there is an increase in energy production, which is great because it can cause the gas prices to lower and the increase in more jobs to happen. But, the rising prices in home prices will not help at point when no one can afford the prices with the horrible economy we are in. The unemployment rate has lowered from 10% to 8% in august, which I think is amazing, but we still need it to lower more. The competitiveness in industry has jumped than any other nations and I believe that he is talking about the car industry, but this is caused by forcing wages to a point where it brings them more in line with China, but this is not the big change we need. I believe that if Obama is reelected he may know the situation more, but I believe that he could not help save the economy. I believe we need a new and a great leader who could bring us out of this bad economy. I believe that we should start to increase on having more production in the US rather than depending on China, if we can have more production here, we may have the chance in creating more jobs and decreasing the rates of unemployment. In order for an economic boom to happen we need for the inflation rate to lower, economic growth to increase and total employment to increase, this will have a huge impact on the US.