Societe Generale The U.S. Public Is About To Revolt

SocGen’s Albert Edwards: The U.S. Public Is About To Revolt

Gregory White
Business Insider
Oct 21, 2010

Albert Edwards of Societe Generale thinks U.S. citizens are on the brink of a political revolt, based on a declining standard of living brought on by an inefficient economic relationship with China.

Here’s why, according to Edwards:

This would happen in any nation where a vision of prosperity has been shown to be a Ponzi sham, engineered by the authorities to help disguise the fact that the rich have been getting a whole lot richer.

What Edwards sees is the depressed state of the U.S. citizen getting worse. He sees unemployment rising and another recession near.

From Albert Edwards:

The latest US poverty data is staggering. Some 42 million Americans were in receipt of food stamps in July, up some 18% yoy (see chart below). Make no mistake, the government isn’t throwing money at people willy-nilly those in receipt of stamps are on the poverty line, currently defined as a 2 adult and 2 children household having a net income of $22,056 p.a. (£14,000, 16,000)

The staggering food stamp chart Edwards mentions:

http://static.businessinsider.com/im...tamp-chart.jpg
Image: Societe Generale

So how are the two linked? China continues to amass more reserves and experience an advantageous exchange rate with the U.S. The country is “hooked onâ€

It looks like it could happen; but China is only a small part of this equasion. American's are P.O. like never before at DC and Wall Street.

Societe Generale's statement is trying to stoke American Citizen rage at China is flimsy at best.

I do think something is going to happen.

Quote:

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After the 1994–1995 economic crisis, probably the most severe in the country's history, 50% of the population fell into poverty. A rapid growth in exports propitiated by NAFTA and other trade agreements, and the restructuring of the macroeconomic finances initiated during Zedillo's and continued during Fox's administration had significant results in the reduction of the poverty rate: according to the World Bank, poverty was reduced from 24.2% in 2000 to 17.6% in 2004.[26] Most of this reduction was achieved in rural communities whose rate of poverty declined from 42% to 27.9% in the 2000–2004 period, although urban poverty stagnated at 12%.[26] According to the World Bank, in 2004, 17.6% of Mexico's population lived in extreme poverty, while 21% lived in moderated poverty.[27] The CIA Factbook, on the other hand, reported that 13.8% of the population was under the poverty line, as measured in food-based poverty.[28] See Feed the Children Vallarta.

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Comparing our rate of poverty to that of Mexico poverty we are getting close to them now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Mexico

Quote:

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Poverty in the United States is cyclical in nature with roughly 13 to 17% of Americans living below the federal poverty line at any given point in time, and roughly 40% falling below the poverty line at some point within a 10-year time span. Poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. The word poverty is derived from the Latin word paupertat, which means poor.[1]

However, the government's definition of poverty is not tied to an absolute value of how much an individual or family can afford, but is tied to a relative level based on how much the average individual makes. Most Americans (58.5%) will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and 75.[2] There remains some controversy over whether the official poverty threshold over- or understates poverty.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in ... ted_States