It may be the Independence Day holiday, but according to Financial Times Deutschland Wall Street correspondent Jens Korte, U.S. citizens have precious little to celebrate this year. So does the dismal economic climate and waning U.S. influence spell the end for the United States? Korte writes – not by a long shot.
For Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland, Jens Korte writes in part:
This year, the 2nd of August could indeed be a historic day. If by then Congress doesn’t succeed in reaching an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, the United States may not be able to borrow any fresh money.
Thus, the world’s largest economy would have to do without over $40,000 per second. How is it that Benjamin Franklin put it 235 years ago?: “Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
U.S. citizens have in fact very little to celebrate. The job market is stagnant; consumers are uncertain due to the job situation; the mountain of debt is growing inexorably; and the real estate market isn’t moving. A bad joke that’s currently making the rounds on the Wall Street trading floor goes, “You want to know what the U.S. will look like in 20 years? Drive to Mexico.”
In any case, Americans won’t be defeated without a fight. On this 4th of July, that’s what the country will again remind itself of.
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