Originally posted by Elder
If you don't believe the internet had anything to do with the booming economy in the 90's, then you must have been living under a rock. Have you ever heard of the "dot com boom" and the subsequent "dot com bust"?
The internet was the impetus for people to run out and buy massive amounts of computers, software, printers, games, digi cams etc. etc. Maybe you've heard of Microsoft?
Elder, when I told you back there to tone down your arrogance I was looking at your best interest. As in previous posts, this need to feel superior by looking and talking as if you were (superior) sort of blinds you, mate. Really, it does. Where in my text did you read that the internet had nothing to do with the economical boom of the 90's? What I have denied was that 'the 90's economy was built on the internet', which is obviously false.
The internet boom helped pushing the economy to some extent, but the frenzy (that lasted only a year and a half, really) came on by the mid 90's. Without this internet boom, we would still have had one of the most healthy economical periods ever!
Seriously, that was a dumb sentence that I didn't expect to come off from your mouth. And it has nothing to do with us, lefties, feeling more superior than anyone out there. I don't, at least, since it would contradict all I believe in.
Originally posted by Elder
During the early part of the 90's the economy was beginning to rise under George Bush 1. Only for a small recession to hit for two quarters during the first Gulf War. This was part of the reason for Bush's downfall... raising taxes was the other.
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The whole point and the beginning of this subject was about Bush and Clinton. Mr. Inter claimed that Bush was to blame for the economy being bad. Sorry, but it's much more complicated than that.. No president has the power to sink the economy or make it grow that much.
I selected these two paragraphs because they sort of contradict one another. Speak for themselves, really.
It's scary how easy it is to burst the bubble, friend. We don't realize it, because we take it for granted. One 11/09 can blow away a giant industry like the aeronautic, which creats a domino effect, taking down with it all the companies directly or indirectly working for it, all the people who work at them, all their families, all the companies that fed on what those families bought, etc.
A sudden disease, a natural disaster, even the wrong sentence coming from the mouth of a president can have a serious and enduring effect on the economy and, consequently, our lives.
Originally posted by Elder
Clinton came into office and rode the wave that was being created int he early 90's. YET, if you know anything about US politics, in 1994, the Republican Party took over the House of Representatives and forced Bill Clinton to sign "Welfare Reform." This was a massive boom to the economy as it forced many people to get their ass of the couch and go find a job.
I would say the internet boom was set into place around 1994 or 1995... During the next few years, the internet began to grow and grow and grow as companies began to set up online. I can't remember what year it was, but it was during the Superbowl and most of the commercials were for "dot com" companies. The next year, they were all out of business. Pets.com comes to mind....
To this day I don't even know if Amazon.com has made a profit. If I remember correctly, they are the largest etailer.. But during the entire boom, they never posted a profit.
The Nasdaq was booming during this time because of these dot coms and all the "money" they were going to make. These companies hired thousands upon thousands of employees, blew money like it was monopoly cash, and had no worries. Then comes the bust... Everyone gets fired, Nasdaq hits bottom, and the economy starts to sink.
Cue Election 2000. Bush warns the country during the campaign that we are in a recession.. 6 months before the November elections. Democrats call him all sorts of names and claim the economy is still great... It was all bull****.
Bush gets elected, and all of the companies who were trying to survive the end of the 90's end up in deep trouble.. Enron, Global Crossing, Tyco all get busted for accounting fraud.. More jobs lost..
About Europe... Your economy is tied directly to ours.. You go up and down depending on what the US is doing.
To answer another question.. The electronic boom was a result of computers.. internet.. etc.
The US auto industry has been in trouble for years...
I don't know how well the american auto industry did in the 90's, I doubt they were in trouble (will check it out), but the fact is that, in general, automotive companies blossomed during that decade like they never had! And it had nothing to do with the internet. Absolutely nothing! You can apply this thought to virtually every single.
I set you up a little trap, hopefully you'll forgive me. I mentioned the electronic boom, which is obviously tied to the massification of the personal computer, thinking you'd link this with the internet. You fell for it, I'm afraid. The bill we all owe Bill Gates was his vision of every home with a PC. For that, he managed to lower the prices (while busting/buying out the competition at the same time), and making us believe we needed a computer in our dayly routine. By 1995, when I entered college, my country was one of the first in the world to have widespread internet access and free email accounts. I, like virtually everybody, had a PC; still, only a few of us had internet access in our private homes. It was only a good year and a half later that the number of internet surfers grew substancially OUTSIDE the university environment.
Besides, you don't need a good computer to access the internet.
Again, I'm not saying that the internet didn't help at all the economy. It did, alright, but wasn't the catalyst.
There is still much to be said, but you're still to show me the articles where it was written that statement about the economy beeing built on the internet.
