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I am almost completely ignorant of the intricacies of the US economy. However, I am trying to learn more, thus I’m asking this question. Small, simple terms if you can. And I’m sorry this is so long.
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Does any other country have an economy that is similar to the US? And if so, do they have the same problems with theirs as we seem to have with ours?
I ask this now because I have been trying to pay attention to the goings on with the economy. The news is saturated with information and ‘expert opinions’ about the current situation. These seem to me to range from “Don’t sweat it…”, to “I’m gonna JUMP!” and everything inbetween.
This got me to thinking that I never seem to hear about any other country’s economy, good or bad. I don’t believe I have ever (correct me if I’m wrong, please) seen an article or news bit on how folks in Sri Lanka are selling off stock because of changes in the market, or that Abu Dabe(sp?) is going into a recession. Perhaps these things are just not reported, but I don’t know for certain.
So I thought I’d ask you smart folks what the straight dope is on foreign economys. Are there other countrys with a similar economic set up, and do they have the same problems with theirs as we do with ours?
Thank you in advance,
3Bmama
Similar in what way?
Relationship of private and public economic activity?
Similar stock market size/character?
Similar tax structure?
Similar relationship of capitalistic and social setting?
What are you looking for?
There is indeed plenty of info of how foreign stock markets act if that’s what you’re looking for. It’s rarely front page news unless it’s a huge crisis, but you can certainly find it if you care. Most people don’t, which is why you don’t hear about it much. Of course, we also rarely hear about foreign celebrities, elecetions, music, sports, etc. Americans mostly couldn’t care less.
And what are the problems you’re referring to. If you mean you’ve been losing money in the stock market, that’s really not so big a problem in the larger sense.
Thanks for your reply muttrox. You’re right, now that you point it out, this is a bit vague. Let me try to clarify a bit.
By ‘similar’ I mean both public and private economic activity as you mentioned. I would be interested in knowing whether other countrys have interest rates etc. controlled by a public body, investor driven stock market and such.
And whether they have the same sort of difficulties as the US, i.e. drop in interest rates = everyone scrambles to refinance, or rise in interest rates = overall spending slows. (I think, remember I said I was ignorant 
) Do other country’s econimic outlooks change from recession to depression and back again based on the same circumstances that ours does? Do other countrys have problems with inflation, relative to their economic structure?
As per the stock market, no I am not even involved with it, it was just an example of things I never seem to see reported. But thank you for confirming for me that these things are not largely reported. I had suspected that.
Thank you,
3Bmama
3BM,
Now that I understand what the question is, I have to admit I haven’t the vaguest idea! 
My humble opinion… Every country is the same, and different. Every bit you mention is probably there in some country or other, but I’ll bet no country is really quite like ours. Plus, we have the enviable position of being really really really big economically, so we have some uniqueness there. In other words, I hope you get some good answers, but I doubt any of them will be totally satisfying and beyond argument.
Hee hee, I don’t really know anything about this area, I just wanted to understand the question better!