We are able to buy cheap Chinese stuff - we just aren't.
For that matter, we aren't buying much European stuff either.
Nor, now that I think about it, are we buying much American stuff.
Most folks were kicked in the head for a year. Remeber, Easy Money Bernanke was raising interest rates for a year before the credit and real estate markets completely exploded. He was trying to take the easy money out of the market. So we were adjusting to higher interest rates on the debt we built up during the credit boom years, then we get clobbered on the asset side of the equation.
Most folks are trying to build an emergency fund, pay down their debt, and initiate a savings program so they can make a large purchase under current credit realities.
That was - and, for while still is - me...
What does that mean for us inside our TSP accounts...
It might mean stagflation. Increasing interest rates in a time of unemployment and minimal economic activity. In that case your G/F funds will blow up. They depend on stable and/or declining interest rates. The G Fund will look good, but won't feel good. Inflation will chomp on it. C/S/I - uuugggghhhhh.... It will be a time for active trading.
It might mean gubmint restructuring. Our brilliant politicians seem to finally be a bit worried. They seem to think the problems are still years away. A nice kick to their backside (an inability to sell low interest rate bonds) might be just the thing to wake em up. That would be nice to G Funders. Higher rates of return and the political willpower to resolve an addiction (ours and the politicians).
I would place my lunch money on stagflation.
