Why is Wall Street Worried?—Let us count the ways.
1) The proverbial Wall Street capitalists believe that, with new federal income tax rates, the removal of FICA ceilings, increases in capital gains rates, decreases in deductions, and simultaneous tax raises, not only will Obama remove incentives for innovation and productivity, but that he does not seem to care about—or perhaps appreciate—he consequences?
2) On the spending side, investors see too many subsidies and entitlements that may Europeanize the populace and erode incentives, while creating so much debt that in the next decade, should interest rates rise, the federal budget will be consumed with servicing borrowing and entitlement obligations. A redistributive economy in which government ensures an equality of result is Wall Street’s worst nightmare. Debt can only be paid back by floating more foreign debt, issuing more US bonds at home, raising taxes, or printing money—all bad options in the mind of the investor.
3) Too many are beginning to think Obama is, well, a naïf—and hence dangerous. He chest-thumps speeches Geithner cannot deliver. He says we are near the Great Depression—but then, after the stimulus package passes, suddenly hypes future growth rates to suggest that we will be out a recession, soon after all? Add in all the talk of high-tax, Al-Gorist cap-in-trade, wind and solar, socialized medicine in the midst of a financial crisis, and at best Obama comes across as confused and herky-jerky, and at worse, clueless on the economy—as if a Chicago organizer is organizing a multi-trillion-dollar economy. Talking about ‘gyrations’ and confusion about profits and earnings, and offering ad hoc advice about investing do not restore authority.
`4) Given the amount of debt the US is incurring (and the decades needed to pay it off), given the loose talk about the ‘rich’, and given the rumors about nationalization, investors are unsure whether the United States will remain a safe haven for investment, or even offer a climate for profit-making, since it would either be taxed to the point of seizure, or its beneficiaries would be culturally and socially demonized. Ultimately perhaps some will accept that as the price of doing business in a socialist US, but for now it creates doubt. This is not a defense of Wall Street (a year ago Richard Fuld and Robert Rubin were our Zeuses on Olympus who strutted like gods), simply a warning that we are going from excess to stasis, and the cure will be as bad as or worse than the disease.
5) Uncertainty. Who is now our Commerce Secretary? Which cowards is the Attorney General talking about? What did Geithner mean about pernicious oil and gas companies? What is with this Solis, and card check? How hard is it to ensure a Richardson or Daschle is clean? In other words, market watchers see after five weeks chaos, and think there is no sure and steady paradigm in which they can make careful business decisions and anticipate with some surety future risk.
So the perfect storm forms, and millions of individuals come to millions of identical conclusions: “Cut your losses with these guys, and get your cash out before it gets worse” rather than “Wow, what bargains! I gotta get in before the window of profit opportunity closes.”
But is there an alternative?
Do Republicans offer an antithesis? Can they explain the Bush deficits and take responsibility for them, as well as the Republican congressional creepiness from 2002-06 (Craig, Stevens, Cunningham, Foley, etc)? And most importantly, will they offer counterproposals—a stimulus much smaller, mixtures of loan guarantees, tax cuts, and (some) public works alone, coupled with spending caps as soon as GDP growth returns? Can they articulate how the market corrected, say, in 1980-3, without our government going socialist? Can we get a plan not merely to balance the budget, but to pay off the debt? If not, legitimate criticisms of Obama fall on deaf ears without some positive alternative.
Great job Doc, in pointing out why Wall Street is worried. I’m wondering why the public isn’t worried. How on earth can Obama have a 59% approval rating after considering everything you just described? I was under the impression that most Americans were invested in the stock market or had 401Ks. You’d think the White House would be surrounded now by irate yuppies with burning torches.
As you have pointed out; where are the Republicans? It seems we have to rely on a talk radio host instead of our elected Republican leaders to offer an alternative. I’m very concerned because I don’t see any Republican Winston Churchills coming over the horizon to save us and restore sanity. Mr. Steele is a complete boob and Bobby Jindal laid an egg. We won’t even talk about Schwartzeneggar or McCain. It was a bit chilling to hear that Romney came out on top in CPAC’s straw poll. Geesh, imagine the Ken Doll running against the Mandingo warrior.
I think we are pretty much screwed, especially with the lack of a robust opposition party to counter Obama’s evil machinations.
I fear forming a new or third political party would be a waste of time and money. It would do about as much good as the discussions we have within this conservative blogosphere. A good opportunity to vent but that’s about it.
I think it’s time for me to head back to the USA, buy a cabin in the deep woods and stock up on MREs.
Your experience in the San Jose parking lot reminds me of C. S. Lewis’s description of Hell: “My symbol for hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or a thoroughly nasty business office.”
Apropos of the ranting by Geithner and Holder, I suspect it may have something to do with deflecting attention from the black marks on their respective records by pointing fingers at the presumed miscreants in the general population. A psychiatrist friend of mine calls this tactic “passing the hot potato,” i.e. aggressively shaming someone else in order to avoid feeling one’s own shame.
There is a Philosopher’s Stone,
That makes all things good,
Just all kill thoughts of liberty,
And join the government hood!
Fear of Government–Part Two.
Magnificently said, Dr. Hanson, your analysis is correct in all examples mentioned. If you should need many more of these, then I would suggest an open-eye trip through Germany, land of big government spending. There you can see the taxpayers money simply run down the drain, not on a daily, but on a minutely basis. There is a nice joke here about four government employees being asked, why they are leaning on their truck? Their answer: “We forgot to load the shovels and brooms this morning.”
It’s like, they are getting ready for Red Nose Day, but the joke is on us.
Printing money has never been the answer!
A couple of more thoughts, Doc.
Let’s assume what we already know, that Obama is a meat head and only listens to himself. What the heck is going on with Congress? True, they can be jerks too but most of them are career jerks who are also wealthy.You would think their shrinking portfolios would have them reconsidering Obama’s “genius”.
Are these people listening to “experts” who are giving them financial information different to what we conservatives are hearing? Or, are they all in on Obama’s Leninist plot to take away everybody’s life savings?
A month and a half into the President’s 4 year term it has become obvious that if we do not act quickly, we will face a huge, difficult to reverse negative blow to myriad parts of the country. Whether the President is acting out of economic ignorance or is (as some speculate) truly acting to destroy wealth in order to increase dependence on govt., is frankly irrelevant. The end result is the same. Whether the Prsident and his circle are lying (understanding the difference between true and false and electing false) or bullshitters (truth or lie irrelevant to the all important story line) is equally irelevant.
Regardless of whether the current actions are maliscious or incompetent, what has to be done in order to protect the country is the same.
1. The Republican Party has to get its act together and unify. the current Rush – Steele idiocy shows how far we have to go, quickly.
2. a coherent alternative plan(s) need to be committed to and effectively communicated.
3. A first class effort has to be made to attract top quality candidates to run in 2010.
If Republicans are unable to gain control of one house in the 2010 election – we will continue down the path to ruin.
Apart from leaving the US in a way that allows the person to also escape the tax man, when taxes get too high one way to respond to this outrage is to donaate to focused tax-exempt groups that focus on countering this madness.
I would suggest supporting the Fully Informed Jury Association (www.fija.org), for when juries will not convict people of violating unjust laws, government is forced to change its behavior.
Going further, when people who serve on grand juries and especially federal grand juries know the tremenous power they have (if only they knew to how to pick up that power and to not be afraid of using it), then we would finally have a way for citizens to bring corrupt pols to justice.
This can only be achieved by educating the public and by the development of supporting materials.
…just like the Soviet Union.
I’m missing something. Why is Victor Davis Hanson apparently saying that Republicans should be supported only if they are perfect? An excellent case can be made that we are at least better than our opposites. We should indeed be upset with our GOP elected officials who inserted numerous earmarks in the bills now coming out of congress. Still, they are only responsible for 40% of them. Good golly, has Dr. Hanson become an utopian ideologue?
“How on earth can Obama have a 59% approval rating after considering everything you just described?”
Because Progressive propaganda for 100 years has succeeded in getting most of them to believe that ‘Wall Street’ adds nothing to the economy and is filled with parasites who are ‘the enemy’, or at least responsible for much of their present grief.
I am assuming VDH has tenure and other income and won’t be affected much by the downturn. This is good because he can continue to write hopefully less threatened by the insecurity many of us wake up to now. Sales are slowing for some.
A leader has to be above the fray and somewhat detached in order to be able to make rational judgements based on intelligence and we come to this blog to have our own observations reinforced and of course to learn.
And many of us fear. We fear unemployment, the ACORN ARMY, the media that adores the President, incompetence mixed with trillions of dollars, and Islam.
So when we come to this blog, It should be for reassurance that sanity is alive and reasonable minds will be free to express themselves. With notable exceptions, sanity may be found here.
Next time take a picure or perhaps some video and post it on the internet; our only recourse will be to publicly embarass their boss and, notwithstanding work rules which will make it nearly impossible to reprimand anyone, there may be osme slight efforts made to avoid future bureaucratic embarassment.
1. I don’t think Obama DOES have a 59% approval rating with the American people as a whole. The methodology of national polling, which requires the filter of area codes, biases polls toward the politically “blue” urban areas where there are more subscribers per area code. The bias is not very great, but it still skews the sample toward the population that historically votes more Democratic. Pollsters apply a variety of demographic factors to “normalize” the results of their samples (of 1100-ish or 2000-ish responses). But they never correct for the inherent oversampling of “blue county” populations.
2. Articulate how we ended the early ’80s recession? Tax rate cuts and deregulation. The single most effective deregulation we could implement today is the repeal of the Community Reinvestment Act, which was used by government and activist groups as the hammer — AND IS STILL IN FORCE — to leverage banks into overcommitment in bad loans, and create the whole environment in which it was imperative to spread risk around through increasingly dangerous debt instruments.
3. A world made up of government employees? Think about receiving your medical care from these people.
4. You go, professor. Your perspicuity is much appreciated.
Doc, you acted correctly — most would have sat afraid — but why not follow up with a complaint letter? Cut and paste the above. Also, courtesty copy the editors at the Mercury News. Their jobs are recession-proof?
All business must be going nuts right now.
What to risk when reward is both uncertain and sure to be punished!
Is this all really just incompetence; or is it a deliberate attempt to instigate world governance brought about by equalizing the playing field?
Bringing down the US economy is a must in this scenario.
Every move under this one party rule thus far points at weakening the strengths of America, exacerbating our weaknesses, ruining the opportunities of our posterity and threatening our country as a representative republic!
What a plan!
Dr. Hansen is too diplomatic to state this but it must have crossed his mind at some point.
I apologize for misspelling your name
Dr. Hanson
When Pres. Obama didn’t know that the correct term is “price to earnings ratio” I knew we elected an economic illiterate.
Imagine if George Bush said the same thing.
Obama is arrogant and in way over his head.
He is clueless.
Please, Dr. Hanson, look into the mushroom risotto Idiocracy (?) event as recorded by the Associated Press:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/40789822.html
“Mrs. Obama urged people to donate food and, if they can’t afford that, then to just give a hand.”
This by way of example of serving mushroom risotto soup prepared by the White House to the poor? Eight cases of White House wonder meals given to the poor as way of example of what citizens should do? What was the specific cost, Mr. VDH, of such panderings? Cost of security, meal prep, meal costs, delivery, press relations? My guess: maybe one hundred grand? Of the public’s money? Even if it was ten grand, the whole point is a logic defying excruciation on Americans. My gran pappy was smarter.
Do the Obamas pay for all that? Any of it? Why not all?
Like de song said, “It ain’t necessarily so!”
All of these polls showing whopping approval rates for Obama are being whipped out with an air of desperation – the associated commentary is coming from people who would follow Obama through fire, and can hardly be considered representative of the majority of the population.
Of course, that just makes it more disturbing rather than less, but what else is new? I’ve already given up on the nation settling into any kind of normalcy, as Obama’s team of radicals snaps into its beat-America-down mode.
Some important news. Sen. Mike Johanns (R. Nebr.) (Creighton alum) had part of his lung removed this week. No cancer. Full recovery expected. He will be back at work March 16.
Given how close the Senate is, his vote is critical.
Sen. Johanns is a much more reliable vote than Chuck Hagel; who he replaced.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D. Nebr.) is fairly fiscally conservative.
Nelson and the Dems from Wisc. and Ind. might have the balance of power if they turn on Pres. Obama. Forget about Snow, Collins and the nominal Republican from PA.
The pushback in the Senate may well stymie Obama and the Dems.
Speaking of government employees: Will the State Department *idiot* who could not use the right Russian word for “reset” be fired?
The Secr. of State of the USA was embarassed in front of the whole world when someone coulldn’t use the correct Russian word for “reset” on a gift to Russia.
VSH: What’s the Greek word for “reset?”
What grade would you give a student for such a mistake?
At a Jesuit school, the grade would be “F.” I’m sure VDH would grade that effort an “F.”
Essential vdh
The psychological profile of an elected Senator, or congressman is one that cannot be a leader.
As a elected Governor Sara Palin may be the exception due to her birth place and how she was raised.
She is a natural human just like her husband and family. She is light years ahead of the east coast effete in human development.
She is not a product of regression as is the typical east cost human a product of Utopian thinking due to the distance they are from real life.
They have regressed to the point of being worthless to America. They are in fact parasitic.
They need government support but their personalities seem aggressive shams it is like a dog that barks with his tail between his legs.
Sara Palin may seem foreign to the East Cost Ivy League Triangulator who wants to be loved by everyone and wants to control ever thing by right of anointed birth or by simply being a leader like the bow of a ship leads the ship. Real responsibility is something they cannot handle or do they want.
A John Kerry is the incompetent high water mark of that bottom of the pit character. He has shown his yellow colors many many times over the years but it does not seem to be recognized by his constituents.
They are not natural men either or a John Kerry’s actions would have shamed them for being from the same state.
America today produces far different men than were produced during the birth of America and during the war of independence.
They are being produced in increasing numbers in corrupt voting population centers that now are beginning to control the productive parts of America’s population. Stuffing ballot boxes is simply a method of insuring the outcome. Nothing bad about it if the outcome is insured.
In early America men fought to be free and independent for that is the yearning of natural men. We have not produced natural men for several generations in the corrupt cities of America with large population centers.
VDH, with regards to Geithner and the dubious, no, downright stinky statements made about big oil are a little reminiscent of the naive, babe in the woods, ‘could you help me out with this Iran thing and I will take down my missile shield’ letter earlier this week. It’s like, if you don’t know what to do, why don’t you just take a swing at it anyway? If you don’t know what to do with the economy just watch CNBC with Roubini, and read op-eds from NY Times and follow along. Maybe Krugman comes up with an exact number the administration can go with. I think the article should be titled Obamafuscation from the lack of clear, concise response to anything. Get this guy away from his ‘prompter and he is like Bush after a few bourbons. After five weeks Chavez thinks he has a shot at getting Obama to keep going with his bad self right down Socialist Avenue! Call Bush what you will, Chavez sure did not try that tack with him, now did he?
Something to keep in mind that the Wall Street Journal had this past week or so ago, is that Harding got us out of the 1916-1921 depression, which saw a real per capita decline of 16% (compared to the 25% decline seen between 1929-1933 in the Great Depression), while spending his time either drinking, playing poker, or going to burlesque shows.
We should be comparing Obama at every stage to where Harding had us – and in every way possible, too. A drunk, stinking-of-perfume, poker playing Harding trumps the Hah-vahd law grad when it comes to getting the country out of a severe depression – and that looks like it will be the truth here.
Robert J. Barro had the basic info on the 1916-1921 depression in a column he wrote in the past week or so ago, in case any of you are interested.
Even the liberal comedians know he is an idiot.
59% approval rating?- I don’t think so!
Even my Democrat friends are now saying they didn’t vote for this clown,
it took them two years to say that with Clinton.
45 days seems like 45 months.
3) Too many are beginning to think Obama is, well, a naïf>>>
Sorry Mr. Hanson it is you that is the naif when it comes to Hussein.
It is totally naive and foolish to think that Hussein doesn’t know what he is doing. He knows exactly what he is doing. The right wing for the most part is in a state of congnitive dissonance when it comes to Hussein and his motives.
Conservative writers can not believe that someone sitting as POTUS would set out to intentionally destroy the American economy.
Well, that is exactly what the black Muslim, Marxist foreign national Indonesian citizen sitting in the oval office is doing.
Osam bin-Laden said that the best way to beat America is to destroy the American economy. Well Hussein is following that idea to a tea using his Marxist ideology to transfer wealth from the white people in America to the black people in America and simultanously destroying a good part of the wealth in America.
As far fetched as the above seems, the conservatives need to wake up and realize who Hussein is. Once they realize that he is not an American but a foreign national then what I am saying will all make sense.
“Why is Wall Street Worried?”
They are not worried. They make money buying and selling stocks.
The problem is the greedy banking industry. The real losers are the bottom line owners of devalued securities and mortgages, local and foreign.
I think another issue is the out of control spending on both sides of the isle. Republican Senators are in the top 5 of porky earmarks. With no fiscal responsibility in either party why have confidence? I’ve liquidated just about everything I could and not going anywhere near the market. Why put money in a system being devastated by the very idiots that helped get us there? Granted their were scammers, irresponsible and greedy corporate leaders, but many got their due to government intervention (Community Reinvestment Act/ Fannie and Freddie). With a president lying to my face…telling me there is no pork in spending packages to Barny Frank who wants to lock -up those responsible? (He is one of them!)…I have no confidence at all. Everyone in Washington is spending and pointing fingers screaming “not me”. Washing has lost it’s way completely, and people on neither side of the isle have testicular fortitude to CUT government spending.
Sorry I’m too furious to go on…….
Is the Supreme Court keeping the Obama-scam details (POTUS non-eligibility; non-disclosure of records et cetera) on ice till the Dow hits 5000?
Franklin warned that our government will end in despotism when “…the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”
Does anyone who voted for Obama actually believe in personal accountability, that their actions have consequences, that irresponsibility comes with a price?
We have a nation of perpetual children, and our President is telling them, hope in me, and you’ll never have to grow up.
Victor, I have three projects in my small company’s pipeline that will be either a yay or nay by Monday. I remain optimistic but it will probably be a nay(since the last 8 never took place either!)
when that happens, I layoff my guys and reduce my overhead to the smallest level possible and pick up some work for myself to pay my overhead. Thank God for a successful and supportive wife!
In my industry, 75% of the companies have closed, are like me or will hang on till bankruptcy hoping for something that won’t come.
Last year, my family was one of those big earners, according to the administration. In 2009, i’ll show a loss that will make their head swim. The number of big earners of 250K or above that they are counting on are dust in the wind.
I am not giving up and will work weekends, nights or holidays to get business but, like thousands of entrepreneurs, am going to the woods to be there when our country comes to its senses.
Doc, the reason Wall Street is scared is the reason Sanjay Gupta and Geithner’s prospective nominee bailed; they smell disaster coming and don’t want their names associated with it.
VDH:
“And most importantly, will they offer counterproposals—a stimulus much smaller, mixtures of loan guarantees, tax cuts, and (some) public works alone, coupled with spending caps as soon as GDP growth returns? Can they articulate how the market corrected, say, in 1980-3, without our government going socialist? Can we get a plan not merely to balance the budget, but to pay off the debt? If not, legitimate criticisms of Obama fall on deaf ears without some positive alternative.”
No they don’t.
What did the Left use as an alternative to the GOP program?
“Bring the troops home now!”
“Close Guantanamo!”
“Bush Lied-People Died!”
“No Blood For Oil!”
“McCain=Bush”
The way the Zimbabwification process is going, all Conservatives REALLY have to do is stand resolutely in opposition to what the Alleged Hawaiian’s program.
Democrat Overreach Fatigue will do the rest…
If frustration ever erupts into violence, those other exit lanes might be among the first targets. I can imagine someone with an old ton an’ a half truck with a very heavy grill saying the hell with it, and crashing their way out. And the new recovery logo’s will soon be seen at firing ranges everywhere as bulls eyes. Heh.
On the money as usual, Sir! Several previous posters have lamented the lack of Republican leadership in combating this debacle.
May I suggest the name of Gen./Dr. David Patareus as a presidential candidate. I seem to recall he was recently faced with a similar situation in Iraq and won against overwhelming odds.
Republicans should make every effort to draft the good General. America needs him and can only be salvaged by having a clear cut vision and well defined goals.
(Besides, it would drive the New York Times crazy)
My Mea culpa:
RE: The White House Food drive: Another article implied the government employees at the White House might have contributed to a food drive that went to a shelter. No specific details I could find.
My apologies for implying the White House gave public-bought food from its stores to the poor. My first impression from a news story was that the food came from “the White House.” Sorry for promulgating that wrong impression.
Barry fits right in with his supporters and clueless is probably too mild a term.
Vivo…You actually think Wall Street isn’t worried? Geez. You apparently haven’t noticed that everytime Obama opens his mouth the stock market drops? No wonder you can still stomach defending this clown. Being blind to watching him destroy all of the wealth in this country is truly a sign of either stubbornness or just plain stupidity. It’s going to take a generation to undo the damage he’s already done in only ONE MONTH in office.
Anyone expecting miracles is deluding themselves. There is no way of avoiding the deleveraging and deflation in housing prices and unfortunately this takes time. To cushion the deprivation that has and will ensue, one of the obvious solutions was to reduce the FICA tax across the board, immediately putting more money in the hands of every employed person and reducing the cost of operating every business. Unfortunately we live in a world where politics trumps economics every time and liberalism wouldn’t countenance us using our own money to lift the economy or cushion the shock.
#29 Fear Obama…Thanks for sharing the late night comedians take on Obama. When they’ve started highlighting his shortcomings, surely the sheeple public won’t be far behind.
Geez, I think a lot of you people are panicking. Preident Soros knows what he’s doing, and the talking teleprompter will keep you all informed.
In less than 2 months, President Obama has spent more than Bush did in his eight years.
It is true Republicans failed miserably at economic responsibility. They overspent, they earmarked, they legislated, they in some cases deregulated & in others failed to regulate effectively. All of these failures & more are owned by Republicans. As another astutely mentioned here, who said Republicans had to be perfect?
The truth is, Obama’s failures or ineptitude has gotten a pass from the alphabet TV networks & rest of the liberal media. As it stands now, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN. NPR, the New York Times & a plethora of others, can now be referred to as the PR department of the Democrat party.
I think Obama has no understanding of economic principles. I think he also has attempted to effect way too much social change while also dabbling in economic recovery actions. Add to this an openly & viciously hostile House Speaker & Senate Majority Leader who are dictating all sorts of things to Obama & demanding vindictive actions from every quarter, & Obama has a real mess on his hands.
Obama’s planned social changes seriously concern Wall Street because many of his plans are an anathema to the free market. Most think Obama really does not realize his taxation plans will cripple the nation. We will see an inflationary spiral heretofore never seen in America. We dangerously skirt living as a third world nation. If China & other enemies get ticked off at us & stop buying debt or start calling it in, we can write off a free America. I can see China now or even Saudi Arabia, demanding we give them Alaska or Texas, in exchange for some of our debt.
Obama’s appointees and he are trying what I think is a Saul Alinsky ploy. They are deflecting attention away from their failures, they are using a complicit sycophantic media to cover for them & push stories that are sympathetic to Obama & his plans, they are attacking Rush Limbaugh so they can try to justify their plans for a “Fairness Doctrine” style suppression of free speech under the guise of diversity & balance. That would be “their” balance, not anyone else’s!. They are using Obama’s oratory skills to promote whatever he does as somehow brilliant only because the one the public foolishly adores has spoken. There is no logic to this adoration. It is not based on his experience, it is not based on his performance, it is not based on anything but, he’s good looking & can wax eloquently to an audience.
Much of this is based on his lack of experience, whether that is managerial, administrative, or otherwise. His Alinsky style methods are obvious to anyone who has read up on those “tactics.” Its socialist community organizer 101, at its most pathetic.
Some of this is based on his utopian ideal that we can establish a socialist state of a level of equality never before seen on this planet. He refuses to recognize the failures of the Soviet Union, Venezuela, & a host of other historic & present day socialist state failures. And he seriously underestimates the ability of the public to become angry when he try to take away freedoms. His campaign rhetoric of 2nd Amendment Rights support while he now plans to eat away at those rights, his campaign rhetoric he does not support the return of the Fairness Doctrine, while allowing Pelosi & Reid to carry that water for him & provide his plausible deny-ability to his adoring public, will lead to serious discontent.
While his adoring public will defend whatever he does, the majority of America, who did not vote in this past election to punish Republicans, will respond & they will demand he mend his ways.
I never thought I would see it again in my lifetime. I predict Obama will face public demands for his impeachment, if he fails to mend his ways. The pressure is mounting & the discontent is becoming dangerously loud!
He may have wanted to guide us into socialism, but his failure to understand the free market, individual rights over the collective concept, & his spending ways that rival anything Republicans ever did, will spell his end. He is definitely a one term president. Will he last that long before the public calls for his ouster, is now the real question.
So, scheming to create an unattainable dream utopian socialist state, or foolish actions based on poor knowledge of economic principles, or underestimating the desire of the people for their individual freedoms, etc., really does not matter.
Performance is the issue.
Obama ain’t makin’ it!
Its getting worse by the minute!
vivo:
“They are not worried. They make money buying and selling stocks.”
And what do Wall Streeters do with the money they make? Perhaps invest in what they know best? Of course, if that’s a losing proposition…
“The real losers are the bottom line owners of devalued securities and mortgages, local and foreign.”
The real losers are us, everyone invested in the market for retirement, college for your kids, etc.
“The problem is the greedy banking industry.”
The problem is the greedy power hungry Democratic politicians who would use this crisis to remake America to their liking. To them, ameliorating the affects of this crisis is a conflict of interest.
formwiz:
That seems to be the case here. Historically, those dissatisfied with socialist policies often vote with their feet.
Russian television is reporting that Putin told his nation that “the USA will completely collapse within one year.” I believe Obama intends this to happen. Amerika is coming comrades!
#30 “”WELL SAID.. ABSOLUTELY CORRECT HE’S THE FIRST MUSLIM PRESIDENT OF A CHRISTIAN NATION
formwiz @ 36: How true.
Jack Marcotte @ 24: You offer astute observations on metropolitan coastal culture, a culture comprised of effete, effeminate and metrosexual “males”. Washington State, as an example, has elected feminist females to both U.S. Senate seats, the governors office and numerous state legislative leadership positions. A menopausal matriarchy, if you will. Meanwhile, the greater percentage of Seattle’s “men” speak with a lisp, with many frequenting the city’s numerous bath houses. Our founding fathers would commit suicide if they witnessed what “manhood” has become in America.
We have an America hating, White hating, Success hating idiot for a president who has done diddly-squat in his community organizer lifetime up to the presidency. This shuck and jiver should be selling the Titan Peeler on infomercials…NOT POTUS.
Not qualified for POTUS. Check
Completely incompetent. Check
A Megalomaniac. Check.
Complete hatred of his own country. Check.
Past associations that will make your skin crawl. Check
Am I starting to repeat myself?
Am I starting to repeat myself?
The dismal state of the stock market is due to 0bama and his big, ugly mouth. Zero seems obsessed with being on the ‘Telly’ and trying to act all ‘presidential’ while flappin’ his gaping maw and spewing more negative rhetoric.
It’s amazing that my television hasn’t been thrown out of my window when he speaks.
Vivo#31:
Wall street is hundreds of financial institutions surrounded by thousands of accountants and analysts trying to make money from millions of investors using trillions of dollars. The unions, teachers, fireman have their pension funds in those financial vehicles as well as many nations. It can be considered the forward looking pulse of the nation. Economics #101: the health of an economy is directly related to the velocity of its currency in circulation. Our patient seems to be stroking congestively every time the political doctors inject a new and untried stimulus. Will this reflect the technique of government health care?
Vivo,
I’m a very small fish in a large Wall Street pond. And I know that this market is headed for complete collapse. I rearranged a bunch of investments and am doing semi-okay. But at the rate the One and his tax cheat friends are going, we’ll all be poor and unemployed.
I guess that technically is change. But it sure as h*ll ain’t hope.
Next time take a picure or perhaps some video and post it on the internet; our only recourse will be to publicly embarass their boss and, notwithstanding work rules which will make it nearly impossible to reprimand anyone, there may be osme slight efforts made to avoid future bureaucratic embarassment.
More likely they’ll just try to ban all photography instead. The only way to deal with these types is to elect dedicated small-government types who will break the unions and let city workers know complaints from the public will get them fired.
The only way to deal with California’s budget crisis and productivity flight is to elect dedicated small-government types who will slash the size of government and turn the leeches away from the public purse.
The only way to deal with Obama is to elect dedicated small-government types who will roll back his spending orgy.
Every peaceful solution starts with electing dedicated small-government types at all levels. Set aside all your other priorities, set aside all your other differences. Focus on this one. Nothing else matters.
This is just what affirmative action looks like. I could have told you, before you voted for it thinking you were being all historic.
Why bring up the cunningham et al Republican corruption. They are in jail. Do you know about the bobbist and 100 Dems quid pro quo that is being hushed right now?
Maybe someone should get a large number of the largest denomination Zimbabwe currency to distribute on the floors of the House and the Senate.
Then ask if the elected officials and staff who took the Zimbabwean money was in violation of the ethics rules. Which would make public the value of the 100 billion Zimbabwean dollar in U. S. dollars. Throw in a history of the value of the currency from the day that Mugabe was elected and the rate of inflation and you might get through to the average moderate voter.
VDH, I’m not sure Wall Street is worried. I believe they are beyond the worry stage, they are in full blown abandonment.
“Worried” is being in a bunker at night and not being sure if danger is approaching.
“Scared” is not being able to grab any sleep in that bunker.
“Panic” is picking up your weapon and abandoning your position.
“Abandonment” is NOT picking up your weapon and leaving your position.
The next stage…is surrender. (whether Americans will undergo the Patty Hearst syndrome upon this kidnap/surrender stage remains to be seen)
David Thompson asks if we wouldn’t be better off with reckless, feckless, weak-willed, inarticulate, uninspiring, disorganized, Republicans…who apparently couldn’t muster the words and delivery to convince a fraternity flag football team to drink beer or look at pretty supermodels.
Yes, I suppose we would be better off…sort of in the manner that one is better off dying of an overdose of sleeping pills rather than a flesh eating disease. Snoring oneself into the netherworld rather than screaming in increasing agony has its merits.
Friendly Girl alludes to President Soros, and it strikes me as a rather fantastic notion that an evil manipulator could bring down an entire economy with the intent to install his brand of leftism, in a super-villain attempt at world domination via currency instead of arms. A sort of Lex Lutheresque kryptonite robbing the only SuperPower of all its abilities to save the Daily Planet’s citizens.
Too comic bookish to be real? Too fantastic to be taken seriously?
It seems to me, my brilliant cyberfriend VDH, that one must come to a conclusion about all that has transpired and is transpiring before our very eyes. Either these folks who are attacking our oil and gas companies, attacking our coal companies, attacking our military, attacking our banks, attacking our insurance companies, attacking our pharmaceutical companies, attacking Wall Street…either don’t know the impact those words and deeds are having on the destruction of our economy…or they do.
People who do not have investments, do not have 401k’s, do not have IRA’s, do not have small businesses…do not pay taxes, or capital gains and have not lost 40-60% of their nest egg…really have no reason to care one whit about whether your 401k or your granddaddy’s 401k is disappearing and being systematically destroyed. That’s your problem…and frankly, according to Michael Pfleger…”we really don’t care”.
So, the issue of who were “dear friends” may come back to “roost” after all. Does this collapse of Wall Street and your nest egg bother William Ayers or his wife. How about Frank Marshall Davis, Michael Klonsky, Carl Davidson?
Does the $900 million dollars given to Hamas make Rashid Khalidi feel pretty good? If that money goes toward buying a few thousand more explosives to lob at Israel…would it have made Edward Said happy?
Does any of this bother Soros and MoveON?
I believe in coincidence when I bump into a friend in another city when we are both on vacation. I don’t believe in coincidence when we bump into each other at a convention in our industry. Citi is a penny stock these days. AIG has borrowed more money than the entire economy of Portugal. The FDIC is out of funds…and our government is ATTACKING industry…I don’t know where Lex Luther is, but I can hear him cackling.
And, a nation full of government workers leaning on counters while we wait for them to “get off break” is your new healthcare provider.
If Friendly Girl is right…our new national anthem should be sung by Brenda Lee:
I’m Soros, so Soros
Please accept my society
My MSM made you blind,
And you were too blind…. to see
Uh, ha ha ho…uh oh…
#48 – Margo in Va: You are quite correct!
I suggest you start learning this song..as we all should. It’s a redistribution of wealth “hymn”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVdVTVR-j0Q
#10 David Thompson – 40% of the earmarks are by Republicans. Republicans are just over 40% of Congress. I fail to see the difference between the two parties, except in the degree of their excess.
I agree that Pubs need not be perfect, but I think they should be Pubs, not Dems.
#31 vivo – “They are not worried. They make money buying and selling stocks.”
No, vivo, they don’t. Some speculators do, trying to skim off some of the cream, but most of Wall Street makes money by buying stocks that produce dividends. In other words, they invest their money in companies for a share of the profits. They become part owners of some really large companies. Your statement is typical of those who’ve been indoctrinated to think that Wall Street is evil.
I’ve been seeing a rightward drift in your thinking since you’ve been posting here. Recognizing the fallacy of the above quoted statement will help you along that path. Baby steps, vivo, baby steps.
I don’t think Obama and crew are deliberately trying to tank the economy. Rather, I think that investors and businesses are responding to the policy initiatives he is announcing, and that The Great One is indifferent to the effects that these are having.
Obama has made a decision that he is going to be a one term president. And Pelosi has decided not to get what her party wants gradually and in stages as the economy could bear it. They are going for it all NOW. They want all of it in place before 2010 because they are not confident they could get it all stretched out over a longer period.
The speed with which it all will be hammered down on us will be astounding. In fact, it will probably be all in place by the end of this year.
It will be disastrous for the economy and it will set the stage for a profound conservative revival that will sweep the socialists out of power for maybe generations to come. But a lot of damage will be undone and it will take years to reverse it.
The President is inept. Is he calling the shots or is it Rahm Emanuel?
fred:
You may be right. Obama and crew may be getting what they can while they can. Or they may just be inept, not care about the middle class and are trying to consolidate their leftist base. With the enigmatic One it’s like reading tea leaves. Of course, there could be a more nefarious agenda at play here, and Obama’s Marxist background and obvious ambition make you wonder. Consider:
Why is Obama not more personally involved in solving the economic crisis? Why the “pending Catastrophe” rhetoric as the markets nosedive instead of fireside chats to reassure us? Is he distracted by something more important? The “never let a crisis go to waste” meme explains some of this behavior, but it remains odd.
Why all the scoundrels in his Administration? Why is a tax cheat Treasury Secretary, who seemingly lacks confidence in his plans or his abilities, allowed to wing it on his own with no staff to help? Why does our (supposedly) rhetorically gifted President put an idiot like Gibbs in front of the press every day? The Gordon Brown gaffes, the Russian faux pas, etc — is this incompetence unintentional, or designed to keep us feeling uneasy?
Why the continued scapegoating re the Republicans, Bush, Rush? Why the highly charged moves on the social front (Fairness Doctrine, abortion, card check) when Obama should be asking all Americans to pull together? Is he trying to provoke another Timothy McVeigh so he can make an assault on Second Amendment rights?
One could go on, and it’s only been 6 weeks.
I think it more likely Obama is planning on three or more terms, not one. Lesson from Russian history: Peace… War…Revolution…Civil War. The 90′s, the 00′s and now stage three 3, the Age of Obama. Nothing about this guy makes sense. And that’s because he’s hiding his true agenda.
LYING POLITICIANS ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM
They can’t fool You Tube as you can see.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/
How long until the angry citizens at the Tea Parties happening nation wide start calling for his IMPEACHMENT? How much wealth and civil liberties can we stand to lose before we’ve had enough? There seems to be no end to the depths he plans on taking this country. I know in my part of the country, the seething is just below the surface.
There is going to be a backlash that will make the left’s heads snap back.
Those of them with heads left.
We are not going to let this country be turned into Chicago ghettos.
The protest placards should read:
/
OBAMA DRIVEN
CLOWARD-PIVEN
FUTURE DIMMIN’
US CITIZENS
FLIPPIN’ MAD
/
Not great, but makes the point.
/
Can we have some other suggestions for protest banners? We can collect them and hold a protest and contest at the same time. Maybe we can get some media attention.
obama does not care about the stock market. why? because he sees a future where the middle class is unable to accumulate any wealth at all and is totally dependent on the government. i lived in france for a year and a half, and one of the major complaints from my french co-workers was that you simply could not accumulate any money. low wages, punishing taxes, high costs resulted in every penny being spent to maintain a very modest life style. they were totally dependent on the government for a retirement pension.
ok. so the real problem in this country is that under obama we will have to deal with the above low wage high tax scheme, PLUS, working for the assholes that demand 60 -70 hour work weeks while paying for 40. the whole month of august off? impossible! we will have the worst of both countries, and that is a very bad situation. it is going to really suck.
Oh, Doc! It is worse than you think. I was struck by your San Jose parking lot adventure. I am a contractor that works with the Federal government and everyday I come in contact with Federal employees that are unqualified for the jobs they have or are just plain lazy. I guess that is why they contract people from the private sector. We have to produce or we don’t get paid. Don’t get me wrong, there are hard-working, caring public servants. And I know and work with a few of them. But from what I can see, they are not the majority. Some of the people I have worked with are a real burden on the taxpayer, plain and simple. But they can’t be fired. The amount of paperwork and effort required to get a Federal employee sacked is substantial. When you have a Federal program manager ask you to write routine emails for them because they are either lazy or do not have the skills required to articulate the details of the program they manage, then something is wrong with the system. Everyday I enable incompetence because that is the nature of my contract and I am quite fed up with it. I could tell you more stories, but I don’t want to become more depressed than I already am. Bottomline is I have seen some of the uncaring and incompetent government workers in their bureaucratic jobs and because of that, I am vehemently opposed to national health care and other government programs that will take over our lives. You know, you can walk away from an intrusive or incompetent business relationship but you can’t walk away from a intrusive or incompentent government.
#71 Old Airman 2000,
What you just related to us truly is depressing. I am truly afraid for my country. All of us military veterans are. All of have taken the oath to uphold the Constitution and defend this nation from enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC. That oath never expires. Not with our terms of enlistment as either enlisted or commissioned officers.
It is time for us to be aware, awake, informed, armed, and our skills reacquired and sharpened.
There are certain trip wires this usurper had best not cross over.
And all this before any foreign crisis strikes. Did you hear that the POTUS told that NYT that we are not winning in Afghanistan? Which only signals are friends oversees that they should hedge their bets on the USA. Somebody will test us soon, just to see if we have any backbone. Do we?
Let it crash-let the bread lines form-the banks collapse. Then perhaps we can look inward, ignore our “partners”, close the borders and get on with the business of revenge.
There is no middle ground, there are no issues on which we can agree. All our divisions are widening-mostly due to power hungry politicians/socialist and professional race baiters allied with media whores. Criminal gangs cross our borders and harm our citizens and the Government does nothing. All we hold dear in being mocked, our vote is ignored and our children are being turned into little whores by schools and media. We are dying by a thousand cuts.
Let us have look inward and if need be have one big and bloody civil war- but end the slow death-be done with it.
Indeed, I am with Jon Galt and cfbleachers, Obama is quite a lightweight for the job — but has his basic Marxist indoctrination, and I believe, occasionally gets a call “Would you like to play some solitaire?”. It seems though, that either the calls don’t come often enough, or the caller is a bit out of his/their job grade — having so many unnecessary blunders with appointees and showing so many cards so early (wealth redistribution, and now talking to Taliban moderates?). So what do you think is the callers’ next move?
Note to vivo: Bankers, and other participants of markets, are supposed to be greedy, as long as law-abiding. It is the greed of bankers, vivo, that brought you things from ATMs to tech startups (venture capital bankers for the latter). Next time you negotiate your salary you think you should be greedy and try to get market rate? Or bid below? Or in your ideal world, the government will set that rate, nationalizing greed as the government’s prerogative only?
#74 – RobertG: I’m afraid you are correct. There is no middle ground. Revolution or civil war is in the air.
42. AThinkingPerson:
“You apparently haven’t noticed that everytime Obama opens his mouth the stock market drops?”
I just hope those stockbrokers are overreacting.
47. TLM:
” “The real losers are the bottom line owners of devalued securities and mortgages, local and foreign.”
The real losers are us, everyone invested in the market for retirement, college for your kids, etc.”
I wasn’t clear or inclusive, but I meant that too.
52. Objective:
“Economics #101: the health of an economy is directly related to the velocity of its currency in circulation.”
Isn’t that what the bailout money is supposed to do?
53. mk:
“I rearranged a bunch of investments and am doing semi-okay.”
I really hope that you do well. Something good will happen down the line. This situation is complex but hopefully the “bright” bankers will work for solutions and swallow their pride.
62. Marc Malone:
#31 vivo – “They are not worried. They make money buying and selling stocks.”
“Your statement is typical of those who’ve been indoctrinated to think that Wall Street is evil.”
I don’t think WS is evil. I understand what stocks are, as you explained. But I think that stockbrokers don’t just sit and they constantly manipulate their clients. Lots of their decisions are based on rumors. I’ve been in the market and I knew I was making better decisions that the s.o.b broker. It’s not their money and no matter what they do, they get a commission.
“I’ve been seeing a rightward drift in your thinking since you’ve been posting here.”
I don’t see myself as left-wing (or right-). I try to be compassionate with my fellow human beings and use common sense. Pajamers have labeled me as fringe left, but I think it’s because they are to far to the right. I learn something every day and analyze both sides. I like the tenacity of Conservatives, their exaggerated patriotism and business acumen. Lots of them are good people, but I don’t share their isolationism. I appreciate everybody’s comments and laugh at some of their paranoid ideas. After all, we are all in this together . . .
Old_Airman_2000,
I worked for the US DOD for 33 years, retiring in 2007. The last 15 were spent as a program manager for design, manufacture and installation of U.S. Navy training systems. What you say regarding the proficiency (or lack thereof) of government employees is a fact. During my career I worked with many outstanding civil servants, but a large percentage were either mediocre or downright incompetent/indolent.
I also agree, in part, with your assessment of contractor employees. I found most SUPPORT contractors to be intelligent, experienced and hard working. Contractors tasked directly by DOD to design, construct and deliver hardware to our military are a significantly different animal, however. I found most DOD-sponsored corporations to be arrogant, unresponsive, proprietarily protective, over-priced and incredibly inefficient….particularly at the higher levels. I ALWAYS received superior results from my own activity’s civil servants than from shipbuilders/proprietary design contractors.
To Fred at #72:
I want to refine my the comments of my post. I was primarily referring to the average Federal civil servant, not the majorty of those in the uniformed military. Who I believe are bargain for the American taxpayer. They go where most people don’t want to go and are on call 24/7. The go in harm’s way and of all the Federal entities, learn and adjust to a changing environment. So my kudos to those in uniform. I hope this clarifies what I am talking about to the readership.
I also think there are government agencies and bureaus, run primarily by civilians, that are effective. I think the FBI, as an agency, is effective. I think the national airspace system, run by the FAA, is effective, albeit very over-stretched. There are some others as well. But I think the common thread among those bureaus and agencies is that they exist because they have to do with law enforcement or national security. Those functions are of necessity centered on government. True, there is deadwood in those organizations as well. There are some military officers and enlisted that should be looking for other work. However, by and large, those organizations perform creditably. You know, I event think the US Mail performs far and away better than some of the government mail organizations I have come in contact with during my duties overseas.
With that said, much of what is being currently nationalized, will be run by the Federal civil servant with the sense of urgency that national defense and law enforcement require of its civil servants. Therein lies the rub. We will get the disinterested, lazy or uninformed bureaucrat making life and death decisions about the type of health care we can get. Or will get a bureaucrat that will regulate a business activity to the point of killing the business. Do we want that? Again, you can walk away from a bad business relationship. You can’t walk away from incompetent or lazy government. Unless, of course, you are will move to Lower Slobbovia or some such country.
CORRECTION TO #79
With that said, much of what is being currently nationalized, will be run by the Federal civil servant WITHOUT the sense of urgency that national defense and law enforcement require of its civil servants. Therein lies the rub. We will get the disinterested, lazy or uninformed bureaucrat making life and death decisions about the type of health care we can get. Or will get a bureaucrat that will regulate a business activity to the point of killing the business. Do we want that? Again, you can walk away from a bad business relationship. You can’t walk away from incompetent or lazy government. Unless, of course, you are will move to Lower Slobbovia or some such country.
Someone above said, ” …who has done diddly-squat in his community organizer lifetime…”
Those who’ve read about ACORN know that this group has used almost-military tactics. They will invade banks and make demands. They will mass in the neighborhood of bank officers to get their way. It’s called ‘saber rattling’.
And they get money. They want houses for people who can’t pay. If you disagree, they call you a racist. They yell. They seem to be on the receiving end of billions at the moment.
But it is their tactics that make ‘community organizing’ something to fear. Obama led that group and now I believe Obama has millions of cell phone numbers at his command.
One text message and he might be able to get huge crowds to push whatever he wants to push. It’s like a civilian military force whose weapon at the moment is, at the very least hyperbole. At most, they’re a loud intimidating hostile presence.
He’s keeping them in his back pocket. They are soon to be rich, powerful, organized and many.
And don’t call the professor a naif.
Yeah, well, while Bush and his people were doing their best Shemp impressions when it came to minding the store, the Wall Streeters are the ones who not only ransacked the place, but stole from each other, and somehow caused everyone to end up near broke. It will be a long time before the term “the best and the brightest” will ever again be used for people in the finance industry — they were/are no more than just used car salesmen with nicer looking diplomas.
Obama’s interview with the NYT adds new insight into why our rhetorician President has such a hard time expressing himself extemporaneously. After two years of campaigning for the Oval Office, it’s hard to keep straight all the lies you’ve told the public. Habeas corpus for newly snatched terrorists? Well, so much for sending Osama bin Laden to hell.
When listening to Obama speak, do you ever get the feeling there is a fundamental disconnect between the internal dialogue and what comes out of his mouth? I mean, when he says “I’m not for Big Government”, you just know the phrase “We’re all Socialists now” is banging around inside his cranial vault trying to get out.
No wonder when Obama speaks without the ubiquitous teleprompter it comes out in spurts and sputters, then has to be corrected by his minders. Words matter, and it’s hard to find the right ones when you’ve cluttered your brain with dissembling.
Regarding the question why 59% of Americans approve of Obama …
I don’t know what polls I can ever believe, but I’ll say this …
There is a great deal of unease and unhappiness on the Internet, and a great deal of unease and unhappiness in my little community. And a great deal of silence coming from those Democrats I personally know. Only one has said anything, and it was a parroted lie, when he claimed that 100% of all economists were behind the stimulus package. Guess he missed Cato’s full-page NYT ad.
There should be no doubt about it, Barack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro, wants to destroy our economy and national security, is doing just that, and getting away with it, too. How come? Because, as Eric Holder, his attorney general, says, “We’re a nation of cowards.”
Obama’s surrogate father, Reverend Jeremiah Wright spits racist slurs at whites and Jews and screams “God Damn America” from the pulpit. Obama’s terrorist good-buddy William Ayers tramples on the American flag and says he’d bomb and kill again if he could.
Also – remember the photo? – at a raising of the flag ceremony, Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton are both at attention, according to custom, hands over their hearts, while Obama, at ease, just stands there, arms at his sides, hands casually cupping his balls.
Yet even tough ex-radical David Horowitz, a stalwart conservative who knows better than anyone of Obama’s tactics, won’t demand O’s birth certificate be released to verify his Constitutional eligibility to the office, because – get this – Obama is our first black president!
US Attorney General Eric Holder got it right, after all. Even if it’s a provision of the U.S. Constitution, the cornerstone of our American political system, it doesn’t matter in the case of Barack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro. We are indeed a nation of cowards about race!
vivo,
You think we’re joking about the possibility of civil war? You think we exaggerate the danger to the Republic posed by these crypto-Marxists you think are mainstream Democrats?
You, sir, are seriously delusional.
I hope this can be resolved by normal political decisions in 2010 and 2012. But there are other possibilities that may be forced upon us by the other side.
If it happens, the proscription lists will be going up. For those whose names are on them, there will only be exile, the firing squad, or the gallows.
The main problem is that we’re suffering from a serious financial crisis, but the stimulus package addresses mostly energy, health, and education instead of the financial crisis. The legislation might have a real impact in 20 years, but is not likely to do much about immediate problems. The administration seems to be clueless about these latter.
careful there vivo . Once you see that when someone uses a tool they become more productive and that consequently the owner of that tool deserves some ( perhaps even most) of the fruits of that extra productivity. Then, gasp , you become capitalist . Oh the horror.
I keep trying to figure the One out too .
I am leaning towards narcissistic personality disorder, detailed at
.
The clincher for me is that he doesn’t have any friends. He is not and was never close to any of his relatives . He is so isolated that there is no one to ask for advice or guidance and because of his determination to be , or at least appear to be ,better than everyone else he resents those whose advice he could and should seek.
Shallow and yet convinced of his own greatness he is imploding .
I keep trying to figure the One out too .
I am leaning towards narcissistic personality disorder, detailed at:
http://www.globalpolitician.com/25109-barack-obama-elections
Private sector health care is in grave danger from Obama:
Item: Major institutions (e.g. St. Jude’s) are supported by endowments, which are down.
Item: Charitable contributions could make up the difference, but we have new tax on contributions(WSJ estimates a 20% revenue reduction).
Item: With higher taxes, which make capital-intensive small business all but infeasible, charity contributions will suffer still more.
Item: Responding to abortion related regulations, Catholic Church funded medical services may evaporate.
Item: The President of the United States is bad-mouthing the private sector health care system.
ADD THIS UP: An engineered shortage of health care that will impel Americans to Obama’s socialist system.
It will “take decades to pay off the trillions in national debt” the same way it would take decades for most people to pay off their $1 million mortgages on their $500,000 homes. Not gonna happen. For nearly everyone, a good credit score is not worth paying $500,000. Presidents will never run a 1 trillion dollar surplus 10 years in a row to pay this off.
There is no set rule in granite that says our experiment in democracy must succeed. Iceland is a very interesting model.
“…a nation of city-employees lounging around the toll booth…”
You have it right, Professor. That is the future of the Republic UNLESS the people demand some serious changes and right soon.
It turns out all the smart pundits – Parker, Powell, C. Buckley, etc. – were very, very wrong and us hicks in flyover country were right. Welcome to the SSRA.
I think your parking lot example also provides the kind of sitting-duck scenario analogy for the next (god forbid) terrorist attack.
Those who care, and those who take heed, (are) at the mercy of those who think of themselves as recently and equally empowered as the president, and also equally and totally without a clue, partying it up at any “opportunity” and respond with attitude when someone points out the bleeding obvious.
the whole thing smacks as a combination of a caricature of Marie Anttoinette and Ferdinand Marcos (remember him?). The government gets a major 60% cut of any business deal, and Michelle 0bhamas complains she can only buy one pair of earrings.
Meanwhile the enemies of humanity have long since spotted the softness and vulnerability everywhere knowing the people responsible will be off in la-la land, succuorring on their own P.R.
The only difference will be that this time, after the attack, conspicuous heads will roll, to get a new story rolling. Not like last time where, when the wall that was put up between the CIA and FBI, and who was responsible came to light, no-one went to jail, no-one tried for gross negligence. thanks Jamie Gorelick.
We are pursuing the agenda that would have taken place eight years earlier had ALGore began his national socialist agenda. It’s all so 9/10 and the clock is supposed to be ticking backwards, ticking backwards… Hey kids! Lets build a bridge back to the 20th century? Yeah? Back to the Garden Of New Deal Earthly Delights!
It will all be discussed on a morbid edition of the Sammy Maudlin Show.
YOU WERE ALL WARNED, HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE THE EMPEROR HAD NO CLOTHES?
Saltherring
To you comment, “Contractors tasked directly by DOD to design, construct and deliver hardware to our military are a significantly different animal, however.”
That was disconcerting! I guess I have no right to be alive. I flew a Boeing product for a third of my career.
Read this paper. It was written by Nobel Prize winner Merton Miller in 1994. It was accurate then, and accurate today.
http://www.chicagogsb.edu/faculty/selectedpapers/sp75.pdf
Wall Street has no confidence. By the way, the new Asst. Treasury Secy is a Labor Economist. He wrote a paper that said if you increase minimum wage, you increase demand for labor!
Thanks for the info, really helpful post. Yes, the points you shared will certainly give Wall Street Journal a big scare. We all are, on a limbo. We do need some kind of alternative and fast since we don’t see any progress in all of this. Great points and analysis. Enjoyed reading this.
I do not even understand how I stopped up here, however I thought this post was great. I do not understand who you’re but certainly you’re going to a well-known blogger if you happen to are not already ;) Cheers!