One Word: Perspective

Historically, events move at what we would consider a slow pace. Technology has increased the speed at which information passes from person to person and thus events have increased in speed as well. Trading information about the markets moves around the world in a matter of seconds as traders and investors act on the information in their buying and selling. The speed with which the markets act and react is a long way from where they were only a generation ago. Technology has had an impact on the speed at which markets move.

Newspapers, magazines, TV and the Internet bring information to the investor, but also to the voter. One thing the government has not made an attempt to stop is the flow of information. As long as voters have access to economic information, there is the chance that government economic policy can be changed. TV as we know cost lots of money to advertise for political campaigns. Why else would Senator Clinton loan her own campaign millions of dollars for a job that only pays $400,000 a year?

The Sunday NY Times had an abundance of articles this week that dealt with many of the topics I have been writing about for the last three months. (I started writing my blog on February 13th.) People are interested in the relationships between the dollar and oil, the dollar and interest rates, the mortgage crisis and the way the Fed dealt with the Bear Stearns crisis, the price of food and the story about ethanol, the dollar’s value in the currency exchange market and the list goes on.

I have always said, when enough people are hurting economically, the electorate will sit up and take notice and hopefully they we vote their self interest. The wealthy do it all the time. They know on what side their bread is buttered. They know it so well that they are willing to spend big bucks to keep the status quo.

But now comes that oh so much over used phrase - the perfect storm. Tough economic times and the movement and abundance of information have come together to mark a new era. Yes, there will always be misinformation, but I have confidence that the majority of Americans will see through the smoke and mirrors this time. Change will occur this fall and I can feel it in my bones. As I have said before, I have been hanging around this planet for 65 years, and not since the 1960’s have I seen or felt the change that is coming in the air. It may be slow in the beginning, but as people see the change occur their confidence will build that the American family can be put first. Or as my friend has said, we will use the common wealth for the common good. In philosophy class it was referred to as "the greatest good for the greatest numbers" (ghgn).

The American people see the message every day they drive down the street and look up at the price of gas and diesel on those huge gas station signs that dot our landscape like so many giant metal flowers sticking out of the ground. Those gas prices represent a hieroglyphics that speaks volumes about the state of our economy and the problems facing the American family. In 2008, these gas station signs are the best and most potent political advertising in America, and they are in every state, county, city and neighborhood. The political statement they make can not be any more ubiquitous. Those gas and diesel prices speak to the mismanagement of resources and of wasted opportunities. Fear is a great motivator, but the fear this time is not from those outside, but from the mistakes from within. The perspective of the American voter looking up at those gas station signs that spread from coast to coast, will lead to change come this fall. Stay tuned.