The sky is falling. Well, it might feel like the sky is falling, but it is not really falling. What we are experiencing is panic. Why is there panic? There is panic because many people do not know how many studs have been removed from the wall that supports the markets. When a structure is covered such as a wall is covered with either drywall or plaster, the structural integrity is hidden from view. The question then becomes, are there enough studs in that wall to support the structural integrity of that wall? Unfortunately, no one really knows for sure. One reason that investors are running for the door is that since the Reagan administration and continuing to the present and including the present Bush administration the protections that were designed in the 1930’s and 1940’s, more ancient history, have been disassembled. So, here we are in September 2008 and we really don’t know what is going to happen. We have seen the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the meltdown of the mortgage bond market and now the collapse of another investment banking firm (Lehman) on Wall Street. And, now everyone is wondering, how bad can things get?
Well, my fellow Americans, elect John McCain and his future Secretary of the Treasurer, Phil (Ph.D.) Gramm, and as Paul Krugman thinks, we have a very good chance to have another Depression. But, don’t worry, the rich Republicans will be OK. And all the rest of you out there, well, at least you have your beat up Ford F-150 pick up truck, your pro-life candidate in the White House, no stem cell research, no gay marriage and last but not least our flag. So, the economy may be in depression, but certainly man doesn’t live by bread alone? Oh, you need a job to eat and support your family? But, I thought you were a Republican? And, I thought Republicans only need faith.
There is this clever little saying that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The Federal laws that dealt with banking and the securities industry and markets that came out the Great Depression attempted to prevent this country from going through another Great Depression. But over the years, as things held together, the Republicans wanted to destroy what President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the men of the New Deal put together. The safety nets were slowly removed and the lines were blurred and the sharks swam free to feast where they choose. So, trying to put the integrity back into the wall after the Republicans for years have been tearing its structural integrity apart, is not going to happen over night. Unfortunately, another generation will come and go before the wall will be repaired again.
The drama and economic dislocations that our domestic economy is going through right now did not have to happen. These events were man made. There are more than just a few of us out here that know this to be the truth. The presidential election this November may be the most important presidential election since FDR beat Herbert Hoover in 1932. The world markets are watching to see just how dump Americans are. Will the American electorate vote their stomachs? That remains to be seen.
Stay tuned.
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4 comments:
Do you think it has been Bush's ideology all along to bankrupt the government so social programs can never be implemented or would have to be rescinded? And, of course, this huge cost could be blamed on the Democrats.
I also remember reading a book many, many years ago how Bush wanted to implement a "new world order" and of course, him and his "party" would be in charge because they all knew better!
I thought Nixon was delusional but Mr Bush may have him beat. Bush was secretly removing the 2x4's from the walls (of course, he had his "friends" to help him).
Bush DID build a wall.... across the border of Mexico. Maybe that was to keep us in! Better control that way!
As "average' citizens, we kind of expect the leaders of government and of business to be watching out for our interests as Americans. How ridiculous! The government (currently) appears to have it's own agenda. Do you think the CEO of Lehman's was concerned about the interest of the US. No, the mantra of too many businesses is: America allows you to make as much money as possible, so do it, and reap all the rewards of success. (I still don't understand that if Republicans are supposed to be "conservative and religious", why they don't have compassion for others, espcially those that are struggling and need help).
Good comments Winslow. I appreciate the thought you put inot your comments, and I agree with much of it.
I think the Republicans hate FDR so much and his New Deal, that they will do and say anything to dismantle it. Remember FDR won four (4) presidential elections in a row. That is why we have a term limit on the presidency of 8 years. Had FDR lived he would have governed as president from 1933 to 1949.
The Glass-Stegall Act to protect the consumer in their banking relationships has be thrown down. The Securities Acts of the '30's and 40's have been rendered useless by an SEC with no spine.
Shooting fish in a barrel is the Republican idea of sport. Taking an old person's life savings through a con or better yet a blatant misrepresentative of the truth, is what makes for "war stories" at the club. The rich, they are different. They don't give a *uck about the rest.
You are right about the money. It is all that counts and that is the real bottom line.
There is a book out called "The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule". The theory propounded is that the Conservative's view is that the only good government employee is a bad government employee. Then Gov't. adminstration gets to be so bad that the 'Privatized', free market method looks good. And then the Republicans get richer.
You'll have to read my book if I ever finish writing it about my experiences in Columbus with the State of Ohio. It is all about party, and everyone else, especially state workers, get thrown under the bus the first sighting of political trouble. All energy goes to protecting the politicial party.
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