Tonight, President Obama gives the State of the Union message. The big focus is on federal government spending. Just about everyone thinks there are programs that are not needed and are a waste of the taxpayer's dollars. I am sure there is a lot of waste as the challenge for centuries has been, "how do I get my hands on other people's money?"
Wall Street gets their hands on other people's money by rigging the game. This takes some help from the federal government by passing laws that permit cheating people out of their money that they invest. The SEC, Securities & Exchange Commission has been weakened over the years by the federal government so that it has become an ineffective watchdog of Wall Street's behavior. Making people marks and taking their money out from under them like shooting fish in a barrel is only made possible with the help of the federal government. The people working in the investment securities business don't like financial services regulation from the federal government because they can't fleece people without the federal government turning a blind eye to their lack of good business ethics.
The economy is going to be talked about in the State of the Union message by the President, but since the first oil embargo in 1973, the federal government and the people who elect our representatives have been unwilling to reverse our dependence on foreign oil, and just plain oil - petroleum! The United States has gotten itself into two wars because of our dependence on foreign oil. And yet, we as a nation are not serious about reducing our dependence on oil. Foreign oil is taking billions of dollars out of our domestic economy. The dollars leaving the United States from the purchase of foreign oil is only making the situation worse in as much as we have a huge imbalance with China called a trade deficit.
Two sectors of our domestic economy that I think need to be changed are: First, tighter accountability and transparency in the area of investment securities and investment management. There are far too many people being fleeced of their hard earned money by investment security firms and so called money management firms. Better enforcement is needed. And second, a serious program to get the United States off foreign oil and eventually all petroleum based fuels. The first one can be done now and the second one, while a longer term project, needs to be started.
Stay tuned.
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3 comments:
It seems this country cannot make the right decisions.....because no one wants to be inconvenienced, especially the powerful. Where is our 5- 10- and 20 yr plan for the future? You are right, we've had 20+ years to wean-off foriegn oil.
Winslow got me to thinking - it almost seems as though long range planning doesn't exist anymore, except, of course, when it comes to Medicare- and even then it only exists to scare the public into thinking it won't survive and, therefore, drastic measures need to be taken - like privatization. Of course, if privatization occurs, then that means the bakers, insurance companies and investment organizations will get the mony, instead of the Social Security Trust Fund. Now whom is it, do you think, that would benefit most from that? Not you and me, I'll tell you.
From October,1973 to October,2010 is 37 years. 37 years since the first Arab oil embargo and in that 37 years our leaders have done nothing to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. As a result of our inability to get off of foreign oil, we were drawn into the Gulf War and the stationing of our troops in Saudi Arabia. All for the purpose of protecting someone else's oil! How much money have we spent protecting other countries's oil? That money could have been spent on our own infrastructure and high speed rail. We continue to make bad decisions and the people that are making them are said to be the best and the brightest.
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