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Kinda sad…if you’re one of those people into thriving economies of liberty and democracy. I maintain that all of this talk about “when things get better” and “when the economy improves” are missing a key component: how? I believe our economy is: * Too dependent on government spending (Thanks Dems!) * Way too biased toward [...]
Not that Obama has violently overthrown the bourgeoisie with his rag-tag band of suicidal Democrat proletariat workers, it’s not uncommon to hear that we are now in a “socialist country”. I would submit that this is not the case. First of all, a socialism and/or communism generally have a policy of seizure and redistribution that [...]
A decade or so ago, when comprehensive health care policy began to really take center stage, it was not uncommon to hear something like “well look at Europe, they have a centralized government sponsored health care system, and none of the doomsday scenarios have come true!” This point was notably absent in the most recent [...]
Last night we went to our daughter’s future school for information on enrollment for next year. We were extremely impressed, and are really looking forward to our daughter’s experience there. During the presentation we were asked several times to vote for a tax extension on April 27th. The tax extension will extend a property tax [...]
(“But I thtilll…love technology….) One nice thing about technology is that it tends to operate on a survival of the fittest principle. Not survival of the prettiest (Apple) or survival of the best marketing (MS) or survival of the cheapest (Linux)…but survival of the fittest. “Fittest” contains that whole basket of factors that individually miss [...]
In the last b’journal entry I mentioned “black box”. The term “black box” has several meanings but one definition is a “closed system with little understanding of what happens inside”. You feed something into these systems and something comes back out. You don’t know how it works, it just does it. Our economic system has [...]
Recently I watched a History channel special on the dust bowl of the 30′s. I already knew of it from my younger education in Iowa–which had slightly more interest in things Agricultural–but it was interesting to see such a detailed look. One of the quotes bugged me a bit. It said something like “Herbert Hoover [...]
First, let’s eliminate the faux reason: It’s not about party. All parties have proven completely irresponsible when it comes to spending. It’s also not about the president. As we’ll see, the president simply cannot control spending. And this is the problem. The Executive branch is supposed to send a budget to Congress, and have it [...]
Not too long ago the Government decided “we want everyone to have a house.” Now they have decided “we want everyone to have healthcare”. Don’t get me wrong, these are both laudable goals. But are a bunch of folks who win 2, 4, and 6 year popularity contests really the best people to think through [...]
You would think that I wouldn’t be in favor of such a commie idea as the “Cash for clunkers” program. And while I’m not ‘for’ it per se…it’s actually an effective policy for it’s kind. Here’s why. It’s temporary. It’s short term, and even if they make it long term it’s a whole lot easier [...]
Everyone loves to hate Wal-Mart. And really, I’m not a fan. You go there when you have to or when you need some commodity that will be more expensive somewhere else. Historically the sheer overhead and trouble of getting there, parking, finding the thing, checking out, and simply leaving the parking lot….well, it’s just not [...]
In case you missed it, California has completely run out of money, and has begun paying with “registered warrants”. These are basically IOU’s with a little interest tacked on. This is like an addict–who has completely lost concept of reality–asking to borrow money, then paying you back with a piece of paper that says “I’m [...]
As I’ve mentioned, slowly but surely all of our debt is flowing toward the federal government. Most of this process is not visible, but sometimes you get small windows into one of the waterfalls in this toxic river. Here’s one. Fannie Mae needs 19 billion. They get this by selling stock to the gubmint, who [...]
The fundamental question about the economy is: What is the engine? If you look back throughout our history, the answer is very clear, although it wasn’t always clear at the time. We now know that for the last 10-15 years our economic engine has not been an industry. For that time period, our economic engine [...]
Now everyone is trying to figure out ways to get all that AIG money back. Good luck. That’s the problem with bailing things out instead of letting them fail. Why not pay people bonuses? Because it’s “not right”? In a normal market system these bonuses wouldn’t be paid because the company would be bankrupt. But [...]
Yeah, yeah. I sound like a broken record. But we need to pay attention because this stuff is getting very serious. The Gubmint is printing too many Gubs. Like rivers of toxic waste all this debt is flowing into the ledgers of the federal government. Fannie Mae is already out of money from their first [...]
Welcome to the stock market, circa 1997! I love this little gem: “I think we need to hear some optimistic talk from our leaders and soon.” -Ron Kiddoo, chief investment officer at Cozad Asset Management I love it not because of what it implies…which is bad news. I love it because it matches several patterns [...]
Finally some people are starting to acknowledge that this is a possibility. It’s gonna happen folks. The Federal government will either go bankrupt, or print money to pay debts. The reason? We want to live beyond our means. We want government to be our god and meet all of our needs. We have no means [...]
I know this blog has turned into a polifinancial rant platform lately…but there is serious stuff afoot. This is an extension from a conversation on Facebook, in which the general principle of “give the guy a chance” was proffered. While I would normally think this is a good idea, with Obama’s presidency, I don’t think [...]
Somewhere about a decade ago, Republicans bought the lie that people didn’t like Republican ideas. And thus, they stopped being Republican. This slow decay in the party is now complete, and it’s too late baby…oh it’s too late. Since when did 713 billion in debt become a Republican ‘alternative’? This is kind of like in [...]
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