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There are some who would scoff at U.S. politics, and claim “there’s no difference, they’re all alike.”
But most likely, it’s those of you who were in shit-pants when Jimmy Carter and his foggy crew ruled the waves and admonished us to wear sweaters and snap out of our distaste for price controls and overregulation. Heck, even I barely remember those bad ole days, but I remember them sucking.
Then we washed that crap right out of our hair with just the right guy at just the right time. A lot of us grew up in the light of that re-dedication to free-enterprise, strong markets and strong defense. We were like fish swimming in clean water, not really knowing what pollution even smelled like.
But then we got lazy, and cynical. We started to take things for granted. We noted how well even the Clinton years went — after the Great Man had left and his weak sister Veep had taken over to less than spectacular result. Heck, weak sister Veep raised taxes and then Bill Clinton, his successor, did too. Sure, we flirted with disaster with that passive-agressive lefty President, but the election of 1994 set everything aright again. With a split government (Congress GOP, Executive Dem), the introduction of the Internet, the disappearance of the USSR and the subsequent boom that newly-lowered capital gains had engendered made us think we were nearly invulnerable to that Carter malaise from so long ago.
But all good things come to an end, and there’s no paradise on this earth, is there?
Just as the bubble popped and we entered recession, we were treated to a hotly disputed Executive election, where Son of Reagan’s Veep took the reigns amidst an economic turndown and soon after, great national tragedy. War followed, and greater recrimination, and along with war spending came more domestic spending, including additions to Medicare that would prove egregiously expensive.
Even with the 2003 tax cuts in place, the economy healing and unemployment low, the deficits continued to climb to hundreds of millions a year. Our government continued to collectively push an easy money policy both to assist the economic recovery, and more nefariously, to achieve its goals of increased home ownership — the same stated plan that some claim led to the first great market crash and subsequent Great Depression.
By 2004, the Republicans that had seized power on the notion of smaller government had become the Establishment. The myth that deficits could be financed into perpetuity as long as rates remained low and the economy kept growing became entrenched. The U.S. Congress became a pig fest, and conservatives began abandoning their party in disgust. In 2006, that disgust and the desire to balance out a War President with a Congressional counter brought Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to power in the U.S. Congress.
This did little to help our deficits, as you can see, and in fact led to policies that would almost ensure a bad ending for our housing bubble, while affording the government-first types the cover of a war and an economic foreboding to add their own Executive — another government-firster– to the already boiling mixture.
The Fall of 2008 brought financial market crisis like we had not seen since 1987, and it was accompanied by great uncertainty and subsequent unprecedented Congressional and Treasury action. It also brought us a combined and unconstrained government that sought to fundamentally unmoor — or perhaps complete the unmooring– of the United States from its Constitutional underpinnings.
Here we are, almost four years into the Pelosi-Reid era, and two years into a very busy Obama Presidency, and the people haave grown tired already of this heavy mantle of “change.” Some may cynically claim there is no difference with whom is entrusted the power of government, but I think history tells us different.
I have no doubt we will continue to make mistakes as a people, but I also have no doubt that this great document that was left to us will allow us to set those mistakes aright once again. The sovereignty of the people and the right to free use of their private property is the foundation of this great Republic, and those tenets have not been completely quashed yet. The people own this country, like no country ever in the history of the world. And the people will take this country back from those in elected office who would wrest it’s responsiblities and freedoms from them.
November is coming, my friends, and thank God for that:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6weDMH-SCOE 450 300]My best to you all, and thanks for your weekend attention.
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Nice post, pal.
Grazie, amico mio.
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Of course I wish you the best this November, what worries me is the rush to change “change”…meaning an over reaction will likely result in more chaos.
A room full of inexperienced glory seekers
But who knows?
Buona scrittura, Jake.
O tal vez tu prefieres espanol?
Oh, attendez, je crois que c’est le français que vous parlez.
I know very little Espagnol, and a tiny bit of Italian, but would like to know more. I may take a class one of these days.
Beautiful language, no?
Boomer is an Eyetal, hence my response.
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Thanks for that excellent post.
I remember the Carter malaise well. Some guy sold his seat on the NYSE for a quarter, if I recall. It was Very Bad, and Billy Beer didn’t help much. But at the same time, opportunities were rather abundant in emerging technologies. Even though things sucked, it didn’t turn out to be a bad time to start something that could become huge: a portfolio, a business, a tech revolution. Are you feeling a little of that this time around?
I think opportunity abounds in all times of fear. The question remains, however, how much said opportunity can be realized in an age of prohibitive regulation, punitive taxation, and general government-led inhibition.
A new Congress will have a lot of rolling back to do.
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Punitive taxation? Reinstating the Clinton year tax rates–and rates that goe back 50 years–is punitive? Come now, Jake, mon ami…
You cannot just look at the rates, you have to look at the lack of write-offs, which have been increasingly dissappeared. 50 years ago, you could write off everything but the kitchen sink and no one paid the top rates as a result, not even the super rich.
That resulted in a much better distribution of the tax burden. Today, the top 1% is paying over 40% of all federal income taxes, and the bottom 50% pays almost zero.
That’s not a healthy recipe for shared support of the country. It’s dangerously close to Talleyrand’s worry about a democracy voting itself the Treasury, and thereby imploding.
We are very close to that today. The Bush tax cuts the idiots have so much trouble with actuall concentrated the burden even more so at the top income levels.
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that video didn’t show any 400lb Americans smashing a McDonalds drive thru window to get their food
it doesn’t give me pleasure to say this because I know you love your country but you need to face it
America is a lost cause and it no longer has the things that made it great
In fact, America is the biggest ponzi scheme the world ever saw. most of the stuff that made America great was by using leverage or stolen from others
This is not the uncommon leftist theme, though I suspect you are a European sour-graper (or Canuck).
No matter, this kind of re-hash is remniscent to me of the “Final Days” types on the Christian right. Everyone thinks it’s never been this bad and it only grows worse when in fact there was much bad and very little good in every stage in history.
It’s our job to make sure the good catches on, as that is the only real path to progress in the freedom of man.
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A nation is only as great as its people; hats off to the soldiers who protect our freedoms from those who wish to destroy us, and those enemies are everywhere. We still stand for liberty, affirmed by the enormous inflow of refugees I see on a daily basis. The “face” of America has changed; the “Melting Pot” is no longer comprised of 2 main groups – white Europeans and blacks, but ethnically-diverse immigrants pursuing The American Dream just as our ancestors did a hundred-plus years ago. Therein lies the dilemma – United We Stand, Divided We Fall. We must preserve our country’s core values – the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, while somehow reconciling those basic tenets with the drastically different cultures now comprising America.
I think most people come here for the American dream. As is typical, they will attempt to maintain some semblance of their native culture (the Irish, Polish, Italians and Germans held onto their culture for generations, and to some extent still do).
The difference today is the societal approbation for “mutliculturalism” which does not value the benefits our melting pot has conveyed. I think this is a fad, however, and will diminish, as the overweaning American culture (or “Ponzi scheme” to the Leftist nutters) takes holds of successive immigrant generations.
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Preacher, keep on preaching!
werd
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/09/26/video-the-daily-show-humiliates-union-for-using-non-union-picketers/
This union shit will destroy us.
We have known this for years in the Lou. This is not a single incident… this is modus operandi of all major unions. They cannot afford to put real workers on those lines, and — what do you know — paying shiftless mooks who have no other job union wages can get expensive!
We played around w. the idea of forming a picket line one lunch hour right next to the non-union picket line, protesting for their rights.
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Private sector unions are nearly dead. The real danger is the public sector unions — which use our own tax dollars to get their Democrat allies elected.
They should be banned.
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Jake,
I hope you are right, but think it won’t matter. John Q Voter is just too stupid & complacent.
Thanks for the “Vote in Nov” video. I needed a comedic break between rounds of wrestling with Java code.
But, let’s put some facts on the table here why don’t we? Let’s talk about what you’ll never see a Republican commercial actually say:
Presidential Terms as displayed in Debt/GDP…
President Incoming Ratio Ending Ratio
Carter 35.8% 32.5%
Reagan 32.5% 53.1%
Bush H. 51.1% 66.1%
Clinton 66.1% 56.4%
Bush W. 56.4% 83.4%
So, it appears (by the numbers) that Republicans INCREASE the debt/GDP and then, the Democrats reduce it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms
Yes, you’re probably correct. The fact that Congress has control over the budget (who had control of Congress when Clinton was Prez?) has nothing to do with your asinine, no-nothing about U.S.-Civics-because-I’m-Canuckistanian-Socialist analysis.
And that you can argue about what Pelosi, Reid and Obama have done with this country and it’s finances in four short years… well, it betrays a measure of cognitive dissonance that’s nothing less than breathtaking.
November is coming, and socialism is dead for another thirty years til we get fat, dumb and stupid again.
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Don’t understand that when it comes to the budget, Congress controls the pursestrings. President a figurehead at best. The above figures look a little different when the control of the Congress is included.
Presidential Terms as displayed in Debt/GDP…
President Incoming Ratio Ending Ratio
Carter 35.8% 32.5%
’77-’79 Democrats controlled House and Senate
’79-’81 Democrats controlled House and Senate
Reagan 32.5% 53.1%
’81-’83 Democrats controlled House and Senate controlled by the Republican
’83-’85 Democrats controlled House and Senate controlled by the Republican
’85-’87 Democrats controlled House and Senate controlled by the Republican
’87-’89 Democrats controlled House and Senate
Bush H. 51.1% 66.1%
’89-’91 Democrats controlled House and Senate
’91-’93 Democrats controlled House and Senate
Clinton 66.1% 56.4%
’93 -’95 Democrats controlled House and Senate
’95-’97 Republicans controlled House and Senate
’97-’99 Republicans controlled House and Senate
’99 -’01 Republicans controlled House and Senate
Bush W. 56.4% 83.4%
’01-’03 Republicans controlled House and Senate evenly controlled
’03-’05 Republicans controlled House and Senate
’05-’07 Republicans controlled House and Senate
’07-’09 Republicans controlled House and Senate evenly controlled
Yes, exactly.
Look at the largest jump in modern history:
Bush W. 56.4% 83.4%
‘01-’03 Republicans controlled House and Senate evenly controlled
‘03-’05 Republicans controlled House and Senate
‘05-’07 Republicans controlled House and Senate
‘07-’09 Republicans controlled House and Senate evenly controlled
Total Republican control (2 of the 3 legs of U.S. gov’t) and the largest jump in the deficit ever.
Mostly due to that little safari over in the Middle East.
Arguing that it was a Democrat controlled congress that caused the increases? FAIL.
Again, you are wholly wrong on that last “statistic.” In 2007-2009 (and to today) the Dems controlled both houses of Congress.
The largest jump in the deficits have come over the last four years — two of which when Bush was President, and all four of which were controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
Both Democrats.
Again, it’s an American civics thing, I wouldn’t expect you to understand.
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Let’s remember again who lied to Congress to sponsor that Safari again?
Hmmm…
Wasn’t it the same folks who convinced Congress to bail out the banks?
Hmmm….
The banks have paid all their money back, which is more than I can say about GM and Chrysler, which were bailed out by…. wait for it! Wait for it!
THAT’S RIGHT, OBAMA AND THE DEMS!
And don’t forget, they screwed the bondholders and gave the company away to the unions that would have been all fired given an efficient bankruptcy proceeding on that deal as well — quite a socialist trifecta!
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As for “lying to Congress” — please click on the Billy Clinton video I’ve linked to his name above — where he talks about our boy Saddam. And save your lame-ass leftoid talking point for the dumb Canadian Socialist meetings.
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I’m sure they paid their money back.
Too bad they don’t have to count their MBS to market.
My point all along (and I guess I have to explain it to you) is that the first video makes a point of figuring the blame on the current president.
When one looks at the economic mess the U.S. has been in for the last 30 years it can easily go the other way with properly framed statistics amidst cute kids waving American flags.
As for your loopy idea that the 80s and 90s were eras of ‘prosperity’, I beg to differ because that was the time in which the Boomers were finding that they had to borrow more and more to maintain the semblance of a quality of life at least as good as their parents had.
And as everyone knows, you don’t get rich by borrowing money perpetually. All you get is more and more broke.
So let’s shelve the posturing and admit that ALL administrations in the U.S. have been on a non stop spending spree. And, much as you hate it, they won’t stop now.
Especially now that the ‘soup lines’ are coming in the form of electronic chits to be redeemed at the local WalMart on the first of every month.
It may not be that the 21st century is the ‘Chinese Century’ but, it sure doesn’t look like another ‘Pax Americana’ – that’s for sure.
Again, everything is framed through your leftist, America-hating lens, so we have to take it for what its worth.
The fact is, the economy sucked donkey dick in the 70’s mostly due to misinformed socialist central planning policies. Even Tricky Dick Nixon believed in “wage and price controls” and he was allegedly a Republican.
But even massive money printing (again, precedents are replete through history of great nations ruining themselves on easy monetary policy) can not save the last four years of “Return to the 70’s” and so that “experiment” will be washed away again until we become dumb and complacent and let the socialists in the door again.
But what will save America — and consequently doom China and your increasingly schlerotic European and Canadian models — is it’s surfeit of flexibility and ability to dismantle bad socialist policies to let the economy breathe again.
China thinks it can have its cake and eat it too by creating the world’s largest economy via authoritarian central control. If they manage it, they will be the first, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Their “one child” policy alone is enough to knock that train off the tracks.
Europe is also demographically doomed, unless it allows massive third world immigration.
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Cuervo, very well said
What was? Back up your kudos, chicken foot.
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Our hands were tied. Sadamn thumbed his nose at my old man.
In matters great as in matters small, around the world as in Montreal, I find it is not logic but emotions, sometimes carefully rationalized to resemble logic, that more often than not decide most issues.
Bill Zeckendorf
Sounds like the Dem Party to a tee. Only they would characterize and 18 month pre-war convinction effort to be “an emotional rationalization.”
There’s no piercing their “reality” though, that’s for sure.
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That last stat is incorreuct. The Dems controlled since 2007.
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“|And that you can argue about what Pelosi, Reid and Obama have done with this country and it’s finances in four short years… well, it betrays a measure of cognitive dissonance that’s nothing less than breathtaking.”
Who has the cognitive failure here? Obama was elected in 2008. Last time I checked it’s some time in late Sept 2010.
4 years != 2 years.
Your argument? FAIL.
Better check your pacemaker, it’s only been 2 years.
Again, you are wholly wrong. Pelosi and Reid have controlled Congress for four years of serial disaster right now. Check youtube for when Barney Frank and Chris Dodd took over banking oversight and see how Fannie and Freddie were allowed to spiral into their doom — all after the Dems took over Congress.
Also, a pacemaker is for the heart’s fibrallation, not the brain’s cognition, although in your case, I’d give it a shot.
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welfare=johnson=democrat.where is it now?
deregulation=carter democrat.what did it do.it was the beginning of the end for the transportation industry !
nafta=monica lewinski’s blow job=clinton.what did it do,just look around…no jobs,and sealed the deal to move manufacturing and business out of this country with tax cuts to boot. 3 major things that sustain this country whose full effects can not be felt till those 3 were well out of office………fucking hillbillys,who said the south wasnt gonna do it again. and now this fuckwad, o’buma. give it several yrs after he is gone,then tell me the state of your personal economic condition…………..
im just surprised that idiots havent started rioting.now that they are smarting up,we can see some action like i did during the riots of the “68” democratic convention here in chicago. fuck, i’d welcome it . its overdue.
More on the Obama-GM/Chrysler bailout:
GM – Car-buncle On The Body Politic.
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right wing propoganda ….
The gubmint will get back the majority if not all of it’s investment in blue collar mfg’g jobs versus the black hole investment it made in AIG …
Even the commies understand that subsidies/loans are necessary to develop businesses that will provide jobs – billions of loans to their solar industry with LDK being the latest …. Checkmate Comrade!
Ah, I see, so the central government can allocate capital better than the billion-decision market now?
Mr. Obama and Co., acting on purely political impetus, can somehow make better decisions than people who actually put their own money at risk?
Well, Karl Marx and Stalin and Mao, and of course Mr. Castro all thought the same.
You’re in excellent company for being wrong at least! 😉
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The state of education in America… sometimes it frightens me. But it’s when all common sense is abandoned that I get truly chilled.
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I agree 100% w Jake on the allocation of capital thing.
song – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt7apgI3z2A&feature=related
i’ll never own the stock again,and i was in when gm was trading @36. they say the old saying the country goes the way gm goes…………….fucking right into a brick wall…….problem is,there are no body and fender guys that 1: know how to fix.2; the ones that know how to fix,know its unfixable,at least with any amount of bondo. but they sure know what kind of paint job they want.
Jake – you should update your ‘blog roll’ on the right column… It’s currently full of wordpress stuff.
As for your bashing of Canada and it’s policies… Last I checked, we seem to be doing quite well in most respects, with all things considered.
You are doing as good or poorly as you ever have been. 29 million people and a load of high demand commodities pretty much see to that.
I have no idea how or what to do with a “blogroll” — I’ve largely ignored that bit of it. Who am I going to link to? I’ll take suggestions.
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How about Smart Money Tracker? You and Gary are sympatique, I think.
Yes, I would definitely put Gary on… if I knew how to do it. Maybe I’ll ask Jeremy.
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Good news.
Gold bars and coins can now be purchased from vending machines and is soon to be in the USA.
Now one can purchase a Pepsi, a bag of pretzels, and a gold bar.
http://247wallst.com/2010/09/27/machines-that-dispense-gold-bars-coming-to-the-us/
I wonder what the vig on that is going to be…
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Let the fun commence:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Terra-Nova-makes-takeover-bid-apf-104317904.html?x=0&.v=1
Former PE Mgr Mike Smith now has a vehicle with net cash approaching $300M to grow via acquisition in the natural resources sector ..
That is a strange merger.
Maybe not.
I had no idea Mass Financial was that small… that’s gotta be a quarter of it’s worth from pre-2008.
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You must be thinking about Mass Mutual (MCI)
This is MassFinancial:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=MFCAF.PK
> Our commodities business along with our large number of related contacts has enabled us to gain greater product and service diversification and to find new markets. Almost 60 percent of our trading revenues are from term marketing and distribution agreements for non-ferrous and other metals. This business should not be viewed as commodities trading but as a risk business between suppliers and purchasers. Some of the investments we make are in commodity producers and are part of our proprietary investing strategy. <
No, I was definitely thinking of the money managers. Just thought they were bigger than that, is all.
Had a couple of friends from biz school go to work for them… they recruited at my school like crazy, so I thought they were as big as Goldman/Mo Stanley/Lehman, etc, save on the asset management side… like a Fidelity.
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Jake, the best thing for you to do is move your kids up here to Canada so they can grow up as Canadians
since they will be moving here later on as the US restructures its better to be the early bird
Get yourself a nice piece of land on the lake. Its really not that bad at all eh
Sorry, I did my “cold” in undergrad and grad school.
I’m done with that.
Met a nice guy from Canada last weekend though. Canuckistanians are generally nice.
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Jake,
Not to be all paranoid and all, but it seems our gov. views tweaking/manipulation of all kinds as simply other types of tools to allow them to accomplish their perceived mandate.
If gold/silver spike due to loss of confidence, to me it would appear likely that a mysterious seller might appear to spook the gold bugs. Would you expect such a thing?
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2010/9/27_John_Williams_-_Dollar_Crisis-of-Confidence_%26_Gold.html
They’ve attempted that before. There’s only so much you can manipulate a market, however.
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