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May 17, 2009

Posted by neillevine

About This Editor: I am a writer. Have been writing for other sites, but expect to do most of my future work HERE! My expertise extends from the esoteric such as burning hydrogen to the unpredictability of the stock market and my writing makes me a jack of all trades and exasperated master of none. I have had some influence over national wildfire and water policy and there are hints of a change in energy policy, BUT as Samuel Goldwyn once said, "A verbal promise is not worth the paper it is written on."

         

Let’s see.  Interest rates went up.  Not much of an explanation was given.  It wasn’t a law of physics.  It was the Federal Reserve doing its thing, whatever that is.  A lot of people didn’t catch on.  They don’t like paying a lot of financial vigorish.  They get stuck.  Then low and behold rates came down, possibly to stimulate the economy and reduce the risk of recession, possibly to make consumers happy.  Whatever the explanation, the fiscal outlook became a bit rosier.

Simultaneously, likely as a result, the stock market went down.  Housing prices fell.  A lot of big companies from the giants on Wall Street like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch to the giants in mortgages and insurance like Countrywide Financial and AIG went down and now Chrysler and General Motors currently are in trouble and there is no real explanation except that Barry Barack Obama isn’t looking to run a car company.  I guess he can’t  offer free rides when no one is able to pay for them, especially after the company has been milked dry as political chits get played out and get called in.  So they are going to go through bankruptcy so they can operate as businesses once more and offer jobs and pay their bills.

All the while unemployment has risen, despite a stimulus and contrary to what a stimulus is supposed to accomplish or be designed for.  In short, the stimulus isn’t stimulating.  So it sounds confusing and may even be rather muddled but something is going on despite the don’t ask, don’t tell mentality governing the financial situation.  Like wild fires and flood policy, Washington seems to be adrift in a sea of confusion and obfuscation.  Politicians don’t seem to be protecting much of anything or making economic sense.  They seem dedicated to ducking and hiding until the next disaster overwhelms the Capitol and they ride to the rescue with a big sack of federal gold.

In the interim, the electorate seems to have chosen a political operative who has gotten rich gaming the system taking digs at the so called rich, who he apparently doesn’t like, while pretty much making everyone poor.  The rhetoric seems so harsh as to make everyone worry about the future of the country.  After all, the federal pantry has now been emptied of goodies.  So leadership seems dedicated to make up the difference with gamesmanship.  Solar.  Wind.  Any excuse that hasn’t worked in the past.  This spreads the happiness while politicians keep their cosy deals.  Don’t forget, not only are people losing money in the stock market as they have learned from their retirement and other accounts, they can’t sell their home at a profit.  Another example of Washington making everyone poor even as they promise to allow some to renegotiate mortgages sounds so kind.  As a contrast, most politicians keep their money in safe, conservative investments as Barry Barack Obama’s financial disclosures have made clear.

If politicians were offering a real, practical, sound, worthwhile solution, the stock market would not have fallen and people would not be losing jobs.  Although this crisis has allowed them to max out the national budget’s credit limit, offering pleasure throughout the land.  The federal candy store has been emptied of goodies once more.

So like Madonna, The Material Girl, this is a material world and material money counts.  Permitting the use of a cost effective energy solution like non dam water wheel hydro power or even using flood control to generate cheap electricity where possible would lower prices, stimulate the economy, cut carbon emissions and solve the problem.  But it doesn’t consolidate power for the politically powerful nor protect vested interests nor sedate the incredulous throughout the land

Perhaps that is also why federal officials have been so ineffective against those criminal Somali pirates.  Here, too, they also believe all for one and one for all delivers those free taxes, free benefits and the free life that makes crime and sympathy so alluring.  There is a kinship here that cannot be denied.  Hence the lack of action.  No use stopping thieves when other people’s money is mere candy to hand out like manna until they reach the end of the horn of plenty.

Last 5 Entries by neillevine

• There Is A Yawning Chasm Between Financial Regulation And Patronage And A Risky Crock - December 28th, 2009
• Magnum Opus: My Adventures With The Great Google Corporate Ad Team, AdSense, AdWords For Better Or Worse - December 25th, 2009
• Terrorist Trials, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Osama, Virtual Armies, Robot Armies, Bomb Sniffing Dogs - December 9th, 2009
• Hearts And Minds In Afghanistan. Further Thoughts On Pacification. - November 25th, 2009
• Why Not Ask Bernie Madoff To Testify About The Wall Street Meltdown On Capitol Hill - November 24th, 2009

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