The Market Seeks Balance

Yesterday, the financial bail out plan was defeated in house of representatives causing the market to crash over 700 points.  Markets around the world felt the backlash and dropped as well.  Banks raised interest rates and tightened credit.  But, then the dollar rallied against world currencies.  A stronger dollar balances out the fall in the market.  Crude oil falls $10 a barrel because of a stronger dollar and demand.  The markets around the world are seeking balance with our market.  With Washington scrambling to revive the financial bail out (which they are now calling something else to make it sound nice), investors looking for deals swoop up stocks while the market is low, raising the market nearly 500 points.  Around the world markets all had increases (except Japan).  Once again the world is seeking balance with our market.  

The financial bailout is a purely inflationary move if proper regulations are not imposed to prevent this from happening again.  We can't keep giving trick loans to people who shouldn't have been given a loan in the first place.  We have to strenthen our economy at home, not by shipping jobs overseas.  Then more people can be legitimately qualified for loans.  Cutting cost by outsourcing American jobs just so CEOs can walk off with a bonus is wrong.  There need to be laws penalizing companies for business practices that "trickle down" layoffs to middle class workers rather than management.  Wall Street and Washington must listen to the call of the middle class.  There is no trust left.  Americans are tired of dirty bipartisan politics, lobbiest and investors.  The middle class is not a cow that can be milked for hundreds of years.   If there is a bailout plan, it should be paid for by those being bailed out not the average person.  Dirty business is profitable at first, but then you have to pay up in the end.  Not one penny more should come from the middle class American.  You want to talk health care, I might like to hear options.  But in the meantime all medical expenses should be a tax write off instead of some ridiculous percentage.  I think everyone can agree on that.  End of rant.

More Angry Rants About the Economy, Donkeys and Elephants

Don't let anyone fool you into thinking a Democrat is more dirty than a Republican or a Republican in more dirty than a Democrat.  The donkeys and elephants play in the same lobbyist pig pen.  For those of you who would blame Bush for everything (he really is an idiot), you may have forgotten the mistakes made by Clinton's administration.  NAFTA was a good idea in theory.  A free market is the most profitable economically.  However, NAFTA didn't focus on reducing restrictions of goods, it just allowed the money to pass freely without taxes.  This made it more profitable for corporations to start sending jobs to foreign countries.  Big ears Ross Perot predicted that before we ever signed it.  A free market is a great idea, but the restrictions we had in place kept jobs here in the United States.  Sacrificing jobs in America to produce bigger profits for shareholders can not possibly solve the economic crisis here at home.  We need to produce more goods, not less.  Producing more at home means profit margins won't be as high, but our communities will remain strong.  For those who think Republican trickle-down economics works, you obviously have spent too much time listening to propaganda rather than studying math.  The only thing lowering taxes on the upper class achieves in more debt.  That is how we went from having a surplus to a massive 9 trillion dollar debt.  Why not throw another trillion on to bail out a bunch of banks that made false profits based on inflation.  Why don't we just use napkins for dollars while we're at it.

The Democrats and Republicans both suck because lobbyist run Washington by opening up massive check books to finance candidates.  We may hear a few good speeches claiming change is coming, but until the Oil companies stop financing our government, they are our government.  What is the difference between Iraq and Georgia?  What about the former Yugoslavia, Darfur, and Myanmar?  There are plenty of wars worth fighting for the right reasons, yet we do not act unless atrocities such as mass graves caught on film force us to.  But fighting a war for an oil field seems more noble?  Maybe the plan is to leave troops there forever to act as a deterrent to Iran from starting a war with Israel.  Really it is just so we have some military bases in the middle east to protect our oil interests.  Hell, if Israel and Iran went to war they would both be flying US made jets!  The Israeli air force is armed with F-15s and the Iranians have a few F-14s.  I wonder if there is a self-destruct button on all of those!  Until there is real campaign finance reform and a crack down on lobbyist, our government will be influenced more by money than by public demand.  Big businesses can profit more using foreign labor and cutting jobs here.  The regulations that protected our domestic economy need to be replaced so that it is more profitable to conduct business in the US.  Stock holders need to suck it up and accept a smaller percent of a stronger dollar.  So let it be written, so let it be done.

Big Business Bail Out

700 Billion dollar bailout, with the possibility that this will grow to 1 Trillion dollars!   The government has fooled the American general public into thinking that it is necessary to bail out a bunch of companies that profited from a false boom in the economy.  This false boom was created by the Bush administrations removal of key regulations that used to protect the market from bad business practices.  This move is not designed to help homeowners or tax payers.  Executives of companies that have made poor decisions are going to walk out of this making a huge profit, while the American taxpayer is now placed into debt that will ensure the collapse of social security and also ensure that the health care system will remain the same.  

How come this money was not offered to the individuals that lost their homes?  Instead, now we are protecting those who have the most to lose…the rich!  Forget about the poor middle class family that has to tell their children they are moving.  We have to protect those with millions invested from losing a few points.  Yes we’ll fool the regular American public that is already federally insured and tell them they aren’t.  Then, we’ll take taxpayer money and give it to those who live off their interest and only pay a meager 15% capital gains tax while the average worker pays over 33%.  Bailing out companies who have failed based on performance and poor judgment is not the goal of capitalism.  If the taxpayer is paying for it, the taxpayer should own it.  

Now, the current generation gets to keep the status quo.  While the younger generation is saddled with a burden that we will never be able to overcome.  What about the new generation of children?  Do we really want to leave them with nothing but debt?  Our economy has shifted to services rather than production of goods.  How can that possibly be profitable?  There used to be trade restrictions to protect our economy.  Now we don't produce anything.  We ship jobs overseas to get bigger stock prices here.  That cycle can't possibly continue.  Enron based all of its profits on speculation.  When it turned out that all of those numbers where false, the company collapsed.  Should we have saved Enron.?  No.  Why are we saving these idiots from doing the same thing?  Land did not double in value.  The value of the dollar declined.  

Mark my words, the only way to fix this country is to raise the capital gains tax.  We need to raise the capital gains tax on the upper 1%.  The people who don’t do anything but live off old money.  So for any entrepreneurs trying to make a buck, these rules don't apply to you. The goal is to encourage economic growth at home.  Maybe if we get the upper class to stop sending our jobs to China we can maintain our status as free people.  Otherwise why did we fight the British if we were just going to let a new bourgeoisie form.  The gap between the upper class and middle class is growing exponentially and it needs to be reversed.  If the upper 1% payed the same as the average person, the budget crisis in this country could be eliminated.  If it isn’t, the middle class will no longer exist and seeds of revolution will be planted.