Guest
08-02-2011, 07:51 PM
Here you go...the Dow is down another 265 points today. That's a total of about 700 points in a little more than a week. Our feckless Congress spent a couple months arguing and debating and dropping soundbites on TV defending their ideologies. Now they're all saying that it's the best deal that could have been negotiated, that it's a step in the right direction, that the "debate" in Washington has been changed. The Democrats didn't like attacks on entitlements. The Republicans argued that we shouldn't increase taxes, even on the wealthiest, by even one dollar. So the deal they negotiated accomplished very little of what's needed. The politicians all got most of what they wanted...and the public got the shaft!
So now that all Americans that had their investments and personal wealth lose almost 10% in less than 10 days, how do you feel about all that posturing and arguing of your favorite party now?
I commented here a couple weeks ago that there was a third party at the negotiating table--the financial markets. It's pretty clear that the financial markets are speaking. They have no confidence in the ability of this Congress and this President to govern the country, to provide an environment where the economy can flourish, to provide a stable environment where consumers want to spend and producers want to hire and invest. Consumer confidence is near a historic low, employers aren't hiring, producers aren't investing. It's not a shortage of cash--corporations are awash in cash. They simply don't have the confidence that it should be invested here in the U.S. Our companies are investing in other parts of the world where the economic environment is more stable, the availability of skilled employees is better, and costs are lower. American consumers think the best use of their cash is the same as the corporations--hold onto it. That combination brings our economy to a screeching halt.
Who should we blame? The consumers? The corporations? Or the elected politicians, regardless of their ideological beliefs?
In my opinion, those at fault are the elected representatives that put their own political ideology and their desires for re-election ahead of the well-being of the people they were elected to represent. There will be some here that reply that if we could only get government out of the act and let the private sector do their thing. But what you're missing is that governmwent provides the environment in which the private sector operates. If it's a toxic environment, the private sector doesn't do well. It makes the proper decisions to minimize risk and maximize profits. If those objectives can't be achieved in this country, they'll do business elsewhere...or not do business at all.
Those of you that buy into the shorthand soundbites put out by the politicians every day, I feel sorry for you. There are many here in this forum who repeat those simplistic soundbites ad infnitum. The simply repeat the soundbites provided by politicians with no forethought. As far as I'm concerned, all 535 members of Congress should be put out of office. There is not one of them, not one party, not one caucus, not one member who has earned the right to be re-elected.
Would their replacements be better? There's no way to know. But we DO know that the 535 we have there now have not acted in our best interests. What they've done has been far more expensive to us and destructive to our economy than anything the wingnuts on the left and right and those in the middle could have done had they gotten their way. We've all lost more individually than either a continuation of spending or some increased taxes on the wealthy would have cost if an agreement had been reached months ago.
What is the quote from the movie? "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more."
But I guess that's easier said than done, isn't it?
So now that all Americans that had their investments and personal wealth lose almost 10% in less than 10 days, how do you feel about all that posturing and arguing of your favorite party now?
I commented here a couple weeks ago that there was a third party at the negotiating table--the financial markets. It's pretty clear that the financial markets are speaking. They have no confidence in the ability of this Congress and this President to govern the country, to provide an environment where the economy can flourish, to provide a stable environment where consumers want to spend and producers want to hire and invest. Consumer confidence is near a historic low, employers aren't hiring, producers aren't investing. It's not a shortage of cash--corporations are awash in cash. They simply don't have the confidence that it should be invested here in the U.S. Our companies are investing in other parts of the world where the economic environment is more stable, the availability of skilled employees is better, and costs are lower. American consumers think the best use of their cash is the same as the corporations--hold onto it. That combination brings our economy to a screeching halt.
Who should we blame? The consumers? The corporations? Or the elected politicians, regardless of their ideological beliefs?
In my opinion, those at fault are the elected representatives that put their own political ideology and their desires for re-election ahead of the well-being of the people they were elected to represent. There will be some here that reply that if we could only get government out of the act and let the private sector do their thing. But what you're missing is that governmwent provides the environment in which the private sector operates. If it's a toxic environment, the private sector doesn't do well. It makes the proper decisions to minimize risk and maximize profits. If those objectives can't be achieved in this country, they'll do business elsewhere...or not do business at all.
Those of you that buy into the shorthand soundbites put out by the politicians every day, I feel sorry for you. There are many here in this forum who repeat those simplistic soundbites ad infnitum. The simply repeat the soundbites provided by politicians with no forethought. As far as I'm concerned, all 535 members of Congress should be put out of office. There is not one of them, not one party, not one caucus, not one member who has earned the right to be re-elected.
Would their replacements be better? There's no way to know. But we DO know that the 535 we have there now have not acted in our best interests. What they've done has been far more expensive to us and destructive to our economy than anything the wingnuts on the left and right and those in the middle could have done had they gotten their way. We've all lost more individually than either a continuation of spending or some increased taxes on the wealthy would have cost if an agreement had been reached months ago.
What is the quote from the movie? "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more."
But I guess that's easier said than done, isn't it?