Nomen Nescio wrote:
2) The US dollar is going in the ****ter.
So, since October of 2007 when light sweet was $83 a barrel, the economy
has gone in the ****ter and the third world has developed THAT fast such
that it's at $143 a barrel now. Uh-huh.
Markets have inertia.
If the market can damage the US economic foundation that substantially,
then we have a real problem. The MBAs are either with us or against us.
Blaming the government is a cop-out.
I strongly disagree!
Independent voters like myself have been warning people about the
government since the "sucking sound" debate of 1992, but we were
ridiculed and called all sorts of things. One I remember is "foolish
Generation X crackpot."
But blaming the government is a cop-out. It didn't fly for the S&L
scam, it didn't fly for the Dot Com bust, or the Enron scandal, or
MCI/Worldcomm, it doesn't fly for the housing/mortgage crisis. There's
a common theme to these collapses, and only a fool thinks that, say,
Pelosi, Clinton or the Bushes are behind it.
And the gummint is now assigning the responsibility for the
financial woes of Americans to the "wealthy" and anyone else who
is smart, an hard working,
Oh, I don't know. I'm reasonably smart and I've worked my ass off in
the telecom industry since college, and let me tell you that the telecom
industry is going to fail again because of the "let's merge and make
money" mentality. I had to sign an NDE that says I won't name the three
national networks that are careening straight into the iceberg. They're
throwing all of the upper management types--who helped the companies
thrive straight through the 2001 collapse--overboard who tell them that
the promises they're making customers and investors don't make sense.
I nearly lost my job for suggesting that we shut down customers who
hosted pedophelia, identity theft and jihadist websites. They provide
the sales and marketing people too much money.
I would be rather surprised to EVER see oil below $100/barrel, again.
But it's a dynamic world! That opinion could change tomorrow.
That's what real estate types said about the homes in our neighborhood.
Hell, you'll never see the bottom half of a $150,000 for a two-bedroom
home again.
Wow!!
So I guess they'll hold a few more hearings and come up with a bi-partisan
resolution that says "Somebody should do something".
No, I think the American people ought to do something.
Four years ago, everybody was saying "Buy a home NOW. The population is
only growing and real estate is becoming more scare. Prices CAN'T fall.
Hell, even a year ago I was hearing "There is no housing bubble".
Yep. And in 2000 I was told to buy telecom company stock at $26/share
because we were going to destroy the market. By 2001, it was delisted
from NASDAQ and liquidated at $.27. But, I'm sure the money counters
and business people knew EXACTLY what they were talking about before
they either left their employees to drown or went right down with 'em.
Eight years ago, "BUY TECH STOCK.
INTERNET, MAN! Everybody's hooking up..."
EIGHT years ago it was already starting to unwind.
Yep. And then they blamed it on Clinton, or Bush. (IE, blaming the
government.)
"Know the difference between what you're seeing, and what people are
telling you you're seeing".
That's damned good advice. I'm seeing gas prices rocket to unrealistic
prices because, for example, two boats were shot at in the Persian Gulf:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...5&id=4160 093
"NEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices rose sharply Friday on news that a ship
under contract to the U.S. Defense Department fired warning shots at two
boats in the Persian Gulf. Retail gas prices as expected rose further
into record territory, nearing $3.60 a gallon."
"Meanwhile Tehran has denied there had been any confrontation between
its forces and the US, Iranian media reported."
If the market is that unstable and the speculators that capable of
manipulating a GIANT worldwide economy, it's time for Uncle Sam to
declare war on speculators, not insurgents in Baghdad.
-c