Good News on the Economy

The greatest Hillary of all times succumbed to old age. Hillary's accomplishments included climbing Everest, the first land crossing of the South Pole, and a trip to the headwaters of the Ganges.

We are one step further from the age of great explorers.

Unfortunately, the lot of Generation X isn't to talk about great achievers. We have to babble about nattering nabobs of negatism that define American petty politics. So, this post is not about Hillary the Great, but Hillary the lesser. Hillary the lesser is better known as Clinton the Second, the annointed successor of Bush the Second.

This piece from the AP says that our fears of economic doom will subside if we vote for Hillary.

The press is partially correct on this. Our fears are driven by what we read in the paper. If they press stopped screeching doom and gloom, many of our fears would subside.

The press hates George Bush and want his presidency to end in an recession. Hoping to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, they've been screaming recession at a fevered pitch for a solid four months. Hedgefunds and international investors have gradually taken the hint and are shorting the American economy in astounding volumes. Check the short interest on stocks. It is reaching astronomical levels.

If Hillary is elected, the press will ease up on the propaganda attack. That will ease fears and perhaps the short attacks will subside. I admit, I might vote Democratic in November, simply so the press will tone down the pitch of its fevered scream. I have voted for more Democrats the Republicans in my life.

Of course, the press alone may not be able to save our economy come November. The US economy has some real serious problems. Our biggest problem is that both our government and consumers are locked in an addiction of borrowing and spending.

Oddly, Hillary's proposal to save the economy is to borrow $110 billion and to spend it in economic stimulus. The only place to get the $110 is from the international community which is shorting the American economy.

GW Bush was not any better on securing our future than Clinton. The Debt to the Penny page shows that George W. Bush was the worst president since LBJ for borrowing and spending.

Encouraging more domestic spending through incentive plans will not solve the current economic maladies of the United States.

What we really need at this point in time is a nationwide realignment of the economy, with more American resources invested in productivity and less on consumption.

In a world that considers global warming a primary threat to existence, artificially increasing consumer consumption is not wise.

Interestingly, in the current economic correction, the market is doing what needs to be done. US housing prices are falling. This makes housing more affordable for future Americans. There has been a small drop in our use of fossil fuels, which is good. There is a great deal of new investment in alternative fuels.

Businesswise, there has been a shift in the market from companies geared toward domestic consumption to those that produce energy and items for export.

I am a heartless bastard, but I would not be sad to see Americans consuming a lower portion of the world's resources.

For the most part. Good things are happening in this market correction. The only really bad things I see is that the economic realignment might increase the gap between rich and poor. The screaming from the press is causing people to panic sell at the bottom or the market (which increases the gap between rich and poor). The shorting is done by hedge funds that are the exclusive domain of the wealthy.

The gap between rich and poor will also grow because government policies force American workers to invest the bulk of their retirement income in their houses and in government securities via Social Security. The fact that our government has forced Americans into a poorly diversified portfolio that could cause widespread hardship in the future as these two mechanisms fail.

If the government were to take actions to allow Americans to diversify their portfolio with private accounts, we would see the gap between rich and poor wane.

Unfortunately, Hillary's spending stimulus does not address our systemic problems. It simply applies the failed policy of borrow and spend to an economy that is already leveraged to the hilt.

The really interesting thing about all of the reports that I am reading on Hillary's plan is the timing of the release of this plan.

I was expecting the press to launch into its praise of the Democratic borrow and spend stimulus in the general election.

Today's news reports praising Hillary Clinton's muddled thinking on the economy seems to be aimed at beating Obama in the primaries.

Perhaps Obama is a better candidate than I originally thought. As an independent, perhaps I should sneak into the Democratic booth and vote for Obama instead of sneaking into the Republican polling booth to vote for McCain.