Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Buy Treasury Bonds

I am trying not to be just a naysayer.

Unfortunately, I disagree with the direction of the "recovery" and have even considered the politically incorrect notion that the "recovery" is a primary cause of our economic malaise. One might recall the experience of Tom Sawyer who learned the cure might be worse than the disease when he fed Aunt Polly's medicine to his cat. The cat weirded up.

While we are supposed to attribute the failing economy solely to GW Bush (along with our humiliating loss in Afghanistan and Iraq). The truth of the matter is that the historic changes in our government are part of the economic picture.

This historic change in government in 2006 and the historic paradigm shift from a crony capitalism to a regulated market that happened in the 2008 election are part of the economic puzzle.

As you see, the market looks forward, not backward. Layoffs happen because businesses anticipate future slow downs. Businesses vacate offices because they anticipate a dearth of work.

If we really were entering a new Camelot era, then the market would be bounding with joy for our replacing the much hated Bush with the beloved Obama.

Earlier this week, I heard a speech from Barack Obama talking about how the "recovery" will be a multi year process and will likely require many stimulus bills before it is over. I had a horrid vision of our nation stumbling like a crack addict between hits ... always needing a bigger stimulus to recover from the last stimulus.

I know, I know, I know. We are supposed to forget that the downward economic spiral started the year after the government changed hands in the historic 2006 election. We are supposed to forget the historic first 100 days of the Pelosi/Reid regime which made the historic about face from Bush's "kinder and gentler conservatism" to a wild-eyed no-holds-barred progressivism.

We are to forget the massive spending increases associated the the record increase in CHIPs, the massive prescription drug bill and other notable efforts.

Bush's compassionate conservatism meant the biggest increase in government spending since LBJ. If the biggest spending increase since LBJ is the modern version of a free market failure, then the correction from deregulation failure is likely to be something that makes the New Deal pale in comparison.

Anyway, I've been sitting here hoping that the promise of a steady stream of stimuluses would usher in a market resurgeance.

Apparently, the reason that this isn't happening is because the reactionary Rush Limbaugh is sitting behind a microphone and emitting negative vibes.

I don't like Mr. Limbaugh, and think that that horrible little man should keep his negative vibes to himself.

Although I am trying my hardest to be positive, I keep being overcome with negative vibes.

Much as I would like to change the way I was taught to think in school. I was taught critical thinking! I got really good at criticizing. I accidentally started critizing both the left and right. As there is so much more wrong with the left, I end up criticizing them a lot more than the right.

Anyway, I figure one's actions are far more important than one's words.

So, I stayed up late last night trying to figure out a positive way to help in the recovery.

Apparently, one of the biggest concerns of the radical right is that we are financing our stimulus package by borrowing from China.

So, I figure that the best way to show one's support for Obama would be for people to close out bank accounts and buy treasury bonds. So, I cancelled a few magazine subscriptions and am now starting the process of closing an account with a local bank to buy treasury bonds.

Obama needs money so that he can lend it to banks to stimulate the economy. My transferring money from my bank account to treasury bonds should help in the process.

I think that anyone who is truly supportive should do the same thing.

The government needs money to finance the stimulus. I think we should all pitch in.

Every American should cut their expenses. Sell off speculative investments, and take money from their bank account and buy treasury bonds. This will give Obama the money he needs to lend to banks and stimulate spending.

As part of my patriotic duty, I've been putting up links to TreasuryDirect.gov. This is a wonderful site that lets you buy and manage your treasury bond holdings.

Currently, government spending in the US is about 30% of the GDP. At the end of the Obama age, we should expect it to rise to 40% or 50%. So, it makes sense for people to pull their money from private investments and place it in the government, where we know it will be used wisely.

1 comment:

Scott Hinrichs said...

The investing advisors are always saying that you should invest in a growth industry. Government may be the only serious growth industry we will have over the next few years.