In our hearts, we all know the answer. Like a lot of things, it is politically incorrect to discuss. The right says the problems are caused by reckless liberal spending which caused the system to collapse (ie. the home mortgage market) and the left say that hoarding rich robber barons in the costumes of large kingdoms (ie.Saudi Arabia), large corporations like BP, Goldman Sachs etc and tens of thousands of multi millionaires have created a scenario which has pitted the haves vs the have nots. Could be that both are right and wrong at the same time.
In 1968, I trained with the research department of the world’s second largest stockbrokerage firm, Francis I duPont & Company (now defunct). Many of you reading this probably never heard of this company, but if you heard of Dean Witter, E.F.Hutton, Smith Barney etc. you can find the remnants of F.I.duPont & Co. in all of them. In the late 60’s the U.S. was involved in the latter edge of the Viet Nam War and establishing itself for a growth era which peaked in the late 1990’s. In the 1960’s, Federal regulation of rampant corporate growth was closely watched and aggressively regulated. Corporate moguls hated this regulation and hired lobbyists and paid off congressmen to ease up on the anti trust wave and lower income tax rates for the ultra wealthy. This all worked well for the last 40-50 years and allowed many people to accummulate hoards of wealth, but as all cycles go, this one has run its course. The recession we are in will surely turn into a long term stranglehold with little or no letup. Millions of homeowners who do not have millions of dollars in liquid reserves will end up poor and thrust into the mass of starving and homeless. Sounds dismal? yes! Is there a solution? Right now, only time will and upheavel will solve our economic problems. It will not be pretty and it will not be easy. If you’ve watched Obama and the Democrat congress grossly mismanage 1.5 trillion dollars with little or no results it is easy to understand my negativity. Those dollars were precious to our survival but have been and are being squandered away in the name of social justice and not to support small and medium size business. Jobs are still being lost, homes and businesses still being lost and as time goes buy this trend will envelope and destroy a lot of the wealthy, particularly those who are asset rich. At this point, I’m not sure that President Obama and company could have changed the course of this downturn, regardless of how they spent the money. The problem is simply, not matter how you cut it, a struggle between the haves and the have nots. Notice that I did not say a struggle between the Rich and the Poor. A large portion of the have nots are educated and talented people who are hard working and trained to take care of themselves but are at the mercy of our banking system and tight money. When Obama and company passed the bailout bill, I actually proposed sending an equal check to every family in the USA to rev up the economy and sales. Sound crazy, but it would be fair and pure stimulous. It would also be inflationary which would hurt the rich more than it would hurt the poor.
The truth is that we need strong leadership who is color blind and tuned into solving the economic problems of this country. Crack down on the banks, insurance companies, local zoning regulators…..Strengthen immigration laws and crack down and groups trying to destroy this country. WE NEED COMMON SENSE LEADERSHIP AND NOT A GOVERNMENT OF REVERSE RACISTS.