History...will teach us nothing

If one were to look at what happened in Sweden in the early 1990's one might find a mirror up against what America is dealing with right now. Both followed through periods of financial crisis and deregulation. Both then experienced the deregulation to find new financial institutions who rely on bookkeeping and other financial manipulation techniques which help drive the real estate market soaring. Thus allowing the banking institutions and its borrowers to take on huge amounts of debt soon to become unsustainable. One a good note though, despite economic conditions that were far worse then than what the US is currently experiencing, Sweden pulled through and recovered quickly.

How did they do it? They taxed the people heavily. This wouldn't go over well in the US as people tend to not want taxes, however, they wish to have a country with all of the perks and running well. In essence, the Swedish government ended up recapitalizing the system. Similar to the Bear-Sterns takeover. But, not for the average guy...

All in all the clean up in Sweden cost the public the equivalent of 6% of annual economic output. In real dollar terms that would be approx. $850 Billion today for our debacle.

The Bear-Sterns move mimics what Sweden did for their fix. The Fed's come in and rescue big corporation, although there is only a meager handout coming to the public thus far.

It we were to move some war money to this problem we could get things solved. With more breakdowns in the negotiations for a fix, and more neighborhoods going vacant we will find the problem running away from us soon.

If the Titanic had silicone caulk...

Perhaps the uses for band aids, silicone caulk, gaffers tape, vinegar and other known fix it type of products could be figured in to the economy? Well, today, it seems that a 3/4 point adjustment in rates by the Feds helped some people with their thoughts and feelings anyway. As the stocks rose, gold fell, and oil rose. What also seemed to help a bit for confidence today were the results of a few of the large banks like Goldman Sachs and Lehman Bros.

What does this mean for tomorrow and the rest of the year? Hmmmm...We'll see?

If the FHA $417,000 loan cap can be lifted, as has been discussed, we will see some major changes made in the overall economic situation throughout the United States. Bush has refused to do anything with this saying that it is designed to help low and moderate income families not the rich. Perhaps he hasn't ventured out of his sheltered lifestyle for some time. It is true that in TX that kind of money can get someone a whole lot a house, but there are so many areas in the United States at this point that this kind of housing price would not get anyone anything except a crack house. Those are not the most desired neighborhoods in which to raise a family. Amendment HR 1852 was written to bring this number up to $500,000, however, even today there are discussions to raise it as high as $700,000's. As inflation gets adjusted this never seemed to over time. As job income falls behind inflation we can begin to see how this number can quickly get out of reach for so many areas in the United States. In order for people to be able to get the loans that are not Jumbo type of loan programs I don't think will we be able to see the mortgage situation begin to get into control anytime soon.

I feel that the FHA rates needs serious work in order to help all type of home buyers. The rich are not considered rich at $1,000,000 anymore. We need to bring things into the 21 century so we can move forward. As soon as this happens we will find the needed band aid, caulk, tape or solution to many of the ailments we are seeing...

Where oh where have our civil liberties gone?...

President Bush continues to try to breed fear into the American people on the dangers of a bad intelligence surveillance bill. He simply wants another blank check to expand his powers, take away more civil liberties, and continue the administrations use of no accountability to anyone for anything by making sure that corporations are not held accountable for any wiretapping that he ordered after 911. Bush continues to distort the truth and use his veto power to threaten the House as they try to create a more sound intelligence bill to move us into the future. It is quite simple that Mr. Bush simply wants to be able to read your emails or listen to your phone calls anytime he wants without a court being able to prevent it or the ability to judge the legality of his actions in any way.

The "cumbersome process" as he called the new House plan is actually a court that has acted rather quickly in actions previously and has refused not even a dozen previous wire taps in over 21,000 requests in its nearly 30 years of existence. The current law already allows the government to wiretap first and get a warrant after the fact. What he is really trying to accomplish in that there will be no need for companies to turn over information is not to protect the individual, but to make sure that the individual does not find out the full extent of damage that has been given to their civil liberties.

Open the eyes...

It's time to open the eyes Mr. Bush and see just what roadless ways you have had us travel. As per my previous entry on Friday, he came out and tried to explain to his America that it was coming into some harder economic times. WOW, what an amazing and enlightened being he is. We certainly can tell that he is not an artist through his clouded attempts to paint a different and false economic picture. He tried to dispel nearly all of Congresses proposals to help alleviate and control the mortgage meltdown. He continues to try to maintain that the inadequate policies of his administration are a much better road to go down. What he doesn't understand is that all of the roads he wishes to lead us down, have only lead us UP a path with no end in sight...

Thanks to the recent rescue from JP Morgan Chase of Bear Stearns at $2/share we will not be seeing a global reaction of the fifth largest financial institution going into the toilet. Their high at close of the deal was $30/share. Good buy for JP. This negotiation was the first bailout of its kind since the 1930's. JP was also able to negotiate through a government backed guarantee that they would not suffer any losses from this transaction. This transaction for JP was done at roughly 1% of what the value of Bear Stearns was just 16 days ago. It seems even in a down market there are opportunities to make some good returns.

This shows us just how bad things have become, but it also shows that there is willingness to rescue situations if possible. This is what our administration can learn from this transaction, that there is rescuing to be done. Perhaps bankruptcy reform for individuals would be in order to help those homeowners going into default.
If there is Federal help and guarantees to JP Morgan, perhaps there could be Federal help for individuals whose homes are now valued lower than their original mortgage values.

Mr. Bush continues to try to lie to the American public about the stability of the current economy by saying how job growth has been consecutively rising for 52 months during his Presidency. The economic expansion gained under Mr. Bush has been measured at 4.2%. This is the worst performing business cycle since these records have been measured beginning in 1945. Long term unemployment has reached levels of 17.5% or more likened to a depression rather than the beginnings of a recession. Short term unemployment is interesting and deceptive at its 4.8% rate in that hundreds of thousands of people have dropped out of the market completely since they cannot find a jobs and have had to create something for themselves or go without work altogether.

Mr. Bush also lied when he said that wages were rising. Another attempt to dispel the truth to the American public since that same day the government reported that wages failed to outpace inflation for the fifth straight month. Having a weaker dollar helps to create higher oil prices, and add in the higher global consumption needs of crude creates that much more increases due to higher demand.

Mr. Bush continues to address the congress to maintain his tax reduction programs as if the country doesn't need any more money to run things. It seems that he is ignoring the fact that the federal debt will have increased over 76% by the end of his tenure in office by continuing to borrow on top of existing debt.

With John McCain following the Bush administration and their policies as well as stating publicly that he doesn't know much about economics I think it might be best to look for another candidate who will be able to handle the necessary economic issues at hand.

McCain...there you go again...

I wanted to add this for today as I was a bit blown by this one. It seems that McCain is right on the heels of Bush in the creation of fear for our society by stating that if he loses the election it will be because of influence from Al-Qaida. This Al guy really gets around and has a lot of power if this is the reason for McCain losing. Of course it couldn't be because he is not right for the job. No not that...

Don't get me wrong, there are things I like about John McCain, although at this time they escape me, but I have sided with him over the years. Once... By his adding that through the intercepts of intelligence he worries is another attempt at the Republican party to keep the fear based mentality alive. They are trying to keep people and their attention on the democrats decisions to change the surveillance laws as being wrong since Bush wishes to veto this action. I think it's time that the GOP come up with some new material. This is really getting old and tired. Oh, wait, this means that John McCain is the perfect spokesman...

8 more months to go...

It looks as though Bush has finally gone grocery shopping or something. With today's economic outlook by saying that there is trouble in the economy...Perhaps he is trying to open up dialogue with McCain regarding money and economics. As McCain has admitted that he doesn't know much about economics...Since Bush knows only how to spend it it might be time that he becomes aware that there even something called a budget. Perhaps it was an unknown to him all of this time. Maybe he thought that didn't pertain to him. Based on his history of putting companies into the ground, perhaps for his Presidential legacy he is thinking that it might not be the best idea to run the United States into bankruptcy. Perhaps he has decided to wake up and think of the future for once. He has two daughters who one day might feel the implications of his legacy. Maybe everything they touch will turn to shit too, and they might need to know how to work within a budget...I doubt that.

But most do have a budget, and they are getting smaller and smaller.

It's funny though. In other countries people make themselves known by going out and voicing their irritation to the system they have. With the changes in our civil liberties if we do that here in the U.S. anymore we will be called terrorist sympathizers and disappear or be put in Gtmo...Maybe that is why our people roll over and play dead anymore. It is for the fear of telling the truth and losing your life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Happiness is losing in this country anymore, along with liberty. Life is still around, but with our medical system going to shit we may find that that is going down as well.

There is a lot of work to do in this country to get things moving in the right direction. I feel we still have the capability to do the changes necessary for our country and the world.

8 more months to go...

Politics as usual

It looks as though we will soon be experiencing the natural turn of events of political campaigns that none of us enjoy. That turn is the campaign commercials, interviews, and stories that begin to take a negative bent. I find it amazing how candidates can work together on delicate issues within their party, as well as across the isle, yet find ways of negating some of that work or results as they try to degrade the opposing candidate(s). This comes from the breeding of fear that our politicians have come to learn as to be an integral part of human nature and decision making. If you recall, I have discussed numerous times the book "Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets" by Bonner. This book explains the process of fear, mob mentality, how it can grow exponentially, and how it directly affects decision making on a mass scale. It is proven that people will begin to change their own individual thought out decisions and go against their beliefs to a new belief structure simply based on "the norm".

People fear fear, as Franklin D Roosevelt said, "...We have nothing to fear but fear itself." This should be the line, and perhaps the only line we should begin to remember. It is the fear that begins to cloud our decision making. It is fear that begins to cloud our belief systems. It is fear that begins to blind us from truth. If we allow the fear based decisions to enter and take over through a mass belief structure, rather than our own investigated and thought out decisions, we will find ourselves in situations we did not originally desire to be in.

Most people today do not take the time to find their own answers. They wait for the press to feed them the fodder of a mass campaign of ideas in order to sway the public to the ideals held by the corporate parent company of the network delivering the information. There used to be a time when the press was not biased in their views, but those days are long gone. Yes we do still have a few reporters who come forward and give us less filtered information, but even with the most respected news institutions you will find a pattern of opinions and views to which their readers begin to be comfortable with. As an example, Fox News tends to take a right winged slant on issues, while the NY Times tends to stay on the left side of things. Most people do not recognize this as a pattern. If we don't try to find these patterns with the various institutions we will continue to go down the same path. It is time we become independent thinkers, weed through the maze of institutional information. People need to take a bit more time to research some of these important decisions for themselves.

As politicians might spit out negative information, with a simple google search, one might find this information to be incorrect or not the whole story. This web of lies or deception in order to confuse and breed fear of your decisions is what the purpose for those type of ads are for. It is that fear based mentality that campaign organizers rely on when they begin this process we are about to enter.

I ask of you to tread lightly as we enter this new campaign arena of negativity. Take a bit of time to sift through the information when you find yourself beginning to switch your decisions or ideas.

In the days of old...

when knights were bold, and elections were not yet invented. They would sit in the round, then discuss what went down and later tell everyone what had happened. (This would be after there became a general consensus as to what they wanted everyone to know as to what had happened. How things never change.)

We have the opportunity to create a major change in our world with this upcoming elections. I have tried for so long to leave politics out of this blog, but there comes a time to step up and stand for what one believes in.

There are currently three major competitors for the position to be filled in the White House. This is a job search for the best possible person for the job of running the largest corporation in the world. We need someone who has a level head and is not hot under the collar, just in case some radical group has issues and pisses off the President. We need someone who is capable of handling the hours as the world and its timelines tend to keep the person up at all odd hours for years at a time. We need someone who is respected for their previous experience and can work across political party lines. We need someone who is capable of thinking outside the current situation so as to rectify some major political and economical issues at hand. We need someone who is confident in their economic policy ideas. We need someone who is capable of seeing the future.

Well, enough of that, this would put McCain out. He is 72 years old, making him the oldest elected President ever. At this time, most people are slowing down a bit. They can get tired more often, remember Reagan sleeping on camera? Someone with whom Bush supports certainly now has an uphill battle to face. That is unless God told him to back McCain...McCain has stated publicly that he is not that savvy in economic issues. He has stated that he is much in line with a more of the same approach...

This brings us to Clinton and Obama. Both of these people have the years and stamina to make this job. Both of them have shown their means of working across party lines and not disenfranchising themselves through outbursts and opinionated ideas over their tenures. Both of them have shown the public that their ideas have legs and come from a place of thinking outside the current conditions and finding means to rectify today's political situations. They have stated publicly that they have ideas on the economy and were not afraid to tackle them. They have shown through their Senate backgrounds of voting for healthcare issues are concerns and timely. Obama has shown us that he has never been for the Iraq war and continues to fight for the illegal and unjustified means that the current administration has handled things. Hillary has shown us, through her work in Senate committees that she can handle herself with major issues and deal with others outside of our borders in rational and open discussion forum ways and means. They both have shown their dedication and desire to come to the table representing the United States to come up with new ideas and actions to help stop global warming and carbon emissions.

We need change, we need a new outlook and party to think in real terms for real issues. We need someone who knows what the people are thinking and feeling in order to rationally think in real terms for solutions to everyday issues.

I am going out on a limb and presenting a scenario for today's ticket. If we have Clinton/Obama, I believe that this would help us move forward in to a new era of politics. Then in eight years, Obama will be in a perfect position to take on the role as head of state. If we could bring sixteen years of new ideas to the table with a democratic house and senate, we might be able to salvage all of the damage that has been done to us over the past 7 1/2 years. We need a major change, not only for us but in order to salvage the world and so many of its problems to which the world is searching for leadership and answers and have found NONE with our administration over the past 7 1/2 years. Our debt has grown to the stratosphere from a surplus when this administration took office. Our budgets continue to remain unbalanced. Our respect held by others in the world has vanished.

It is time for a major wake up call, at 3 AM to someone who can handle the job and cares about what they are doing to others.