so, does anyone else find it hilarious that since hussein took office the stock market has had the bottom drop out from under it? honestly, i couldn't help but chuckle when the mainstream decided they'd start blaming this on bush- as anyone who knows me, knows- i called this back in october. i said no matter what happened in the first few months of his excellency's reign, if it was bad news at all- it was bush's fault. sigh- the predictability of these raving lunatics is sheer madness. not that i'm claiming to know what to do about all this. my solutions so far have been to let gm, ford, bofa, etc. fail if that's what it takes. let the regulation cease and please stop throwing more money down the drain.
on a side note- i had a heated discussion this morning in saxby's about the causes of the financial dilemma. i still trace most of this back to greenspan's relentless policy of cheap money. however- i also believe the sheer lunacy of the creation of freddie mac and fannie mae contributed in ways we still don't understand. (consequently, the second largest recipient of kickbacks (oops- that slipped out- i meant "contributions") from these two organizations was our dear leader. interesting- right?). but, back to my original assertion- with greenspan keeping interest rates for so long, and the availability of large sums of money to people who had no business receiving them- is it any wonder we still haven't found bottom on this yet? let it never be said that people won't take "free" things. ever been to whole foods or sam's club during sample day? people eat the grossest stuff because it's free- and then pay the consequences later. well, people "ate" the worst thing possible, thinking there would be no repercussions. as i've alluded to before, the sheer ignorance of the people taking this money, and the greediness of those pushing it, had to eventually tip this ship over. it has. and badly. i think the most recent statistic is that the dow is at the lowest point since 1997. so, in other words, we're lower than we were during the stock market explosion due to the dot-com era. interesting. wait- what was so special about the dot-com era again? people had "free money" in that there were secretaries walking around worth millions of "dollars" due to the stock they were receiving in fledgling companies or the explosion in prices of their own stock. (i'm sort of rambling here- but stay with me). so in other words, what we're seeing now is nothing new. i tend to think this is just a final reaction to the largesse of the last decade, where "millionaires" were being created left and right. maybe the system couldn't handle it anymore. in any event- by my recent back of the envelope calculations- any "wealth" created due to the increase in stocks alone has been absolutely destroyed in the last 2 years or so. now, it appears this wealth was a temporary thing.
so, what can we do about all this? i'm not entirely sure. nationalization seems to be the sexy answer in the media these days. do these people know what they're suggesting? i think it's worthwhile to take a look at this.
now, can the u.s. pull this off? well- i honestly believe we can pull through the crisis. but, nationalization seems like such a long shot. honestly, sweden and the u.s. aren't exactly on par with each other in terms of sheer economic strength.
okay- you know what? i've been going on and on today. i think i need to save room for more at a later time. we'll see when that may be. i am in the middle of trying to value an energy acquisition. yipee!
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