Doing Nothing is Not an Option...Why Not?

"Doing nothing is not an option!"- President Barack Obama

Why is this dismissed so easily? Doing nothing is exactly what will lead us out of this crisis the most effectively and efficiently. Will it be painful? Yes. Could we see unemployment get to 10% or more? Yes. Could we see the stock markets tumble below 6500? Yes but chances are we are going to see these things anyway- stimulus or no stimulus. It is just a colossal waste of money given to and arranged by the people who got us here in the first place. Let these banks fail, let these markets fall. Only when we have reached a true bottom can we begin a recovery. These measures will just prolong the slide into a possible depression. The sooner we get to the bottom, the sooner we can get back to building it up. We should reverse our thinking to hastening the bottom as opposed to trying to get back to growth. Let the bottom come then let the spending begin where it will be the most effective. How will we know the bottom? We won’t be able to pick it clean but we will be able to get reasonably close to it and begin our renewed assent. But trying to stop the ship from sinking is only going to prolong the pain. The ship has sunk; it just hasn’t hit the bottom of the ocean yet.

Either give the economy and the people a boost with a 2-3 trillion dollar package or do nothing. Lessons are learned when pain is felt and what the country needs is lessons learned not passing grades for mediocre work. This middle of the road measure of 800 billion is just a stopgap that will be swallowed up in the maw of our deepening recession. This is the truth and it does not take an economist, a banker or a politician to see this. It’s common sense which seems to be in the shortest supply of any commodity these days. If I could trade common sense like soy beans or oil I would short it like no tomorrow…literally.

The Bitter Truth

I'm a little late with this but I just want to say I have no problem with Obama talking about the middle class people of my state being "bitter". Why would they NOT be bitter? They have to pay $3+ for a tank of gas, their job security is jack and their kids are bearing the brunt of the war in Iraq. This is the problem with politics as we know it. It has nothing to do with truth and progress. Obama's "bitter" comment is what sold me on him as a candidate because finally someone said something that was true but also politically unpalatable. Finally. And yes, people do turn to religion and guns. How many times does history have to repeat itself- we're no different then the Greeks looking up at a thundering sky and saying how do we explain this. The Bible is not history or fact- its a storybook- lessons, fables, etc. Monotheism is not somehow progress or inherently better or more progressive than polytheism. Believing in one God as opposed to many is more enlightened or educated? How so? It's still just trying to explain the unexplainable. People try to find a way to explain things and they cling to that which gives them hope even if its false hope. Anyway, I could write a Baker's dozen blogs on this.

Let's talk about dissatisfaction in America. That would actually be useful. Hillary says I think the American people are optimistic. What? How does that drive any dialogue? That's just as bad as George Bush saying the war in Iraq is going well. I have news for Bush: you can't win any war ever against martyrs. When a human being is willing to give up his or her life for a cause, you can't fight that because the threat of death is no longer a deterrent. Bush just tells us everything is okay and now so does Hillary- the American people are optimistic is basically saying we're Smurfs- stupidly optimistic and unable to handle sadness which in this case correlates with truth. The truth of the matter is that things suck right now in this country and the sooner that becomes the discussion the sooner we'll be able to move ahead and back toward a more optimistic world view. The bitter truth is better then a sweet lie- that's how 3,000+ die.