My, it has been a while since I posted, has it not.
So many things have happened over the last couple of months, I could not enumerate here. Suffice to say that I've been busy, and so has the world as a whole.
I believe completely in the free-market system. Not because I am smart, or an economist, but because I simply cannot see anything better. The capitalist, free-market system is the best in the world; because it allows for the most freedom and provides the best reward. The market is about to make an 80-year correction -- kind of like a 500-year flood for all of the Midwesterners out there -- and government and business alike is trying to figure out what to do to stop it.
I say do nothing. Let it take its course. Why, that's insane one might say. Why is that insane? Spending billions of taxpayer dollars to put a band aid on the economy's severe bleeding is insane, in my book. Let the market make its correction.
Will it be bad? Oh yes, it will be very bad. Possibly the first real depression in 80 years. I say bring it on. We will recover, like our grandparents, and we will be stronger and more disciplined for our trouble. The market is trying to do what no other force in the world can do: bring our bad spending habits and obsession of money to a screeching halt. We need this so badly.
Is anyone else like me? Your parents and grandparents were always telling stories of how they ate stale bread and soup every night for years because they didn't have any money. Sad times, I am sure, but when they tell those stories you can see the glimmer of satisfaction in their eye. They're proud they made it through such tough times, and can only shake their heads when we complain that there's nothing on TV or we don't have enough stuff laying around the house. Boo hoo, make due!
The Great Depression in fact turned a country of greedy Americans into the Greatest Generation -- the generation that spawned 80 years of progress -- and the market is poised to do something like that again. We could be the next great generation. Let the market do its job!
This brings me to the Oct. 7 debate between two men who are supposedly among the best America has to offer. Whew boy, I'm proud, aren't you? Neither deserved to win the debate; and both should be ashamed that they weren't good enough to destroy their lame opponent. One underhanded pitch after another was swung at and missed by both men, several times. I thought it was embarrassing. But two things that happened actually made up my mind for me as to how I will vote.
Two things that Mr. Obama said are resonating with me today, in a powerful way. These two things scare the living daylights out of me.
The first: Obama's statement that health care is a right. Every conservative on the planet knows why that is insane. I mean it's just nuts. Certifiable. The second item is Obama's continued use of class warfare. I've had it with this guy. All he can say is how poor and rich are different, and how the middle class is turning into the poor, and all the rich cats are living high on the hog. It's not fair, is it?
How dare this guy continue to pit Americans against each other. It's downright hateful. To imply that greed and corruption only occurs in one class of Americans is stupid. This guy might actually get elected by making one class of Americans so angry at the other class that they vote for somebody who wants to implement his own system that borders on true socialism. I won't quote statistics, but I believe many Americans don't take into account that the top percentage of Americans already pay the lion's share of income taxes. The great majority of them earned their money by taking risks and making stockholders happy. We cannot continue to punish the productive people in society. Why should I work hard when you're going to take so much of my earnings?
And this analogy for the younger folks in the audience. Say you were in school, and you were one of 10 people in class that made A's, while 10 more made F's. What if the school enacted a policy where those who made A's had to have their grade lowered to a B; but then those making F's had their grade raised to a D. What would you think about that? What's the problem, you're still making a B; that's pretty good, and it's much better than those making a D. Be happy with what you have. That would be fair, wouldn't it? Why is that not fair? Because you earned it? Exactly my point.
