10 October 2008

From The Ground Up!

Well, it's a mess.
We can all agree on that, certainly. What we'll argue about is how we got here...
And that will break on this John Edward's "Two Americas" class warfare argument.
Greedy fat cats caused the problem, right?
Yeah, I can see that Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank contributed greatly. As a matter of fact I think they both ought to be in jail. Problem is, these "fat cats" will possibly be part of the democrat majority in Congress starting next January.
Think this single-digit popularity Congress is horrible? Just wait until we have a democrat President in place to go along with their every whim. And an even worse nightmare? The next Senate may have enough democrats to be filibuster proof... republicans may be totally impotent!

On more than one occasion I've heard Obama proclaim he's gonna "grow the economy from the ground up!"
(The crowd goes wild with applause, cheering!)

Huh?
How's that work?

Humor me now, 'cause I'm gettin' old and my synapses don't work the way they use'ta:
You and me, we just started working at McDonald's because we just got out of High School or we lost our jobs as editors at the New York Times. While I flip burgers and you drop the fries in the trans-fat-free oil, we get to talking about Obama and his "ground up" theory.
You say, "I know! Let's make electric cars!"
What a great idea! With an energy efficient electric car we could save a ton of money driving to McDonald's to work! There have to be MILLIONS of others like us... all needing an energy efficient way to get to our minimum-wage jobs.
So we get together with our other McDonald's employees... to start this venture we'll certainly need a good business plan, right?
We're gonna help "The Big O." grow the economy from the ground up!


Help a soon-to-be senior citizen, Obama supporters...
Where's this scenario go from here?

5 comments:

CJ said...

Well, gee, Greybeard... don't ya know it'll come from the money tree?

You know, the one that will grow out of all those 'tax cuts' he's promising.

cjh

Anonymous said...

This *bottom-up* method is just another experiment. Nobody knows exactly how it's gonna turn out. That's how it goes sometimes. And yes it will be a gamble. But you can't argue *trickle down* economics works either. You simply can't because the evidence tells us otherwise.

You can have doubts about Obama's vision for the economy and that's fair. We must tread carefully. But to continue on the same path won't do. That's suicide.

Greybeard said...

Two quick comments in response, Rodolfo.
Trickle down economics works just fine, so long as corrupt people don't siphon off the cream.
Senator Dodd and Cong. Frank are prime examples of the breadkdown of this system, along with several repub. pols...
If we can eliminate this drag on the system by closer oversight, the system WILL work. We just haven't had very good congressional oversight over the last years, particularly the last two.

You are too young to have seen that under the best of circumstances all markets have cycles. It's natural, normal, and if markets didn't have cycles they wouldn't work at all.
(I wish I was comfortable with "shorting"...
a way to make money even when the market is falling.)
This market is screwed up because it wasn't natural. In trying to help the poor, we've been granting government guaranteed loans to people who should never have been given loans at all. That unnatural market, with the help of greedy folks, finally collapsed because of the dead weight.
The free market system DOES work, in spite of what you or 0 might say.
And as an aside, if you think this market is bad, just wait until those businesses that have been hanging on by their fingertips go overseas because of this "bottom up" crap that Obama is espousing.
I thank God I'm not in your shoes, looking for a job in aviation. It is one of the industries that will be hurt the worst by socialist tinkering.
Hang on, Pal.

nec Timide said...

The only way any ecconomy can work is when the majority of the people produce goods or services of real value. Buying and selling stocks does not creat real value. As we have seen, the value of a stock is directly proportional to the majority confidence in the stock.

Buying goods with money you don't have, and can't possibly pay back in your life time is not producing real goods or services either. It doesn't matter how many people thing everyone should be able to own their own home. To own a home, or even rent one for that matter, you must produce enought goods and services so that someone is willing to trade you a house or appartment for those goods or services.

Anonymous said...

I agree with some of your points GB. Corruption is a problem but there's an even more serious problem when you got the middle class in the country slipping into poverty. Your philosophy has done well for the rich at the top but not for the average American.

But my overal view on the economy is more in line with nec timide. Our country has failed to *produce*. Innovation and technology will stimulate the market. If we aren't the country leading in those areas then we're the country that's trying to catch-up with everyone else. This is partly the result because of the anti-intellectualism that you and some of your party members espouse. Only in this country do you instill in a child to get an education and when they do you tear them down and call them elitist.