Yesterday I asked if you are better off than you were four years ago and 98% said no or "hell no." The current issue of Bloomberg made the question more specific to black Americans on the cover. But knowing this voting block is going 99% for President Obama maybe the question should be, are there any sacred values anymore? Or does party and race trump beliefs, even those based on religion?
Photo shoot fresh, looking like wealth
I'm 'bout to call the paparazzi on myself
Uh, live from the Mercer
Run up on Yeezy the wrong way, I might murk ya
Flee in the G450 I might surface
Political refugee, asylum can be purchased
Uh, everything's for sale, I got 5 passports
I'm never going to jail
Jay Z (Otis)
These days it feels like there are a lot of political refugees living in America. The notion of voting with your mind rather than your heart is why contests are so difficult to call. Not only are people willing to forget their own values, but they're also willing to forget or forgive their own conditions. It's one thing to get caught up in a mania, which is what Obama was four years ago. But this time around, we have a track record and it's not impressive. Still, there are niches of the population that will vote for Obama in droves, even if the democratic platform has moved further away from their own personal beliefs. When I was growing up in Harlem, there were three things that everyone felt must be addressed for the black community.
Many years later none of these critical things have been addressed and nobody is speaking out about them either:
Drugs pouring into the black community. Rahm Emanuel said on Meet the Press that the murder crisis in Chicago is just "gang on gang" as if to suggest it's no big deal. Either he's saying these people have worthless lives or the general public is in no harm or both. One thing is for sure, if it's mostly gangs, then it's 100% about drugs. I don't hear black leaders, disc jockeys, comedians, or other celebrities complain about the federal government allowing drugs to flood the community. Many used to say George Bush personally made money from the drug trade. Nobody is saying that about Barack Obama. In fact, nobody is saying anything.
40 acres and a mule is a promise blacks have been waiting for since William Tecumseh Sherman offered Special Field order no. 15. Thus far it still hasn't happened, although there are rumors a second term will make this promise a reality. Although it was never official government policy, so engrained is the idea this, or some other modern day reparations are due to blacks, that Spike Lee named his film company after the order. Wealth redistribution could come close to chipping away at the promise although the only blacks that would benefit would have to belong to a union. The federal government is the largest landowner by far, so the promise could be kept by President Obama.
Statehood for Washington DC has long been an injustice explained only because the District of Columbia would have been overwhelmingly black. That would have meant two black senators and a couple of congressmen. Growing up, this was a major slap in the face. This week democrats decided not to even include DC statehood on its platform. Of course it's a moot point since the explosion of federal government jobs have tilted the population where it's no longer more than 50% black.
By the way "God" had been removed from the democratic platform and continuing to ignore God would have never flown in the black America I grew up in, and that existed before we had a black president. Quite conveniently, now the DNC added God back to platform ... it should have never been left out.
Back to the USSR
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was also dropped by democrats but a small uproar could sway this constituency. Not willing to take a chance everyone will vote blindly, Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was slipped back into the platform. Talk about pandering. Wow!
I care mostly about the economic policies and harsh language aimed at people that have done the right things and have made it in the land of milk and honey. This is a giant leap toward socialism. If this works, the next time around the platform will be about limiting or taking away all profits and most earnings over a certain amount, because the stuff they are pitching now will make America poorer, beginning with the very people they claim to want to help. But the goal is to make America a de-facto union via the tax code.
It has been tried and failed in the USSR and tons of African nations that went that route after independence. Russia and many of the former Soviet Bloc nations are grabbing at capitalism to change their fortunes.
Looking Like Wealth
Jay-Z is a huge supporter of President Obama although the same can't be said for all the hot rappers today. One thing is for sure, their music doesn't match the utopia envisioned by the White House. Luxury rap echoes the platform of Mitt Romney of a nation where anyone can become wealthy and should never abandon the dream of having it all ... by earning it all. There isn't a single hot rapper around that doesn't espouse becoming rich through skills and hard work. They all want to fly around the world in the best business jet on the market.
The stuff that used to really matter is completely ignored today.
I never bought into the notion of drugs being sold by a US president or 40 acres was promised and happening but I have always felt the DC issue had to be addressed because we had a revolution based on taxation without representation. Yet, people that told me for years it was republicans stopping these important issues from being resolved never mention them anymore. I get the notion of pride but this is a dangerous line where everything that was important no longer matters. Of course, a President Romney would be blamed for all not resolving these issues as well as mass murders in major cities and mind bogglingly entrenched unemployment.
Things our grandmothers taught us should remain important. I must say I never thought I would see people dump their religious beliefs or core feelings simply because the president is black.
Rewarding Lack of Effort
A lot of people at the DNC convention are rich and all brag they're self-made but they hate that they had to pay back student loans.
In the meantime, I find it ironic that all the speakers at the DNC praised their parents and grandparents for sacrifice, but make excuses for people that aren't willing to make those sacrifices. Instead, they are focusing on successful people with envy and hatred. Somehow in their world, if Juan and Jose grow up in the same neighborhood and Juan goes to college through a mix of work, loans, and parental help while Jose drops out, Juan is somehow a greedy bastard that should be shaken down to pay Jose's bills.
The Market
I guess we have to give the market some props for trying to hang in there but once again it was mostly on hype over more money-printing. That knot in your gut will get a lot tighter over the next 48 hours. Keep one thing in mind, there are a ton of great companies that we should all become part owners of but the issue is allowing them to be great.
Quite encouragingly, this morning we received news that the private sector generated more jobs than expected, ramping higher from previous months and giving an indication that Friday's official nonfarm figure may also come in better than expected. According to ADP, 201,000 private sector jobs were gained during August, higher than the Street's estimate calling for a gain of 143,000 jobs and higher than the 163,000 added jobs in July.
In addition, according to the Labor Department, initial claims during the week ended September 1 totaled 365,000, decreasing from the 377,000 revised figure reported for the prior week and landing below the Street's estimate of 373,000. As a result, the 4-week moving average increased to 371,250 from the prior week's revised average of 371,000. Clearly the drop in initial claims is good, but the ADP result is much more encouraging.
Draghi made his statement, and it looks like we've gotten what the market was generally looking for. He will offer outright monetary purchases, or "OMT." This will be used as emergency funds to stabilize bond markets (basically, to stop Spanish, Italian and Greek bond rates from exploding). There will be unlimited purchases of 1-3 year bonds. Perhaps the key point continues to be the issue of conditionality; these purchases will come with strings attached. Accepting countries must adhere to the austerity rules previously set out by the euro zone. As we've seen already, Spain has been reluctant to accept bailout money (the ESM and ESFS programs) because of this.