Jan Rogozinski

Five Most Promising Emerging Market ETFs for 2009

In the market, one must consider both reality and investors' fantasies.
(1) Some brain-dead folk think that huge government deficits, 0% interest rates, and vast increases in the amount of paper money AUTOMATICALLY lead to inflation. They don't. Consider the 2000's. Greenspan kept interest rates at 1% year after year. Bush combined $3 or 4 trillion worth of silly aggressive wars with ending taxes for the rich, doubling the deficit every year. Meanwhile the Fed happily monetized Bush's deficits.
SO, DO WE NOW HAVE INFLATION?? OR DO WE HAVE DEFLATION?

(2) However, brain-dead folk still think we will inflation "some beautiful day" and their silliness moves markets. Hence, for example, the run up in gold. So one might well have bought gold, even though one knew it is, as far as reality goes, a dumb investment.

The Chickens of Irresponsibility Come Home to Roost Under Obama's Reign

It's the enormous pink spot tend elephant in the room that no one notices because every eon is blind.

The trillion dollars or more that the US spends every year to maintain its military empire, with 700 bases in 110 countries (or something like that) and 18 separate spy agencies.

Whiteout even counting the spy agencies (some of which have secret, hidden budgets, the US already spends much more on the military than all the other countries in the world (including Russia and China) combined.

This has been going on since Kennedy got the US into the Vietnam War. So that's 48 years! With spending on the empire accelerating every year since Reagan.

The Republicans keep saying, "we believe in small government," while constantly increasing military spending and thus constantly swelling the size of the government. And Obama is going to be just as bad-- except that he isn't a hypocrite like the Republicans. I've read that he wants to add another 100,000 soldiers to the existing number.

Spending money on the military is like piling up 100 dollar bills and setting them on fire. Military spending is useless and contributes nothing to our welfare. The stuff we buy either is stored up until it rusts, or it is used and thus destroyed in the case of bombs, or consumed the case of ammunition.

But it gets even worse when all the trillions of dollars spent on the empire since Reagan in 1980 has been borrowed. Thus increasing interest payments very year.

Imagine where we would be if all the unneeded military spending over that last 50 years had been used to build infrastructure here at home. Or alternatively used to cut taxes by 50% while paying off the national debt.