David M

Another American Money Pit: Infrastructure

A number of people here, including fxtrader, are right on the money. Comparing our infrastructure to Europe and Asia makes it look to me like our country has been run by slumlords! First we spend billions blowing up Iraq's infrastructure, then billions more to rebuild it.

A well maintained infrastructure helps with commerce which helps the economy. Spending the money here instead of abroad helps create jobs that cannot be outsourced.

Those in power now talk the capitalist talk in justifying our lack of investment at home as something that is too expensive. But they don't think spending $120 Billion a year in Iraq is too expensive, AND they look for anti-capitalist bailouts when they screw up. They want to have it both ways, all of the reward and none of the risk! It must be nice for them short-term but the rest of us suffer this mis-allocation of resources.

The "Science" of Monetary Policy

Groupthink is the best explanation I have heard so far for the "hear no evil speak no evil" tone that has been a hallmark of this
administration.

In foreign policy, the neocons set the agenda, and they literally reject facts that are contrary to their ideology. Mission NOT
accomplished? Hey, let's all agree to redefine what we call "success" so that in a semantic sense "failure is not an option." This is a
complete detachment from the reality of the Iraqi occupation.

The reality is that we've lost more Americans and spent more money in Iraq than we lost on 9/11/2001. In an administration that
frequently speaks about sending signals, what kind of message or "signal" did we send to the world; that no one can hurt us more than we can hurt ourselves? Yeah, that'll show 'em!

This relates to our current domestic economic problems in a simple, common sense way. (Iraq War spending + ill timed and ill-targeted tax cuts) = high budget deficits = weak dollar = expensive oil. BTW, the fanatics who attacked us were from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

It is no coincidence that the last time we had to deal with "stagflation" was the last time we had a war we did not pay for. With Vietnam, we tried to pay for the war and social welfare programs at the same time, when we only had the money to do one or the other.

This time, the administration decreased tax revenue as it increased government spending. A common sense reading of history tells us that the policies that led to stagflation in the '70s were ruinous to our economy; yet this administration repeated them.

A common sense understanding of underwriting tells us that packaging lots of risky loans together does not magically make them less risky.

Apparently common sense disappears from a room full of people engaged in Groupthink, whether it is geopolitics or wall street.

Mid-Year Report: Is a Summer Turn-around Still Possible?

lksseven must be drinking a lot of that "Koolaid" if he believes what he just posted.

Unfortunately the Democrats do not have a veto-proof majority. If they did we would not have had Senate Republicans halt a $32 billion package of tax breaks for renewable energy that would have been financed mostly by new taxes on big oil, on June 21, 2007. President Bush threatened to veto the final legislation because, he argued, it discouraged domestic oil and gas production, and increases the tax burden on the oil industry

Opening up ANWAR and the OCS is literally a drop in the bucket; not even a good stopgap measure. "Opening up offshore areas to oil exploration...might cut the price of gas by 3 to 4 cents a gallon at most, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council."

www.time.com/time/busi...

The right wing of the Republican party is only starting to talk the renewable talk because it is good politics. They don't have a history of walking the renewable walk.

The only way we'll stop sending $700 Billion of America's net worth EVERY YEAR to the oil exporters is to change the politics in Washington. Based on track record Republicans are for more of the same, which is hurting our economy.

Options Trader: Tuesday Outlook

Iraq War spending = high budget deficits = weak dollar = expensive oil. BTW, the fanatics who attacked us were from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

The math is not partisan. The timeline is not partisan. Bush/Cheney policies got us into this mess.

Another important point was touched on. We've lost more Americans and spent more money in Iraq than we lost on 9/11/2001. So what "message" did we send to the world; that no one can hurt us more than we can hurt ourselves? Yeah, that'll show 'em!

Critique of Dollar Policy

I agree with all 4 reasons stated above but would like to expand on reason 3. It's not just that Business TV does not inform viewers. They wind up misinforming them. All too many CEOs who speak on Business TV sound like politicians, who can never admit to mistakes. A few, like Buffet and Pickens, call them as they see them. Others sound like they are delivering talking points, not an honest assessment of the economy. The Business TV anchors play along instead of asking the probing questions that Philip might ask of them.

Although most investors and business owners should have taken a least a few courses in economics, they forget the basics and fall into this Business TV generated herd mentality. We need more people like Philip to be heard on these influential Business TV shows.

Critique of Dollar Policy

I agree with all 4 reasons stated above, but think we need to add a number 5. It is the CEO turned politician. I catch a handful of CEOs, like Buffet and Pickens, who call them as they see them. All too many others sound like they are using political talking points. Recession? Hey, if we don't use the "R" word, we can all delude ourselves into believing we are not in one. You can also scream that anyone who dares make an objective assessment of the economy's health is "anti-American" because they are saying bad things about the country. Hear no evil, see no evil... makes it hard for the layman who understands that the economy is weak to know why. Too bad more don't read Philip's work.