I was exchanging e-mails with my BFF NJS, and he expressed that the future could be looking up after this election.
Not only did I disagree, but I did so vociferously:
don't count on the economy bouncing back. I am not an optimist on this one. The GOP will get in (the house) and successfully screw it up. More people will sit on their cash (gold, guns and bibles). Certainty and stability = good growth environment.
We will have another 3-4 years of uncertainty at least. If there is another "black swan" event, it could be longer. Throw in some government mandated inflation, and we will be lucky to beat Japan's lost decade.
I base my opinions on several things. First is what is going on in the country. People are pissed, scared, and confused. They know that something bad is coming, but what it is, no one knows. There seems to be a lot of talk about "something" and being prepared for it. Call it a
Black Swan, SHTF, or zombie attack, folks are stocking up on gold, guns, and spam.
Bail outs? Chrysler and GM? Healthcare mandates? Sub prime mortgages?
I
nsider trading? Who else knows what industries will be regulated and in what way.
Seems like those in charge make up things, screw it up, and then go on to put a fix it without working it through, causing another screw up. Almost like they want it this way. It is incredible to me that no one has called for a stop. If it doesn't work, let it fail and start something else new.
The crisis in confidence -- on both sides -- has lead to the Tea Party protests. Like them, I no longer consider myself a Republican. I would have change my voting status to DTS, but I got lazy and busy with other things. If the GOP screws up, who knows where it goes from there.
And that's the rub.
No one can seem to get a handle on it.
No one. The new congress will come into town, inhale the swamp gas that permeates everything there, and simply fail.
They will fail to significantly curtail government power, spending, taxation, regulation, or any of the crap that the current congress has passed this year.
The system is rigged against them.
The house will be Republican, and the Senate will be Democrat -- or RINO at best. The White House will be in 100% Chicago thuggery defense mode. It will be nasty and ugly for the next three years at best.
And nothing will happen.
Obamacare will still be in place -- with a few face saving tweaks here and there. Taxes will rise (or the Bush tax cuts will expire). Regulation from the agencies will kick into overdrive ( EPA regulating CO2). A true vacuum at the top, while the bureaucrats get turbo charged up and the rest of the world passes us by.
Oh, and inflation will start kicking in as "quantitative easing".
Oh, and we no longer are seen as a world leader -- because we won't lead (that's just rude).
So, what's a business man to do? Sit on his gold, guns and spam.
Is there no hope? Not the way I see it. There are only downsides. The Obama fix is in, and the GOP is powerless in the next congress to do anything about it. Some other issue (black swan) will crop up and divert their gnat-like attention away from the necisary heavy duty work that needs to be done.
They are what they are.
Long term, who knows, but it won't be pretty.
Will it be like Japan? We can only hope it would only be one lost decade. China? They are sitting on a cauldron that would put Tienanmen Square to shame. Europe? They are convulsing too.
Bottom line?
Click on the links for the articles that support my views. Feel free to disagree or give another viewpoint -- I'm a big boy, I can take it.
jc