**WARNING POLITICAL RANT COMING**

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.

Second, people are giving up playing by the rules. Rules are for suckers. Just ask Timmothy Geitner (head of Treasury) about his taxes, and you get the feeling that they are for the little people. This pattern played out numerous times in the Obama administration.

Department of Justice is now just a political hit organization used to protect the New Black Panthers, and Democrat voting irregularities (overseas troops don't need to vote!).

Mortgage problem? Uncle Sugar will fix it for you, ooops.

Not here legally? No, you can't work, but you can go to a UC school at a severe discount!

Bail outs? Chrysler and GM? Healthcare mandates? Sub prime mortgages?

Illegal politicking in a polling place? Ah, she can do it -- she is Queen Michelle!

Insider trading? Who else knows what industries will be regulated and in what way.

They can't even follow their own rules.

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

Shampoo!

Well, my golden locks are slowly returning to the point that I actually used shampoo today. Just a drop, but it did lather up in the shower.

Problem is that it is no longer golden... gray on the sides and dark on the top. We will see.

It is nice to have my energy back. This week I actually worked in the yard some, did a bit of plumbing, and worked on a project for NJS some.

Now, if I can only get my brain back on track. I seem to have serious challenges with names. No kidding. I was at a holiday party, met some folks (I have known them for years), and could not place their names. Everything else I knew, where they lived, what they do, their favorite color, everything. Total blank on the names. It also happened in the chemo lab. I saw the Cancer Coordinator Maven, and it took me several hard thinking minutes to place the name. Quite frustrating. Doesn't seem to effect people I see on a daily basis, but I have been out of circulation for a while.

I also need to get my flexibility up. I have troubles getting up out of a chair (nothing like last year), and my balance is a bit off for a second. If I get on the floor, I am like a drunk walrus trying to get up. I used to be able to put my hands behind my back and stretch, no more. With time and activity, I hope that this will improve.

Gotta finish dinner...
jc