The World Is Not Enough

After seven years of Republican rule, in the White House and Congress, the Bush Administration and Republican controlled congress has taken us from budget surplus to irrationally exuberant deficits. Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and unprecedented earmarks and pork barrel projects combined with wasteful government spending and a war without end, all from the party who supposedly was 'conservative'. GOP fiscal conservatism is a joke, that might make you laugh if it was not so tragic. The party of Reagan, the last president who took us from the worlds largest creditor nation to the worlds largest debtor nation. Even Newt Gingrinch whose plans included ballooning the deficit to kill social spending on the poor, could not have foreseen this debacle, (even with the help of his futurist mentor Michael Crichton).

Well the world no longer wants to extend credit to a overly indulged debtor whose main claim to economic fame is it's military industrial complex. Consumer debt is skyrocketing and credit card companies are girding themselves for record losses.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/01/21/markets.plunge/index.html
Our soured relations with the rest of the world has further isolated us and the burden of two lost wars is draining our treasury daily.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/01/21/markets.plunge.asia/index.html
A global tsunami of market devaluation has been spurred by our irresponsible behavior and the world is reeling. They are not likely to forget easily either, and the market 'healing' will undoubtedly leave us a much less powerful player in the global markets. They will seek firmer ground. Burn me once shame on you, burn me twice, well you know.

Martin Luther King day in the US, stocks crashing all over the world with the Indian Sensex losing more than 10% of it's value in a single day.

Bloody Monday will lead to a Black Tuesday in US markets.

"South Korea's Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 90.03 points, or 5.4 percent, to 1,592.63.

Australia's benchmark S&P index was down 6 percent.

The Singapore stock exchange was down 4.5 percent, and Taiwan's benchmark Taiex was down 6.6%.

Trading was halted in Indian markets Tuesday as shares plunged on opening, with the benchmark index falling 9.5 percent. Shares in India's Sensex fell nearly 11 percent -- a four-month low -- on Monday.

Europe's main three indices, the FT-100 in London, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX in Frankfurt fell between 5 and 7 percent on Monday"

The prospect for a 'soft landing' is an illusion that the GOP is foisting on us in their recent bids to 'stimulate' the economy. Unfortunately the rest of the world only sees this as heaping more debt on an already unsustainable amount. In the coming days and weeks it will interesting to see who the GOP tries to blame for this crisis (they have only themselves to blame but are adverse to taking responsibility when bad things happen).

What we need is fiscal responsibility, restructuring of the economy to redistribute wealth more efficiently. However the powers that own our leaders in Washington only hear the demands of their contributors, especially in an election year where every dollar counts.

The brighter side: For the GOP and the monied class, this will mean even more pressure to privatize schools, infrastructure and public services. States strapped for cash and people desperate for work will welcome privatization and the 'jobs' it will create. A bonanza for the wealthy who will feast at the trough of our misery. Look for more school systems, roads, public infrastructure to be bought up by corporations who will promise jobs and taking these 'burdens' off the taxpayer, sure you may have to pay a toll, a small tuition, etc. but that's the price for your ignorance isn't it. Like 100$ a barrel oil.

Add into the mix the next terrorist attack (timing is everything boys), every expert has already testified that it is not IF but When, the Bush administrations war on terror has only exacerbated the problem of Islamic extremism, and their pandering to the religious right (read that fanatics) fostering our own brand of religious evangelical extremism in the process. While our extremists combine with Zionist extremists in a macabre dance of death, one can assume that we shall reap what we have sown.

tick tick tick,

Rough times ahead.

MTMIND
Michael Trachtenberg