I have no faith in any politician, especially the ones that go to Washington. I accept them as a necessary evil because I can do nothing else except vote and complain. I can only hope that the system itself will keep this country intact because the politicians are doing very little besides trying to accrue more power, enrich themselves and fulfill their own personal ideologies at the expense of the people's welfare.

Finland is beginning to look very good to me.

I'm not sure what good it would do. Superman could not have done better with the hand he was given in 2008. If we replace him, we'll be canning his replacement in the next year or two.

Let me put it this way:

In the 1980's, we had a government that talked like conservatives, but ruled in the economic sphere like Kensians. They cut taxes, spent lavishly on the military, removed many of those useless rules that governed and regulated our financial system. The economy, flush with credit spending, grew. Corporations, freed of those pesky rules, merged, the stock market boomed.

In the 1990's we had the Tech boom. Remember how the business cycle was revoked? Nothing but growth as far as the eye could see. Also, NAFTA. Not to worry, get an education and you will prosper in the Information Age. Never mind that the Tech revolution held the seeds of the destruction of the information economy. When is the last time you called for assistance and got someone that spoke English as their first language?

In the first decade of the 21st century, all levels of the USA deficit spent. Banks loaned to people that couldn't repay. This created a short-term bidding war on housing that drove up the value of real estate to phoney levels. People borrowed against the paper value of their homes, and ended up under water when the bubble burst. Local, state, and the Federal government spent with reckless abandon. Need I remind you of two wars on the credit card, huge tax cuts, and the Las Vegas ethos on Wall Street. This is the natural result of those one trick ponies that worship at the altar of unregulated free markets.

They came within a hair of privatizing social security. Had they done so, perhaps the party would have lasted another year or two. Maybe the DOW would have spiked to 16000 instead of stagnating at 14000. But, when the party ended, the crash would have destroyed these new privatized accounts.


The bottom line is this: for 30 years or so, the USA has become like a crack addict, looking for the next infusion of voodoo economics, for that rush you get from spending on credit.

Sorry, Jones-away USA. We go cold turkey like it or not. There isn't another phoney gimmick coming to start the next bubble. It's just us and a long hard slog of doing it the right way: work hard, save money.

No treasury secretary short of the risen Christ could fix this. It's just the morning after...but the hangover might last decades.

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"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong". (Knight's Oath, Kingdom of Heaven)