Daily Archives: September 25, 2012
Chart Of The Day: Entitlements Or Growth
From Bloomberg Briefs:
“Policy choices made in the near-term will affect the economy for years to come. If not addressed, current debt and spending dynamics will probably lead to a reduced growth path, placing at risk expenditures on vital social programs and, over time, crowding out private sector borrowing that funds the gross private domestic investment necessary to boost productivity and living standards. Dollars spent on entitlements dwarf those spent on discretionary items such as education, and tower over net fixed business investment, which is partially responsible for greater productivity, business expansion and rising living standards. Periods with greater investment as a share of GDP are highly correlated with both faster economic growth and rising living standards. One risk to the U.S. economy is that rising entitlement spending will require the government to borrow from the finite amount of capital held by private savers, thus squeezing out private firms that need the capital to expand businesses and increase productivity.”
Who needs private business when you have infinite toner cartridge and politicians who need to be reelected with promises of, well, everything.
INFLATION On The Way
J. D. Longstreet
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
Let me be clear. I am not an economist. Heck, I’m not even a CPA. Frankly, I know squat about finance short of running a business and having the good sense to hire someone to handle the financial end of the business — extremely well.
Here, at the Longstreet Manor, my lovely and gracious (and long-suffering!) spouse is the financier. She is my “Personal Banker.” No, I MEAN IT! She has kept me out of jail, debtor’s prison, or wherever they place men like me (who spend all the money they can lay their hands on.)
See, I view money as having been made for one purpose — to spend! And yes, I have been told all my life that one cannot take it with them when one departs this world. Although, I did meet a hearse once, out on the interstate, towing a U-Haul trailer behind it. I remarked to my wife at the time, that, perhaps, someone HAD figured out a way to take it with them, after all!
I distinctly remember a member of my board of directors insisting once, many years ago, that if he couldn’t take it with him, the he wasn’t going! Today’s he’s gone — and so is his money. Oh, he didn’t take it with him. No, after he passed from the scene, the family spent the heck out of it until, it, too, was gone!
This may seem strange and even alien to some of you, but I never sought wealth. It was never important to me. Having ample funds to stay fed, clothed, housed, and out of jail was sufficient. So far, I have managed to do that.
I think an aunt made such an impression on me, as a child, that it bent me in a way one might even describe as fear of wealth.
See, my aunt ,was the daughter of a share cropper. (I’m the first generation off the farm, myself.) She was fortunate. She married a man on the way up in one of the most powerful labor unions in the country at the time. They became wealthy. But it affected my aunt in a strange way. She was always afraid — afraid of losing her wealth and returning, I suppose, to the poverty she knew growing up as a hard scrabble sharecropper. She invested wisely, had plenty of money, real estate, stocks, bonds, all of it. But what she lacked was happiness.
I decided then and there, I did not want that. I chose an occupation that I loved, was, indeed, suited for and I stayed with it for thirty years.
Now that I have established my bona fides — which is to say that I am dumb as a post when it comes to high finance, I am about to tell you why Ben Bernanke blew the US economy to hell recently with QE-3.
In a word: INFLATION.
The money you had before QE-3 is now worth less — and the more money Ben and his cronies order printed — the less your money will be worth.
Bernanke, a Jew and a Republican, was born in Augusta, Georgia and raised just thirty miles, or so, from where I sit as I write this piece. It’s a small country town in the coastal plain of South Carolina. So, we are both “Sandlappers.” And as much as I would like to agree with, and support, a fellow son of the Palmetto State, and a fellow Republican, I cannot. He’s wrong on this and, unfortunately, all Americans are going to pay for it, dearly, in the not too distant future.
Ben Bernanke
It pains me to say this, but I am of the mind that Ben really wants Obama to win the coming election. See, Mr. Romney has already said he intends to replace Mr. Bernanke if he is elected. So, it stands to reason that if Bernanke can make the President look good, or even better, in the few weeks left ’til election day, Obama may be reelected and — guess what — Ben gets to keep his cushy job!
See? Politics ain’t all that hard, now, is it?
Seriously, inflation brings the mighty low… quickly! To get a better understanding of what inflation, especially hyperinflation can do to a country just Google “Weimar Republic” or “Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.”
During the Gerald Ford Administration the US had a fight with inflation. I can still see, in my
mind’s eye, those big red WIN buttons — “Whip Inflation Now!” It took a toll on the country that lasted the remainder of Ford’s Administration, through the Carter Administration, and right up until Ronald Reagan came into office. It was an anvil around the neck of the US economy.
As I said, I don’t know diddly-squat about high finance so I can’t dazzle you with great gobs of numbers with dollar signs and percentage signs, etc., but take it from a guy who was trying to run a business during those years and believe me when I tell you it was “hunker down” and “tread water” time during those years. Reagan tossed the country a life-preserver and we got through it — vowing never to make the same mistake again.
But Americans have extremely short memories. As a result, we are making the same mistakes over and we are inflicting unnecessary pain on ourselves.
The MSM was touting the skyrocket in the stock markets after Bernanke made the announcement. And, yes, it DID look good. But, believe me — it is a bubble and IT WILL BURST — and we will be far worse for it in the end.
J. D. Longstreet
INFLATION On The Way … J. D. Longstreet.
- Bernanke keeps pushing failed policy (mysanantonio.com)
- QE3: Quantitatively Easing America Further Into Inflation (conservativeread.com)
USA: Western States Lawmakers Call for Quicker Approval of LNG Export Applications
The Center for LNG praised a bipartisan group of 16 House Members who called for an expedited review process for applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The legislators – all representing districts in the western region of the United States – sent the letter to Steven Chu, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where all LNG export applications must be reviewed.
Led by Reps. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah), the lawmakers noted that “Creating more opportunities to sell natural gas into global markets and access overseas customers could help the goals of increasing natural gas use and smooth out historical boom-bust cycles. Realizing sustainable natural gas prices will continue to stimulate the resurgence of U.S. manufacturing, power generation, chemical and agriculture sectors, as well as continue to keep costs low to heat our homes and fuel our nation’s transportation needs.”
The Center for LNG, a trade group representing the LNG industry, agreed with the lawmakers.
“Restarting the permitting process for LNG facilities would give the United States a unique opportunity to generate more public revenues, increase investment in the U.S. economy, create new jobs, and reduce our trade deficit,” said Center for LNG president Bill Cooper. “Promoting exports is a longstanding policy in the United States, including the President’s National Export Initiative, which is designed to create jobs by doubling U.S. exports by 2015.”
Yesterday’s letter follows a similar effort from earlier this summer, when a bipartisan group of 44 House lawmakers from Texas and Louisiana also wrote to DOE to encourage an expedited review of LNG facilities, bringing the total number of House Members supporting expedited approval to 82.
“This is yet another indication that Americans are ready to get back to work. Approving LNG export facilities would be a significant source of new jobs and will help re-grow our struggling economy,” Cooper added.
Three Democrats and 13 Republicans representing the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming all signed the letter.
Western States Lawmakers Call for Quicker Approval of LNG Export Applications, USA LNG World News.
Continents of the World
Mb50's "Liquid Mud" Rant 
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