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How We Got Into, and How We'll Get Out of This Mess

Nobody has yet observed or reported that the virtual free fall of the stock market is a sure sign that investors don't like government's intervention into the free market economy.  Nor do investors trust, government intervention into private enterprise.   It is my opinion, that is why there has not been an up day in the market--maybe one--since the rescue plan was signed into law.  Don't expect Congress or the clueless media to notice this.  It's too obvious.

Recent market performance also shows that investors have as little confidence in the Federal Government as they do the securities markets. 
If you need proof that Congress is occupied by a bunch of nincompoops, just read the headlines of the last couple of weeks.

As an investment professional for 24 years, I saw this market scenario played out several times.  In fact the first 18 months of my career--February, 1969, to May, 1970, the market went down, down, down.  It recovered.  And 17 years later, October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 22% in a single day, after losing nearly that much in the week prior to October 19.  That left the DJIA at around 1,700.  It recovered.

The market will recover from this decline also.  It will recover because of the laws of economics, not because of grandstanding government interference.  The law is supply and demand.

Why is gasoline going down at the pump?  Less demand.  Consumers didn't need Congress to tell them to drive less (buy less) when prices were high.  Common sense told them.  You'll be paying less this year for your Christmas presents too, because retailers know they must lower prices to lure cautious buyers into their stores.  Their common sense tells them to lower prices, or they will be left with large inventories on which they'll have to pay excise taxes.

So cheer up!  We're going to get through this.  And . . . if you've been wanting a new HDTV, or a new car, or a new suit, wait around a few weeks and keep watching the ads on TV and in newspapers.  There will be bargains galore.

Oh, by-the-way, you can get some really good bargains in the stock market over the next few months too.

But don't expect to hear this on the news.  The TV talking heads are too busy yelling, "The sky is falling!"  They're too busy quoting finger-pointing idiot Congressmen about how greedy corporate executives caused all this mess.  They're both wrong.

What caused this mess is the normal everyday nature of the economy.  Excesses are always correct themselves when the weight of the excess get to heavy to tote.

What drives the stock market is fear and greed.  Greed drives it up; fear brings in down. 

What drives prices is supply and demand.  Demand drives prices up; supply drives prices down. 

Congress can pass laws until they're exhausted (I can dream, can't I?), and the law of supply and demand will not be repealed.

Do not look to Washington, from where our help will never come!  Look to the American free enterprise economy, from which all the material things we have and and all the material things we enjoy have been and always will be created.  Until enough pandering pitiful politicians pass enough socialisitc programs to kill it.






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Experience versus Longevity

Experience, or the lack of it, has become the big issue in this presidential election. 
Barack Obama has less than four years in the Senate; Joe Biden has 36 years in the Senate. 
 
John McCain has more than 22 years in the Senate; Sarah Palin has two years as a governor.
 
The question is this:  When is 36 years of experience really 36 years of experience?  It is when a person has done something new or different in every one of those 36 years.  If a person does the same thing in the same way year after year, that person doesn't have 36 years of experience.  That person simply has one year of experience repeated 36 times.
 
So, can a person who has been a small-town mayor, a state oil and gas conservation commissioner, and a governor, all in a span of a dozen or less years be more experienced than a person who has been a Senator for 36 years?  It's possible.  Look at the range of experiences crammed in those few years.
 
It's apparent to me that Sarah Palin is a fast learner.  She's not afraid to do something new and different.  She's willing to take on the establishement, even though she's new on the job.  My point is that barring John McCain's dropping dead in his first year or two as president, there is virtually no risk in having Sarah Palin as vice president.
 
On the other hand, should Barack Obama become presdent and die prematurely, we would be stuck with Joe Biden.  What new could he possibly bring to the oval office?  I can't see that he's done anything new and different in decades.
 
Think about it.  One can have many years of experience, of a few years of experience.  But . . . is it experience or longevity?
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What are the Dims and the liberal loons afraid of?

I have a question for the Dims and the far-left liberal loons who are trashing Governor Sarah Palin.
 
What are you afraid of?
 
If she is half as unqualified, half as un-vetted, half as corrupt, half as family-challenged as you think she is, won't she be easily defeated in November anyway?  Then you'll be rid of her and John McCain.  Then you have your beloved Barack Hussein Obama and his warmed-over FDR liberal grab bag of nutty programs that have plagued the United States for the last 60 years and driven the Federal Government to near bankruptcy.  Then you'll be happy.
 
Oh.  I forgot.  Liberals can never be happy.  That's because they think all ills can be healed by big government, and they don't have to take personal responsibility for their own lives.  That is known as the impossible dream, people.  Don Quixote discovered that centuries ago when he set out to right all wrongs.  Therefore liberals will always be unhappy, because they will always be frustrated, even when they occasionally win elections.
 
That's just the way it is.  Always has been.  Always will be.  Get over it. 
 
Win or lose, Sarah Palin is an achiever.  She represents real change.  Not change you can believe in.  Change you can see! That's what the Dims and the far-left liberal loons are afraid of.
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Obama's One Great Gift Is A Two-edged Sword

When I was in my early 20s, a older man I worked with told me something I've always remembered, because what he told me is so true.  I've observed his wisdom to be never-failing.
 
He said, "Harvey, if you'll learn to speak well, people will always give you credit for being smarter than you really are."
 
How many times have you seen this demonstrated?  People with good ideas who can't express them clearly come across as ineffective, if not competent, while people with bad ideas who express their ideas clearly and passionately--even ideas without merit--attract people to their side and are perceived to be extremely intelligent.
 
Great speaking ability, however, is a two-edged sword.  It is a dangerous thing for people who don't think for themselves.  These unfortunate souls are soft puddy in the hands of a gifted speaker.  A person with excellent speaking ability can make an unsuspecting audience fall for any screwball idea, because they present their case with such clarity, such passion, such believability.  A person with lousy ideas, even dangerous ideas, can easily mislead people.
 
Barack Hussein Obama is such a person.  When aided by a TelePrompter, Obama can charm white off rice.  He is a gifted speaker and communicator when he has time to prepare, or when somebody writes a good speech for him.  But his ideas don't stand up under close scrutiny.  That's why he comes across as a stumbling, fumbling fool when he has to speak off-the-cuff. 
 
That's when his true beliefs are exposed.  That's why he often expresses conflicting beliefs and ideas.  Obama tailors his prepared remarks to fit his audience.  But when he is forced to speak without his TelePrompter, he says what he really thinks.  Worse still, if he hasn't thought it out, he wings it, and makes it up as he goes along.  That's why he answers a simple yes-or-no question with paragraphs of pure babble.  He then can't remember what he really believes, because he doesn't have the time to know what his audience believes.
 
So if you're really concerned about what Obama believes, not what he says, examine his high-sounding rhetoric.  What he promises isn't what he can deliver.  His ideas are either unworkable, too expensive to be practical, or simply unacceptable in a free country like The United States of America.
 
Our government cannot solve all the world's ills.  It can't solve all our country's problems either.  And it cannot solve problems for an individual who has the personal obligation to solve his own problems.  As Thomas Jefferson observed, a government strong enough to give you everything you want, is also strong enough to take everything you have.
 
American's need to remember this great truth on election day.  Our freedom may depend on it.
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Sarah Baracuda Scares Obamaniacs To Death

 Obama's campaign is on the run.  They're spending more time talking about McCain-Palin than they are talking about Obama-Biden.  They're in panic mode.  Obama is a man in an empty suit who can't express a lucid thought without his TelePrompter.  McCain is exposing him for what he is--an articulate mental lightweight, a rookie playing in the big leagues.  Biden . . . well, he's just mean-spirited.  Sarah Baracuda will cut him to pieces, leaving voters smiling while he bleeds.

McCain played an ace, picking Palin.  The Dims left 18 million cards face down on the table in Denver.  Palin will pick up a lot of them in November.  Experience beats youth almost every time.

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Stupid Idiot Award

She ran a close second last time, but this time she's way out front of the pack of stupid idiots.  Nancy Pelosi is the clear winner, putting herself, her agenda, and her personal power ahead of the clear wishes of the American people who are screaming for more domestic drilling while at the same time developing more and better alternatives.  Pelosi is too blinded by her power to give a damn about the wishes of the American people.  Besides, she's "saving the planet."  This woman is simply incompetent.
 
Memo to Pelosi: You better be devising a plan to save your job, because the people of your distict, liberal as they are, know a stupid idiot when they see one.  You need to be looking for a job, Nancy.  Your days in the House of Representatives may be numbered, and it's a small number.  Hint: Don't become a writer.  People don't like your book either.
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Names have changed, but not Russia

Russia is using its same old strategy of making an aggressive move or power-grab while the world is looking the other way--watching the Olympics?  And make no mistake, Putin is in charge.  The Russians moved into Georgia as Putin was in China making nice to everybody.  Russia, again, is making its move to become a world super power and is sending an unmistakable message to the West.

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Could Hillary Steal The Nomination At The Convention?

Since Obama isn't stretching his lead in the polls, and is even losing it in some, is it possible that Hillary could refuse to give up her delegates at the convention?  That would be interesting, and in my mind not too far-fetched.  She has been silent since her begrudging concession to Obama, so I won't be surprised to see her cause trouble at the convention.  I'd love nothing better than to see a good old free-for-all, knock-down-and-drag-out floor fight among the Democrats.  The more Obamba talks without a Teleprompter, the more he exposes his ignorance, arrogance, and lack of experience. 
 
And how about Bill's latest public statement that nobody is really qualified to be president, even former vice presidents?  But he does think Hillary is the most qualified for the Presidency to appear in the past 30 years.  Isn't it a bit late for this kind of talk, if he didn't have something sneaky up his sleeve?  The Clintons are definitely sneaky, so remember you heard it here.  They aren't done yet.
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So much for "by the people"

Americans favor additional domestic drilling by more then 70% in several opinion polls.  Americans' approval of Congress is a slim 14%, the lowest in history.  However, in her infinite disdain for public opinion, House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refuse to allow Congress to even vote on the issue.  Nancy says she wants to "save the planet."  Horse hockey!  Nancy wants to arrogantly flaunt her political power while Americans pay too much for gasoline and other petroleum products.  So much for government "by the people."
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Tyson Chicken Drops Labor Day

Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, will no longer give their employees a paid holiday for Labor Day.  Instead they will pay for a Muslim holiday!  Employees will be paid for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, according to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union.  The plant employs about 700 Muslins, many of them Somalis, who work at the plant employing 1,200 employees.  Presumably the other 500 American employees will now be given a Muslim holiday, but not the American holiday, Labor Day.  This is a disgrace!
 
Folks, this is absurd.  It's un-American!  How far will the politically-correct loons go in this country?  I urge all who read this to pass the news along and to stop buying any Tyson product in protest to this unpatriotic action.
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WSJ Apparently Agrees on Harry Reid

Read an editorial in the July 14 Wall Street Journal you will better understand why I gave my most receint Stupid Idiot Award to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Harry Reid's Position Paper On Drilling adds credibility to my selection.
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WMDs Were There!

We learned this week that our military safely moved 550 metric tons of "yellow cake" uranium from Iraq to Canada.  This key component in making nuclear explosives was found in Iraq in 2003, but the find was kept secret for fear it would be stolen by terrorists.
 
The lies were told by Valerie Plame and her husband Joe Wilson, not by the Bush administration.  You may not see this information in many of the national news outlets.  It was on the AP wire, but I haven't seen the story in my left-leaning daily newspaper, The Tennessean, nor on any of my local news channels.  Praise the Lord for the Internet, Townhall.com, and the Internet.
 
I suppose the "Bush-Lied-People-Died" crowd expected to find palletized crates of WMDs clearly marked "Weapons of Mass Destruction" sitting in warehouses in plain sight.
 
Unfortunately, war isn't that neat.  War is unpredictable.  War is messy.  War is hell.
 
And you can't quit a war because you hate war and love peace.  Oh, you can quit alright; it's called surrender.  If you enemy continues to attack you, you'll be captured, hurt, or killed.  You can only quit when you win!
 
The term Iraq War is not accurate.  Iraq is just one front in the War on Global Terrorism.  We didn't start this war.  It was started years ago by terrorist attacks on our military barracks, our Naval vessels, our embassies, the first attack on the World Trade Center, and scores of others.
 
We didn't fight back.  We mostly ignored those attacks, which emboldened our enemies.  We didn't have to retaliate and fight back after September 11, 2001.  We could have sat around and waited for more attacks, and more death and distruction right here in the United States.  Fortunately we had a President with courage.  Courage and persistence.  In case anybody has missed this tidbit, we haven't been attacked on our homeland in more than six years.  Give President George W. Bush and our incredibly effective and brave Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, Homeland Security and our more vigilent citizens (men and women) credit for that. 
 
Semper Fi
 
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Stupid Idiot Award

My most recent Stupid Idiot Award goes to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D):
 
"Coal makes us sick, oil makes us sick; it's global warming. It's ruining
our country, it's ruining the world. We've got to stop using fossil
fuel," he said. 
 
Go back to school, Harry!
 
The runner up for this inglorious award is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D).  She wants to tap our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 
 
We don't have a supply interruption, Nancy.  That reserve is set aside as a national defense safety net in case we have an interruption in our supply which would but our country in grave risk in time of crisis and make us more vulnerable to attack and economic instability.
 
Surely the Dims(sic) can find two smarter people to lead their party of obstructionists.
 
 
 
 
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Consistency Matters

Many years ago a man whom I admired gave me some valuable advice about leadership.  I had just been appointed to a divisional sales management position and this man 's division was one of the company's national leaders.
 
He said, "The thing people want most from their leader is consistency.  If you're a jerk, they may not like it, but they can adjust to it.  If you're a nice guy, they'll like it and they'll grow to expect it.  However, if you're a nice guy in one situation and a jerk in another, they'll be confused and get discouraged.  Eventually, they'll quit because they don't know what direction you're taking."
 
This is as true now as it was then.  It is especially true for the leader of the free world, the President of The United States of America.
 
Senator Obama is the epitome of inconsistency.  I'd never vote for his liberal philosophy anyway, but were he to become President, I could adjust if I just knew what he believes.
 
The most recent example of his inconsistency is his position on accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists.  He has made a big deal about not accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists. 
 
Then today I read this in Robert Novak's column:

The Republican lobbyist who was solicited for contributions by Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign a month ago has received a second request for money from the Democratic presidential candidate, who has banned lobbyist money from supporting his candidacy. The second try was made after no response to the first attempt. As did the first solicitation, the second letter signed by Obama asked the veteran Republican donor and fundraiser for a contribution "to change the way business is done in Washington."

The lobbyist's only contributions to Democrats have been to two powerful committee chairmen -- John Dingell (Energy and Commerce) and Charlie Rangel (Ways and Means) -- in order to open their doors to his clients. The lobbyist figures that the Obama campaign lifted his name from Dingell and/or Rangel money lists.

What does Obama believe and when?  Does he want campaign contributions from lobbyists?  It's apparent that he does.  He just doesn't want voters to know it.
 
This kind of leader is dangerous.  Mainly because even he doesn't know what direction he will take. 
 
The problem with a leader like that is his lack of resolve.  He'll never stay the course . . . any course.  Because he'll abandon his beliefs of today for other beliefs tomorrow, if it's personally or polictically expedient.
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