No Ethics, No Competence, No Growth

Seems like economic growth in the US and Europe is negative to near zero. Why? We are told that companies are not employing people and expanding. They are sitting on trillions of dollars. Likewise, consumers are not spending. Why aren't they? To understand it let's review our recent history.

The financial elite had a little problem. They made a lot of bad loans, mostly in real estate, packaged them in bundles and sold them to other financial institutions. It was like passing along a hot potato. When foreclosures mounted it all hit the fan. However, the elite did make a ton of money in the process. People found out their financial elite were not only incompetent but were also unethical.

Along come the political elite to the financial elite's rescue. They deem their brothers too big to fail, and armed with our and our children and grandchildren's money (taxpayers), they bail them out. Yet, the political elite don’t hold anyone responsible for wrecking the economy of most of the free world. Why? Maybe because they had aided and abetted the scam by encouraging, if not forcing, them to make these bad loans to gain votes while keeping interest rates low to make it easier. All American’s had a RIGHT to own their own home, right?  They even assured their financial contributors they would back them up with Fannie and Freddie.  Lastly, they passed new financial regulations even though they never enforced the old ones. And you can never replace ethics with regulations even if you did enforcement.  So people found out that their political elite were not only incompetent but also unethical.

So why don't the American people have confidence in the financial and political institutions?  Why do they want to put their money in a coffee can and bury it in their back yards?  They know there is nothing as dangerous as incompetent and unethical people in high places.  In other words, our elites suck!

So what is our solution? Throw the bums out and replace them with the likes of Marco Rubio, or Paul Ryan, or Mitch Daniels! Maybe even appoint a Secretary of the Treasury that doesn't come from Goldman Sachs.

But let's start at the top. Even though Obama came late to the financial party, the crisis party, he is clearly incompetent beyond belief and an incredibly unethical liar as evidenced by Obamacare which will do more damage than the financial crisis if implemented. Let's face the truth. Affirmative action at the White House level has us in a helluva fix.  Affirmative action poisons every well, including the minorities it is supposed to be helping.  Let's get over our guilt and truly treat everyone the same.

And our big question is which of our candidates is not elite?  Which one is a Reagan instead of a Bush or a McCain? Even if they are ethical and somewhat competent, the elite will ultimately compromise with the elite resulting in a ruling class.  Our founders left Europe to escape the ruling class.  Which candidate is competent? Which one is ethical? Is it Romney, Perry, or Bachmann? Or must we kidnap Chris Christie and force him to run? Let's hope we figure it out over the next few months. We failed miserably in 2008.

Think about it,

Jim