A Funny Thing Happens in the Midst of Panic
The Europeans wake up and realize that Italy and Spain REALLY are PIIGS and while the Italian Prime Minister says things are fine, the bankers know otherwise. European stocks tank as confidence falls on this ugly epiphany. There are not enough Euros to bail our Italy or Spain.
On our side of the pond, the TEA party’s loud lament that the debt deal was not a good deal sinks in and confidence on Wall Street falls 513 points convinced that the day of reckoning is near for the US economy stalling out and facing the feared double dip recession. Moody’s and Fitch Ratings breathe a sigh of relief that they had reaffirmed the AAA US credit ratings the day before fearing they would have been blamed for the cratering stock markets.
To say that we are again in an economic funk is an understatement. But, never fear, our President is there to reassure us aren’t you Barak. Barack? Where is Barak when we need him? He is out fund raising for his re-election, of course. This seems frighteningly like Nero planning his next saturnalia while the fires creep up on Rome.
Our revelation draws near and we all see it plainly. The politicians of the world have run out of other people’s money to spend, and thus do not know what to do next.
The historians tell us panics are caused by lack of confidence driven by fear. But while yesterday’s stock market plunge may be scary it is useful to remember a few other facts from the experience:
- Flight to Safety to America. As the world worried about PIIGS and about whether America would ever get its economic act together and grow again, they did not run into the arms of Chinese bankers searching for safety. The nexus of choice yesterday was US Treasuries. Beaten up as the American dollar is today it remains the world’s reserve currency for a reason, because the world believes in the fundamental strengths of the American economy, the rule of law, and the ability of Americans to adapt and change. Millions took it to the bank yesterday and confidence in America won!
- America is Not Europe. Watching the PIIGS try to fly was only the latest reason Americans are realizing that our government is disserving us by trying to create a European style welfare state on our side of the pond. We don’t want that. We can’t afford that—and even the Europeans are realizing they cannot sustain it. The rest of the world lacks confidence that the fragmented and fractious Europeans will ever get their Euro house in order.
- YES WE CAN Take Back Our Government and our Future. Like Adam and Eve recognizing they were naked after eating the apple, Americans recognize that we have been stripped naked by wasteful spending, political correctness and unreasonable growth and overreach by our Federal Government. The TEA party movement started our reawakening and grew to change the balance of power in the people’s house in the 2010 elections. Americans realize that the TEA party are not ‘terrorists’ as Vice President Biden and some others called them this week because the resisted the debt deal and pushed the government to the brink of shutdown. Our revelation is that the TEA party members were correct—this is a bad debt deal. That we have been mislead and taken for granted once again by our politicians.
The conflict and yesterday’s panic also makes us realize that we have power in our voice and we have strength in our numbers and thus we no longer fear the uncertain future. The people see the way out!
Yes we can, turn around our stumbling economy by getting the government off of our backs and out of our pocket.
Yes we can, rebuild jobs and our strategic industries by changes in tax laws and regulation to get America growing, producing and working again.
Yes we can, resolve our health, education and retirement problems with market solutions; competition between vendors and choice for American consumers’ not big government mandates and rules telling us how to live.
Yes we can restore our confidence by rolling up our sleeves and taking back control over our lives and our government. Is it 2012 yet?
Now you know why President Obama is out fundraising. He will need every dollar he can raise to try to keep his job.
Related articles
- The “PIIGS plus” club on Twitter (economicsintelligence.com)
- Daily Stock Theme: Nowhere to hide in European banking (tradingfloor.com)
- The Devil is in the Details of Obama’s Budget Deal (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)
- Coming Week Part 1: Eu Piigs Plan Backfiring, Contagion Nears (businessinsider.com)
- Will Greece, the IMF and the ECB figure things out in time? (beta.tradingfloor.com)
- Dow Bloodbath Could Herald “Great Depression” (destructionist.wordpress.com)
- Is The World Ready For What Happens Next In The Global Financial Crisis? (businessinsider.com)
- Stocks Stealth Bull Market? (thepressnet.com)
WikiLeaks Embarrassment is Good News
The Wikileaks release of thousands of purloined US Government emails and communications is certainly an embarrassment for the Government. But let’s hope that egg on the face of officials will result is better security for its “secrets”.
While the US Government should pursue, prosecute and make examples of those responsible for the leaks, it also should take steps to avoid the situation where a single person can make off with such sensitive information. Surely that is not too much to ask of bureaucrats charged with our national security.
But reading the tawdry gossip which represents most of these messages leaked reveals something else. We’ve suspected this unspoken truth for quite a while and now we know, the world’s leaders delight in publicly criticizing the US but secretly they plead for help, will propose the most audacious actions, and would slit the throats of their own grandmothers to stay in power.
The good news of the Wikileaks is that the US still have influence in the world, the question being posed to the Administration as a result of the leaks is whether we still have the ‘testosterone’ to use it to our advantage—-or must we now embark on yet another apology tour for our sin of allowing this leak?
ObamaCare’s 3.8% Capital Gains Tax on Home Sales
Did you know ObamaCare Imposes a 3.8% Capital Gain Tax on Home Sales?
I discovered this fact on a great site I highly recommend by the Tax Foundation. On it you will lots of information that will probably turn your face from blue to red by Election Day.
The Tax Foundation blog reports that the recently approved ObamaCare health reform legislation imposes capital gains taxes on some home sales made by married couples making more than $250,000 in adjusted gross income or $200,000 if single. The capital gain must exceed $500,000 if the house is your primary residence and a married couple or $250,000 if singles. Got a vacation house? No exclusion for that one.
There are plenty of people here in California and elsewhere who dream of once again having such equity in their homes—and if you ever get there the Federal Government will want 3.8% capital gains tax if you meet these threshold tests. But just like the alternative minimum tax the “gotcha” in this home capital gains tax is that the provision is NOT indexed for inflation meaning each year more and more people become subject to the tax.
What does this have to do with healthcare, you ask?
Only the chilling reminder that the Government is going to tax everything that walks, quacks and breathes, everything you sell, invest in or play with in order to pay for the aspirations of our politicians. And if you have anything left when you finish your bucket list—and kick that bucket—the Government will want that too.
