Saturday, June 9, 2012

p.s. You Can't Stop a Ponzi Scheme from Collapsing

I guess I should have mentioned that fact earlier, but I thought it was obvious.  Apparently our child-like policy-makers didn't get the memo.  Sure, they can, and have, slowed the initial rate of collapse, but eventually the crushing weight of accumulated debts becomes overwhelming and collapses the economy.

High Frequency Infotainment
And I realize that all of these High Frequency Bureaucrats (HFBs) need to get re-elected;  however, all that time they waste running around day after day inventing new hopium ideas to pump up global markets is the clearest indication that no one is spending any time rebuilding the real economy.



What remains of the real economy is dying on the Vine
Even as these High Frequency Bureaucrats run around in circles at the behest of wealthy investors, the real economy (middle class) is falling further behind with each passing day.  The burdens of legacy debt service, stagnant incomes, lack of jobs, lack of business opportunity, housing price declines, and ever-rising commodity/food/energy cost increases are in no way being addressed.  

Trickle down Keynesian Policy - a Match Made in NeoCon/Limousine Liberal Heaven
And no surprise the one program (fiscal stimulus) that was intended to help the U.S. Middle Class, ended up being yet another boondoggle for the ultra wealthy.  Obama's legacy will be a $1 trillion increase in the deficit that has created only ~2.5 million jobs and an economy that is sliding back into recession.  As I indicated before, that $1 trillion equates to roughly $400k per job and we can be fairly certain that the people who actually gained jobs throughout the broader economy, are not making $400k.  So where the hell does all of that money (continue to) go?  It goes to profits for the Military Industrial Complex, it goes to the thousands of Special Interest Groups and their 14,000 lobbyists in Washington, it goes to pay for Government Bureaucracy and waste, it goes to pay for Imports since nothing is really made in the U.S. anymore, and then what little is left over seeps into the general economy.  Other than the (above) beneficiaries of these fiscal 'stimulus' programs, no one who can do basic math believes that Keynesian stimulus programs are working anymore, except Paul Krugman, and Bill Maher.  You knew that when George Bush said "We are all Keynesians now", that we were up shit creek.  We can debate all day about whether Keynesian fiscal stimulus ever works, however, suffice to say it was never intended to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy or the two most costly military blunders in human history.  Like antibiotics, if you use them for 20 years straight, they stop working.

Slowly at First, then All at Once
I only wrote this diatribe as a reminder to myself and others that despite the blinding blur of the HFBs, the underlying health of the patient is dwindling by the moment i.e. Time is not on their side...