My wife and I were talking the other night trying to assimilate the current 180 in the Obama administration. The rhetoric has changed from that of crisis and concern to now recovery and sound principles. My ears tingled as I knew that I had heard this once before. I thought, was it McCain during the his run for office in which this statement was made, or perhaps, was it yet still another time, farther back, when Bush and his cronies were talking up the economy? After a little digging I found a 2002 Houston Chronicle article by Michael Hedges which states:
Jul. 29–WASHINGTON–Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said Sunday the U.S. economy was fundamentally sound despite a dive in stock prices, and he defended himself against charges of being absent during a time of market volatility.
“Out there in our economy, out there in Main Street, the real growth in our economy is moving just as we thought it would,” O’Neill said on NBC’s Meet The Press. “The fundamentals are really quite good.”
O’Neill made the rounds of network news shows Sunday, seeking to reassure Americans that the worst is over after a stock market meltdown that has shaved trillions of dollars from retirement accounts and investment portfolios.
“We’re going to see growth as we go out the end of this year…
This classic dichotomy of a left right showdown is starting to grow old. Opinions change more regularly than the tides pull in and out, and yet the public appears duped into to believing the theatre of the politicians. The attention span of the masses could be comparable to that of goldfish. If it is not in plain view surrounded by glittery lights, accompanied with hordes of talking head wailing about the pros or cons, it slips through seams. Off into the memory hole of which history exists.
Still the concern of the sudden shift in Obama’s approach held me fast. Why would anyone, truly worried about the current economic situation, begin to talk up the economy when nothing of great significance has changed? In fact, as you look closer, while the Dow Jones continues to climb so does oil. Should this relationship continue we could be well on our way back to $4.00 a gallon gas. Yet another interesting and probably unrelated parallel is the relation to the value of the Dollar to that of the Dow. Since the decline really began picking up steam in September of 08’ the Dollar has had a marvelous rebound. This regaining of strength has convoluted the economic playing field, confusing the likes of Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital, whose insight nailed the downturn years before. Now with the Dow surging back the Dollar is acting accordingly, it’s falling in value.
As it stands America is broke, struggling to find investors, and mixed up in two pointless unwinnable wars. Sounds like a recipe for the start of World War III. Lest we not forget the warnings of Colin Powell, Madeline
Albright, Joe Biden, and Dick Cheney about Obama’s testing to come within six months of his inauguration. Approaching month four of his presidency, Obama has yet to make the unpopular decisions of which the good intentions of the US government will not be evident, as Biden had warned. He called upon the American people to stand behind the president even though it appears wrong to do so when the incident arises.
Politics is theatre for the masses. Slick used car salesmen adorning finely crafted masks and suits parade before the window of your mind, just outside of reality. They tell you what you want to hear, in hopes you remain ignorant. Obama is playing his role, and as I might say, he is doing it superbly. A man of change, a vision of hope his purpose is to appear successful. What better cover could you ask for when the next 9/11 topples the house of cards to the ground? Surely you cannot blame the Obama team, everything was on track. The economy was strong, and the principles were sound.
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