St. Patrick's day, March 17-- America's favorite traditional, non-official holiday.

And going back to March 17,1976, it was a St. Patrick's day to remember for all investors, when on that day the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.78 to 1009.21, and actually closed ABOVE 1,000 for the first time.

Yes laddies, the green beer on Wall Street was flowing in abundance on that storied St. Patrick's day. It touched off a wild wave of optimism: Brokerage houses across America, whose staffs had been withered down unrelentingly in a grinding 3-year bear market, were now beginning to hire again.

Spring 1976 was indeed a time for optimism in America:

The Alaskan pipeline was well underway, and was creating a new frontier of jobs above the Arctic circle. In the lower 48, large industrial companies were gearing up for new production, as orders for capital goods came pouring in.

GM was only 3 months away from introducing its brand new, beautifully designed "B- Body" line of cars that auto pundits predicted would be a huge success . The classified ad pages were expanding. It seemed as though everyone at once was starting to hire.

College grads and Phd's--who were working as gas station attendants and waiters-- now were getting replies to their resumes, as jobs offers in their fields of study actually began appearing in their maiboxes.

For the U.S., it was good times ahead after a terrible, frightening 3-year recession, that had seemed like it would NEVER end.

But then in November, 1976 came the election of James Earl Carter; and like a plane with a unconscious pilot at the controls, America's economy began another downward spiral to yet another teeth-clenching, gut-wrenching recession.

On the day after New Years, January 2, 1980, the Dow Jones had closed at a pathetic 824.57. In early 1979, inflation had reached a startling 11.3%, and by March,1980, it had soared to 13.5%. And interest rates dealt the final coup de' gras to Carter's economy, rising from an abysmal 11% in 1979, to an agonizing, staggering 19% by Jan 1981.

It was the first time in history that all three indicators simultaneously had been in such distress, and a new term emerged to define the debacle --stagflation.

But although Carter's ineptness ruined the economy, let give him at least SOME credit-- he had done it passively (unintentionally). And he did possess SOME business management expertise, because our beloved 39th president actually had spent much of his life running the family peanut farm in Plains, Georgia.

But now, we are under the wonderful economic tutelage of Barack Obama, our know-it-all, supremely confident anti-president, who professes to have all the answers to revive our grievously wounded economy.

But unlike Jimmy Carter, Mr. Obama has never run anything in the private sector, not even a Koolaid stand as a child in Indonesia, or even so much as a paper route during his adolescence in Hawaii.

Attention Wall Street... look out below!

Yes, Mr. Barack H. Obama-- the Harvard-educated lawyer--he's got all the answers... all the spiffy retorts...and all the solutions. Got a foreign policy problem? Blame Bush. Got a problem with high deficits? It's not his fault-- that too started with the "Boosh" administration.

Yes, Barack's an expert at blaming everyone but himself. He's just so smart; so prestigious, and "too cool for school." Plus the leftist media will support the his infallibility "to the bitter end"-- and it may get here sooner (2012) rather than later (2016).

Just you wait there a-while, Mr. Obama.

Our radical leftist 44th president may be facing a little surprise ahead, and it's the one thing he hadn't figured into his Machiavellian plan for ensnaring our fragile economy within his mega-government web of Socialism.

Mr. Obama can seize the auto industry, ransack the banking industry, tax the energy industry to oblivion, control the health care industry, plus whatever else the congress is willing to cede to this insatiable fascist.

But the one thing that our anti-president didn't figure on, is something immune to his politics, immune to his personality, immune to the slanted liberal media--even immune to congressional legislation:

The one economic indicator that cannot be fudged, manipulated. spinned (spun), or misinterpreted, can be found on Wall Street -the NYSE--the "home" of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

(music)"Oh give me a home... where Obama can't roam..."

Right now Wall Street "experts" (propagandists) claim the Dow is on a roll--recently closing above 8000-- up over a thousand points from just a few weeks ago.

But in the parlance of the insiders (who really influence market direction), it's nothing more than a "sucker rally"-- the result of tens of thousands of solicitations by individual brokers trying to earn a living, "jaw-boning" hapless small investors to..."Hurry up, now is the time to get in before the next big move up."

The next big move up? Somewhere out there Gordon Gekko must be smiling.

But is now the time for greed on Wall Street---or fear?

With all those stellar economic events lurking on the horizon, the real insiders (the "smart money") knows that the market has nowhere to go but down--way down--possibly to 4900 in the next 18 months.

And no wonder. Wall Street and the market ALWAYS looks out ahead 18-24 months; that's why the insiders make the money that small investors unwittingly yield to them, as they buy high in unrealistic optimism, and sell low in panic.

It's always been that way on Wall Street...except for now.

As we look out ahead for the next year or two, it may be a long time coming before ANYONE (either a smart-money insider, or average Joe investor) ever sees these levels in the market for another 20--30 years.

But why?

The American economy has never before experienced what's on the horizon-- the intentional destruction of our free markets-- courtesy of our know-it-all (except for Wall Street) anti-president, Barack Obama.

Let's take a quick economic inventory of what's in store for Wall Street (and Main Street) in the next 2 years:

-higher income taxes--less disposable income for consumer spending
-higher business taxes for both small and large companies
-more government regulations for both large and small companies
-higher energy costs
-dollar inflation from rampant deficit spending
-cap 'n trade carbon taxes on energy
-card check (forced unionism) which will drive up business costs for everyone
-high unemployment--the result of clean air regulations on heavy industry
-higher energy costs for electricity- i.e. clean air penalties for coal-generated power
--higher corporate taxes for American companies doing business overseas
--more IRS audits driving U.S. capital offshore-- less domestic business investment

The Obama administration (regime) has a 5-year plan--it's all been figured out. Tax all fossil fuel energy. De-industrialize the Midwest and the South, where they burn coal. Force the auto industry to make cars nobody will buy. Force the banks to accept unnecessary bail-out capital, and then decide to whom they may lend it.

So expect a rapid transformation for private business from the free market to a government-planned economy, where you'll still own it-- but Big Brother now runs it!

And how do you think Wall Street will react to this? The same way it did from 1933 to 1945-- the last time a socialist president assumed total control, where the government can introduce itself any time, anywhere, into the private decision-making apparati, and levy restrictions on what private enterprises will be able to do within their own boardrooms.

EXAMPLE: Recently King Obama "summoned" all the credit card companies to Washington to tell them..."you can no longer 'overcharge' your customers." So just where in the Constitution is the president allocated the power for that? And where was the outcry from the private sector against it?

Now an emboldened Obama will soon be telling banks what interest rate they can charge, what private companies can produce, what type of workers (union) they can hire, how much they can produce--and at what price.

Is this a free market...or economic fascism?

So the Dow-Jones to 4900? Why not, as Obama's economic fascism takes hold and begins to strangle everyone's bottom line.

What effect will it have on the heavy industrial companies and energy companies? And what will happen to the transportation industry, the small business community, and the individual taxpayers themselves?

It's all so very simple: As government controls and regulations go up, everyone's bottom line will go down-- way down-- and taking down the stock market, our economy, our 401K's, and dashing the hopes and dreams of everyone who had the outlandish notion that they could some day become financially independent.

And now, it's all about to be dashed upon the rocks of Obammunism.


www.keenobserver.blogtownhall.com

FLASHBACK TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS: Remember when you were a little kid, and Aunt Edna or Uncle Marty would come over to visit, and hand you MONEY? If they were a cheapskate, they'd maybe fork over a quarter (or a 50-cent piece); but if they were on the generous side, they might be good for a whole buck (or more) every time you'd see 'em.

But in any event, they'd always tell you to "put this in your piggy bank"..."save this for a rainy day"... or, "don't spend this foolishly"..."have Mommy save this for you," or even..."save this for college."
 
Oh yes-- those were the good ol' days indeed, when we all had that notion of SAVING pounded into us as children.

But nowadays, if we were to bestow upon our favorite nephew or niece (or grandchild) a cash handout, could we honestly look them in the eye and advise them to save it for the future? HAH!

Like the kitchen cookie jar, is a kid's bedroom piggy bank about to become obsolete? But what has changed? Why all the skepticism about our children's financial horizons?

Well, for the answer, just turn your prayer rug to the east, and hope that our wonderful Congressional legislators in Washington DC aren't setting us up for a nice, old-fashioned bout of hyperinflation--1920's Germany style.

Everyone has heard the story a million times of some poor-soul, hungry, hapless German pushing a wheelbarrow full of 'worthless marks' to the store for a loaf of bread; but maybe Americans should stop all their complacency, and begin to take this scenario seriously.

Imagine going into your favorite swanky restaurant, enjoying  a leisurely 5-course meal, and to your great dismay, discovering the price for the dinner has gone up since you first ordered! That's hyperinflation in the real world.

Or imagine going into a showroom, taking a gander at the window sticker, then after a long, inquisitive, and careful test drive, you return to the dealership and discover that same car now costs MORE than when you first saw it...that too, is hyperinflation in the real world.
 
Actually, hyperinflation has occurred twice in American history:

In 1775, the Continental Dollar was a series of notes designed to support the revolution. Its plates were crudely engraved by Paul Revere himself, and were printed on such thick paper that the British referred to them derisively as..."the paste-board money of the rebels."

Clearly, The British were on to something.

In the original 1775 printing, there were $6 million in new Continental notes; but by the end of 1776, the Continental Congress had ordered up $25 million of additional currency printed, and at the SAME time, the individual colonies were printing up their own money, called "bills of credit".

Can one even imagine the chaos of being paid in paper, that was worth little more than a mere promise-- i.e. not backed by gold or silver (specie)?

It is said that more men deserted at Valley Forge-- not so because of their unwillingness to fight the Redcoats-- but because they had no faith of being paid in questionable currency. After all, an AWOL continental soldier could expect to return to his farm and grow cash crops, or raise hogs for a TANGIBLE profit.

Incredibly, by 1781, Continental regulars had to shell out $600 for new a set of boots. And to add insult to injury, a soldier was charged a whopping $10 for a simple spool of thread, just to repair his tattered blue uniform (you were only issued one).

By the end of the war, there had been an incredible $241 million worth of continental dollars printed up, and they literally became wallpaper after they were declared worthless in November 1781, after undergoing a hyperinflation rate of over 2500 percent!

Remember--whenever people lose faith in the currency, there is always social chaos as a price to be paid.

By the end of World War I in 1918 Germany , it took TEN marks to purchase what just ONE would buy before the war. And by the end of the 1920's, the mark was also considered worthless, and from all the violence and social upheaval arose a Mr. Adolf Hitler.
 
Going way back, many Americans recall all the old jokes of being paid in "Confederate money." But if you were living in the South between 1862-1865, hyperinflation was nothing to laugh about.

During the Civil war, Confederate war financing consisted of over $1.5 billion in paper dollars that began depreciating BEFORE the ink had a chance to dry. Confederate officials had preferred that the currency be backed not by specie, but rather public confidence in the Confederacy’s survival after the war.

This being the case, each Southern state printed up their own personalized Confederate "brand" of currency (diluting the money further). Plus, the fact that these poorly printed bills were easily counterfeited would make things all the worse.

Ironically, the Confederate decision to print paper money in lieu of a system of taxation (or to not sell "war" bonds) brought on the most oppressive form of defacto taxation any society can endure--runaway hyperinflation.

By war's end, Confederate currency saw an incredible inflation rate topping 9,000 percent!

Predictably, there were thirteen known food riots in the South during the latter years of the war. Jefferson Davis tried to stop a bread riot in Richmond by offering rampaging housewives money from his own pockets. But his money was as worthless as theirs, and the angry mob only dispersed after Davis threatened that his troops would open fire if they didn’t skidaddle back home.

No matter what the era, loss of confidence in the currency begets hyperinflation...then opposing forces take over to accelerate it even further. These include unwillingness of suppliers to produce, and the consumers’ rising preference for hoarding of necessities, as it becomes incumbent to spend money as fast it comes in.

In hyper-inflation, money loses most of its value practically overnight, to the point where all confidence is lost. And thanks to our dearly-beloved Congress, and Bernard Bernacke's printing press in the fed basement, the rest of the world may soon regard the American dollar as the British once did in 1770's-- "not worth the thick paper its printed on."

And for all you skeptics out there who say..."Oh no, this couldn't happen in modern day America," then just look back in history and you'll see the future --and its not a pretty picture.

QUESTION: What has changed since the days of the Continental congress, when they ran the colonial printing presses flat-out for six entire years? ANSWER: practically nothing.

Nowadays, Congress and our central bankers just love to keep printing money, believing they can somehow "manage" the economy through the manipulation of interest rates and the money supply.

But unlike the colonial times, we have that looming problem of a national debt escalating faster than a speeding bullet train; and therefore, the government printing press is necessary to monetize the escalating federal debt that our leftist politicians thrive on, as they recklessly mortgage the future of both our country and our children.

Remember all the cool commercials for US savings bonds? Well bring 'em back! We need to resume selling them, as raising taxes has reached its upper limits.

In 2010, voters will undoubtedly seek to clean house in the midterm Congressional elections, but it may be too late; there may already be too much money in the deficit spending pipeline to avoid a financial apocalypse. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that ominous storm clouds are gathering on the horizon:

With Bernacke printing literally trillions of paper dollars and injecting them into our economy, inflation of the currency is inevitable. So can anyone deny this, and still be telling the TRUTH at the same time?

Now couple that with our rapidly rising unemployment rate--- according to the Department of Commerce, it’s at 8.75 percent; but these figures are being fudged by the Obama administration-- in all actuality, almost 1 in 7 people are out of work now, or will be shortly.

And what about economic development which requires investment? With both large and small businesses held hostage by what the pro-Socialist Obama administration may do next,  the economy (like the stock market) will inevitably languor in the future, faced with higher business taxes, cap & trade, environmental taxes on energy, and a general anti-business, pro-entitlement attitude in Washington.

But without some miracle, our economy has only one direction to go--south.

So let's do the final analysis: We're heading for something that never before has been seen in America--not even during the disastrous days of the late 70's Carter economy-- hyperstagflation!

And how can it be avoided, with high inflation, low economic development, and high unemployment?

Every single example in history-- all the way back to Rome-- reveals that hyperinflation always begins during a deflationary period, and is a combination of a rapid increase in the money supply, coupled with a rapid loss of confidence in the system.

So does this sound like a plausible scenario, given the insane, out of control, DEFICIT spending going in Washington today?

Now couple this with our foreign lenders, who may shut off the credit spigots, and we end up by the next decade with the worst of all possible economic scenarios-- a hyperinflationary depression!

And while there may be no bread riots, or people hauling dollars around in wheelbarrows for a pound of baloney, you can bet your last roll of pennies that if we do reap the consequences of Congress' incredibly profligate deficit spending, the United states will literally become a third world nation overnight, with gold at $2500/oz., gasoline at 11-12 dollars per gallon, grocery prices on the moon, and four-digit utility bills, with people riding bikes outside, and wood-burning cast iron stoves for "central heating" on the inside.

It'll be just like going back to the good old days, when modern conveniences weren't even around.

Back in his day, Thomas Jefferson often warned of the damage caused if the people assigned control of the money supply to the banking sector...(quote) "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."
 
Jefferson wrote..."If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency-- first by inflation, then by deflation-- the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property, until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Now if only Jefferson were alive today, and could be appointed for Secretary of the Treasury.


www.keenobserver.blogtownhall.com

Question: Does history repeat? Let's analyze.

According to Barack Obama's assessment of the economy, we have nothing BUT fear itself ; it's catastrophe straight ahead...calamity raining down, and debacle on the way.

Save for his dreaded econo-stimulus package. 

But 77 years ago, we heard essentially the same thing from Franklin Delano Roosevelt; only he put a positive slant on the same situation, saying..."we have nothing TO fear"...

And like Obama now, Roosevelt was then offering the same solutions: Government expansion during an economic crisis-- and the fallacy of spending America's way out of fiscal distress.

But despite their rhetoric, both the great minds-- Obama and Roosevelt-- were thinking alike; each upholding the same uncannily shrewd, two-fold political objectives:

1) Anointing yourself as a great savior to the people
2) Getting re-elected by assembling voting groups of government dependents

By 1941 FDR had already failed-- unemployment was nearly 20%, and the nation was still mired in the great Depression. Historians maintain that tax increases, and FDR's spend-aholic ways unnecessarily extended the Depression 10 more years.

But Roosevelt succeeded wildly at getting re-elected, serving until he died in 1945

Roosevelt's New Deal "pump priming" blazed a liberal trail of creating a government -dependent society, initiating a system of welfare that exists to this very day; and robbing  wealth from generations of Americans ever since.

These social engineering ideas have been failures for decades. FDR, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter-- all took down cycles and used them to expand government, rather than let the markets run their course.

And Barack Obama, who never once held a real job in the private sector, is getting in line-- setting a spending course for his "Raw Deal" that will make Franklin Roosevelt seem like someone from the Suzi Orman school of penny-pinching.

Obama's idea of dealing with unemployment is like treating lung cancer by smoking an extra pack a day. Our current economic crisis was debt-induced; and Obama wants the country to run trillion dollar deficits and spend our way out...saying, "it might not even be enough!"

We'll soon be learning the hard way.

Whenever you print money like it's for some monopoly board, you are indeed, playing a dangerous game of surefire future inflation.

Whenever we decide to borrow a trillion, the Fed must go to the worldwide credit markets-- creating competition for money---which drives up interest rates. The result? Increasing inflation with high interest rates, plus high unemployment... does that ring a bell?

It's called stagflation.

Yes, let's celebrate! It's the return of the Jimmie Carter era of the late 70's-- stagflation, and where crises abound: Sky high interest rates, high unemployment, rising energy  prices; and of course-- keeping our thermostats restricted.

So what's next-- the Obama energy conservation sweater (ala' Carter)? Stay tuned. The two presidents could come to blows over licensing rights to such an exclusive brand of apparel.

But seriously, Mr Obama (like Carter) seems to have a selective memory when it comes to what is the best economic medicine of all --tax cuts!

HELP WANTED: American History tutor: Must be familiar with 20th century domestic economic policy. Please- no liberal apologists. Apply 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Wash. D.C.

Ever since the first economic unemployment crisis of the 20th century, U.S. presidents have used tax cuts and spending reductions to restart America's mighty growth engines.

But why is Obama, (like al liberals) so stubbornly opposed to tax cuts?

The first great unemployment 'recession' was from 1919-1921 after World War I. It was caused by the end of wartime production, along with an influx of returning troops, who had little to do after returning home other than checkers and horseshoes.

Hundreds of thousands of our doughboys had returned home victorious , but to their dismay, it only served to swell U.S. unemployment to a post-war spike of 12%.

But the very serious (and conservative) Warren Harding immediately took up an austerity program, and cut taxes and government spending to the bone in 1921. And by 1925, unemployment had shrunk to 3%. Prosperity descended on America in spades, inaugurating the boom-time "Roaring Twenties" era.

The prosperity continued under Calvin Coolidge, who also was a fanatical tax and spending cutter. Coolidge also held religiously to a balanced government budget (yes- a BALANCED budget).

So the roaring twenties didn't just happen-- it unfolded in stages due to the one, sure-fire way that never fails-- fiscal conservatism, lassaiz faire economics--letting private sector profit motives provide the stimulus.

In 196O, president Kennedy, after inheriting a recession resulting from the 110-day 1959 steel strike, cut taxes across the board.  The sizzling 60 's decade of prosperity took off as a result.

In 1981 President Reagan, after stepping into the stagflation quagmire of Carter's disastrous presidency,  drained the swamp with his across the board U.S. tax cuts,  touching off a 20 year economic boom, ending only when the internet bubble burst in 2001.

But Obama has other ideas.

Obama is a student of the New Deal blueprint. His primary goal is to get re-elected, but not by bringing back prosperity, but by using political economics (vote-buying) to tie dependent voting groups to him, just as Roosevelt had done himself in the 1930s.

In 1933, Mr Roosevelt had offered payments to farmers in return for taking some of their land out of production, and got all the farm states to vote for him in 1936 .

Although precious metal prices had declined by 1932, Roosevelt raised the wages of silver mine workers to a rather generous 30 dollars a month, and all 7 western mining states voted for hin in 1936.

In 1935) Labor legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, sponsored by Senator Robert Wagner, protected workers' rights to form unions and to bargain collectively. In 1936 and 1940, all the urban unions voted for Roosevelt. And Obama seeks to echo the idea of a Roosevelt coalition.

So, for his coalition, Mr Obama need only to cobble the major unions, unemployed, the college students, immigrants, and go by any means he can to tie as many voting groups to him ala' Roosevelt --ergo,  Obama's "raw deal coalition."

Obama could form a similar coalition to vote him a 3rd, or even a 4th term, by influencing a change in the constitution. And with all the creeping incrementalism with the government taking over our lives, it just may happen.

Obama's 4-term plan is already off to a flying start. His stimulus will bolster up to 4 million voters who've recently lost jobs.  Plus Obama can extend his political influence over the lives of all other dependents, who in one way or another, receive a check from the government. This group could easily approach 45% of the population by 2012.

Thus, Mr. Obama need not even count on a recovery. If he can cobble enough votes together in the same fashion as Roosevelt, he'll easily win re-election with a 51% majority (or better).

So how would the message in America's fortune cookie read if Obama wins in 2012? How would the history books read at the half century mark in 2050? Maybe something along these lines...

..."In his secomnd term, Barack Obama undertook the expansion of the government with forest fire rapidity.

Obama's para-military "well funded" youth militia was established nationwide, and then the Freedom Docrtrine was passed, which eliminated talk radio opposition-- and the democrats swept both houses in the 2014 midterm election"...

So who would stand in Obama's way of further consolidating his power, and hatching a Constitutional scheme for a third term?

Our history books could go on to read:

..."After Barack Obama was elected to a second term, he was able to garner sufficient Congressional support to amend the Constitution, and granted all immigrants amnesty, arguing, "the privilege of enfranchisement supersedes any and all other individual rights"...

..."and by that time, the Obama youth corps had grown into a well paid, para-military, left wing of enthusiastic supporters. The unions had expanded rapidly. And fully 60% of the population had become dependent on government entitlements"...

..."by the end of his second term, Obama had convinced his growing majority that a leader "'so vital to America's march toward social utopia, should not be faced with time constraints"... and the Constitution was near-unanimously amended by Congress to say that...'any sitting president, who was serving the common will of the people, could continue in such service until the people no longer willed it-- or serve as president for life..." 

Could this ever come to pass? Easily.

The more power Obama can wrest from the private sector, the larger he'll be able to expand the federal bureaucracy; basically doing exactly what FDR did to win re-election for 4 terms-- by creating a culture of government dependency.

But right now, if our newly-elected savior isn't careful, his declaration of  possible catastrophe could backfire into a self-fulfilling prophesy, and result in a truly unnecessary second depression if he doesn't change his doom 'n gloom tune.

 
And if that happens, all bets, even for a second term, would be off.

The National Debt Clock in New York City has run out of digits to record the growing figure. The economy continues to get worse. The housing glut endures. Fearful consumers are turning from the yellow of caution to the red alert of panic. Retail stores are doing all but giving away merchandise to avoid going dark next year.  Banks and other financial institutions continue to suffer more losses.

Other than that, the out come for the U.S. economy looks stellar, especially now that the new era of Baracko-nomics is about to get underway! Hi ho and its off to the unemployment line we go!

And to what great economic heights will the Chosen One lead us in his first four years in the new Camelot of Obama?

On his recent "60 Minutes" interview, Barack was asked rather bluntly by CBS"s Steve Kroft: "Is there a point where just going to the Treasury Department and printing more money ceases to be an option?"

Obama : "We shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after...The most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession, and we have the tools," the president-elect said .

Atta boy Barack-o! Don't back down! Show everyone that the naysayers were wrong when they accused you of having no working knowledge of either business or economic principles. We know you'll show 'em all when you break out the old reliable democratic tool for any economic problem.. the old reliable printing press in the basement at the Fed.

The primary originator of the printing press as an economic tool, was good ole LBJ. In the late 60's, the Vietnam war costs were spiraling out of control. Johnson was sinking in political quicksand, trying to pay for an unpopular and unexplained war without raising taxes, but yet without cutting all the political promises he made about his Great Society social programs. Congress bitterly opposed his idea of a 6% tax hike, and  all the while, the pentagon's budget was exploding with the war's spiraling costs.

Inflation was bubbling up. The dollar was sinking. Every time president Johnson appeared on TV to announce another troop escalation, he looked as if he'd aged another ten years. Poor LBJ!.."oh woe is me...what can I do?"

So Mr. Johnson decided to set a economic democratic precedent that has flourished to this very day... he would deal with the problem using his new C& P program...Conceal the problem...and keep it Painless-- unleash a new federal reserve strategy-- run the printing presses!

In all its previous wars, the U.S. had paid for them by tax hikes, or selling what the old timers refer to as "war bonds". But Johnson had the fed crank out approximately 200 billion in paper currency to avoid a tax hike, and keep his Great Society ship of state afloat. But by march of1968, the wolf was at the Whitehouse door.

Back in those days, the dollar's role was to act as the world's reserve currency. But the dollar suffered its first black eye when the U.S. began defaulting on that role by allowing its short term liabilities in the form of dollars held by foreigners, to FAR exceed its short term assets in the form of readily available gold. Inflation began to worsen and the dollar began to sink even lower.

Then Richard Nixon attempted to sit on the country's inflationary suitcase, when he went off the gold standard and instituted rent and price controls in 1971. Naturally the suitcase burst open in 1973 when inflation rocketed to 7%. So tricky Dicky Nixon devalued the dollar to juice the U.S. trade balance, and it boomed the economy from the export side of the ledger; and for awhile, the economy thrived for the first part of that year.

But in late 1973, oil prices quadrupled during the Yom Kippur war ,and the U.S. economy  went into an OPEC-stimulated tailspin. But the irreparable damage to the U.S. dollar had been done; never again would it be pegged to the price of gold; it would float up or down in relation to the other currencies of the world.

And then there were those oh so happy days of Jimmie Carter, (the next democratic-economic prodigy), bringing his stellar financial expertise to Washington as a peanut farmer. Carter created the "misery" index-- double digit unemployment, double digit inflation; and double digit interest rates-- a triple header of legendary disaster ! New terms such as "stagflation" were added to our lexicon during the Carter era . He indeed had succeeded in making peanuts out of the economy.

The only thing that saved the country from an economic calamity was the opening of the Alasakan oil pipeline, which saw the price of gas drop precipitously in1977, and gave a huge economic boost because of the big increase it brought to the people's disposable incomes back then.

Clinton, the next democrat, was widely depicted as having balanced the budget, putting everyone back to work, and reducing welfare. But Clinton may have been the luckiest president of the 20th century, largely as a function of  being in the right place at the right time.

Had not Ross Perot siphoned 7% of the vote from incumbent George Bush senior, Clinton would probably be serving out his life term back in Arkansas as its most popular governor since Orville Faubus.

"I will focus on the economy like a laser beam" said Mr. Cinton in 1992! But about all he did was get even luckier as his time in the Oval office progressed.  Deep down Clinton was just another tax & spend liberal vote-buyer, who had to raise taxes (against his campaign promises) to cash all the political chits he owed from the various support groups who got him elected. His luxury tax fiasco (10% on yachts and large boats) illustrated his shallow understanding of economic principles-- taxing the rich puts the middle classes out of work everytime. Boat builders laid off 8,800 workers; and as a result, the unemployment benefits paid out far exceeded the miniscule tax revenues brought in.

When the Republicans won an overwhelming sweep in the Congressional '94 midterms, Newt Gingrich as much as threatened Clinton that..."nothing further would pass unless he reigned in spending and cut welfare into workfare". Its all part of the Clinton book of mythology.

Myth: Clinton put everyone back to work.
Reality: the introduction of personal computer of the 80's had percolated through the economy by the 90's, replacing the paper age with the digital office age. Productivity soared nationwide . Now couple this with the dot-com boom, and concomitant job explosion, and Clinton, who was a largely a bystander to it all, graciously accepted credit as the president of "job creation".

Myth: Clinton balanced the budget.
Reality: this has about as much validity as giving Gore credit for inventing the internet! Ronald Reagan, in conjunction with Tip O'Neil, actually did accomplish making social security solvent by instituting  the original lockbox in the 1980's.

But if the average American of today, worried about his (her) retirement, could just call Mr Clinton onto the carpet now, there are a plethora of questions to be axed.

"Yes Mr Clinton: What was the relationship of the Social Security Trust Fund to the U.S.’s national debt during your 2 terms as president? Was the federal budget actually balanced during this time as every one has been led to believe?  Explain what happened when you were accused of "raiding the Social Security Trust Fund”. Would the Social Security System face financial crisis today if Congress simply didn’t rob the Trust Fund to pay for its expenditures during those years? Is this what Congress did back then? Explain in full detail, please."

The liberal press has led us to believe that the Clinton years were like the days of wine and roses; but just like any myth, the bubble burst in 2001 just as the abominable George Bush entered the Whitehouse. The internet's "unlimited expansion" proved to be quite limited . Clinton's strong promotion of China as "most favored trading nation" began to create the giant offshore sucking sound of America's manufacturing jobs. And  China was the great vacuum cleaner; and Clinton was the one that plugged them in to the world's economy.

Now, add on NAFTA to all that, and history may go on to prove (in due time) that the Clinton years of "prosperity" were those that greased the skids for the U.S. economy to careen downward into its 2nd Great Depression in 100 years.


How about today? Of course the democrats are willing to spend their way to prosperity using the old Lyndon Johnson c-p method of economics. Conceal the problem, and keep it Painless, Yes, those good ole democratic sound  principles-- print our way to prosperity--  then make the problem disappear by saddling the future generations with unbearable debt, because the future generation has no relevance... the only thing that counts is the next election.

Hooray! Lets all cheer for the new era of the Congress with learning disabilities! Barney Frank talks glowingly of tax increases on the wealthy, and breaking out the national charge card... (quote) "I think at this point there needs to be a focus on an immediate increase in spending, and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second seat'.

Is this the way the Obama-energizd tax & spend 111th Congress intends to manage our financial crisis? Joe Biden, during his campaign said..." paying more taxes was patriotic, denying the obvious precedent of Herbert Hoover, who proved that tax hikes during downturns are IDIOTIC. Will they ever learn?

Enter Barack Obama..."Tax hikes on the wealthy are about being fair and achieving balance"...yet more evidence of a learning disabled democrat!

And now, after all this planned runaway deficit spending, we have the bail-out banquet running at full throttle! Congress has voted to increase the national debt to a measly 11 trillion now, with probably another trill or two during the next 2 to 4 years. And what's to stop this leaning-disabled Congress from printing the country into insolvency?

Certainly not the media, who speak nor decry of the reckless financial trends on Capitol Hill. Certainly not all those who are getting in the entitlement line for all the juicy campaign  promises of Obama.

Alexander Hamilton, our first treasury secretary, insisted that the United States pay its debts and practice fiscal prudence. He persuaded Congress to establish a national coinage, a national banking system, and a revenue program to provide for the repayment of the national debt. That then-controversial proposal gave our new nation a chance to grow into the powerhouse it is today.

But what would be the fate of Alexander Hamilton if he were in Washington in this day in time? The media would attack his personal life as a lawyer. Nancy Pelosi would label him a "member of the radical right wingers", with no legislative experience. Barack Obama  would condemn him to the dreaded republican status as "being out of touch" with main street.

So, for how much longer do we sit by silently and watch the democrats print more currency? How much longer can we go down this path toward economic oblivion? How much longer will we borrow until the interest on the national debt (currently 500 billion annually) sinks the ship of state into the ocean of insolvency? How much longer will we reach the point where the dollar is destroyed, and we become the next 1920's era Germany? Will history not repeat itself? Could we expect any different result?

These reckless, treasonous democrats are setting the scene for unprecedented disaster! We are inviting the worst of all economic worlds --a hyperinflationary depression! The democrats are against mining our own energy, and FOR sending our money abroad for OPEC oil. The democrats want to tax our employers, who will then downsize us from OUR jobs. Barack Obama wants to tax big oil with a windfall profits tax, and increase the corporate and capital gains tax, all because its fair? Fair to who?

These disastrous tax policies have already created the current Wall Street slow motion crash; and the housing disaster of declining real estate values. And with Obama in the Whitehouse, and the radical left in control of congress, it'll be gasoline on the fire!

These events have led us up to the current economic crises. And now that we have been  backed into this fiscal corner, the country has two choices.... we either take control of these events, or these events will take control of us,  in either this generation, or the next.

But no matter what the consequences of these corrupt Congressional criminals, once the disaster is upon us, they will be filthy rich and long gone.