HOW EMPIRES END!

[FOTD]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080920_222_A16_TheCra409215

From Omnipower to crumbling empire


By Patrick Buchanan
9/20/2008


"The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people's wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another.

The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America. The "Omnipower" and "Indispensable Nation" we heard about in all the hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history.

Seizing on the crisis, the left says we are witnessing the failure of market economics, a failure of conservatism.

This is nonsense. What we are witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko ("Greed Is Good!") capitalism. What we are witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores history, and forgets and abandons the philosophy and principles that made it great.

A true conservative cherishes prudence and believes in fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets and a self-reliant republic. He believes in saving for retirement and a rainy day, in deferred gratification, in not buying on credit what you cannot afford, in living within your means.

Is that really what got Wall Street and us into this mess — that we followed too religiously the gospel of Robert Taft and Russell Kirk?

"Government must save us!" cries the left, as ever. Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government — the Fed with its easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy?

For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt — all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid.

Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars.

We are going to have to learn to live again without our means.

The party's over.

Up through World War II, we followed the Hamiltonian idea that America must remain economically independent of the world in order to remain politically independent.

But this generation decided that was yesterday's bromide and we must march bravely forward into a Global Economy, where we all depend on one another. American companies morphed into "global companies" and moved plants and factories to Mexico, Asia, China and India, and we began buying more cheaply from abroad what we used to make at home: shoes, clothes, bikes, cars, radios, TVs, planes, computers.

As the trade deficits began inexorably to rise to 6 percent of GDP, we began vast borrowing from abroad to continue buying from abroad.

At home, propelled by tax cuts, war in Iraq and an explosion in social spending, surpluses vanished and deficits reappeared and began to rise. The dollar began to sink, and gold began to soar.

Yet, still, the promises of the politicians come. Barack Obama will give us national health insurance and tax cuts for all but that 2 percent of the nation that already carries 50 percent of the federal income tax load.

John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia and Ukraine, confront Russia and force Iran to stop enriching uranium or "bomb, bomb, bomb," with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliere.

Who are we kidding?

What we are witnessing today is how empires end.

The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars or balance its budget. Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars.

What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure of government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a cloud over the viability and longevity of the system.

Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders. Nancy Pelosi says she had nothing to do with it. Congress is paralyzed and heading home. President Bush is nowhere to be seen.

Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail out Bear Stearns but let Lehman go under. They decided to nationalize Fannie and Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of billions, putting the U.S. government behind $5 trillion in mortgages. They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance giant sink beneath the waves.

An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.

What the Greatest Generation handed down to us — the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation had ever achieved — the baby boomers, oblivious and self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away. "

Probably, the man's greatest editorial.....

[Conan71]

Probably his best?

I'd agree.

Neither candidate seems to understand fiscal restraint.  Estimates of the deficit of Obama's proposed initiatives runs at $3.3 tril over 10 years, McCain, over $4 tril.

We are witnessing the inevitable hang-over from the largest borrowing binge in our nation's history.

[FOTD]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Probably his best?

I'd agree.

Neither candidate seems to understand fiscal restraint.  Estimates of the deficit of Obama's proposed initiatives runs at $3.3 tril over 10 years, McCain, over $4 tril.

We are witnessing the inevitable hang-over from the largest borrowing binge in our nation's history.

Way to state the obvious! Conan, don't you have anything to add regarding the economy? You go with the old creep who carried this borrowing binge to the limits while a long term Senaturd.
You go with Phil Graham who may well be the worst politician to influence laws and regulations in our history. Conan, you say,"Neither candidate seems to understand fiscal restraint"....SEEMS? How about we know McSame did nothing. Obama at least was not in the Keating 5, did not vote to end regulations, nor has not admited not understanding the economy.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by FOTD

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Probably his best?

I'd agree.

Neither candidate seems to understand fiscal restraint.  Estimates of the deficit of Obama's proposed initiatives runs at $3.3 tril over 10 years, McCain, over $4 tril.

We are witnessing the inevitable hang-over from the largest borrowing binge in our nation's history.

Way to state the obvious! Conan, don't you have anything to add regarding the economy? You go with the old creep who carried this borrowing binge to the limits while a long term Senaturd.
You go with Phil Graham who may well be the worst politician to influence laws and regulations in our history. Conan, you say,"Neither candidate seems to understand fiscal restraint"....SEEMS? How about we know McSame did nothing. Obama at least was not in the Keating 5, did not vote to end regulations, nor has not admited not understanding the economy.

I seldom vote for tepid, unsure political chameleons.  Obama is also in the sack with one of the biggest bettors on the financial markets crumbling.  

Secondly, I look at the fringe sorts that Obama attracts, like you.  

[FOTD]

The Great American Bubble Machine

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16763183/TaibbiGoldmanSachs

"From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression, and they're doing it again. IN the world we live in now, some of us have to play by the rules, while others get a note from the principal excusing them from homework forever plus 10 billion free dollars in a paper bag to buy lunch. Its a gangster state running on gangster economics, and even prices can't be trusted anymore; there are hidden taxes in every buck you pay. And maybe we can't stop it, but we should at least know where its all going."

[stageidea]

Sadly, we have yet to hit the levels of financial turmoil that happened in 1929 and (this still counts as a recession, not a depression) . You might do a better job comparing the housing bubble of 1926 to our current predicament. 

 

[FOTD]

Sadly, we have yet to hit the levels of financial turmoil that happened in 1929 and (this still counts as a recession, not a depression) . You might do a better job comparing the housing bubble of 1926 to our current predicament. 

 

Sadly?

This is a new dimension in economic perfect storms.

[stageidea]

Sadly?

This is a new dimension in economic perfect storms.

New dimension? Maybe you should find some basis to define that..  Hmmm..  Housing Bubble (we have had that happen a few times), contraction in manufacturing (check), massive bankruptcy (check),  inflationary issues (definitely), bank failures (whatever) and lets not forget energy issues.  I feel you need to do some research of Economics History if you feel this is a new dimension.   

[FOTD]

New dimension? Maybe you should find some basis to define that..  Hmmm..  Housing Bubble (we have had that happen a few times), contraction in manufacturing (check), massive bankruptcy (check),  inflationary issues (definitely), bank failures (whatever) and lets not forget energy issues.  I feel you need to do some research of Economics History if you feel this is a new dimension.   

Only the Fed is buying our crappy treasuries....when has that happened at this level in the past? Check please.