{"id":3663,"date":"2008-11-18T10:30:04","date_gmt":"2008-11-18T15:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2008-12-07T13:57:54","modified_gmt":"2008-12-07T18:57:54","slug":"can-we-dig-out-without-a-bail-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3663","title":{"rendered":"Can We Dig Out Without a Bail Out?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What would happen if Congress failed to bail? Preferred to defer? Adjudicated to abdicate?<\/p>\n

A look at U.S. history<\/a> suggests that even during the worst U.S. recessions, Americans have been able to turn things around. There were times when things looked so bleak that only a fool might have hoped for a brighter future. Eventually, that brighter future arrived.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is this time different? Yes. Every<\/em> time is different, but that doesn’t mean we won’t overcome this one, like the rest.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because we can. As embattled and encumbered as the free enterprise system is by liberal policies, corruption both corporate and federal, incessant layers of useless regulation and tort abuse, America is still the world’s comeback artist. As watered down as our flavor of capitalism has become it is still the only<\/em> proven system of sustained prosperity; socialists take note.<\/p>\n

Some of my clients are disturbed by the precipitous drop in leading economic indicators such as demand for shipping<\/a>, logistics and packaging. Some companies have chosen to extend holiday breaks to their employees; starting now. To their credit, I find employers are more concerned for their employees than for themselves, a quality lost on Barack Obama, who feigns concern for the working man for the sole purpose of indenturing him further to the Democratic Party, and seeks to penalize those that employ.<\/p>\n

At the same time, these same business owners are just as certain that this too shall pass. Because it always has.<\/p>\n

But this one’s gonna sting.<\/p>\n

Why did things always work out in the end? Because we remembered who we were when times got tough.<\/p>\n

Limiting Government<\/p>\n

The U.S. has always distinguished itself relative to its major trading partners by having a higher faith in free markets and a greater respect for the limits of big government. Sure, the U.S. passed a stimulus package now and then, but it also let failure run its course and refused to resort to excessive big- government intrusions into the private sector.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I fear many Americans have no idea how deep and persistent this recession could be. Real Esate has fallen for seven consecutive quarters and may not be half done. Unemployment is on the rise. New cars, even Toyotas, are stacked three high at dealerships. The Dow (another leading indicator) is bouncing off 8000 likes it’s trying to break through.<\/p>\n

…and we have a President-Elect and Congress hell-bent on raising taxes (on those that actually pay them), increasing government, putting failed business models on life support and spending our dollar into oblivion.<\/p>\n

Today I read that John Kerry’s defeat was “the luckiest thing to happen to Democrats in 40 years.<\/a>”<\/p>\n

The next four years are a hot potato, now in the hands of BHO.<\/p>\n

Barack Obama may very well be the luckiest thing to happen to Republicans<\/em> since 1981. Not because Barack Obama isn’t up to the task – in all fairness its too early to tell. Rather because I’m not sure any<\/em> President could survive the next four years politically, even if he\/she made all the right moves. Twelve percent unemployment will have a rather deleterious effect on even the most popular President. The most likely remedy for this particular recession is exactly what Obama doesn’t have.<\/p>\n

Time.<\/p>\n

Americans have become increasingly dependent on the government, mostly because of the policies of liberals like Barack Obama but it is that very thing that will bring about his political demise. Americans expect the government to create jobs and facilitate “soft landings.” They have little patience and little appetite for sacrifice and thrift. Those are the hallmarks of generations past.<\/p>\n

Ultimately our salvation will be invention, innovation and hard work, despite the worst efforts of liberals who will keep printing money until we have double-digit inflation and 16% mortgage interest rates.<\/p>\n

We survived the Seventies – in fact a lot of great music was probably borne of the pain and suffering that marked the decade. We will survive this time too, and maybe in the process create a whole new genre of future classics in the process.<\/p>\n

In the mean time the Obama Presidency will be marked by the worst recession since the Great Depression and unless he (and we) get a lucky break, The Great Recession of 2009-2011 will be his 9\/11.<\/p>\n

Obama has neither the tools, the people (save Paul Volcker?) nor the ideological inclination to save us or his legacy and the result will be a resurgence of conservatism. He won’t do the right thing, which may be nothing, bail-out-wise. His congress will pull all the liberal levers. He will sign. The recession will follow its course unabated. The incriminations will ensue: “Obama, it was you.”<\/p>\n

Jimmy Carter will be proud.<\/p>\n

…and off the hook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would happen if Congress failed to bail? Preferred to defer? Adjudicated to abdicate? A look at U.S. history suggests that even during the worst U.S. recessions, Americans have been able to turn things around. There were times when things looked so bleak that only a fool might have hoped for a brighter future. Eventually, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy-and-the-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}