Many conservatives are concerned that the future of the Supreme Court is paramount, however, IMHO, the most profound threat to the great American ‘Experiment’ rests in the threat to its economic foundation.
Understand that senior bankers and senior globalists are happy to see a socialist in power. Socialists don’t build economies and don’t care much how economies work, so for senior bankers, they’re easy to control. Nations without borders are easily manipulated from distant all-knowing joysticks with guide wires as we have seen with the dismal European Union experiment.
Through almost a decade of zero interest rates where stock market bubbles are falsely pointed to as proof of economic health, the American worker has struggled to keep up with increased costs of living while personal earnings have sagged. Real unemployment has exploded with the poorest suffering the most impact and we are watching in real-time as technological replacement of the lowest rung jobs is accelerating. Robots are serving you your Big Mac. Very soon even your taxi drivers will be obsolete and as they head off to uncertain forced-retirement sunsets, they’ll look back over their shoulders to escalations in concentration of power and wealth.
Senior Wall Street bankers created our oligarchs, many of which built companies that have done little for national productivity. They got lucky, and now back anyone which will allow them to import cheap labour. Are you better off because of Facebook’s and Google’s massive wealth and power? Have you been better off since Google established an almost permanent ‘department of leverage’ in the Obama White House? This White House has brought us new meaning to “crony capitalism”.
These Washington influence buyers are the biggest proponents of H-1B visas and the transplant of American jobs to foreign techie havens. Consider the tens of thousands of formerly good jobs that have been “distributed” to slave-like sweat shops in Asia by our illustrious Silicon Valley revered giants. The hypocrisy is unfathomable. Meanwhile, from Silicon Valley, CA, to Redmond, Washington, the high-tech oligarchs are pooling their resources to maintain their gravy train on track and throwing hundreds of millions behind the Clinton continuation of the Obama/Jarrett open border globalist agenda.
Few voters understand or care that Wall Street pushed senior executives to use cheap capital to buy back their shares in the markets rather than invest in Capital assets. Capital assets are the investment you make in the future of your company. You acquire property, or build buildings to house newly acquired equipment. You invest in equipment replacement to improve productivity. You invest in expansion of operations to meet new, or anticipated demands, or you invest in expanding the scope of your offerings. You invest in your vision of your company’s future. You invest if, and only IF you believe in your company’s future growth.
Stock buy backs, the repurchase of formerly issued shares and repatriation of issued share to treasury, though promoted by Wall Street, usually result in price appreciation which feed Wall Street coffers, as well as CEO and senior executive options bonuses. They do little for a company’s future growth.
Wall Street is quite happy to see a few CEOs take home insanely disproportionate incomes, when the bigger winners are the bankers and investment arms of the banks — particularly when the buybacks come from hundreds of billions of dollars lent to you by the banker who controls your destiny.
This is simply another example, IMHO, of how bankers have ruined the larger corporate world and frayed America’s core.
Share value no longer rises as a result of increased profitability, or organic growth. These days, Share value comes from share buy backs, and enormous “Acquisitions” (consolidations creating Too-Big-ToFails). Sure, the numbers are made to look good as the Returns On Equity (ROE) and Returns On Assets (ROA) are improved. You don’t need to improve earnings if you’ve improved your ROA with a share buy back. Oh, and don’t believe a CEO who claims that, “It’s a good time to buy our shares back because the market is undervaluing them and we believe in our company.” That’s a disingenuous lie 90% of the time. He’s just marching to his market-maker’s orders.
The harsh reality for the majority of American employees is that these same companies have NOT invested in their own futures with corresponding employee rank, or capital expansions. CEOs do what they are told to do by Wall Street, which is to the benefit of their personal bank accounts. Too many don’t believe in, or have confidence in the future, but they borrow billions on behalf of their companies to buy their own shares. The uncertainty and doubt is palpable, but for Wall Street and a few CEOs, it’s all roses and champagne.
I’m not against share buy backs, it’s a free country, but I am explaining some of the force which has energized the current market-bubble-blowing, eroding America’s foundation. Banker manipulation and Federal Reserve zero interest rates have harmed and continue to impair America.
Wall Street depends on zero interest money and has become so accustomed to the zero interest cash-faucet that it no longer knows how to exist without it. Ignorance of ego’s such as Yellen and Bernanke would never take action against their handlers. They too have done as they were told to do.
Bankers know that the soft underbelly of manipulation is through the socialist leaning left which believes in big government. And of course, Bankers believe in BIG BANKING and have found that the Democratic party’s fundamental need to redistribute cash works in their favour. Hard Push-back from Republicans? Not so much. Bankers have the printing machine, and in people like Obama, Jarrett, or Clinton, they have the green light to print at abandon. Almost 20 trillion dollars of debt, heading for a doubling in a decade with unfunded liabilities, along with out-of-control spending, . . . and bankers are ecstatic.
Their rapture blinds them to the fact that no matter how much they pretend, there is no path forward in their, or our, wildest dreams that can ever see the repayment of the debt. People are working less hours, and each hour worked is generating less economic output. There is zero chance of a good exit. The shine on the cult of banking is fading. It may disappear suddenly as so many of us expect, when a room-full of “other shoes” will drop.
The coming election will decide if we are to see push-back on the globalist senior bankers and their erosion of America’s foundation.
The world’s first billion dollar mansion is in fact now being built.
What are you building for your family?
A constituent of the vast baby boomer generation with a career which has been fortunate to know the ponderous corporate worlds, as well as the intimately pressurized, and invigorating entrepreneurial domains of high tech and venture capital, I have harvested my share of mistakes meandering through corridors of enterprise from Silicon Valley, to London and endless, colourful, sometimes praetorian points in between. The voyage has provided an abundance of fodder for a pen yielding to an inquisitive keyboard, a foraging mind, and a passionate spirit.
Whether political or business or social or economic or personal, is it not all political? It is a privilege to write, and an even greater privilege to be read by anyone, and sometimes with the wind at my back the writing may occasionally be legible. I do not write to invite scorn, nor to invite respect, but if I get really lucky the writing can stimulate thinking. I also write for the very selfish purpose of animating my own processes, and engaging the best of what life offers. Above all, whether biting fire or swatting shadows, I am grateful to be gifted the freedom to write and publish whatever flows down to the keyboard. To all those who enabled this freedom, and to all those standing guard to preserve it, I am indebted.
Hillary the Hag wants Obama the Fink in her suprume court to declared the U.S. Constitution as invalad and prophibit its enforcment just like many demac-RATS and the Useless Nations wants
I agree overall with your point.
We are at a crossroads.
But there is a hidden plus in our aging infrastructure in businesses.
If, and when uncertainty is eased, technology will have moved further forward so that updating our industries will make them really 21st century businesses.
Even government’s fixed assets are aging:
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-government-assets-are-aging-2016-8
As you rightly point out, this is an eroding of America’s foundation.
But that foundation could be rebuilt in a more modern manner if we get our confidence back.
I think you are the first person here at FA to even try to explain the problems involved with International and domestic (our Fed) monetary manipulation.
It is a huge problem and our Fed probably needs to be audited.
Foreign countries need to have their feet held to the fire when they devalue their currencies and put their competition (our businesses) out of business.
So, is there a candidate you see out there who even tries to grapple with these big issues?
I might not agree with everything he says about this issue, but Donald Trump will try to bring our monetary policies to heel.
Nanny G. and Spurwing Plover—You 2 practicing for jeopardy? Always the first 2 to buzz in. .
SP always substantially nastier than you are Nan.
Bill–you’re never far behind–FA’S most prolific Trumpist and proud to be Liberals and Obama’s greatest hater.
@Nanny G: #2
Nanny G, with bureaucratic mindlessness, lack of insight, and deficiency of vision, the senior international bankers have mismanaged themselves and the world into a Catch 22 mountain of hurt.
I anticipate, based on past behaviour, that out of fear, senior bankers will double down on Globalism. They will consolidate everything they control that isn’t bolted down — they’ll bring new meaning to “TOO BIG TO FAIL”.
Starting with their supreme creation, the EU, they will amalgamate capital and equity markets, as well as banks, under the pretence that they need buttressing.
These fools continue to do irreversible damage. For example, they have squeezed pension funds and insurance companies into ever-riskier investments in search of viable returns on investments, . . . in search of self preservation and survival. . . . . Not much different from what many of us have had to do to be able to sustain a reasonable standard of living as we head into retirement.
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My sense is that with all his weaknesses, Donald Trump was/is the only candidate who will look at the problems and attempt to find common sense solutions of benefit to America and Americans, INDEPENDENT of special interests. A good friend of mine in the NY building construction business who competed with Trump and knows him well, actually really likes him. For years, I’d argue with him about Trump’s childish braggadocio, but his response was “look past the veneer, it’s a strategy. Donald’s one of the smartest guys on the street and he actually listens.”
Most people who reach a certain degree of wealth, begin to believe their own press, and they stop listening. They look beyond everyone around them, considering them lesser beings. It happens more often than not. Trump has maintained a reputation for being down to earth — that got his buildings built.
@Nanny G: #2
I find it painful to watch as millions of Americans bet against themselves by supporting a prolonging business-as-usual Clinton. I suspect that many believe that Clinton’s promises of free cash for everyone, free university, free healthcare, free, free, free, will just be, . . . well, FREE.
It is abundantly evident that The Fed’s monetary policies have created the enormous gap in wealth inequality. No One can dispute it or tries to. Unfortunately there is Zero will in Washington to end The Fed’s dominant position in the world.
So, after years of rudderless printing of dollars making a very few VERY rich, we collectively languish in nominal growth, continuing long decline in employment, and decline in productivity.
I think this is a good point, James.
I agree that senior banker will try to do this.
However, it is not just senior bankers whose decisions are based on self-interest.
I watched as Southern California was turned into an underground economy.
All the Code Enforcers in the L.A. County were not enough to keep up with the illegal fruit-ice sellers, the tamale sellers, the fruit and veggie (from Mexico) truck sales on the streets.
Then there were the illegal tire businesses, the illegal car repair, roof repair, painting, tiling, carpet-laying, housekeeping, child care and on and on.
When I left the state over 1/3rd of all drivers in the County were Uninsured and UNlicensed. Their cars were also UNregistered while stealing tags off the license plates of people who had registered was a big business!
In other words, people will make do.
These bankers might control money, but they can’t control commerce.
Even if people have to break every law to barter and trade, they will before they will give up on their dreams.
I think I was dismayed when I saw that the police had given up on even trying to keep dangerous drivers off the roads, and to keep aggressive protesters from destroying properties.
There’s got to be a balance between the chaos of the anarchy of illegals simply taking over with a new laissez-faire style of cash-free economy.
The bankers are going to be able (for a time) to hide behind their gated walls and on their gigantic super-yachts. But, if History is any teacher, those elites usually end up badly when things get that bad for the huge majority.
@Nanny G: #6
Nanny G,
The bottomless cash washing through the Clinton campaign machine coming from coffers of bankers and oligarchs is ample evidence of the fear that the cart may be upset.
The “huge majority” is being lied to, stolen from, and misdirected, and still, half of it is compliantly nodding along — it evidently doesn’t SEE the obvious.