March 30, 2009

  • The political irony

    I've been keeping an eye on the political fallout from the economic crisis.  Taking a 30% hit to your investment portfolio does that to you, but here are some observations.

    1) No one knew the depth of financial disaster that would result from the past 30 odd years of financial policy.  True, it was greed more than anything else, but it's hard to blame companies if your competition is doing better because of it.  Ultimately if you don't meet the bottom line, your investors will be unhappy, so some of the blame lies with us investors.

    2) The Republican party is not blame for this.  Democrats and Republicans alike are to blame for our current crisis.  Now, I will say that I voted Republican this past election, but I was hopeful that the Democrats would be able to bring about change.  I know things take time, but thus far, I am unimpressed and very disappointed.  It appears to me that the very ticket Democrats ran upon was political jello.  Firm, enough to get you through the election, but melts away under the heat of the angry American public.  It is ironic that the White House...and a Democratic Congress has stated that the "fundamentals of the economy" are sound.  It is ironic that Obama talks of controlled bankruptcy, a policy that is much more palatable to Americans now than if companies were allowed to fail, an idea espoused by Bush. 

    3) Many of the Republican strategies are now being considered or employed.  The government buying up toxic mortgages?  Who came up with that idea?  How is any of this going to help halve the federal deficit when all the government does is spend?

    4) Are equities still the place to put your money when it can lead to such financial disater?