September 19, 2008
PJB: The Party’s Over
By Patrick J. Buchanan
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 Sterns 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.
Tags: Barack Obama, Globalism, John McCain, Wall Street
Email Post
Print Post
Vote Average: 4.85 Stars!
Loading ...![Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War](http://patbuchananbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/bk-pjb-chuw165.jpg "Churchill_Hitler_the_Unnecessary_War\")
“We are going to have to learn to live again without our means.”
It’s a sad era we’re entering. Those who study history or not, are condemned to watch it repeat itself. Too bad nobody listened to you when they had the chance.
Too bad nobody listened to Ron Paul, the only POTUS candidate who spoke the truth. Looks like we will be stuck with an unstable warmongering neocon or a Marxist messiah.
Maybe the best hope for constitutional conservatism is a resounding GOP loss in Nov. Regrouping to build for 2012 sounds like a great idea but I’m anything but convinced that enough Americans even care.
In any event, the nightmare of being El Presidente for the next few years will probably guarantee a one term presidency no matter who wins. Clueless Americans have no idea that their lifestyles are about to be blasted out of existence. All they do is scream and whine for the government to take care of them and provide them with all their needs and wants.
Surviving in Katrina Nation is going to be one hellish experience.
The only difference between Western style socialism/Marxism and murderous Stalin/Mao style communism is that Stalin lacked the luxury of a ready made economy to loot and plunder.
Well, America has just about been plundered into impoverishment and out of existence.
The most patriotic thing one can do at this miserable juncture is to vote 3rd party.
The Party’s over…because “What the Greatest Generation handed down to us…the baby boomers…have frittered away.”
Mr. B, with all due respect, I simply do not understand the entire basis of the above statement - which I frequently hear from other sources, too.
While I certainly cannot disagree that the Boomer (my) generation has been the epitome of self indulgence, was it not the “Greatest Generation” that committed the original sins: removal of our currency from the gold standard; the creation of the (unconstitutional) Federal Reserve monster; the promise of the Great Society and social justice (discrimination) for all ?
When did Alan Greespan get inducted into the Boomer generation ? How many Boomers were in Congress as they gave away their power to the Executive and the Judiciary in preference to “not delivering Americans with any bad news” as JFK used to say ? I don’t recall him being a Boomer. He was from the so-called “Greatest Generation.”
Was it the Boomer generation that got America into the Vietnam quagmire, sent troops to every corner of the Earth in pursuit of empire, failed repeatedly to design a viable energy policy, or create NAFTA ?
Isn’t David Rockefeller - the ultimate globalist - from the “Greatest Generation,” along with Dick Cheney, the most dangerous man in America ? Is John McCain an honorary Boomer because he served in Vietnam ?
How many Boomers have yet made it onto the Supreme Court that is now creating law ? Who were the captains of industry when industry went “global;” the fathers of finance when unlimited credit was born; the superintendents of a miserably failed educational system, and the bureaucrats of government when the Cold War ended ?
Wasn’t it the conservative Right of the “Greatest Generation” that went Wrong ?
Unless you are indicting us Boomers with not voting the bastards out of office - which is a reasonable indictment - I simply do not understand how the Boomers are any more to blame than the Greatest Generation.
I do not disagree that America has lost its way, and I do not pretend that Y-generationer Barack Obama will correct our course. In philosophy, I entirely agree with every point you made in your excellent (as always) commentary.
On the single point that the Boomers are to accept the responsibility for the creation of the empire that is now over, I am simply asking the basis for your premise.
The Boomers will definitely be the victims of the failure of empire, but how did the victim become the criminal in this holdup ?
Thank you.
The Party’s Over…Addendum to my previous note.
Now that I vented my spleen in defense of the Boomers, and thought about it a little more, why did Mr. B make this a conflict between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers ? That is too broad of a brush to use. I have learned to be a libertarian from Ron Paul, and a paleoconservative by reading Mr. B’s books. But I’m still a Boomer. I think this is more of the traditional conflict between paleoconservatives and liberals/neo-cons, don’t you ? Thank you. Bob
just a couple comments:
–in fairness, the left is not bemoaning the failure of market capitalism as much as the failure of market regulation–a position that seems to be shared here by pat as well.
to illustrate the point, note that socialism and communism are not popping up as possible solutions…which is far different than the situation after 1929.
same thing hapened in 1987: no one from the left seriously called for the dismatling of the capitalist structure, and no one is now.
liberals and conservatives alike see the solution in a market economy.
–despite pat’s desire for a world in which we save up for things and then buy them, i am here to suggest being able to borrow money to buy a house is inherently a good thing…and if you think through the impact on the economy, the odds are pretty good that most of you will agree.
the question of consumer debt is another one entirely, and i leave it up to you to debate whether credit cards should exist.
–the fact that borrowers and investors were being punished for bad decisions is what is supposed to happen.
the tough part: that has to be balanced against the mandate to keep markets functioning..and international runs on us financial instiututions were not going to be allowed.
–the fact that leverage was unregulated for those who invested in exotic derivative paper seems to be the real failure here, not individuals buying houses.
had leverage been regulated, the access to easy money would have ended years ago, with far better results to the system.
the reason? limiting leverage limits the amount of money available to borrow…and in that situation money is theoretically lent to those most credit-worty…and subprime loans are harder to arrange.
that, as i mentioned above, is more a failure of regulation than the failure of the concept of a market economy.
–the aig deal should be considered in a different light than the fannie/freddie deals.
here is why:
the aig deal has the potential to be accretive to the taxpayer’s bottom line (translation: we probably make a profit when it’s over).
this was a loan with a 24 month due date, and the assets that will be sold to pay it back will probably be worth considerably more in a few months than they are today.
it might be better to think of aig as a controlled liquidation than a takeover.
because of the regulated insurance business, an aig failure (followed by a “fire sale” of the assets) would have left taxpayers far worse off than a controlled sale
what’s the moral, free-market difference? aig is not likely to be a business the government stays in over the long term (in fact, likely less than 24 months)…fannie and freddie, on the other hand, is a business we will likely be in for quite some time going forward.
should the federal government be in the mortgage business…and if not, who should?
would “apartment america” be better than “house america”?
those questions should create a pretty good debate, and i’m curious to hear the thinking here.
one last aig point: that loan pays interest at 8.5% above libor, which is a great price for the taxpayer.
as of yesterday, that equals an interest rate of 11.7%…which means the taxpayer should get above $9 billion in interest if the deal ends with the amount paid off in one year.
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.
Great line by PJB
RBSIMMERS-You make valid points in PJB’s broad strokes.
therock’s solution-hard labor for the thieves of Wall Street. A little ‘good’ old fashioned nationalistic fascism might be needed.
Are today’s financial woes a result of accident or design? If by accident, dam! bad accident. If by design, who are the designers? If by design, a crime of monumental proportion was perpetrated. Having said that, I submit the following quote.
“The International Jewish bankers rule the world through debt, which is money they create out of nothing. They need world government to ensure no country defaults or tries to overthrow them. As long as private bankers, instead of governments, create money the human race is doomed. These bankers and their allies have bought everything and everyone.” - Henry Makow
That, is the root cause.
If we can get out of Iraq and Afghanistan with something like victory and honor, soon, secure the border, become substantially or totally energy independent, bolster the dollar, and make government & Wall street accountable, and create a grassroots conservative movement to battle liberalism it may be possible to keep our country a great place to live.
The squeaky wheel — that’s us now — will get the oil.
Hat Tip to HB2: “And for $3 trillion dollars we got to see Iraqi’s with purple fingers”.
Are today’s financial woes a result of accident or design? If by accident, dam! bad accident. If by design (perish the thought) who are the designers? If by design, a crime of monumental proportion was perpetrated.
who is really responsible for this?
let’s put it in the form of a metaphorical question:
if a bartender overserves you, and you get in an accident, is it your fault, or the bartender’s?
if you answered “the bartender’s”, then yes, the wall street fat cats are to be blamed.
but let us be honest for a moment: who among us has no debt?
we, each of us, created this problem (after all, we borrowed the money)…wall street took excessive advantage of a good situation…and we, the borrowers, are just as guilty here as any financial “bartender’s” customer would be.
Hello,
We subscribe to and read you daily. Today, we would like to pose a question for Mr. Buchanan to explore in further articles. Is it possible that some planned and set in motion a financial collapse so the federal government could take control? No, we are not conspiracy theorists; and we work in a mostly politically neutral research ambience. However, we are aware that some [basically politicians, we guess] HAVE been proselytizing for autocratic federal control – healthcare, voluntary public service, legislative and judicial control, etc. Adding a fourth branch to our federal government (financial) would simply be the final move in the chess game, wouldn’t it? Regulation. Strong regulation. The average citizen in the U.S. needs regulation, NOT de-regulation!!!! We all have been hearing this since Reagan was elected and half the population was in hysteria over how de-regulation would be the demise of our country – unbridled capitalism. Well, perhaps they were right, and perhaps it was. Or………………perhaps some politicians in accord with some lobbyists and business, etc…………………were cunning enough to set in motion (via the politically-correct and unquestionably honorable premise of “home ownership for everyone” ) the inevitable collapse of finance so that the federal government would be forced to take it over. Voila, it has happened.
Thank you
Suzanne S. White
But we have not answered what caused the collapse. “What we are witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko (”Greed Is Good!”).” But are we?”
Are we not seeing giant financials in a money game of demolition derby played without referees or rules where at the end it is the greediest piraha who stands alone? The era of greed is hardly over. Mergers all over the world are commonplace. Bigger is better. Economies of scale.
No Pat greed won’t be over until it is replaced by something else. All suggestions welcome.
Pat is quite right. We are going to have to live within our means, whether we are individuals, corporate officers or bankers.
The days of easy credit have ended and won’t return for a long time, if ever.
Frankly, in many ways, my family was better off in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s when my father worked as a janitor, my mother stayed home to raise me, and putting a good dinner on the table didn’t break the bank.
The media put on a good happy dance in 2007, but we knew this recession was going to get bad readers. The party’s just about over. From Japan to the USA to England to Europe: a deep recession is taking hold. But not in China or India!
As we predicted:
We see going-out-of-business signs coming up with wholesale inflation surging leaving U.S. prices for the past year rising at the fastest pace in 27 years.
We see a labor market recession deepening and economic growth stagnating with eight (that’s eight count them) months of job losses paired with an increase in the unemployment rate (woefully underestimating the actual number of unemployed citizens in this country) to its highest level in five years.
Employment growth has been the weakest since the Great Depression, wages have been flat, and benefits have been declining since this business cycle started in March 2001.
We are seeing job losses mount, unemployment rates rise, wages go flat, inflation soar (even for basics), fewer people with access to pensions or health insurance, household debt remain high, the housing crisis deepen, the financial crisis deepen, innovation stagnate (in this country), spiraling budget deficits at the local, state, and national levels, indebtedness to foreigners spiral upwards, etc…
And it’s going to get much worse in our opinion. Primarily because a paradigm exists in this country that prevents the necessary reforms from ever occurring. In fact, those politicans you voted into office are right now busy at work putting you on the hook for massive federal bailouts of private companies which you and your children will have to someday pay for (either in taxes or a devalued dollar but mostly like both). So buckle your seatbelts and enable your airbags because the politicans you voted into office are behind the wheel and it’s going to be a hard landing.
So the moment PJB’s predicted “chickens” are coming vigorously “home to roost…” Thank God we held firm to our 2-party system and reelected the Connecticut Yankee Ivy Leaguer with the phony Texas drawl over the tight-lipped, stiff Ivy-Leaguer with the big hair for another 4 years…I mean, really, what better way to follow-up an epic international catastrophe than with a similar domestic one? How Occam must be giggling in his grave every time we human simpletons remain loyal to our failures in the name of “tradition” (let’s be honest, laziness) instead of compelling them to…what’s the word? “Evolve.” It’s so much more comforting and easy to boil in water than make a stand. Ironically, this year has given us the usual opportunity, albeit under even more severe conditions, to choose between “Tax & Spend Democrats” and “Bail-out & Spend Republicans”; both have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they WILL NEVER cut government spending (borrowing or stealing from the multitudes is easier) and WILL ALWAYS focus their best efforts on the source of their power: Ike’s “military-congressional-industrial complex.” If a few thousand Americans get swept up in a hurricane or a flood or war or whatever, they’ll simply TAKE from those poor saps remaining alive to prop up the mega-industries that in turn fund their political ventures. The 2-Party “winning streak” died with Dwight David, folks…time to wake up from the nightmare and stand fast to what’s MORALLY right for a change.
“Frankly, in many ways, my family was better off in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s when my father worked as a janitor, my mother stayed home to raise me, and putting a good dinner on the table didn’t break the bank.”…
That’s back when we had a ‘union’ of states..*cough cough*… and were not busying ourselves with purple
fingers for everyone.
On the other hand..Ron Paul might be the actual candidate if we implemented the purple finger rule here.
I don’t mind greed. Greed, ambition, striving for something better — is all good as long as it is tempered by judgment. A great economic foundation was in place and building upon this foundation some people got rich. The foundation was a stable community, hard workers, creative entrepreneurs, relatively low government overhead and the ambition to make this the greatest country on earth. But the rich weren’t content. The stable community bought their goods, but that was not enough. They wanted cheap labor and pushed for greater immigration — which has undermined the stable community — and moved there companies abroad. Now the stable community, deprived of these jobs and rife with crime, is having difficulty affording their products. The rich haven’t just alienated their neighbors, they have killed the goose the lays the golden eggs. The stable community, which made prosperity possible, is eroding fast. As Mr. Buchanan likes to note, the U.S. is becoming a Third World country.
I don’t buy the argument that rich are against high taxes. The military industrial complex, and every business that suckles at the federal tit, wants its best customer well-heeled. High taxes allow the government to afford to pay astronomical prices to equip our military, etc. The government is no longer a socially responsible caretaker entrusted with keeping us safe from our enemies, and helping us manage our internal affairs with as little interference as possible; instead, it’s a shopaholic flush with borrowed cash some insane high-sounding moral mission to spread democracy across the globe. How could average Americans be expected to exercise prudence with their leaders (i.e., Bush) extolling them to assist the economy buy spending? And how is he to trust politicians who have sold out to the very corporations that have sold us out?
Democracy is overrated. Elections are no longer a competition of real ideas or for politicians to show genuine leadership. Watching McCain and Obama on the nightly news is no better or more inspiring than watching two braying asses. Or maybe more like two asses after too many laxatives. If just one candidate would level with us, and really lead us, I wouldn’t have to cringe as I cast my vote.
Living within our means seems impossible so long as the largest sources of debt are also the most fundamental necessities for a decent middle-class life: housing and education. We’d like to think that it’s too many credit card purchases of ivory backscratchers but it’s not. The average credit card debt may be $10,000 but that’s peanuts compared to typical in-state tuition running you $50,000 for four years and the most basic home around $100,000.
I agree that there is excessive consumption and not enough production, but the truth is the majority of our debt is in the necessities of housing and education. We cannot truly live within our means so long as these two are beyond the price range of most Americans to outright buy them without loans. Until these two resources are sensibly affordable to the average American, the cycle of debt will continue…
“The Party’s Over” - in response to Gladiator and Ms. White…Yes, Virginia there is no Santa Claus. But there is a conspiracy of monumental proportions.
The conspiracy, as Mr. B so eloquently points out in several of his books, is Globalism in preference to Nationalism, for the benefit of the elite at the expense of… well, the rest of us.
Need strong proof ? Recommended reading: The Shadows of Power by James Perloff; and The Bilderberg Group by Daniel Estulin.
In addition - although I want to qualify that Mr. B. does not make as strong an accusation of conspiracy in his fine books, as do the first two books on my list - you need to read: The Great Betrayal; A Republic, Not an Empire; and Where the Right Went Wrong. Not all recent, but all still amazingly prescient and all still relevant.
Come on, folks. We need to educate ourselves by reading important material; not by listening to the talking heads on TV (with one exception).
So, no, Ms. White, (did I really do that- s’no White? Sorry; unintended.) we do not need more regulation. We need better education; more people accepting responsibility for their own well being - and accepting the consequences of their choices; more people outraged at their representatives who are shirking their responsibility to the Constitution in deference to their own job security; more people paying their own way, whatever their lot in life.
I apologize - I do not mean to cast dispersions or practice profiling; but after all, Ms. White, as you indicated, you work in an environment of “research ambiance.” Obviously I don’t know what you do, and I am not disputing the importance of your research work. (Hopefully you are perfecting a quicker acting formula for Viagra.) But I have a little trouble imagining any research environment that is in close touch with the financial and political realities of the real world. So I can’t say I’m surprised that you think more regulation is the answer. Most likely that will mean more research by somebody, somewhere. You state that you religiously read Mr. B’s column. I humbly suggest you partake of some of his books; as well as the other two books I recommended.
Thank you.
When bankers do business with gangsters, as in our political leaders, it equates to a little poorer and a little meaner America. Today we awake to a New World Order.
This “Order” has put persons and country into a different societal equality. America is a changed and challenged nation.
This election is not about the left, it’s not about the right or the middle. It’s about classes, control, and power.
the party’s over….you said “we are just spectators”
WRONG!!
When the elite can confiscate our wealth at whim, we are SLAVES!
I congradulate all on this thread for starting to realize that truth can not be found at the MSM.
That being said, learn to gather information through the internet.(While it still exists.)
Be bold, and look at information sites that seek the truth more than “Political Correctness”.
Understand, that if a great lie was told to your parents and passed down to you, it is still a great lie.
Understand that the Neocons not only control Congress, the Executive Branch, the MSM, International Banking, The Federal Reserve, but many other areas of your life.
As with Pearl Harbor, The Gulf Of Tonkin Fraud, and 911, the voter has lost control but is being led to believe he still controls his Government.
Conspiracy Theories are often called such in a politicaly correct world because they have overwhelming evidence that power brokers supress through the MSM.
A good place to start is:www.barefootsworld.net/
What’s happening to the Stock Market is killing globalization…If money makes the world go round, it looks like its about to come to a grinding halt.
To echo the sentiment expresed by many of the comments above, the excess and greed were sins of government and corporations, NOT of the people. It seems entirely out of touch wtih the reality that many families are facing to assume this problem is caused by indulgent, prodigal american citizens. Families are working harder than ever, and gone are the days of my Grandfather, who was an immigrant with less than a grammar school education, who came to America, worked as a butcher and on a butchers wage supported his family, managed to own two homes, and put both his children through doctoral programs. In contrast, my husband and I have a household income of 110K and because ofthe exorbitant cost of living out here in California, we own, not a house, but a two bedroom condo; we drive ten year old autmobiles, and work sometimes 50 or 60 hour per week.
And what about the health crisis which is bankrupting many americans. My father, who owns his own business and has a private insurance policy, but also has chornic health problems, pays insurance premiums of 1000 per month.
To assert we are a nation of prodigal people is out of touch.
As you’ve been writing for some time ,this downhill motion has been going on for a while. Empire rot is in it’s last stages and will be complete once the neofools make their move on Iran.
I think it’s expedient for us to connect the dots correctly as the U.S. is doing Israel no favors in carving this miniscule land up as an appeasment sacrifice to the god of oil.
The same week that president Bush’s Chihuahua Rice returned from her mission to divide Jerusalem, Hurricane Ike folowed her back as did the Lehman demise.
Timing is everything as is the Creators promise to cut in pieces any nation so arrogant as to divide Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:3 is the guillotine President Bush has placed the neck of this nation under and the cutting has begun.
I am a Democrat who loves PJB, and I am also a soon to be 48 year old baby boomer who would desperately enjoy shooting down Pat’s assertion about the Boomer’s being “oblivious and self indulgent to the end,” but that is a seriously greased pig that is tough to grasp. My father who was an ex-Army aviator, and first class ass buster about the lesson’s of hard-work and what that instills in young people, was bound and determined to instill within me a work ethos that said, if I am willing to work, and work hard that I will always be employable, I believed him and it worked! I thank him for that even though he has been gone since 1997. Now, PJB’s point about the worthless nature of a majority of Baby Boomer’s cannot be stated in a vacuum, there is more to it than some curse of birth that condemned an entire generation to the status of Ocean Krill. POOF! THERE, NOW YOU ARE SEAL FOOD! After all, weren’t our parent’s and grandparent’s THE GREATEST GENERATION, the finest of the finest, the best of the best, also the people who after WWII were handed solid employment, and often a life time job with pension plan’s and medical care covering the family. The Greatest Generation received constant gratitude from a grateful public, and were elevated for their wartime achievement’s, and they felt rather privileged as well, let’s just say that this group of people could have done with pinching themselves once and a while for humilities sake, although I am grateful for their sacrifice’s.
You can point at the Baby Boomer’s, the generation who experienced the “open classroom concept,” and experimental teaching procedure’s, where in the ‘OPEN CONCEPT’ 100 students were situated in a giant room in groups of about 20 with only ONE teacher and a few assistant’s usually NON-TEACHER’s who excelled in say math and who were available to answer questions from student’s about math problems. There was no teaching going on, at the beginning of the school year each student tested out to locate his or her level of skill, once determined then a packet of math questions of corresponding difficulty was handed out each numbered one through fourteen with most people starting around number 5 or below, and with a number 2 pencil and a scantron filled in the correct choices. If you were one of those student’s who really excelled in mathematics after having completed your packet’s you go in this little side room that might seat 10 people where more advanced course work in algebra took place, oh yeah, the Teacher was in that little room with those 10 students. . . This was a public school and I was a student who had trouble in math, and that eventually led to my hatred of math and not because I hated the subject, but because I couldn’t find anyone who could explain to me in away that I would understand what was going with a particular step, so by the time high school came along I was pissed off and found the easiest way to get through any math course required for the fewest headaches, and the sad thing is that I wanted to master mathematics. The time frame was 1973 AND WHO had been President for several year’s by this time? PJB knows.
That was the experience most of us had in the Fort Worth I.S.D. I was an only child my parents were always prepared to send me to college so in the fall of 1978 off I went, and I cannot tell you how ill-prepared I was to handle the rigors required by an institute of higher learning, homework, what’s that? I never had homework in high school so you can imagine the shock that I must’ve felt after just the first week at the University of Texas! Five years later disgusted with myself I just quit and went to work. . . Now, I take responsibility for my academic failure, but always in my mind was middle school math and how I wanted a technical career, in engineering, biology, computer science something along those lines
but I knew that it was blown in middle school. I work everyday my career took me through several retail finance operation’s, then I started my own automobile outside finance and leasing company that I take pride in that does quite well. . . I would still have rather contributed to society in a different fashion, and still dwell occasionally about that missed opportunity.
Bottom line: I agree with PAT that a party ensued after that victory, but ‘THAT’ victory was NOT the Cold War, it was WWII. . . Yes, after WWII the USA was celebrated and everyone here at home and around the world wanted a piece of us, but it was shortly after that immediate post War expansion that rot set in. It was the 1960’s when the steel plants began their troubles, the BIG 3 saw the RED SUN rising by the late 1960’s, come on PAT! Demming showed the Japanese how to kick our asses, and out corporate titan’s sat idly by AS IT HAPPENED. You guy’s, and that bunch who were of Mr. Nixon’s age and making ALL of the decisions were on a shopping spree after WWII that never stopped! Finally, in the late 1970’s it WAS NOT the Boomer’s who overnight fatefully turned the United States into a debtor Nation, I think a standing ovation is in order here for ‘The Greatest Generation’ for saddling the country with debt, and duping the American public into believing that as a percentage of GDP that we are just fine, a government shouldn’t run ANY amount of debt when healthy. By the time ANY Boomer’s were of age to affect policy either way in the debate this thing was a runaway freight train, and we have 60 million ideologic Righty’s to thank for 8 the most recent years of Incompetence and Idiocy. Republican’s enjoy rubbing Democrat’s noses in it because most of the time we have Republican President’s, I say look at the results, since 1994 the Congress has been ruled by Republican’s except for the past two year’s, two year’s I might add that have been met by a Republican stonewalling tactic that let’s the Democrat’s off the hook, because to quote a anonymous Republican, “if NO laws are being signed, then No bad laws are going on the books.”
Finally, I shared one experience from my schooling, but many kid’s ended up far worse with their outcome in life, I am not an unhappy guy, to the contrary I am just a concerned citizen about the lousy education that our children are getting, I thought perhaps that it was “No Child left Behind,” but Bush never asks for full funding. We can wait no longer, we have to do something here people.
The recession started January 1,2006. It is getting a little worse every 6 months. This was
created by our government to take away the wealth that people gained from upward home
values. It is that simple, it is to bring us down.
Our government has $ 85 billion to bail out AIG but
not to protect our borders.
A close observer will notice that the ultra rich or
privledged class will remain untouched over the
coming years. The rest of us will shake our heads
knowing that our government and their media buddies will continue to yet put a different spin
on government oppression and corruption.
The liberal media thinks it can laugh off McCain’s charge regarding who is to blame for the mortgage housing crisis. Oh, who would believe that democrats beginning with Clinton, in an effort to redistribute wealth by making homes available to so many of the financially unqualified, are directly responsible for a bill that now stands at a trillion dollars? That’s so simple, so uncool and cliched. Who would believe that Obama, Dodd, Frank, Raines and Johnson made a career, as well as many tens of millions of dollars, effectively fleecing the middle class of hundreds of billions of dollars to get those homes to the deserving poor?
Having bitten off more than America’s economy can safely chew, the liberals refuse to accept culpability, placing blame instead on such secondary and inferior causes as republican deregulation and failed oversight. That if only republicans has placed some regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the problem of poor people being unable to pay for their ill-gotten homes would not exist.
Of course, democrats deny and ignore the fact that McCain in 1985 raised the alarm on Fannie and Freddie, only to bat down his bill to correct the problem because Raines, Johnson, Obama, Frank and Dodd were on the Fannie/Freddie payroll, and were (clearly) ordered to do so. (An investigation might prove this.)
In any case, what kind of soundbyte would any of this make? Such charges cannot even be condensed to 14 seconds! It wouldn’t work, even if the media deigned to report the historical truth.
So the media will just throw up the usual liberal smokecreen, blame the other guys with petty irrelevancies, and rely on the American audience being too stupid to put it together.
The Community Reinvestment Act. Government-mandated abandonment of vetting the creditworthiness of borrowers. The implicit taxpayer backstop to Fannie Mae.
This is a government-caused problem, for which the proposed solution is deepening government involvement. What is government doing in the mortgage business?
Because we voted for these sad, grandstanding fools in office. And here we go again.
I think I’ve just about talked myself into voting third-party…I live in California, there’s nothing to lose electorally.
I think you would have to have been a fool if you did not see this colapse coming. I just sat back patiently and watched the greedy and irresponsible destroy themselves. I just bought a house for pennies on the dollar, I have a very meak and comfortable career, and I live below my means. Life is good! Here is a simple life lesson-
“Five Laws of Gold. First, Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantities to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family. Second, gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field; Third, gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invest is under the advice of men wise in its handling; Fourth, gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep; fifth, gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.” -George S. Clason (Richest Man In Babylon)
P.S.- Ron Paul was right about everthing!!!
Sorry, Pat, but the 19th century laissez-faire dream-world capitalism of Robert Taft and Russell Kirk died of a massive stroke in 1929. FDR’s half measures during the 1930s brought mixed results at best, but after WWII and FDR’s death that approach was chucked and decision was made at the highest levels to prop the corpse of capitalism on the crutches of perpetual warfare (either cold or hot) and economic global domination backed by military might.
But that “solution” could only work for so long. It worked as long as most of the rest of the world was still in shambles from WWII, but Western Europe’s and Japan’s recovering and commencing to compete with us signalled the beginning of the end. The final nail was the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and the seeming end of the justification for perpetual warfare. Enter Samuel Huntingdon and his “clash of cultures” trying to cook up new enemies and the neocons and their dream of American Empire, which has resulted in the disaster of Iraq. It is the delusion what Fred Cook called “the warfare state” is coming to an end.
The choice now is going to be beween “socialism for the wealthy” which seems to be the Paulson-Bernake brand of “socialism” where the taxpayers are forced to take on the debt and the risk of Wall Street’s extravagance while the financiers get to keep whatever profits are to be made or a genuine socialism which places the needs of the nation and a majority of its citizens ahead of the needs of the stockjobbers and usurers.
PS: It was the “Greatest Generation” who elected and reelected FDR by landslide proportions four times.
11 Yes, all [British] Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. Daniel 9:11
Since “We The People” have trusted in gold (worthless paper) instead of in God, our treacherous leaders and globalist Jewish bankers (who play God) have brought us to our knees before their German-Jesuit EU masters who will soon deal us the death blow - destroy the body to save the soul…
Over half of the Senators had money in A.I.G. Apparently, none of them had money in Lehman Bros. People get the government they deserve. American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and Oprah are the real opiate of the masses, not relgion. Britney Spears, Anna Nicole Smith, Lindsay Lohan? People would have been better served to be obsessed with Greenspan, Bernanke and the theiving C.E.O.’s.
And who is this “financial elite?” Let’s call a spade a spade. Two percent of the population owns the country…media, politicians (by way of AIPAC), major corporations, even the military.
It’s been a concerted effort to enslave us and we’ve let it happen by allowing ourselves to be fed bread and circuses. We derserve what we get. Now, do we have the backbones to do anything about it…like throw all the bums out and vote Ron Paul? Of course, we would never know if Ron Paul might win since “they” also own the voting machines. Paper ballots, people, paper ballots.
What a tragedy.
As PJB said,”We are just spectators.” As jasharpe
pointed out, they own the voting machines. Re-
member, after PJB won Iowa and New Hampshire
his run for presidency was killed off by low numbers
coming out of the New York primary. New York-
home of zionist and the elite. Glad I don’t live there.
Its simple, whoever controls America’s money controls America.
And that sure a’int the Dudes.
Only social revolution will save America.
The real problem starts next year when the farmers try to borrow money to plant their crops. There will be no money to loan and the wealthy corporate farms will begin to do away with our last independant industry. Imports will be out because of our bad credit. There will be food shortages. The $850 billion bailouts are just to buy time to prepare the soup lines.
The NY Times posted the following article this morning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/washington/19cnd-cong.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1221875445-etcIcfHh2adhFg8w6HG3mQ&oref=slogin
Read the proposed legislation. It gives complete authority to the secretary to spend money however he chooses, buy whatever he wants and his decisions cannot be questioned by any court of law in the U.S. or any administrative panel. (Section 8 of the proposed bill) So far, it has a two year life span, allots $700 Billion, and increases the so-called bonded “debt limit” to over $11 Trillion. Of course, the $700 Billion is likely just a downpayment and, like other federal programs, once they begin, they have a nasty habit of taking on a life of their own. Once the derivatives market starts to unravel, the cost will skyrocket.
Great article, more people need to hear this message THIS WEEKEND before the “No Banker Left Behind” Paulson bailout is passed. Pat you say “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.”
Why does this have to be so. Especially yourself, I’m doing everything I can this weekend to talk to people to get this bailout stopped. Someone in your position has a much bigger megaphone. Why give up as a spectator. People are waking up - please use your voice to inspire action not more complacency! Or is it already hopeless??
We all know that this government with its enormous debt is headed for collapse. This whole mess has just accelerated that inevitable collapse. I hate to be doom and gloom but I do believe in the truth. Everyone but a few true believers will cry for the mark of the beast soon, very soon.
As FDR use to say, “if something happens in politics you can bet that someone planned it to happen”.
1. Yes, this financial turmoil was planned. 2. It
is a bigger disaster than 1988-1992 real estate fall.
3. It will help the rich and powerful stay rich and
powerful. 4. Your tax money will pay for it. 5. You will not be heard by the main stream media.
McCain/Palin, Obama/Biden- want your wallet.
On the 10th of June 2008, the Bank of International Settlements announced the largest gain in derivatives outstanding since they started to report on this. The notional value of all outstanding derivatives now totals approximately $1.144 QUADRILLION. That is 1144 TRILLION DOLLARS.
At the exchange rate this week (Wednesday), 35 trillion British Pounds was equivalent to U.S. $62 trillion. According to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association , $62 trillion is the notional value of credit default swaps (CDS) out there, somewhere, in the market. Credit default swaps are not standardized instruments. In fact, they technically aren’t true securities in the classic sense of the word in that they’re not transparent, aren’t traded on any exchange, aren’t subject to present securities laws, and aren’t regulated. They are, however, at risk – all $62 trillion of them.
These are TRILLIONS of Dollars not BILLIONS
Frustrated by the US government’s rescue of AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a group of 100 conservative congressmen today urged the Bush administration to stop keeping Wall Street afloat.
The RSC members, all serving in the House of Representatives, noted with alarm that the government action this week “has the appearance of a socialist and not a free market approach to managing our economy”.
Rescuing failing financial firms has “set a dangerous and unmistakable precedent for the federal government both to be looked to and relied upon to save private sector companies from the consequences of their poor economic decisions,” the RSC members wrote.
All while this was going on the Major Media could only talk of the “New Messiah”. Not one ounce of investigative journalism on the subject of who is liable for all this debt. Not one article, not a single word telling of the vast financial imbalances of leveraged monies, YOU our elected officials and the Big Banks have created.
Just 9 days ago Henry Paulson (i.e.. former CEO of The Bank Too Big to Fail, CITI Group) told us “all is well”. He has no idea what to do or what will come of this or he is a liar.
The very same people that put us into this mess are the very same people advising the President and Congress on how to fix the problems they have created. This is insanity! The bailouts now being proposed are not bailing out American Workers but are bailing out the rest of the World on the backs of the AMERICAN TAXPAYER as if we don’t have a huge enough burden already.
The numbers posed by the Bank of International Settlements are staggering. Billion Dollar infusions will do nothing to stop the inevitable. A few weeks ago the billions and billions in infusions of American greenbacks probably helped delay, but did not repair the devastation. Today these same Billions of Dollars in bailouts are absorbed like a thirsty Whale.
I can tell Congress one thing is for sure, that a movement has started and I and many many more like me are going to stop paying our taxes if this insanity of bailouts is not stopped, now! And we will vote every congressperson out of office if they vote for anymore bailouts, period!!!
We are in historically unprecedented times. The foundation is being laid for a default of USTreasurys in the wake of the greatest regulatory failure in modern history (i.e.. the repeal of Glass-Steagall), and the collapse of the US financial system. If you look back, Paul Volker predicted this would happen if the newly appointed Alan Greenspan implemented his ideas to make more money for the banks.
When this happens the World will turn their backs on us and things will get nasty real quick. All we will be left with is the American citizens, to pick up the pieces and start over.
Congress needs to remember who butters it’s bread and start standing up for American Citizens like you were put there to do. We are not worried about a “global financial meltdown”, we are worried about being taxed to death and putting groceries on the table. We could care less about what happens to Wall Street. You also need to understand, we can and will - take back our country from the criminals in charge now.
Here is a link to find your Congress Persons and email them your anger on these socialist bailouts that will do nothing to help the massive financial imbalances we face. They will only line the pockets of the architects of this mess and make our Tax burden unbearable.
STOP THE INSANITY NOW!!!
The “solution” is really no solution at all. No matter how many times Paulson shuffles the deck and Bush cuts it, its still the same cards — and the latest bailout only prolongs the pain and expands the suffrage — the bill will still come due.
I have to say, I largely agree with you for once, Pat!
The more I learn about the administration’s proposed bailout, the warier I become. They are asking Congress and America to hand over a huge amount of money and power with little control (the proposed legislation says that no court shall be able to overrule the Secretary of the Treasury).
I fear that if Congress acquiesces on this proposal, we’ll regret it as we’ve regreted Iraq. This administration, imminent danger, and an urgent need to act are a dangerous combination.
I love that comment about how unelected officials are now proposing the solutions, while congress, GWB, and the rest of the ruling class hide. So true
This is how a loving God draws a sinner(s) into repentance. Our nation has long forgotten Almighty God and exchanged money, materialism and personel power for our gods. Sorry, Almighty God runs the show, so be prepared to repent or live in hell for the rest of your lives.
If America fails, it will not fail because of some complex socio-economic formula – it will simply fail because it failed to be reasonable.
Our greatest failures occur when we are not reasonable.
In business, when the left imposed regulations – it imposed unreasonable regulations.
The right, on the other hand removed all reasonable limits. We swing from one extreme to the other. The results are either a repressed mode where government sits heavily on the backs of business or a free-for-all where the most-moneyed are in the position to pillage and grab…
…At least that was the good old days.
Now we have a new animal in the forest – the NeoCon. NeoCons promote irresponsible free-for-all trade, but also, they want to regulate the American people through Patriot Acts in the name of making us safer.
Now the Government, through bailouts, owns private investment firms and Fanny May and Freddy Mac.
Amazing how “unfettered” free trade led us to being Government owned.
We can blame the Republicans – but, they couldn’t have done it without the Democrats. The Democrats protested, they went along kicking and crying, but in the end the old stalwarts like Hillary, Teddy, and Nancy signed up to the same club as “W”, Dick and John McCain.
We need reason.
Reasonable limits, reasonable trade agreements and reasonable foreign and domestic policies.
And by reasonable, I mean within the interests of the American people.
Wow… that was good Pat. Several of us see these things, but you have the grit to publicly and expertly express these uncomfortable truths. Is maith liom sin ar fad.
Pat,
I know you can’t help but reflexively excoriate the Left. It’s so ingrained, you probably don’t even know you’re doing it anymore.
Nonetheless, you look very silly when you a) blast them for an idea - and then, a scant sentence later, b) put forth the idea as your own.
a) “Government must save us!” cries the left, as ever.
b) Yet, who got us into this mess if not… Congress and the SEC by liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy?
C’mon man - you do have good ideas of your own occasionally, but PLEASE have the decency and integrity to acknowledge that YOU are calling for the same regulation the Left has been calling for since Reagan & Co began the deregulation wave that got us into this mess.
Pat,
Please keep it up. Your voice is a great help
Honesty and integrity are not the regulation of the left and don’t seem the principles of the neo-right.
Why don’t we just get to the core of the problem? Bush allowed 9/11, the neocons wanted an event, and they got it. The neocons received their intellectual brazenness from Leo Strauss, who taught at the University of Chicago, who taught Paul Wolfowitz, and who taught that democracy as a shell should be protected but that the elite should lie to the masses. Wolfowitz culminated that teaching with WMD and Saddam/Al Qaida connection. So, the neocons are evil, they should be arrested and prosecuted for their war crimes and for their very real crimes against the American people. They used the liar loan to finance all this pax americana empire building and they should all be put in jail. That includes Greenspan who told Bush to secure the oil prior to the invasion and told Americans who were not qualified to take out adjustable loans in early 2004. The fed has its fingerprints on all that Bush has done wrong. And these guys have all let the United States down in so many ways and have made this nation a dark empire, that may end up with endless wars and dangerous world threatening behavior. And yet Buchanan remains a Republican. It makes no sense.
And I want to tell all of you that my natural father was Jewish, and I am adopted. And I say this because I want all to know that I have no axe to grind with the Jewish people, but that the amoral behavior of the neocons, both Jew and Gentile is not consistent with Old Testament values in any way. These men do not represent the Jews, and the Jewish people should repudiate the neocons before it is too late!
About the comment on the responsibility of jews in government and financial makets, above. I’m not jewish but have been astonished at the over abundance of influence the jews have had in the past 40 years in America. I am 67 and can tell you that when I was young the jews were all but invisible and not represented at all in most American government and most other areas of American public life. For one thing, there were and still are, very few jews in America. Now they can’t have it both ways, I realize this is their the game plan however, they try to be on every side of every issue and escape blame by passing the buck at the last minute to another group of themselves, like a child putting their hands over their eyes and thinking they can hide this way. It will not work this time, the fraud and lies behind this economic depression is happening on their watch and under their rules, they made big gains and indeed, if this “bailout” is pushed down our American throats still want “more” for themselves even after having caused much of the crime by supporting many racist claims to redress the past— though fradulant accouting and dishonest loans for minorities– as THEY saw it. It is absolutely revolting. In fact, the bad behaviour is so bad, most Protestant Americans do not even understand it—it’s out of our moral range! Rather than try to further dazzle and confuse these issues the Federal Reserve “gang” should come clean and let American citizens have at it to fix up the many wrongs done TO use. Bernanke up there today making “demands” on American citizens who have watched this huge money pile up coming on for years, just looked foolish. We told you so, Mr. Bernanke! He should resign and be tried in court for fraud, not making “dual citizenship”, another illegal fraud, “demands” on the majority of American citizens for crimes they had NOTHING to do with. They now want to “rush”—sending us the bill. I realize anyone who touches this issue will be called names, that’s the horror of it. But the time has come when this issue must be delt with. Because, I do agree with one thing for sure in the above statement, the jews need to get themselves on the same page as other American citizens and take some serious responsibility, “before it’s too late”. Folks are VERY angry out here!
Pat Buchanan is right in so many ways and on so many levels.
Here is what I dont understand? For the last 8 years at the very least while Bush has been in office but lets also not forget Republican power in the legislature (Congress and Senate) during Clinton and during the Reagan/Bush years.
There was no energy policy. Not for conservation, diversity or supply.
Immigration (legal and illegal) were never on the agenda or discussed
Offshoring and Outsourcing of jobs and industries were practically dogma
Deregulation was dogma
Foreign Policy was bribed with foreign aid and US jobs/industries.
Foreign Policy and Foreign Wars were used to wallpaper over non-existent domestic policy often focussed to the rich.
Yes Balanced Budgets and small government were on the republican platform but Reagan/Bush and BushII had bigger deficits that LBJ.
We know what the democrats stand for (communism/socialism in every aspect of our lives including speech, minority classifications, victimization, etc)
We know what republicans stand for (domestic empirical fascim, patriotism w/o freedom).
Mr. Buchanan, what I want to know is what political party represents our nation, US citizens instead of open borders, US interests instead of global interests, US business instead of multi-nationals, etc.
And though politically incorrect, probably at no time since Nazi Germany is the american people capable of turning on jews worse than they turned on the Japanese. If this nation suffers economic depression or recession…its going to fall strongly on the jewish hollywood decay brought to our culture (yes hollywood is 60-75% jewish) and NYC financial industries have the same percentages.
As Mearsheimer and Walt have said, the jewish lobby is powerful. Well in my opinion we have spent the last 40 years since 1967 using the full power of our treasury and foreign policy because of the jewish lobby on behalf of Israel when the USA should have been renewing itself as a nation.
Now if the US falls and Israel stands alone the jews will have only themselves to blame. Its no secret that the jews destroyed Russia in the bolshevik revolution and all through their Soviet Control. Hitler was terrified of domestic jews importing Soviet Communism while Germany was demilitarized, defenseless and broke from WWI. Now we have domestic jews using their foreign allegiances to Israel to project Israeli business and Israeli power throughout the world via the US business, foreign policy, treasury and military. Do you think this will remain a secret as the economy crumbles?
For decades the Israelis refused peace because they had US backing…and thought why settle when we can build a greater Israel. Now afte 40 years, they may stand alone and the price for peace…hard to swallow.
Still Mr. Buchanan, who cares about the USA? Not Israel, not abortion or feminism, not blacks, asians, hispanics, illegals, multi-national foreign corporations, …(gays…sodomy is legal, givem marriage and shut them up)….who cares about the USA!
Mr. Buchanan, remember the arguments for privatizing social security. I forgot where you stood on that but where would we be if social security was privatized and all those pensions were lost in mortgages and derivatives.
Mr. Buchanan, getting back to the jewish lobby. Wait until our politicians try to cut social security, medicare and veterans entitlements.
You know someone (maybe you Mr. Buchanan) is going to say “Sorry Mr. & Mrs. America but your parents social security was spent on foreign aid to Israel and foreign wars against Afghanistan and Iraq to protect Israel (making them proxy wars for a foreign state) and of course our one sided foreign policy strongly influenced to the point of control by the jewish lobby.
You and I know, that its only a matter of time before someone puts tomorrows cuts with todays recipients.
and who were the recipients: China, India, Israel, middle eastern oil, nyc banking & finance, media, of which, only one has a domestic constituency with repetitive spying and strong lobbies with dual allegiances. Chinese/Japanese/India in America will be targets but they are small and low profile and their lobbies cannot compare to jews/Israels lobby.
ALRIGHT, YOU WANT A PREDICTION THAT NO ONE IS EXPECTING MR BUCHANAN?
1) GLOBAL TRADE IS DEAD….IT WILL BE REPLACED BY REGIONAL TRADE WITH A FEW NATIONS BRIDGING DIFFERENT REGIONS.
2) THE IMMIGRATION BORDERS WILL CLOSE. HOWEVER, THEY WILL BE REPLACED BY APPLICATIONS FOR STATEHOOD FOR CENTRAL AMERICAN NATIONS. PARTICULARLY PANAMA, BELIZE, COSTA RICA, EL SALVADOR AND POSSIBLY GUATAMALA. MANY ALREADY HAVE ADOPTED THE DOLLAR THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTED YET AS A SECTOR OF THE FED RESERVE. OBVIOUSLY CENTRAL AMERICAN COUNTIES WITH STRONG LINKS TO SOCIALISM WILL BE LAST.
Mexico is to corrupt to be admitted as a state. There is the possibility of some of mexicos provinces to become states. This could easily happen since many mexicans have dual citizenship. It could backfire on mexico losing certain provinces in a plebescite.
Mexico reduced in size and corruption could then be a candidate for some sort of Central American and North American Union. I just dont think it will happen without Central America and I dont think it can happen with Mexico in its present corrupt form.
Buchanan of course is on target on most subjects, but can not see outside of his own ethnocentric/economic world view. The conservative values he describes (avoidance of credit?) have not been the conservative values of America for a long time. The problem is not something due to the baby-boomers, or Bush, or the Congress. True they accelerated the process through irresponsible deregulation (which Buchanan, as Reagan’s speechwriter, did perhaps more than anyone to make America’s gospel). However, the collapse of interest based economies (a key feature of modern western capitalism) is a natural result of the divergence of financial growth vs. real growth of the economy.
Buchanan claims that this is a post-WW II result of “globalization”. He does not address that prior to WW II, when America was economically independent, Taft republicans led the US into the crash of 1929 and the great depression. Obviously there is something intrinsically wrong with a system which has to crash regularly at predictable time intervals. To any scientist, it is clear that there is a systemic flaw underlying this phenomenon, with interventionist economic policies having only the effect of delaying the inevitable (with the consequential crash much worse as a result). The intrinsic failure is a natural result of an exponentially growing paper wealth (due to interest) vs. the real growth rate of the economy’s assets.
The solution is a simple requirement that all financial transactions require ownership of an underlying asset as a prerequisite (this automatically eliminates money-only transactions such as banking interest, futures, derivatives, etc), which will ensure that the financial transactions are directly related to the true value of the economy’s assets, and ensure the efficient valuation of the economy’s underlying assets. Of course, that is the Islamic economic model, and I doubt Buchanan would espouse it even if it meant the salvation of Western civilization.
– Ahmad OK
I forwarded to countless friends whose politics run the gamut, and I was surprised how many Liberals wrote back to say how much they were in agreement with Pat Buchanan and that they were forwarding to others!
Seldom have I seen so much finger pointing as I am seeing here.
Lets all find somebody to blame, as long as its not
us. And then lets punish them. It doesn’t matter
if they did anything or not but it will make us feel
better.
That sure sounds like a mentality straight from the middle ages.
I rather think we should blame the fish eating Icelanders or those
scallywags in Newfoundland and don’t forget those in Paraguay or some other foreign culture place.
Just maybe you should all look at yourselves and see
that you and your kind are really the problem.