Posted: Sunday, September 18, 2011
Let me see; where do I start?
May I suggest that you try dividing this post into three parts …one for now …the second for Thanksgiving …and the third part for X-Mas.
Now let me see; where should I start>
To write something intelligible today, I must deliberately follow whatever might take me beyond the mere obligatory …which is a disingenuous spirit whose motives I abhorrently distrust and disdain.
It has been a while since my last attempt, so in this regard, I will try to rise above an emotional, haste-driven …feelings basis which might otherwise beg that I simply put pen to paper and scribble “…WHATEVER …†as if some miserable attempt …as it were, could be make pap to marginally suffice and fulfill some ambivalent mindless routine-like perfunctory duty …as if I owe something to the most awesome faithful readers which I dearly LOVE …passionately …ONE AND ALL with knowledge …above the nature of the least of my more visceral feelings …which come and go …along with my appetite unlike my motivation for writing!!!
Give me substance man …or, give me death.
In this way; I hope to have both someday.
However, I can not long stand still …or silent any longer.
Scheisse passiert! Yes, that’s with a double S …as in SS for all you letter loving Nazis!
Note: …none of which are my readers, no! Goodness knows! God forbid!
Forgive me; I digress in the delight of having had the pleasure of passing through and crossed my share of borders. In spite of knowledge, my more visceral spirits beg for action …and adventure.
Yet, especially today …I find all things geopolitical, economic …and financial …anything but boring …especially these days leading up to the 2012 elections.
The runup to the 2010 November mid-terms saw the Obama administration slowly and surely slipping, and I see no reason why 2012 will not shape up …culminating with the same sort of sweeping mandate, a furthered continuation of 2010’s November landslide which called for fiscal responsibility and oversight of the budget in a leadership which actually embraces ownership of the responsibilities given by the public’s trust.
Yet, even writers …like curmudgeonly consumers become consumed and overwhelmed by a lack of confidence wherein which moods’ clouds ones clarity and is often not easily forthcoming even on festive occasions such as …say; Thanksgiving …or even Christmas …which must come with more clarity and confidence than the rewards which hopefully will be carefully laid under Christmas trees around the globe this year.
Deck the Halls of Congress with Bells of Folly …
Oh, the joys of Christmas …anxiously awaiting the toys which may be expected …or not. Regardless, the surprise …or the disappointment which lies in store …just might be a function of today’s haste …a spirit’s calls whose preparations just might be the foreshadowing of the past’s waste …that which has opened the door of the present only to beckon back the spirit of the past waste, no?
Go figure. Three years of waste …to move forward to today’s haste …to welcome further …still more waste?
You know they say; “…A stitch in time saves nine …â€
Its corollary has been stated such that haste makes waste.
And this corollary can be stated simply, such that; waste makes for haste.
Like truths, when aptly applied …like geometry …these adages beg the following rather serious question.
Have the US fallen under these adage’s spells? Have they has netted the U.S. a return on Her investment which is (nine XXXXXXXX) nine times the haste of the last three years’ waste?
If so, today’s extra large sized (9X) net of haste must not be allowed to morph into the sea of a second merry-go-round of nine-squared worth’s (9X9) waste …the likes of which have come and gone over the last three years’ worth of wasted time, money and blind-sighted effort in neglect and lack of a more sure due-diligent aim and note-worthy purpose. (For whatever is the aim and purpose of socialism …other than to live to serve the fricking government….and that beyond “We the People …? Feed Me Seymour?)
9 X 9 = 81 times the waste …if, you know what I mean, yes?
And that all will most likely face a multiplier affect attributable to inflation …when and if the U.S. further opens the floodgates’ doors further.
So, to look forward to the opportunity of writing something beneficial today, there has got to be, at minimum …an ounce of joy found in my effort today; and that had best …I hope will come to me …without stress tests as they have come for the all of banks recently in Europe …especially those two darlings in France which simultaneously received downgrades shortly after …and on the heals of announcements which came out of Greece at the end of this week.
The bad news there seems to be centered on this week’s release of two related negative announcements. First off, the Greek government failed to faithfully hold the line in regard to key spending guidelines which called for reductions rather than increases as such is the nature of the breach. The E.U. obviously has taken a dim view of this as this breach and any other lack of commitment to meet certain key austerity guidelines further erodes EU confidence in how it moves forward in shaping its Euro-TART.
Instead, the report breaches indicates just the opposite in announcements which season such with jabs to the eyes with sharp banking sticks.
Secondly, with respect to another key measure of the Greek’s posture is its promise to adhere and comply with certain key restrictions, the measures and guidelines of the EU’s policy of fiscal austerity was breached by failing to reduce the government’s public labor force.
The EU’s policy required and expected Greece’s public labor force to shrink.
Instead, this weeks report showed that the number of Government employees hired had markedly increased.
All in all, both failures set the stage for the two French banks’ downgrades which was summarily followed by an announcement which cancelled the scheduled decision on the EU’s decision to embark upon their TARP.
In spite of these developments, IMF Chief Christine Legarde has urged for the passage of the Obama Job’s legislation …while also arguing for the need to see whatever makes for growth.
The Greek failings rather call into question the EU’s commitment and ability to hold its member nations’ feet to the fire in order to meet the minimum qualifying criteria set forth as stipulations necessary to meet funding requirements …while moving towards an agreement necessary before embracing their TARP-like program’s provisions.
Just like as seen in the U.S. with regard to how a decision was reached to raise the debt limit ceiling …one can only conclude that agreement is not always an easily achieved objective.
As mentioned earlier, the EU’s decision to move back their important meeting to mid October merely adds to an already growing sea of speculation as to how this will all play out.
Where is Hank Paulson in this moment?
Instead, Timothy Geithner is still on the job despite his threats to resign prior to the successful (???) rise of the debt ceiling’s limit.
Still, any agreement …effectual or not …is a question of a matter of strength.
And whether or not any forthcoming TARP-Like program has teeth or not …more than casts a shadow of doubt over the EU member nation’s commitment to a strong central form and foundation.
Consequences or not, the EU’s conviction is a global conundrum, and there is obviously a great deal at stake in getting some pertinent resolve at this time of the year …going into this year’s Christmas’s consumer spending season.
In other words confidence is on the line and the EU can not afford to fumble this one.
However, in spite of a growing sea of speculation, following the Greek bobbles and the two French Bank downgrades …the EU’s subsequent announcement to move and roll back (…till mid October …) its scheduled economic summit in which it is making efforts to move toward crafting a framework wherein which it may embrace and embark upon a U.S.-style TARP-based program of support for all of its member countries.
Of course, this would have the affect of weakening or devaluing their currency toward unity …much as both U.S. fiscal and monetary policies have deliberately chosen to do …essentially since 9-11.
After all, the cost to devise and fund Homeland Security, while simultaneously fighting wars on two fronts cost the world dearly in terms of its strong decisive leadership base.
Conflicted is as much a part of global policy as is the term “highly correlated.â€
Now, that America has been slapped, suffered, and been served repeated wake-up-calls; shouldn’t receiving a credit rating downgrade to Her debt matter all the more rather than smack of being mere routine politics?
Remember the adage; familiarity breeds contempt?
And I would argue that, now more than ever …America needs …for one be on guard for complacency.
Cavalier contempt is just what America does not need.
However, today …more than ever, the issues of debt and how it affects every American’s life dictate that we …as a people can …now, no longer afford to ignore THIS GINORMOUS prime GLOBAL issue which WAS …IS …AND NOW THREATENS TO TRUMP …LONG THE FUNDAMENTAL PRIME ISSUES OF housing and jobs INTO THE FUTURE.
Such as we, as a nation have chosen to bury our heads in the sands …these two critical issues have grown further and far more complex …as we have cavalierly ignored their solutions with growing contempt in disdain for all that would …could and should unite us and make for strong and united resolve.
As solutions become more and more complex, it is becoming more painfully obvious.
Our lack of decisive resolve has netted a waste whose cost is increasingly becoming a contagion which is …itself one more greater and growing monster.
So what is this monster if it is not a war on debt? Undeclared?
Today, we stand, as a nation …somewhat united in that we …who found it easy to declare a war on terror …are now divided in as much as what we should declare or stand for at all.
And if what is trumping the above aforementioned crisis of housing and jobs is not currency wars; then, it is the issue of the question which begs to ask; “what is the value of an economy’s currency if such conditions exist so pervasively and …to such an extent that their very denial and cavalier treatment and dismissal threatens the very nature of one’s sovereignty …the very interests therein not withstanding …those such as jobs and housing …not necessarily in that order.
Talk about an order gone missing. How can order exist to establish well-being if, priority is not a part of strong, well-balanced, honest leadership?
No train will arrive at its destination …if, it can stay on its main track.
Side-tracks aside, who would ride confidently on any rail which makes frequent, meaningless or far more insignificant stops along the way to dismiss urgency?
Remember the movie, Planes, Trains and Automobiles? In the story line, there was a certain progression which can clearly be seen in what efforts can be wasted in the haste with which urgencies call to action leaves one moving slower than a snail’s pace.
In this movie’s likeness, this last decade or so have also relegated the future generation’s hope to decades which may likely be chained to debt and thereby also move as slow as a slug …and that ain’t no high-speed rail …no fast track …no SST. No!
Regarding …moving forward …the President’s job’s bill …comes at a cost …weighing in with a prize-fighter’s price tag whose purse is close to half a trillion dollars.
This artificially half-baked idea is as good as if it came out of a Hasty Bake Oven.
But for all of its promise; the only thing it will do is cook your goose …and that ain’t nothing for nobody to wish for …especially round X-Mas time.
For that matter, if that’s as good as it gets; we might as well be honest with ourselves.
As is, if …this is as good as it gets; is the economy also fated to be relegated to moving at the rate of a snail’s pace moving forward toward X-Mas?
We all should know by the level of Mr. Obama’s hasty rhetoric come Turkey Day, no?
Leadership indeed! Good Lord …God Almighty …Father in heaven; lead us not into temptation!
Good Lord1 If an initial wasted presidential term in office nets America and the rest of the bloody world the opportunity to move at a snail’s pace …while the debt’s growth outpaces and eclipses all record movements to date …truth be told; while we wait and hope for change …the U.S. is moving backward for an increasingly higher likelihood …that of falling back into a deeper recession …one that obviously will encompass much greater obligatory …and perfunctory escalating debt service costs.
I call that a trap in every regard.
So, as I have sat down to write today to break what seems to have been a brief pause …taken for a good reason …I must look back to assess what steps lay ahead in the coming days and weeks. And I have found a very dim light by which to see vaguely through to the months’ mist which lay further ahead …out beyond the fog of the short term’s lack of clarity which is standing …only to beg for more time and patience.
Thus, with honesty …in looking back, before I could bear to justify looking forward again; it truly appears that the domestic affairs which have been plaguing the economy have simply been put upon by and for a weightier reason which is becoming tightly restrictive by a growing number of more-pressing issues which are overshadowing the lesser through the highly globally correlated ways and means which can be seen by heightened practices involving shuttle diplomacy.
And while I would and most likely should not use the term “currency wars†loosely; the term “Debt Wars†is a concept which is not beyond the scope or reach of one’s imagination …especially if one is a property owner in a private sector whose solutions have all but been misplaced, lost, conveniently relegated to the back burner …or now …swamped out by the dire straights of a Jobs Bill’s lunacy and a global economy gone mad at chasing or maintaining the balance of any and every one of a good number of highly correlated world currencies.
And what is these side-shows’ side-tracks attributable to aside from the failures in their respective economies? Debt and the growing difficulties associated with managing to grow it.
Shoot! If I didn’t know any better, I would say that debt has become the supplanting giant 900 pound plant in a Little Shop of Horrors.
I have often referred to this oxymoron to describe the encroaching affects of public debt and public debt load upon a government’s ability to make good on its obligatory return of socially chartered …public mandates …in service to its people …more than mere self-serving the bureaucratic sprawling nature.
I guess that this point is as good as any other to say; there must come a point at which any successful institution must recognized that there is a point of diminishing returns.
But the greater danger exists if, one is neither …willing nor able to recognize this.
For failing to anticipate and act accordingly is synonymous to opening the door and soliciting for foreclosure.
And that’s the can of worms this administration has openly embraced and is now inviting more than ever.
Therefore, in keeping with any illness; if the patient cannot, or …will not recognize their nature; they will succumb to a lack of content in the emptiness of their character’s shortcomings.
Never the less, in several of the reports I have read this weekend; the housing and jobs recoveries and the focus upon their issues are those which have all but been given up for dead.
Instead, financial and fiscal stability are being discussed as if the formula for confidence and growth was a new matter …as if it were a forgotten and abandoned red-headed step-child which should and could be embraced now with more political resolve …as if elections and office are not enough of a last reminder of the public’s last resort.
In this the paradox, what has been taking place over the last few years? Could global leadership have made more political gains by debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Why must one ask? And what tale are current events saying with regard to the movement and the degree to which the more sovereign interests of the world’s countries’ economies and their more localized …otherwise more sovereign interests have been relegated?
I speak once again with respect to the need to know how and how to pursue organic solutions which would efficiently repair housing and restore jobs.
It would seem that the answer can be found in the corner of the room wherein which each country has found itself with its shoulders pinned up against the wall …with nowhere …and no how (without the ways and means) necessary to organically move the relative value of one’s blessed …so-called sovereign currency.
The stability of each and all in a global economy is on the line in this concern’s regard. Yet the all-encompassing focus is not on growing the solutions, but rather growing the problem still larger.
That is the trap of debt where one becomes the tail rather than the head.
No wonder we are in the shape we are in! We have all been lead to believe that we need to think with our wrong ends …our asses instead of our brains.
This is the nature of debt. It was like that in TARP
Now it appears as if it will also be the nature of Euro-TARP.
Play it again Sam!
So I guess, housing is as passé as the jobs bill is becoming …such as is its substance; MO DEBT …as much new debt as is promise of MO BLAME …MO Shame …mo finger waggings …etc. etc. …ectc.
One thing for sure which has not changed; and that is genuine organic substantive solutions that would …could …and otherwise should fix …repair and heal both of the ailing housing and jobs markets.
So, what is hot instead …is the smoke and mirrors attempts to stabilize the relative value of global currencies. That’s essentially all the jobs bill is in a nut shell.
That is why IMF Chief Christine Legarde supports it. It would level the playing field going into Euro-TART …now that’s an original acronym, no? OK, maybe not.
But regardless, I know …no one is currently talking directly about this as it deserves …that is, no one outside of those who trade the forex currency markets. Never the less, on the same token …no one seems to be connecting all the convoluted dots. However, if …one were to merely make a chronological list on all the meetings around the globe …those which will impact and play their part in the highly charged matters which will affect currency valuations, conversations would take up new paths of deeper content.
Even at the lowest level being aware of what all of that which hangs in the balance should be a matter of great interest for with every decision …at every meeting table …one will see the importance that debt management plays upon every stage …at every level …and in every institution.
For as much as housing and jobs have …for the mean time …escaped the focus our conversations, it should be quite well known by all by now; mo debt is not mo solution.
The high degree to which economies and their institutions are becoming correlated is a though …a highly correlated function of debt …which ultimately impacts relative currency valuations.
That substance is something of which all would do well to stand up and take note.
These global meetings have had …and will have the key captains of economic and fiscal policy for their respective countries globetrotting …and living out of suitcases all month long. And the pace at which these key figures rack up their frequent-flyer travel points promises only to increase …especially as likely as this mess promises to be a long and drawn out painful process.
And now, Friday …this shuttle-like diplomacy promises to extend on into the middle of October as the EU has put off its end-of-September deadline’s decision date on what will likely become the European Union’s equivalent of the U.S.’s 2008 TARP.
Was TARP a Recovery Program …or a wasted opportunity …one taken …merely to waste more time and more money?
Go figure! We are moving at a snails pace though, yes?
However, while figuring; we are moving the debt load higher at a pace which exceeds and outpaces the justification in a low to no growth environment where the lack of additional new revenues may come in the form of punitive policies of heightened taxation which are and will continue to add to uncertainty …diminishing and dashing the hopes of private sector solution organic growth.
In this stifling manner; the government is flawed to believe that it can grow, create or make for anything which resembles a pro-growth environment which is conducive to organic recovery.
But this should not come as any surprise to conservatives who have been arguing and contending with the Obama administration from the beginning.
Doesn’t that suggest that housing and jobs …which have pretty much been (from that point …moving forward …) deliberately swept under the carpet …and should now (more than ever) be pulled back out off the back porch…dusted off …and be given the opportunity to be considered “THE†prime (highest) number-one combined priority INSEPARABLE …in …by and with …the ways and means of sufficient CONSIDERATIONS whose measures’ strengths are capable to bestow a fast-track status upon them with the HONOR which they have always deserved …yet, not received for no lack nor reason (pretzel-like or otherwise) which has been thus far ….conveniently out of the favor of a politically charged agenda’s charade.
In all of this, is the administration which has consistently been hell-bent on trying to move this nation (forward???) toward full-blown socialism …one to be trusted further?
Why then give credence to a limp, half-hearted attempt’s mention of a so-called Job’s bill ….one lacking originality and the spark of creative imagination …at a point in time when the nation can not even afford to barely service its debt?
Congress’ recent rancorous debate over raising the debt-limit’s ceiling should have served well enough to illustrate this, but there is also a long list of items which this administration has chosen to pursue before and in place of first pursuing housing and jobs …which by the way …has been left to nearly a last moment’s …limp and half-hearted disingenuous obligatory attempt to merely make a show of an appearance.
I call this slap in the face …a full blown attempt to get away with a bold-faced lie.
With respect to this administration’s Congressional Record, can you name each and every one of their ancillary side show’s which took precedence before housing and or jobs related bills reach the floors of Congress?
Can you list them in the order in which this administration’s super majority chose to schedule and bring them up before Congress?
Can you see how that housing and jobs have nowhere near received the prioritized order of the items which preceded their mere mention …let alone the order in which such as it is …is now being hastily brought before Congress?
I would rather suggest that if waste was frosting; the hasty calls will ensure for nothing but to decorate a cake which the administration is planning on baking for 2012.
As for me; the American people deserve more than merely having their cake and eating it too.
Speaking for myself, I, for one …am fed up to here with this administration’s antics …those which make Bill Clinton look like a saint …yeah, like; that’s happening now and like …real-time, soon.
Good luck with Thanksgiving and try to have yourself a very merry little X-Mas too!