On Sat, 9 May 2009 21:02:29 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:



But, to your comments:

Major banks are not failing.

I should have said financial houses, but they are all tied together.
But you had Countrywide, Indymac, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, etc, etc.
My timing might be off on some, but my memory of what faced Bush and
Company isn't. It looked real, real, bad.

They have more money than is good for them and
the economy. In fact, bank failures were higher back in the S&L crisis.
Unemployment comes and goes for all kinds of reasons. There's reason to
believe we've turned the corner.
It will be a while yet, but I think we are in recovery mode.
The financial markets will adjust.
Wall Street will adjust. It already has begun.
Home prices have adjusted for reality and for the market. The trillions of
dollars of "equity" never existed in the first place.
GM and Chrysler have been insolvent for at least a decade or more. Same
with Ford, but they are surviving the old fashioned way.

Yeah, building in Mexico. Not that they haven't managed to stay ahead
of the game. The game that's killing us.
I see U.S Honda and Toyota as better models.

Now, if *I* were king, I think I'd put a major focus on correcting our trade
deficits. Screw being a nice guy. We need motivation, financial and
otherwise, to encourage a rebirth of manufacturing here, not there.
Increase tariffs on imported goods. Fight fire with fire. That in itself
would go a long ways to revitalizing our manufacturing base. I'd focus on
giving our proven system the tools it needs to compete in a global economy.
Good for China if it can produce a TV for 33 cents. We can't, and we aren't
going to try. The Chinese TV is going to have to cost about what ours sell
for. Besides, the Chinese haven't figured out how to make a power supply yet
that doesn't blow up or catch fire.

I've been beating that drum for years. But it's running into a buzz
saw. You'll see. There was "buy America" language in the stimulus
package. Holy hell was raised about it, and it was dropped or
modified. And that's American TAXPAYER money!
See what Wall street says about that.
Get ready to hear the bull**** about Smoot-Hawley.

We experienced a severe shock to the system due to the phony mortgage
security derivatives that a bunch of crafty but sleazy financial types
invented.
That and greed in specific cases like the criminal Bernie Madoff.

But, we'll survive. I am much more optimistic than I was a few months ago.
Obama and his policies may help ease the pain temporarily, but it will be
our free market, capitalistic system that will ensure our long term survival
and prosperity.

Agreed. But Wall Street will call *any* restriction to "free trade"
commie. Didn't know you were a commie. Surprises me, frankly.

--Vic