The Politically Incorrect Armchair Economist

The text below was a rambling response to a forwarded email. The gist of the email chain was the sorry state of the economy right now, the dollar, and the real-estate market. Some names have been changed or substituted to protect the hapless. Most of this is tongue in cheek, but I get cranked up towards the end. I think my politics probably defy explanation and I likely don't fit the ideal of any of the political parties currently in existence.


Short-term, Diversify your portfolio and buy Euros on the foreign exchange. The 1.45 vs. 1.57 quoted below is an 8.2% increase in one month CPI last month was flat.

If you had placed the family fortune in currency futures you'd be able to spend the summer in the South of France.

NAFTA has caused US Dollars to flee from our shores along with the industrial base. Buy American.

How much US currency passes into the hands of illegals to be sent home south of the border. Billions are flooding into Mexico and beyond never to return. The US is a service provided, no longer an industrial giant. The nouveau riche of these now developing "3rd World" countries are becoming the consumer that Americans were in the 1950's. The expatriated US dollars are fueling foreign economies that produce durable goods. China, Asia, Latin America will be laughing all the way to the bank.


What propelled the US to its former glory, now fading? Defeat and destruction of the rest of the industrial world in WW2 coupled with factories facing the prospect of closing doors or producing consumer products. The Military-Industrial complex no longer drives a large portion of our economy. The military is smaller and supposedly more fiscally responsible, although we are as actively engaged as we were in the 60's. Japan's post-war star fades on their bizarre banking. We may be teetering on the brink as well without some fundamental changes.

Our enemies are destroying from within. They cannot defeat the might of the US Military in a stand up fight, but they can crumble the infrastructure and ruin the economy. Until the thieving and give-aways are stopped, our slide will continue. Policies need to change. Become the tyrant the rest of the world blames us for being anyways.

As far as housing, Foreign Investment in US real estate will ultimately buoy prices in the US market.

Absent Panic, the housing market will improve over the course of several years and the sub-standard mortgage crisis will stabilize. As long as sensible growth replaces the euphoria that got us into this mess in the first place, we should be OK in 5-10 years.

Meanwhile, the war in Iraq is costing 10+ Billion a month. Federalize the oil producing area of Iraq until the war debt is paid off and subsidize US oil production with cut rate oil. Prices will drop for the consumer, but the big oil companies can preserve their margin and still make BILLIONS. No one will do it because they don't have the brass ones-but that's what needs to happen. If others accuse us of acting like an empire then we ought to benefit from being an empire.

To be a benevolent tyrant, promise a revenue share to the Iraqis IF they can get themselves together on self-governance, national security and domestic peace instead of acting like a bunch of hooligans and thugs. F the Russians, F the Chinese, and F Mother-Effin OPEC. Chavez can lump it. If the Chinese get too froggy, appease them with cheap oil or drop another round of Bird Flu and SARS on them.

Tax the oil companies to produce cost-effective oil alternatives by 2020 because only with independence from foreign oil will we be able to be self-determinant and truly powerful again. The rest of the world will have to follow because the petroleum resources will run out and by 2040 we can be selling them first generation oil-free technology and keep them beholden to us for round two.