"You can't unpull a trigger"

You can never really undo an action. You can try to make amends. You can try to counteract. You can attempt to neutralize. You might even go so far as to make things better then they were before your initial misdeed. But at the end of the day, you still haven't undone your original misdeed.
We have a love affair in this country with "people turning things around."
Tookey Williams writes a few kids books and suddenly it's a tragedy that he's on death row.
We have a love affair in this country with "hidden intellect and personal tragedy."
Anna Nicole Smith dies after a life of prostituting herself, gross excess, and cheap horrid thrills.
It's nothing new, we treated Marylin Monroe the same way.
We have a sick love in this country with the twisted and the cruel.
Look at all the books about serial killers, murderers, rapists, and criminal minds. We treat these people like they are "fascinating".
We make movies and write articles about them, they are our entertainment.

Here's the thing about lives of excess... people have the right to live them. I'm not arguing with that. If you're not infringing on the rights of others... do as you will. I'm a huge fan of Hunter Thompson, because he lived his life of extremes and excesses but never hid the truth that, at it's core, it was what he picked for himself and he never expected anything more then to be left alone to do it.
That is not what destroys a nations moral compass.

In the graphic novel "V for Vendetta" the Terrorist V points out that the crime increase across the state that erupts in the short term as a result of his actions is not the goal in and of itself. The excess and vice are not good things. They never can be. "This is not the land of do-as-you-please... it is the land of take-what-you-want".

I'm pointing at the apparent lack of a moral compass anymore. And it's not the sort of thing that can be legislated, at least not entirely.
Work ethic... national pride... these things can save us.
We don't need to outlaw excess and personal freedom. We need to embrace it. Let all people face the consequences of their choices. Providing a path to excess that has no personal downside creates an unsustainable situation.

Globalism and You... what you can do to make sure we all fail together

The trend to globalism has been slowing down under the weight of a global economic crisis. It makes sense, you can't really argue for increasing jobs in your home country when you're buying everything import from Asian manufacturing. Money spent in foreign countries really is risky, because it has a much lower recirculation value here at home.

The Economist (Feb 7th 2009) Ran an article about the rise of Nationalization and "Why Barack Obama needs to take the lead to bury it again."
The swing against globalism is hardly anything new or surprising. In fact if you look through the Nov/Dec 2008 Foreign Affairs journal there is a brilliant article written by Marc Levinson, ( http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64614/marc-levinson/freight-pain ) that points to a number of factors (not the least of which is the implications of "going green") that are causing the formerly artificially low price of shipping to rise to a more realistic cost.

So what does this mean for the average consumer, aside from the fact that raw wealth cost (a number different from dollar price to be sure) of good has to go up? It means that unless you are ready to gear up and produce those goods in your home country you will end up having to pay the shipping cost increase. Now, since the shipping cost acts to raise the retail price directly, you will also end up paying an increase in sales tax on the item. Increased cost without increasing the actual wealth (NOT dollar amount) of the average citizen will lead to economic slowdown.
So the markets slow down 7%... so what? 7% sales reduction isn't that bad...
Yes, yes it is.
Business exists on very narrow margins. Any disruption to profit flow means that those enterprises will feel a big pinch... a pinch to the employer means a pinch to the employee.

Now with increased cost of shipping there should be a natural rise in local industry. Globalization only makes sense if you're part of the "one world organism" school of thought.
International trade is fine and good, but it's place should always be below the level of local and national trade markets. If you CAN produce it in America, it behooves our government to allow us to foster those industries here. Industries mean jobs, and jobs mean actual wealth growth.

Nationalistic Growth... it's hardly evil.

"Strange times call for Strange Ideas"

I think that truths of language are a big problem that we're going to have to learn to deal with if we want things to start getting better. Just because something sounds nice we are willing to follow it regardless of holes in logic or lack of research. No wonder the lawyers are kings of our culture, the only purpose they serve is twisting words to fit untruth.

So what does all of this have to do with the DOW?

Well, lets take a closer look at the attitudes we've been taught to accept as par for the course in our society. We are taught that the rich are evil, that success should be punished as pride and greed, that we shouldn't model ourselves after the wealthy. My roommate actually believes that anyone who possesses over 100 million dollars worth of wealth should have their "excessive assets seized".

I'm not some screaming Reganite. But there is a lot to be said for Trickle Down theory. The truth is that the wealthy have disposable income. That income is spent and recirculated back into the economy. People make money, and the more they make the more they spend. But it's not a 1 for 1 ratio. A person worth twice as much recirculates more then twice the amount of money.

The thing is, we're starting to take equality and remake it into a locked and forced stint on growth. Equal rights, equal freedoms, yes all good things.
But if I work harder, have better ideas, and more drive then the guy next to me... should there really be a limit on how successful I'm allowed to be?

Thought for the day... How much of what we don't agree with is based on not liking the implications?

A little Teaser about tonights post

So a few thoughts on the stock market.
All wealth starts as "bubbles". We have to work hard to build solidity under the bubbles that stand a chance and to not get caught up in the bubbles that aren't viable.
That's how wealth is grown.
I'm going to compile the numbers and do the legwork for you today, and hopefully I'll have something more concrete to post later this afternoon.

Good lord it's been too long since I wrote here

It's been sometime since I wrote anything here, much has changed.
Lets' get rolling with this. I know the press has beaten to death all the current Limbaugh nonsense, the talking heads on both sides of the news are already chirping away... and even into the windout... I think this thing is safely behind us.

The DJI jumped about 300 pts yesterday and that makes me really nervous. I always get nervous when stocks jump for no reason. Of course most companies are trading UNDER liquidity value so it shouldn't really be that surprising that they come up a little closer to it. I just get a little antsy because nothing has really changed as far the original problems are concerned.

God Damn you Timmy... you're messing up everything. Another TARP can't be the answer.

Mark to Market... what can I say but overhaul it? I don't think you can eliminate it, but it needs to be more accurately reflective.
I can't believe people are really blaming this stuff on the Short Stockers. Shorting stock only WORKS in a downspiral. I don't like shorting because it's risky and scary and you're BETTING on failure... with money you really don't have yet.

Fractual reserve banking practices are finally being drug into the light of day.
Lets see what we can find there.

Socialists... are... EVERYWHERE! Beware of these freakjobs.

Ok that's all for today, I promise more in depth looks at some of this stuff tomorrow.