Living In A World Of Delusion

Last Thursday our delusional President gave an interview to Steve Liesman on CNBC. Full disclosure, I didn't see it. I find it painful to listen to the continuous rambling of a man attempting to prove his significance in the world. But when he says something that attracts my attention, I read about it. That way I can get the essence without the theatrical flourishes.

The statement that caught my attention was, "It's pretty hard to find an economic measure where we're not significantly better off." Really? His point of reference is the stock market and corporate profits. If you took economics 101 or have lived in the economy over ten years, you realize that those are part of the economy not the whole economy.

So let's look at the stock market first. The stock market is doing well because of the activities of the Fed. It is called Quantitative Easing. The Fed is printing dollars at a high rate of speed. They are buying back bonds. And they are forcing interest rates down. This has created an artificial support for the market which has benefited the rich only. I, and many others, believe that the Fed has created an unsustainable bubble in the market. When this bubble bursts the rich will be the first out or selling short. Then they will make even more money picking up bargains.

So now, on to corporate profits. They are indeed up. But we have to look at why. It is not because sales are up. It is because corporations have trimmed down. They have shut down facilities and laid off personnel. In other words, because of their responsibility to their stockholders, they cut expenses to preserve profits. This is to the detriment of the working class.

Median income is down. Most new jobs are either part time or low pay. The Participation Rate, the true measure of how many people have jobs, is the lowest since the bad old days of Jimmy Carter. All of the new programs that the President touts will not help. 

People need opportunity not government mandated equal results. They need fewer regulations and more freedom to become entrepreneurs. Take the weight of the government off of the shoulders of business and workers and the economy will burgeon like never before.

We are in an economic race with the rest of the world and our President is forcing us to drag an anchor. Worse yet, he constantly finds ways to add weight to that anchor. It reminds me of an old quote that I remember. It might be from the Bible. We must "break the chains that bind us."