Stimulate this Bernanke!

What the hell are they thinking in Washington? They currently have over $9 trillion in debt, $56 Trillion in unfunded liabilities, are fighting a war funded with Capitol One credit cards and they think it’s a smart thing to throw together a $145 billion stimulus package to encourage the consumer to spend.

Don’t they realize that being reliant on over exuberant consumer spending is what has created the monster of consumer debt in the first place. Consumer desire and sense of entitlement has driven the explosion in the average home size, the ownership rate of luxury SUVs that have never seen a dirt road, the proliferation of large screen TVs that still play the same shitty shows they did when TVs were ¼ the price. At least half of America's problem is caused by insane consumer expectation so giving consumers handouts so they can maintain an unsustainable lifestyle for another 1 or 2 months does nothing to solve the real problems.

Now the U.S. does need new spending but diverting valuable tax revenue (oops, sorry) , valuable credit to stoke consumer spending is irresponsible. The U.S. needs new spending on infrastructure such as trains (national and mass transit) and water systems, they need to invest in wind, solar thermal, geothermal and beefing up their electrical distribution network. This kind of spending if tied into domestic content rules will create high quality research and industrial jobs, it would begin to offset some part of the trade deficit associated with the import of energy, it would also move the U.S. closer towards energy independence, making foreign wars less likely and making the U.S. a far better international citizen.

Hell if this was the goal of the stimulus I’d say double or triple it but of course this is not the route they plan on taking, they’d rather give people cash to spend on dinners out, a trip to the local Mall of America and maybe even beer and popcorn;) Some people will obviously save it, pay down debt and a few will buy gold and bury it in the backyard but we all know the U.S. consumption bubble eventually has to deflate, so why extend it?

This $145 billion will be created out of thin air raising inflation and devaluing the value of rational citizen’s savings. Despite Bernanke’s claims that this stimulus package must be temporary in nature it's just window dressing. This package is just the first step towards U.S. hyperinflation, next quarter they will have another program then another until the credit dries up, then it really gets ugly. Yes they should spend on the things I outlined as stimulus but it should come from savings realized by getting the hell out of Iraq, Korea, Germany, Japan, Kuwait,………… and even then they should only spend 1 dollar for every 3 they save or divert.

The Biggest need for stimulus in the U.S. is to get voters off their asses and demand worthy leaders, until that happens it will just get worse.Recommend this Post