Bear Markets
Joseph Lewis must have a lot on his mind today. He lost $1.6 billion in equity when Bear Stearns went belly up over the weekend. Bear Stearns was one of the most respected institutions on Wall Street. Now, with a little help from the Fed, they’ve been sold for less than the value of the skyscraper they own in downtown New York. That got the attention of a few investors. And with Lehman Brothers stock losing 20% of its value on Monday, the bad news just keeps on coming.
Iraq
The latest estimates project the total monetary cost of the War in Iraq at over a trillion dollars. At the same time, political polls have shown that Americans are more concerned about the economy than Iraq right now. But American voters can still put two and two together.
If the federal government spent a trillion dollars on infrastructure improvements, we’d be fixing roads, bridges and public facilities all across the country. It would put ordinary Americans to work and breathe life into the economy. Iraq is like an anchor stuck in quicksand on the ocean floor. Most Americans have already figured out that we’ll need to cut that anchor loose if we ever hope to sail again.
Unhelpful Happy Talk
George W. Bush lives in an air tight bubble which the real world never penetrates. His response to a crisis never changes. He smiles blankly, assures us that everything is wonderful, slaps a few of his buddies on the back and goes back to watching baseball.
Bush was paralyzed by Katrina, clueless about the ongoing violence in Iraq and indifferent to a federal deficit spiraling out of control. There’s no reason to expect any presidential leadership on the economy either. We’ll have to wait until 2009 for that.
Bear Stearns, economy, Iraq, Bush
March 20th, 2008 at 4:48 am
[...] incredibly misinformed or completely dishonest. In either case, he was wrong. America can’t afford to get it wrong when it comes to the reasons for invading another country, especially one that has [...]