Richard Russell has been writing his Dow Theory Letters for many decades. Russell is in his 80’s, and still sharp as a tack. He’s really upset with what’s going on now also. Here’s a quote from a recent letter.
“Obama just doesn’t get it. On the front page of today’s New York Times, there’s a photo of Obama playing basketball with his so-called “boy’s club.” Stupid, while the whole nation is scared to death and the talk is of people going broke while their houses are being foreclosed. Obama should be out of the White House, teaming up with the Wall Streeters who are running the country, and blabbing about “the good times that are coming.” C’mon, Barak, get off your ass and get out there. As far as I can see, you’re a guaranteed one-term president. Your public relations stink. Get out there with the people, show them that you’re one of them and that you know what’s going on…instead of talking trash.
“The only worse public relations is occurring on Wall Street. The chutzpah, gall, and greed of these yo-yo’s is absolutely astounding. After taxpayers have given these guys billions of dollars to keep them in business, they pass out billions of that money in bonuses. “Too big to fail,” is a joke. If they’re too big to fail, they’re too damn big to exist. I say let them fail and let the bear market do what it’s supposed to do…get rid of the incompetents and losers. Goldman Sachs earned profits of $3.19 million for the quarter and plans to hand out $16.7 billion in annual bonuses…an average of $700,000 per employee. Thus, the banks that caused the whole mess through their risk-taking stupidity, are coming away with trillions from the US Treasury, so they can survive. All because we were told that they were “too big to fail.” I say let ’em fail instead of getting even richer.
“Where’s the accountability? Washington is wired with Wall Streeters who now run the country. Wall Street’s lobbyists were paid tens of millions of dollars to lobby against the new regulations which might prevent another round of “highway robbery” by Wall Street. I can tell you this…the public’s outrage over the whole situation does not auger well for Wall Street and its bonus babies. How can the US, which is deeply in debt and has to borrow money in order to keep functioning, hand out billions of dollars to other “needy nations?”
Way to tell it Richard. Now here’s a bit of a piece from Paul Craig Roberts.
(War) “Costs are out of control, and priorities are skewed in the interests of rich organized interest groups at the expense of the vast majority of citizens. Pentagon officials have told the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House that every gallon of gasoline delivered to US troops in Afghanistan costs American taxpayers $400. According to reports, the US Marines in Afghanistan use 800,000 gallons of gasoline per day. At $400 per gallon, that comes to a $320,000,000 daily fuel bill for the Marines alone. Only a country totally out of control would squander resources in this way.”
Now, it’s my turn. Why are we there? Really! Why are we there, squandering lives, endless dollars, and enraging the people whose nation we have invaded? Why? Why? Why? Would there be any such thing as a terrorist here, if we had no troops in any place other than here in America, defending our shores and borders? Why do we send foreign aid, and when we can’t even come close to breaking even here at home? We have a large class of welfare recipients, vandals, rapists, robbers, muggers, and neighborhood destroyers, all of whom are subsidized by the D.C. Gang. Their handouts were voted upon by Congress and signed into law by a variety of parties and presidents, without a vote from the citizenry. Does anyone really believe that a majority of Americans would vote to give welfare, food stamps, and other handouts to worthless people? Why can’t we vote to cut them off? Will we vote to cut most of candidates out of office when their terms are up? I dearly hope so!
Another 530,000 first time applicants for unemployment insurance. How many million does that make? The depression is over, because and the GDP is up 3.5%. Really up 3.5%? Please do remember: THE GDP INCLUDES GOVERNMENT SPENDING. Then there’s the report that says every AMTRAK ride costs the taxpayers, because it doesn’t break even. Nothing the government does ’breaks even,’ but how much does every airplane passenger cost taxpayers? The fed runs and taxpayers pay for all the flight control systems, radar, FAA, and airports. The landing fees paid by airlines don’t begin to cover airport expenses, and none of the flight controls, and hundreds of other expenses of running airplanes. Railroads pay property taxes on every foot of their property and rights of way, plus maintain their own safety systems, signals, and traffic controls. AMTRAK uses railroad tracks, pays a small rental for their use, while tying up profitable freight trains, and still can’t break even. Naturally, since it is run by D.C. Nuf said? Was the bottom of the correction, yesterday? We will see.