The nation's phenomenal economic growth period was finally brought to a standstill by almost 18 months of the left telling everyone how bad the economy was. For almost 6 years the GDP grew faster than the national deficit, personal income grew at the fastest pace in 20 years, the stock market crashed through artificial barrier after artificial barrier, and consumer spending was unchecked.
Then the bubble burst. The most important 25% of a country's economy is confidence, without it the economy is stagnant, it cannot grow. People hedge their bets and squirrel money away instead of spending or investing it.
What caused the bubble? What event came first? The market finally took a breath last November, there was a hiccup February 2007 but it turned out to be a gasp of air before soaring even higher. And then there was the housing market bubble retraction.
The air was let out of that bubble after a rogue French banker made over $6B in unauthorized trades and his bank had to cover their debts, and they did so by buying their way out of the deal, one of the banks whose stock they dumped was highly leveraged in the junk mortgage market. After the French bank undid their trades they announced it publicly and admitted what happened, this further shock the European market causing them to drop risky ventures for more stable positions... this was the event that caused the US housing crisis.
Of course the event that permitted the housing market to slump was the one designed by congress a decade ago to put people into houses. The revision to the Community Redevelopment Act told banks they could open no new branches unless they offered loans to "the most needy segment" of our society. This caused a new era in banking where the banks could offer, at the request of the federal government, predatory loans with unconscionable terms to a fragile segment of the society... and just for fun they could offer people with histories of bad financial judgement the same predatory rates... all authorized by the government.
Which of course explains why Pelosi, Waxman, and Reid have yet to call bankers up to Capitol Hill to find out who is at fault... they know who was at fault, they wrote the law that authorized it. And speaking of predatory rates, they also led to historic profits in the financial sector, at the same time the oil industry was also engorged in cash. As a matter of fact if you take the top three oil companies profits for 2007 you get $72,118M on sales of $720,272M for a return of 10.0% and if you take the top three banks you get $57,115M in profits on $363,767 for a return of 15.7%. So if someone is making obscene profits, I'd say the banking industry is gouging customers far more than the oil companies.
But I'm not here to talk about banks, I'm talking about corn. It is the staple of the food chain. It feeds humans and animals alike. And most of the feedstock corn ends up being consumed by humans via diary and meat products. When talking about ethanol it is hard to remind people that I was once a liberal. I was so appalled at what was happening in Africa that I troubled myself to research the atrocities there and saw a common thread, the triumvirate of France, Russia and Belgium were somehow related to each and every case of mass extermination and genocide being committed on that continent. I also discovered that the US was sending so much food and feedstock to Africa it was causing our food costs to rise, which I was OK with because it was helping people. Then my liberal blinders fell off and I saw that it was helping some people, the ones in power creating those cases of genocide and mass starvation. The people in control of the country kept the food and the people from the other tribes were being exterminated slowly.
So as out dumbass congress is working feverishly to kill the economy over the last 18 months in a game of spite to deny President Bush of a legacy they were also pretending they know about energy and how corn derived ethanol is a renewable substitute for fossil fuels. So they mandated 15% ethanol in gasoline and forced higher gas mileage standards on auto manufacturers. The food costs of course are not just increasing in corn and corn-related products (dairy and meat) but other crops, such as wheat, are being converted to corn to meet the demand of the ethanol plants and food sources, and, of course, to make a profit.
In the meantime, as hard as it is for people in the US to pay $4.50 a gallon for milk, $2.50 for a dozen eggs and $3.00 for a loaf of bread (which has recently shrunk from 22 to 20 ounces) imagine what it is like for people in Africa and other countries that rely on US food and feedstock. 25% of the world's grain comes from the US and 20% of the feedstock is grown here. Corn ethanol plants don't just increase our prices, it increases the price in Africa while decreasing the supply dramatically. And when food is scarce or expensive in Africa the people in control have demonstrated they have no qualms about starving off their political enemies.
So where does this lead? To the Congress enacting more laws than they should, encompassing areas they have no constitutional right to meddle in while ignoring those limited powers granted them by the constitution ( a comprehensive energy policy is a national security issue). And my final point is that the United States is the world's greatest country, blessed with an abundance of natural resources and fertile land that makes us the breadbasket of the world. We were granted stewardship of this country not only so we can thrive, but to lead (and feed) the world.
But instead of taking this responsibility seriously we elect the same partisan hacks to Congress, not to represent us, but to represent their party. We send them to Washington to tack 20 to 25 percent onto each spending bill in earmarks, which are reach arounds to their political cronies and supporters.
In the 18 months since Pelosi took over she passed one of her six pieces of essential legislation from her first 100 hours (counted in dog years). She passed the minimum wage law the effects of which will go unseen due to the rabid fanaticism of the left of Bushate and caving in to the environmentalist leftards... the extra money will go to pay for bread, milk, gas and electric. So much for the economy stimulating checks you asshats, its going to the big bad oil companies so people can get to work.
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