In followup to his last two columns on bonds and the weakening American dollar, contributing editor Terence R. Wilken writes:
So Much to Worry About
Well Alan may not have had enough money, but Europe and Asia certainly did. The dollar is recovering nicely. All of those dollars must be able to buy something, but not at the expense of their own markets. Now if only the American populace can continue to buy their goods. That is certainly the question of the day. The foreign countries are buying dollars as fast as Alan can print them. Can they buy bonds at the same time? There is certainly been a lot of market manipulation occurring, and now it has spread to other countries. We must all protect our own.
The stock markets are certainly having their ups and downs. Can anyone truly predict where they will end up? It would be like picking numbers for the lottery. The equity experts are telling us that the markets are coming back, and will be up big time by the end of the year, and that will only be the beginning. One wonders where all the growth is going to come from. There is only so much that we can spend our money on. The money necessary to heat and cool our homes, and to drive our automobiles is going to take priority over all other expenses if the price of energy continues to rise. And remember we must still put a roof over our heads, and have enough left over to feed and clothe ourselves. Will we have to quit buying all those other products from overseas?
Some Thoughts on Energy
A large gasoline delivery line failed in Phoenix, and the price went ballistic if one could even find enough to fill their car. The line that failed only provided 30 percent of the needs of the city. The lights got turned off in New York and parts west, and you would have thought it was the end of the World. We must find the party to blame, and fix it immediately. We have not and will not learn to conserve energy. If it is hot, turn on the air conditioner. If it is dark, turn on the light. And if you go into another room, turn on that light too. If you need a pack of gum, than drive to the nearest grocery store (five miles away) and get it immediately. Your children need their own vehicle, and have the right to go any where they would like. We have the right to use all the energy that we want to use. What will happen when we start to run on empty? We will just have to invent some other way. There should be no reason that we do not have the energy we need to do whatever we want. If there is a problem, than we shall just find the guilty party and make them pay for it. There ought to be a law!
Of course all of this is to be blamed on deregulation. If we had not given the energy market over to private enterprise, all would still be OK. Those greedy people did not build us enough power plants, and did not upgrade the power distribution system. They just wanted to make more profit. We need someone’s head. What we should have done was to have let the government do the regulation for us. Then the incident in New York would never have happened. That way the government could have made the money off of issuing the permits, and getting the land to install what was required. They could have even been involved in the building of the plants. Cost would have been no object, as I am sure that they could have printed enough for a few power plants. Of course we cannot have nuclear or coal fired plants, as they would be too dirty. The government could make all the right decisions for us. We need to get the government involved, and it will be all right again. That is the ticket.
As a kid, I remember growing up without air conditioning. We did not have a TV, and only one car and telephone. We did not know the difference. Will we have to go back to that? Let us think on that one.
Read more from Terence R. Wilken’s at RWWNL.
