Huntsman 2012

The Last Good Idea endorses former Utah Governor and US Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman for the 2012 Republican nomination as candidate for the Presidency of the United States.

This is the only guy who can defeat our current spender in chief. The rest of the Republicans are just playing house with the Tea Party.

Debt = GDP

No those aren't variables in my latest piece of software, its the actual grim truth of things in this country and how our president and Congress are spending us down the drain.

Things Are Really Screwed Up

So last night, my wife, son and I went out with another couple and their son. As our two year olds climbed all over each other in the booth, our discussion switched to paying for their educations. While we both have that issue well in hand, it is alarming to consider the cost of education these days and whats its going to cost in another 15-20 years as universities continue to add administrative bloat. Then we moved onto the topic of retirement and that's when I really got into the discussion.

My wife and I make a good living and so does the other couple we dined with, but it occurred to me that most people around out age (35-40) are not taking care these sorts of issues as perhaps they should. And truthfully, how can they pay off their student loans, buy a house, raise a couple children, pay to educate those children and retire some day? The answer is, they can't. There is no way in H-E double L the average family of earners could ever manage all those expenses along with $4 gas, car payments, new TVs every 7 years (that's the stated average), an occasional vacation, new clothes once in a while, because we know people buy these things far more often than can afford. The numbers just don't add up.

And you know that when the math is broken, the truth is revealed.

Gen X isn't going to be able to afford retirement after years of having the current crop of politicians punishing us for saving. Millenials will not be able to afford their student loans, homes or children. Its that simple. Something has to change and neither the party of the stupid (the Democrats) nor the party of the ignorant (the Republicans) are paying any attention to the real problems. They are too busy trying to get elected or reelected. An entire generation of US politicians need to be renamed Nero who fiddle, rap or sample while our country burns.

The First Honest Assessment

The WaPo ran this piece which stated that the City of Baltimore doesn't expect property tax revenues to increase until 2016, which means they aren't forecasting a housing bottom until 2015. And that children comes from someone who needs to plan for the future and be honest with themselves about the course we are on, as opposed to our extend and pretend politicians or the bulk of the mainstream media whose editorial agendas have a vested interest the party who has spent several trillion dollars bailing out over extended banks and home debtors. In truth, I doubt the WaPo even understood the significance of what they printed, or I am sure that they would have framed it differently.

Oh the Bitter Irony

Democrats like to wail about Goldman Sachs' influence over the government, yet they are the prime offenders when it comes to opening the door for these blood-sucking vampire squid to help drain the financial life out of our country.

Look at all these ex-Goldman employees appointed to office over the last 20 years. All but one are Democratic appointees.

John Corzine: I Stand Corrected

So last week, I gave this clown the benifit of the doubt. My mistake. I really have to stop doing that.

Today Reuters reports that transcripts from the compliance department at MF Global clearly show that he was aware that customer funds were being used in a suspect fashion.

End of story, he's a crook and a perjurer.

Fact Check

Continuing with my theme of incompetence today ...

While discussing the upcoming expiration of the 2% payroll tax cut the White House released the following statement...

It's simple. If lawmakers don't vote to extend the payroll tax cut, taxes for 160 million Americans will go up on January 1st.

President Obama just left the press briefing room at the White House where he called on Congress to extend the tax cut, pay for it responsibly, and expand it so middle class families get a $1,500 break next year.

He told Congress to put country before party and stop wasting time.

Every day, folks are fighting to make ends meet and businesses are working to keep their doors open. The longer Congress waits to extend the payroll tax cut, the more uncertainty it creates for ordinary Americans. So we've put a clock on every page of the White House website, counting down the days, hours, and minutes until taxes for the middle class increase. In the briefing room, where the President just spoke, that same clock is ticking down as well.

And to make sure you have the information you need to know exactly what this means for your family, we've put together a calculator to show how much of your money hangs in the balance.

This calculator illustrates for you what nearly every independent economist has said: letting this tax cut expire will be a blow to the economy. We can’t let that happen. Now is the time to make a real difference in the lives of the people who sent us here.

Check it out and pass it along:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/taxcut

Thanks,

David Plouffe
Senior Advisor to the President

A couple of things stood out. First off, 160 million American workers is a BS number that somebody pulled out of thin air, because the BLS only claims about 140 million American workers currently employed. So, certainly there aren't 160 million middle class workers out there. $1500 is the maximum benefit from this break, so there is no chance the average American worker who makes $50,000 is receiving $1500. The number is less than $1000.

So, I sit here pondering this statement and I can't help but wonder.

Was someone trying to deceive us? And I am sure it worked on the weak minded 99%
Was someone flat out lying to us?
Was someone just plain incompetent?

On the high side, at least the spelling and grammar were correct, but then again Microsoft Word is pretty good at correcting those kinds of things. Its shame it doesn't work on the truth.

Because any of these circumstances should disqualify someone from working for the President of the United States or most other employers. Can someone perhaps offer an alternate reason why millions of soft minded Americans were sent these untruths?

John Corzine: I Buy Your Story

So today, John Corzine broke his silence and stated that he was shocked that multiple hundreds of millions of dollars were missing. And you know what, I buy it. Its a believeable story.

What I find unbelievable, and quite frankly negligent is this; Why was this ultra experienced senior executive running his firm with such weak compliance and monitoring of trading and accounting? Especially with the history of such scandals over the last decade or so. Remember Barings Bank and Nick Leeson or Jérôme Kerviel and Société Générale. These are repeated failures of compliance and monitoring which have resulted in multiple billions of dollars lost because nobody was watching the till.

In short, I don't necessarily think John Corzine is a crook, but rather an incompotent CEO. At least until proved otherwise.

Adam Carolla is Spot on WRT OWS

Warning : The language is not safe for work, so please exercise some judgement as to where you play this video and for whom you play this video.

Watching Democracy Fail in Greece

So, the title of this posting might be a little misleading, but what we are watching unfold in Greece, the birth place of democracy, is both amazing and sad.

The people of Greece are faced with a true rock and a hard place dilemma, choosing between challenging cuts and the uncertainly that will come with a likely default on their sovereign debt. The amazing thing is that their prime minister, George Papandreou is poised to give the people a true democratic say in their future. I find it admirable to see democracy at work. To be honest, with a BA in political science I find this fascinating, exciting and I find myself just a little jealous. Jealous because the people of the United States have long since lost their hand on the tiller. The cold, scientific, calculating side of my mind that holds a BS in computer science finds that prospect to be terrifying, because the Greek people are likely to make the "wrong" decision. And by wrong decision, I mean choosing not to accept the austerity measures which will mean true hardships for the common man, but perhaps all classes of Greeks on a more equal basis. I am not going to get in to the fine grained details, because I know that all across the EU and the rest of the world, most people have tougher and perhaps lower or different standards of living compared to Greek entitlements. But I also know that everything is relative, sauce for the goose is not necessarily sauce for the gander.

The scientific side of my mind compels me to ask why the people of Greece would make the "wrong" choice. I find it very simple to understand why Greeks are making the choices they are making. They are not failing at democracy. Democracy has failed them, and failed them miserably, in much the same way as it has failed people all around the western world. Their elected leaders stopped listening to them a long time ago and so have ours. So as my liberal arts side battles my logical, Vulcan side, I find myself, giving in to the "wrong" decision.

Make no mistake, I am not a Democrat, I never have been. I've always leaned to the right. The contrary son at the Passover Seder who forged his own path of mostly right leaning, but highly pragmatic views. I have voted for Democrats like Jim Moran (D VA-8) and Jim Webb (D VA), but today I can't bring myself to vote them for a littany of reasons. I would urge everyone who reads this posting to consider, regardless of your political leanings to vote against every single incumbent later this month and next year, because there are few if any sitting politicians who are listening to the people they represent. I feel that they are all too busy trying to get reelected rather than fulfilling their responsibilities to their constituencies. It is unfortunate the oath of office for the President, Senate and House of Representatives says nothing about doing the will the of the people they were elected by. Perhaps it should. So, I urge you to put your hand back on the tiller, tell the temporary residents of Washington that they should represent the voters not the donors. Remind the future generations of Washington politicians that true power derives from a mandate from the masses, not the checkbook of special interest.

Kick the Can

I really don't have the fuel for this, so I'll keep it short. The lastest plan to prop up the housing market help get obama reelected just toss another couple hundred million freshly printed dollars on the fire.

As I have said over and over, anything that prevents real price discovery just ups the cost and pushes out the point at which we'll see real recovery.

FAIL.

Just keep foresaking tomorrow for today.

Fear the 99%

No, not the 99% who are currently up against it, when it comes to wealth and power.

No, I am talking about the 99% who parrot back every little theme, idea or misconception fed to them by CNN and Fox. Yes it cuts both ways, we are besieged by morons on both sides of the aisle.

It’s this 99% who brought us the last moron, the current moron and likely the next moron. Having watched some of the Republican debates, I can only expect that we'll get four more years of the current delegator in chief who through one bad economic policy after another will take us to the brink of a true imbecile like Palin, Bachmann or Huckabee. Every 4 years the choices get worse and worse, but I think the bottom is flying up to meet us.

I came across this a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share with all of you, because I think it’s a good read about what we're experiencing right now.

While I might loathe much of the interests of Occupy Wall St crowed, I do respect the fact that they are likely our best agent for change, at the moment, although I think that they are going about it in the completely wrong way. Let’s face it, if you point a figurative gun at someone's head because of their alleged greed, they aren't going to change their ways. Instead they are going to try and grab as much as they can before the rules of the game change. Instead, what the OWS crowd should be doing, is taking their protest, their efforts and their time to the real seat of power, Capitol Hill. Go March around the Capitol, down K St or past the White House. Make the decision makers see you in person rather than for 30 seconds on CNN. Go March on the ritzy row houses behind the Capitol or in Bethesda MD, Potomac MD or McLean VA where the real power brokers live.

If you're going to go to the effort, at least make it count.

Global Central Bank Bailout = QE 2.5

So here it is, QE 2.5 without a lot of fanfare. Heck the mainstream media is barely covering it, because of course it would look bad for their boy who continues to punish savers and prudent Americans who live within their means in order to bailout the stupid home debtors and greedy bankers who are still taking massive bonuses on profits secured with near 0% loans from the Fed Funds Window.

This isn’t even the QE3 that I am predicting for early next summer in order to prop up the markets and provide Potemkin Village for the uninformed electorate who don’t even know that their tax dollars continue to be used against them in order to get a man reelected who still hasn’t organized anything bigger than midnight basketball. 2.5 years in, our Delegator in Chief continues to campaign for his job while prudent Americans and China's currency reserve continue to take it in the back pocket.

Just watch gold, oil and other hard commodities, they will be all going up as the dollar is devalued along with the Euro, Pound and Yen.

The Party Is Over

I was typing this up as a post on another blog and I figured I would post it here too.

Every further dime spent on propping up housing is probably a dollar down the drain tomorrow. The thing which I think escapes most analysts of the situation is that there isn't a single asset for sale today that isn't over priced. Real price discovery needs to occur across the board. A massive deleveraging, on an unimaginable and very painful scale must occur before our economy can function with any semblance of normal. The Irish are finally looking at their bankers to take some losses. That needs to happen here in the US and Europe as well. US Debt holders around the world are going to have to take in the back pocket too. We're paying China something like $340 billion a year in interest, and that number is probably also low considering how much debt we've floated in the last 2 years.

Its time to face the music. You can't just put it on the rich to pick up the tab. 100% of the top 2-3% of earner's income is a drop in the ocean. The rich are going to have to pay a lot more. The middle class is going to have to pay more, the poor are going to have to get by with fewer entitlements. The military is going to have to get better at stretching a dollar, the Federal government is going to have to cut a gigantic portion of it workforece and expenses. From my experience as a contractor, you could cut 1/3 of the Federal government's staff and still have plenty of waste to go around. The loopholes that allow businesses to pay little to no tax are going to have to be closed.

Whats In This For Me?

The NY Times is running a piece on how low taxes are right now and am just not buying it. The writer is throwing the Republican candidates under the bus, however, from my point of view, its deeper than that.

I don't know who is getting the breaks, but it’s not me and my middle class salary. I feel that I am paying more and more while reaping fewer and fewer benefits. I don't really care to continue picking up the tab so that Goldman Sachs bankers can borrow money at 0% and make 10% on it so that at the end of the year they can take home 6 or 7 figure bonuses. I don't really care to continue to pick up the tab so that my neighbors can keep their overpriced ill financed homes. I don't really care to continue to pick up the tab so that Obama, Bernake and Turbo Tax Timmy can keep their jobs for another 4 years.

What’s in this for me? Selfish? Perhaps. Absurd? Not in the slightest bit.

Investigating Gas Prices ... Huh

Our naked emperor is having the Justice Dept investigate why gas prices are so high.

He's the goddam mother f---ing cluprit. Printing a couple trillion dollars was bound to be inflationary. Common sense for crying out loud. What an epic dickbag. I really wish this pack of carpetbaggers would go back to Chicago already.

Of course he knows he has the media in his back pocket. Nobody is going to ask him a tough question and for sure the American people are as dumb as a stump. Mark my words, in a month or two, they will lay blame on the oil companies and the Republicans who take all their doantions, instead of blaming Keynesian economic theory that failed in less than 2 years. There might have been some failings in Reganomics, but most of that as I see it are a failure regulation which the Whine-o-crats are just as much if not more responsible for relaxing through the Clinton years. Remember all those Youtube clips of Maxine Watters, Barney Frank, Athur Davis and a host of Democratic stooges defending Fannie Mae while grilling regulators who were trying to enforce the law?

Like sheep headed to the slaughter the American people are being sold out by their false messiah.

And then there is this from Market Ticker

Obama Directs Holder To Indict Obama And Bernanke

This case will require 15 seconds to solve. My evidence is below:

The chart is oil, the white line the dollar.

The dollar has collapsed as Bernanke and Obama have together conspired to demand QE2 to support Obama's insane borrowing and spending in the economy.

There is a near-perfect inverse correlation between these two charts.

Please surrender at the nearest FBI office for your arrest Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Obama.

Case CLOSED.

ROTFLMFAO

Somewhere GWB is sitting in a chair, smoking a cigar, prolly Cuban, sipping expensive scotch watching his legacy get better and better.

Then he looks over at Jimmy Carter and says, "this ain't so bad eh Jimmy-bob, your off the hook as worst President ever".

Thomas Jefferson Rolls Over in His Grave

It costs $2 billion dollars to run for President.

The idea of a government of the people, for the people and by the people is dead. Stone cold and long since in the ground. In December 2010, a Democratic House, a Democratic super majority in the Senate and a Democrat in the White House passed and signed the tax cuts that instill the lowest tax rate for the wealthiest 500 earners in this countries since the 1930s.

To sit here and listen to the rhetoric of the Democrats calling the Republicans the part of the rich and big business is becomming laughable. At least the Republicans don't pretend to be the party of the people or identify with the common man, because there is no way someone who went to the finest private school in Hawaii, Columbia and Harvard Law could identify with a guy who has a high school diploma and a $25/hour job, regardless of his humble roots.

Neither party give's a damn about the people. And we're all far to domesticated to consider putting it all on the line in a revolution. Instead we'll march along like the sheeple that we are as both parties spend our country into the ground.

For the Workers in Wisconsin

Here is a small piece of advice for the protesting workers in Wisconsin and perhaps a suggestion for the governor, if he would care to evaluate this thought I had ...

A smaller pay check is orders of magnitude better than an unemployment check. Especially when the smaller paycheck still comes with a ton of vacation, better retirement benefits than private sector workers enjoy as well as better healthcare insurance than most working people get.

70% Fail the Test of Common Sense

Nearly 7 in 10 people support the compromise between our naked emperor and the guns & religion set across the aisle.

This should be a long posting, but really, I can't get anywhere near 500 words out of this. Could someone anyone explain to me why it’s a good idea to cut taxes and increase spending when deficits are already at an all time high. The gov't spent almost a trillion dollars in the last year on the stimulus and the effect was almost nothing. Certainly nothing tangible came from it. So now, with a similar outlay, close to $900 billion, we are seeing the same unquantifiable promises of jobs and economic growth. In truth, all this bill could do is hasten failure of Social Security and our economy.

The only explanation for this compromise between Congress and our naked emperor is that it’s a ploy to get them reelected. Another borrow from tomorrow plan that will sink us all next week. No intelligent person could think this is a good idea. No intelligent person could possibly vote to reelect any incumbent who votes for this travishamockery.

So, could someone please explain to me, why this is a good idea, because Paul Krugman's song and dance isn't holding water for me.

Being a Businessman ...

Being a business man in this country is harder than ever. A well educated and former democrat friend described the current anti-business climate like this ...

If your a business making money in America today, your doing it by screwing someone and if your losing money you must be defrauding someone.

I couldn't say it any better than that.

Honk!

Reworked Mortgages Failing? Duh!

I said here over the last 3 years and so have a number of drowned out pundits, but the facts don't lie. Reworking mortgages is not a solution for the problem. According to the AP, More than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion mortgage modification program have dropped out. That’s at least $25 billion down the drain, and it’s still early in the game, more reworked mortgages will go down the tubes with our tax dollars. Thanks barry, we appreciate your piss poor judgment and largess with our tax dollars.

The pace of borrowers with reworked mortgages dropping out of this program is accelerating at break neck speed. More than 430,000 people have dropped from this program since its inception and more than a third in the last month. You can't blame this on unemployment or under employment. They are factors, but the truth of the matter is that along with a big that has all the trimmings, there is a BMW and SUV in the garage, tons of consumer debt accrued by people filling their grand opus with big screen TVs, stainless steel appliances, designer clothes and other trappings of trying to be a Real Housewife.

The only cure for our real estate disease, if you can call gross stupidity that, is true price discovery. The message is clear, even the most extreme programs cannot salvage the real estate markets. It’s high time to let the markets and the century old mechanisms that are in place to do what they were intended to do.

Dean Baker

Dean Baker, saying what I have been saying for last 2+ years.

545 People

I hope everyone reads and remembers this in November.

Link

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 235 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all but the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it.

No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislation's responsibility to determine how he votes.

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY

Don't you see how the con game that is played on the people by the politicians? Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of Tip O'Neill, who stood up and criticized Ronald Reagan for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating appropriations and taxes.

O'neill is the speaker of the House. He is the leader of the majority party. He and his fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetos it, they can pass it over his veto.

REPLACE SCOUNDRELS

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 235 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can't think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in Lebanon, it's because they want them in Lebanon.

There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take it.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation" or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone are responsible. They and they alone have the power. They and they alone should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided they have the gumption to manage their own employees.

A Few Rambling Thoughts

I cruise the news sites of the internet and day after day I am bombarded with headlines I can only call bull shit. Headlines like the "Dow Passing 11,000", "Housing Starts Up", "Unemployment Down".

And I sit here having a tough time buying what the main stream media (MSM) is selling. Perhaps some companies are hiring, perhaps the number of people actually collecting unemployment is decreasing, but from where I sit, my real world view on things, I don't see companies hiring people into good jobs. I watch the job markets in the software and defense contracting business, since that’s what I do. When I look at those markets, I don't see reason for optimism. I see employers whom I would never choose to work for. I call them body shops, the benefits suck, the job security is nil, the work conditions are less than favorable, usually. And I would likely be looking at a 10-15% haircut on the salary if I had to find a new job today.

I can usually find a good deal on something that will fill the need which forced me to go to the store. If you’re finding good deals at the mall, business is bad. Retail stores are in the business of extracting as much cash from your wallet as possible. If times were good, things wouldn't be 30% off, 40% off or even more sometimes. Even laser eye surgery and hair replacement surgery is on sale, so don't be a loser, tap into that last sliver of home equity and ditch your glasses and hair piece.

I go to the gas station, can't live without gas, now can we? Nope. It’s more expensive than it was yesterday, last week, last month or last year. Why? Oil prices aren't going up on the backs of Wall Street gamblers, as the MSM would have us believe. Oil prices are going up, because our dollars buy less on the international markets. Our dollars are worth less because our government is devaluing our currency by printing more and more with reckless abandon. Where do you think the money comes from for homeowner bailouts? How about 2 wars? How about a well intentioned, but totally unaffordable health care plan? Well that one hasn't hit yet, but its going to hit like a brick though a plate glass window. We have to print money because our President and Congress spend like a college freshman with her first credit card.

The money to fund all of that spending sure isn't coming from the 1% of the population that obama promised to make pay, so all us middle class suckers would have a scapegoat to blame for our predicament. It sort of reminds me of a certain post Weimar republic politician. Stirring up the populist angst against a small group who used to wield some influence.

I go to the grocery store and the same bag of food costs more than it did 3 months ago. Why? See the previous paragraph. What however is the fallout? I can tell you that my pay check isn't growing faster than my energy or grocery bill, which is bad news for me and its bad news for you.

I look around and the pot holes from this winter still haven't been repaired. Why? Because our municipal governments are pushing the limits on solvency. California is less solvent than Lehman Brothers was 18 months ago. Talk about too big to fail. Again, this is not good news for all Americans, especially Californians.

The current rally in the NYSE is a farse. I'll call it a suckers rally. Volume is low, far to low to be driving this rally. The Ibanks are walking a thin line as danger lurks from commercial real estate, the financing from the tail end of the real estate boom and the abuses of home equity lines. The Ibanks claim to be putting money aside to cover those losses, I am will to gamble that they haven't put enough away and its likely that some big bank is going to sink like an anvil with billion of tax payer dollars.

The NAR managed to glom onto some statistic about housing sales being up, so it’s all good news there, but not really. Nobody with a half open, objective mind believes the headlines. They couldn't possibly be hoodwinked by the headlines. Our government is doing everything and anything in a vain attempt to prop up housing prices, which in most markets are still vastly over valued with respect to historical norms and personal income. And the means are no longer there to support those prices, like they were 3-4 years ago. There is no more loose credit. There are no more exotic finance options. There is no more home ATMs to fund $100 rounds of golf, $3000 TVs, $45,000 SUVs or $350,000 lakes homes. The party is over. The real value on goods and services are going to have to go back to normal.

Housing has further been falsely proped up by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who are spending uncle Barry's freshly printed monopoly money. That can't last forever.

And it’s not going to get any better. The baby boomers who lit the fuse on this debacle are headed toward retirement. They aren't going to be buying anymore; they are going to be net sellers. And here is the rub. Gen X, Gen Y, the millennials who are supposed to be coming into their own right now are learning a lesson that their grand parents learned during the great depression. Spending habits will never be the same. The money simply doesn't exist. You and I can't print money like our government. We'll never tap into our consumer credit like we did 5 years ago, because of our experiences today. Not to mention Gen X, Gen Y and the millennials don't have the same kinds of resources the boomers had to abuse and they aren't going to inherit the wealth of their boomer parents.

Before the McMansion was the American dream, the real American dream was that your children would live a better life than you. That dream is dead, probably killed by your parents if you’re under 45. A stake driven though its heart by ARMs, credit cards, beach houses, boats and host of other forms of conspicuous consumption.