Are Barking Up The Wrong Tree.
We're hearing lots these days about Protesters in the United States taking their frustrations out on Wall Street (i.e. the Financial Industry) and the contagion is spreading here to Canada.
But they've got it wrong - the real culprit is their very own Government.
That said, Wall Street makes a nice target since it lends itself to envy on the part of the disenfranchised.
Wall Street has the money while they are stuck with mass unemployment, housing devaluation and loss of spending power as their dollar tanks with quantitative easing (read 'printing money without an underlying value').
But it is Government that is doing the quantitative easing, and it is Government Policies that have failed to spark more employment.
And, it was Government Policy that led to the Housing Crisis by offering mortgages to anyone that - as some wag has said - could 'fog up a mirror'.
So they should really be marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.
I mentioned in an earlier Blog, that there are really two distinct economies in Western Democracies; One that is Private Sector Based; the other Government Based.
Private Sector Based are all those entities that depend on the citizens, in their own country and often around the world, to buy their products and services. If they cannot entice the buyer to do so, they go out of business. It's called Capitalism.
The Other - the Government Based Economy takes money away from its citizens and it does the buying. It buys people - the bureaucrats, it buys ships, and pays out pensions etc. In essence, it robs Peter to pay Paul and sometimes even Peter gets some of his own money back in the form of government services.
But it does not produce the wherewithal (read money) to do the buying and to effect the dispensing of its services. That wherewithal comes from you and me - the taxpayer.
And in the United States the number of taxpayers paying this freight is diminishing since over 50% of its citizens pays no tax at all.
It's the Rich and Richer that do the heavy lifting but to hear Obama and the Wall Street Protesters tell it - it is these Rich that are not paying there way.
But even with the Rich paying more than their fair share, and with over 50% paying nothing, Government Spending continues to out-pace taxes collected. Debt and Deficits are now at record levels - so high in fact, that even in our children's lifetimes, they will not likely be paid off.
Not only is Government Spending on this level unsustainable, it takes away money that would othewise be spent in the private sector which in turn would create the jobs necessary to stabilize the economy.
Sadly, in place of this, we have the spectre of Obama egging on the Wall Street Protesters in an activity that is not only futile but will likely become quite dangerous.
