This article is an open letter to all of the current presidential candidates and addressing the issue that none of them are proposing a budget plan that actually reduces the level of debt in the country. They are only making the gap between government and the American people even bigger.
March 19, 2012
By gpc1981
Gains Pains & Capital
Dear Presidential Candidates: Democrats, Republicans, Independents, etc.
Watching your debates and speeches of late, it is clear that you are all (with possibly the exception of Ron Paul) missing the point and only continuing to widen the gap between the US Government and the American people.
In some regards, this is not entirely your fault. You all are doubtless surrounded by strategists and experts who ascribe to the dominant economic theories of the last 80 years; namely that Government and monetary intervention can “fix” any economic problems this country faces. Mr. President I know for a fact that your inner circle of advisors is comprised of individuals who owe their current jobs and fortunes to bailouts (Mr. Immelt and Mr. Buffett to name two).
Your strategists are missing the point. Aside from the fact that their own self-interests are completely at odds with those of the American people, they are looking at economic numbers and data as “realities” or stand alone items. This the completely off-base. The economy and economic data are not reality, they are simply measures of the American People’s activity.
With that in mind, you need to actually consider the people, not the data.
The people are already voting whether you realize it or not. They’ve voted with their money by doing the following:
1) Pulling their money out of the stock market en masse (the mutual fund industry saw investors pull $132 billion from stock-based funds in 2011).
2) Buying guns (according to the FBI, there were over 16 million background checks in 2011, an all-time record. The FBI has noted that only 1.3% of background checks result in denial of a weapon… so these were gun buyers.)
These two data points tell us one thing: Americans do not buy into or trust the current policies being enacted in the US.
Americans don’t believe that the stock market represents the US economy or should be the main focus of the Government’s efforts. Moreover, they don’t believe that the bailouts/ Stimulus have worked.
It is easy to see why. Despite record Government deficits, debt levels, and stimulus, the US economy is in the gutter. The following four charts prove it beyond any doubt.
Here’s duration of unemployment. Official recessions are marked with gray columns. While the chart only goes back to 1967 I want to note that we are in fact at an all-time high with your average unemployed person needing more than 40 weeks to find work (or simply falling off the statistics).
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