Verdict on Recent Events

You know the drill. Here's the Simsisms take on recent events.

#1 Obama's performance in the presidential debate.




If I hear one more person talk about how Obama sounded more presidential than McCain I'm going to pop my eardrums a rusty nail. Who cares how a candidate sounds; it's what he says that's important. Time and time again Obama has demonstrated that he is not yet qualified to run the country. He's a great speaker, but what he says is ALL WRONG. He labelled the current financial bust the "Worst financial Crisis since the depression" and has done nothing to stop it. In fact, unless McCain had gone back to Washington, Obama would have stayed out on the campaign trail and would have had no part in the world's the government's lame attempt at a solution (verdict on that later). Exactly what has Obama ever led the way on? We can point to numerous instances of leadersip by his opponent, but none by Obama. Exactly what concrete success has he ever had? I love the fact that he speaks with energy and nice soothing tones, but to me, in order to "sound presidential," a person has to know what they are talking about, not just sound like they do.

P.S. In the presidential race, threatening to invade Pakistan should be an instant disqualification.

Verdict:




Try actually leading something, then come back and talk to us.

#2 McCain's Debate Performance



Look, McCain is not the most dynamic speaker, but I'm inclined to cut him a lot of slack since he is 105 years old and he spent 5 years in a POW camp eating torture for breakfast and pain for diner, washing it down with a huge heaping glass of severe beating.

By the way, anyone who seriously believes John McCain is a George W. Bush clone should have to forfeit the right to vote out of ignorance. George W. Bush is a Neoconservative Evangelical Christian. John McCain is a Pragmatic Moderate who doesn't really care about religion. This whole "John McCain voted with Bush 95% of the time last year" thing needs to end. One, the President doesn't vote. He supports a handful of legislation during the year. Last year, what major issues were there? Iraq and...uh...oh yeah, Iraq. In fact, I don't think Bush really cares about anything else. John McCain and Bush get along because of political convenience, but their relationship ends there. McCain has opposed the Bush administration on a number of things. In fact, he's opposed his party on a number of things. When was the last time Barrack Obama stood against his party? McCain was able to broker a bipartisan truce to end the fillibuster of political appointees, and pass campaign finance reform. What bipartisan success did Obama ever have? McCain has made a career out of standing up for his beliefs, no matter what the cost. Doesn't that sound like the type of person who should be at the helm during a crisis?

I know, I know, he's really old, he could die at any moment. He had skin cancer 8 years ago. Guess what, Obama chain smokes. Biden isn't exactly a spring chicken. By the way, compare the remarks of Joe Biden and John McCain, and then tell me which one of them sounds the most senile. Hint: McCain is not the one who said that when the Depression hit, FDR instantly got on the TELEVISION to rally the country. Yes, that's right, Television in the 1930's. Ladies and gentleman, the man a heart beat away from the presidency, JOE BIDEN!

So, McCain may have seemed old and wooden during his remarks, but the words coming out of his mouth had the benefit of being RIGHT!

Verdict:



Unless you can cite actual positions that Barrack Obama holds and why you support them, then you should vote for the guy who actually knows what he's doing.

#3 The Bailout



The bailout encompasses so many things. First, the Fannie and Freddy takeover, then the other bailouts, possibly a loan to the FDIC, and on it goes as the economy slides down the increasingly slippery slope of failure. We've had our artists come up with a graphic representation of the U.S. economy:



No one seems particularly happy about the bailout. The only positive thing people seem to be saying is that it might have prevented a total meltdown. Some are saying that we have pushed the government further into the market than it was probably ever intended to go and we may never be able to get the government out of the markets it just got into.

But wait, how do we know we've prevented a total meltdown? Haven't we been trying to stop stock market crashes since the 1930's only to find that the market will find a way to correct itself? The are billions of dollars in mortgages that are simply not worth what they once were, and are not going to recover their value for years. That hasn't changed. All these bailouts do is take a problem and nationalize it. Instead of being a problem for 20 million people, now it's a problem for 300 million people. All the money we borrowed to bail these people out has to be paid back. Now, it has to be paid back by the nation as a whole, a nation which already owes trillions of dollars already.

Now, I know some people think that the government might actually be able to hold onto these mortgages long enouh that it will recoup some of the value and even turn a profit. Frankly, I don't see how a government that can barely deliver the mail will manage to turn a profit on a dead housing industry. Bear in mind that this is the same government that could not get water to the superdome after a hurricane. That's who we are supposed to put our trust in.

The fact is, I'm convinced that no one can prevent our economy from crashing. We are a society that lives so far beyond its means that it has forgotten how to live without credit. Financial ruin is ALWAYS the end result of consistently living in debt, and that is what our nation does. Our people live off credit cards so they can buy expensive toys that rot and decay. The government uses credit to fund expansive social programs to pander to voters and to make us feel like we are a caring and enlightened people. We have raised a generation of constituents who have never heard the word "NO" from the government. Unless we change our mindset, unless we become a people and a nation willing to sacrifice and save, then we are destined for a collapse and every dollar that we spend makes the coming crash that much worse.

Verdict:



Sooner or later, it will fall.

#4 The Price of Gas



I've written before that I think gas should cost $4.00 a gallon. All of the negative externalities associate with burning gasoline should make it far more expensive then it has been. That said, how has the price of oil dropped 33% and the price of gas has only dropped by half that percentage? Why isn't there more outrage about this? How much does the Chevy Volt retail for?

Verdict:




Don't expect any favors from the Oil Companies.

#5 Short Sellers

Anyone with a basic grasp of the market, or who has watched 30 seconds of Mad Money with Jim Cramer recently, knows that short selling has pretty much been killing the market. Enough that they have actually had to ban short selling for a while. If you don't know what short selling is, then (a) please don't vote; and (b) go to this link for a brief explanation. Here's the wiki for more info.

The thing is, what has allowed a lot of these short selling damages has been the removal of the uptick rule. The basic premise is that every short sale transaction be entered at a price that is higher than the price of the previous trade. This prevents shorting during a selloff. This rule was instituted after shorting helped destroy the market back in the great depression. The Chairman of the SEC, Chris Cox, decided that this rule was no longer necessary and lifted the uptick rule last year. Incidentally, John McCain called for Chris Cox to be fired last week. We couldn't find a stock photo of Chris Cox, but we're pretty sure this is what he looks like:



The results of lifting the uptick rule have been disasterous, particularly in an already volatile market. One reason why the selloffs have been so big lately is that short sellers have been driving down the price of stock to make a buck. In the end, a lot of innocent companies are being targeted by short sellers who then turn them into the stock market equivalent of Marsellus Wallace in the Gimp scene from Pulp Fiction. Enough is enough; time to bring back the uptick rule.

Verdict:



Stop the Madness!