Sunday, April 20, 2008

? Economy ?

Eggs cost 34.7% more than they did a year ago!
The sad thing is that rising price of goods, the high price of gas and the lagging real estate market is not the worst thing about our economy. The worst of it is we are allowing other nations to chip away at our sovereignty. Middle Eastern govts are using the billions of dollars we pay them for their oil to purchase ownership in American businesses. Chinese and Arab "Sovereign Wealth Funds" have bought 4.9% of Citigroup, 7.5% of Carlyle Group, 9.7% of Blackstone Group, 9.9% of Morgan Stanley and 19.9% of NASDAQ! And let's not forget foreign entities also own 40% of our ever increasing debit!!!! The Chinese investors alone own $387 billon of US Treasury bills. What happens when they want to cash in and we can't pay? What happens when they start to tell American business what to do? Clearly, they are growing stronger while we grow weaker! The Fed. Reserve claims we are not in a recession (while they further slash our interest rates and weaken our dollar). We have no plans to get tough with China for stealing intellectual property or manipulating their currency and we openly embrace the Saudi Royals and their oil. We don't question Exxon when their CEO admits they have zero plans to build a refinery (while posting record profits). We tout a too little, too late, borrowed "stimulus" package (just in time for elections!) and we defend it all with claims the foreign money stabilizes our ledger books. Well if "they" can help stabilize our economy, isn't the opposite equally true? with ownership could they not destabilize us?