I don't get too political on the blog even though it's the topic of a lot of my conversations with people.  For a guy that doesn't like football :O, politics is about the only subject that I can talk to people I know about.  So I occasionally like to bring up politics here and usually I save it for the weekends when the markets are closed.

So now that I've justified the post, I'd like to point out socialism failing (once again) in real-time.  The state of California is asking for at least 7 billion so that it can continue to function.  Apparently the state has already stiffed some private sector contractors and is threatening stiffing the schools here pretty soon.  Folks, California, as we well know is one of the biggest left wing states in the country.  They also have one of the highest tax rates.  The problem is, once it becomes easier to do nothing than to go out and earn things start to fall apart.  Those who were generating revenue for the state are now a state liability.  Talk about cutting those social programs that allow people to sit on their butts instead of hustle out to make a living and you'll get protests in the streets.  So what's a politician that wants to keep his job to do?  Incur debt.  Hopefully that will last until you're out of office.

Well, with the current financial state, the gig is up for the state of California.  Fortunately for them and unfortunately for the rest of us, they have the tit of the U.S. taxpayer to save their behinds this time.  But what if we were to continue down the socialist path from a national standpoint.  Where do we turn when our national healthcare becomes insolvent?  And a real example for now is social security.  That will be insolvent unless they hike  taxes to prop it up just a little bit longer.  Moving forward, you can damn well believe that folks are going to be earning a negative rate of return on their social security dollars and this is BEFORE inflation.  In other words, you're being taken.

There are two good things that can come from this crisis.  One, we flush out the weak hands (weak financial institutions, weak stock holders, weak states in this union).  Second, we get people to wake up and understand things that are important ...  your politician's reckless behavior, your 401K statement, your local and national economy.  Once these are understood and not passed off, you'll begin taking action.  Being a realist, sometimes called a pessimist, I have a feeling American Idol and sport du jour will reign as the topic of conversation in the office hallway once this passes.  And then during the next down cycle, that one will be different, <cough>.