I am troubled by many things. One is, when I hear John Ashcroft say Bush is "doing the Lord's work" in reference to Iraq and fighting terrorism, I get real uncomfortable. How many "just" wars were waged where "the Lord's work" is listed as the reason? On its own, it could be reasoned. But when I also see Bechtel Corporation being awarded huge contracts in Iraq for "reconstruction", it becomes harder to swallow. George Schultz, a former Bechtel president (and current Board Member), is now the chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. Then you have Jack Sheehan, a senior VP at Bechtel who is a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. Next is the Chairman and CEO of Bechtel, Riley Bechtel, who was appointed by Bush to the President's Export Council.
I'm trying real hard to see the good parts while ignoring others, but this persistent "big money corporations being rewarded" and America on a global "new world order" path via military might and "striking first" just won't go away. Someone please tell me I am hallucinating. Someone tell me that the crooked wallstreet executives are getting justice. Someone tell me that the big corporations are not cutting off American workers left and right in favor of slave labor in other countries while CEOs are making hundreds of millions of dollars even as their shareholders are getting screwed. Please tell me nothing is going on and it's a good thing that in 1975 the wealthiest 1% in America held 22% of the nation's wealth and now they hold 42%. Tell me it's beneficial that as the space between the ultra-rich and the poor increases that the poor are more easily exploited by the extreme LEFT. Both extremes are damaging the country! The ultra-rich are clamoring for more and more -- even to the point of calling for more wars of conquest. All this while the "homeland security" is slowly preparing people for more of a dictatorship and police state than a republic. And the average citizen is clueless and supportive because they have had fear instilled in them. The current Patriot Act gives the government the right to declare any citizen an "enemy combatant" if suspected of related terrorism, and their rights as US citizens can be completely taken away. Someone tell me this is not true! Tell me that the laws in this country have not been changed that will allow the government to take an American citizen and abuse them or throw them into prison or worse with no trial, no judge, no court, no anything other than suspicion.
Then there is the economy and the stock market and Greenspasm, etc. Tell me EBAY is not back to early 2000 bubble levels. Tell me why Craig Barrett of Intel said, "We continue to be optimistic about the future. We continue to be cautious about tomorrow.", while CFO Andy Grove told CNBC on the same day, "We don't see an economic recovery."? Tell me why Intel, trading at a 44 PE and almost 5 times sales, is not a huge bubble? Tell me how Applied Material's CFO Joseph Bronson said that he sees "anemic rates of growth and little discernible changes in the level of IT spending." and "The short term will continue to reflect trends with little growth. We expect order activity to stay volatile and generally weak.", yet AMAT trades at a 186 PE and everyone should think this is normal? Tell me why insiders are selling more and more as the financial media is telling investors to buy more and more? InsiderInsights.com says insider buying in April was the smallest number since they began keeping records in the mid-1990s. Tell me why the market is rising, yet the three rating agencies -- Moody's, Standard & Poors, and Fitch -- warned state treasurers that the US economy won't rebound until at least 2005? States get revenue from property taxes, income taxes, and sales taxes. The credit agencies are telling the state treasuries that incomes are going to fall, property values are going to decline, and consumers are going to spend less. Kudlow and Cramer must have some crystal ball to declare just the opposite, because I KNOW there is no collusion or manipulation or conspiracy going on now that Martha Stewart was "caught" -- just as there is none of this going on where Iraq and big oil is concerned.
Personal bankruptcies hit a RECORD high in the first quarter of 2003. How can this be when Greenspasm is GIVING money away and car companies and furniture companies and everyone is slashing prices and financing at 0%? Prices are falling for everything that people can live without and rising for those that they can't (i.e. health insurance). I believe there is a word for that, and Greenspasm should be scared to death. But I hear they are going to replace the money with pretty colored bills. That should do the trick. Watch where this leads. I'll let you think about that one as the nation's debt is skyrocketing.
Jim, sometimes I read your thoughts and think, "he sounds like a crazy person". But I know it's all true. Are we living in the Twilight Zone or what?
I remain,
SOROS |
