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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe NYC who wrote (152294)	9/25/2002 4:51:45 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1573376

Basically, you are grasping at straws trying to make this administration look bad. You are frustrated and turning increasingly bitter (which is not good for your sense of humor). I can tell you from my personal experience is that it is a waste of energy. Joe, I'm sorry........by letting you think that, you get off the hook. And I am not letting you off that easy. <g> Prior to 2000, all I knew about liberals and conservatives is what I had learned in school. Clearly, for most of my life, I have been around mostly liberals and was not aware of the schism between the two groups. However, for the past two years, all I've heard from a number of different quarters [I guess you guys must have been hiding for ten years] is that liberals have brought this country to near ruin, and that it will take the conservatives to save it. Forget for a moment that this commentary is a gross generalization that borders on the ridiculous. The fact is that this is the most obnoxious kind of arrogance, and if you think you are all that, then you best make sure you come through.........in spades. And that just hasn't happened.........and I am not grasping at straws or trying to demean when I make that statement. Since Bush's takeover, the economy is in shambles; we are at odds with many of our allies; Israel/Palestine festers unattended and threatens to explode; we have a president who suggests that you are a traitor if you object to the war in Iraq; the welfare rolls are increasing; the bond yields are at their lows in 4 decades; the markets are back to 1996 levels in spite of the fact that valuations have been reduced enough so that stocks are now attractive again; for the first time, the feds' interest reductions have not had the desired effect; the whole issue of Iraq has been handled so poorly, a climate of fear hangs over businesses who are afraid to expand with the future so uncertain; the current administration is making every effort to roll back environmental laws at every turn, and refused to sign the Kyto agreement in spite of the fact that later they acknowledged that global warming is a real and a problem; the president and his staff have denigrated the UN, an organization whose legitimacy the US traditionally has tried to strengthen in the past. I could go on but I think you get the picture. I will also post you an article written today by Jim Cramer who, although a democrat, has been a strong supporter of the current administration until very recently. He lists even more economic grievances that suggest an administration 'soft' on the economy. So, am I angry......yes, with the arrogance I have seen expressed by some conservatives, and with their attempts to silence opposition as well as their 24/7 name calling of liberals. Because of Gore's speech and Daschle outburt yesterday, the ugliness is roaring on Capital Hill. The level of anger and hate is shocking and in no small part has been fostered by this administration. But far more significant than my anger is my worry and fear. The economy is in serious trouble and starting to turn back down just as recovery looked possible. We may get into a war where we can expect that, at best, some Muslims will be angered. At worst, if not handled properly, we will help bin Laden greatly with his efforts to recruit young Arabs/Muslims. This is a serious and delicate time. All our missiles and nukes can not stop terrorists. For the first time since WW II, we are extremely vulnerable. We must go about protecting ourselves while angering as few people as possible. We are a superpower with a very bad achilles heel. bin Laden has changed everything and the balance of power and even the definition of superpower will never be the same. And frankly, I am not sure this administration has the sophistication or the finesse to get us through these bad straits. Its, of course, my opinion but I am not alone in my position. And this is not about democrats and republicans, or liberals and conservatives........its about survival and making the best of things in the best possible way. ted ted

To: Joe NYC who wrote (152294)	9/25/2002 5:33:26 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573376

Government Stands By as Economic Muscle Withers By James J. Cramer 09/25/2002 11:41 AM EDT Click here for more stories by James J. Cramer Read More Click here for the latest from James J. Cramer Oblivious. That's the only way to describe this administration's reaction to the incredible collapse that is happening right now, in slow motion, in the U.S. stock market. The president, his advisers, and the secretary of the Treasury seem to have no idea how things are deteriorating domestically. Oddly, the Democrats don't seem to recognize it either; they keep focusing on the coming deficits as if those were the real problem with the economy. We have lots of problems, but, strangely, the deficit isn't one of them, if you judge by the only standard that matters: the bond market. And the bond market is signaling that we are, if anything, too prudent with federal spending, as bizarre as that sounds. The president and his advisors look at aggregate figures, and the aggregate figures chiefly reflect the incredibly low rates that caused the consumer to be giddy enough to keep spending. But the aggregate figures lie. Let me tick off the real problems: 1. The telecommunications system in our country is probably 18 months away from going belly up because the government refuses to recognize that it can't allow players to lie, cheat and steal, then file bankruptcy and come out smelling like a rose. Under that scenario, which is happening with WorldCom (WCOEQ:OTC - news - commentary - research - analysis), I can't see AT&T (T:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) staying alive. I can't see how SBC (SBC:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Verizon (VZ:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) and BellSouth (BLS:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) can maintain their dividends. And it isn't just me; the market's saying the same thing. But the Federal Communications Commission is oblivious. The idea that we could allow this incredibly important industry to fail like this because the ne'er-do-wells aren't shut down is beyond me. In 1990 the government took drastic action before we let the ne'er-do-wells wreck the banking system. Now it's doing nothing. 2. Asbestos claims are sinking major companies left and right. Honeywell (HON:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Dow (DOW:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Ford (F:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), General Motors (GM:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Georgia-Pacific (GP:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) and Halliburton (HAL:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) all have so much exposure to asbestos that I could argue their securities are on the verge of becoming uninvestible. But asbestos plaintiffs' lawyers seem bent on bankrupting everyone in their paths, and the political system has resisted reforming things so they can't. There is no court relief, no congressional relief and no presidential relief. It seems just inevitable at this point that the plaintiffs' lawyers will wind up helping to destroy these companies. 3. The airline industry is about to disappear. Sure, if we all flew JetBlue (JBLU:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis) that would be fine. But this whole industry is about to go out of business. Look at those stocks -- they're just screaming "we're about to go down." In whose interest is that? 4. The financial services industry abetted so much fraud and is so deep into the problems of the power merchants and the telecommunications industries that it is reasonable to think there's a chance that either Merrill Lynch (MER:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) or J.P. Morgan (JPM:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) won't make it. That's right, won't make it. The liabilities are just too great. 5. Less than one month after we certified the financials of U.S. companies, EDS (EDS:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), one of our largest companies, said it didn't need to disclose a put liability that was just gigantic. So much for that attempt at getting corporate America to disclose all its nasty surprises. 6. Oil is at $31 a barrel and we have no plan or contingency to lessen our dependence on oil. None. We are more hostage to this price than any time in our history. 7. This was the worst back-to-school season for retailers I have ever seen. 8. We have too much capacity in virtually every single technology sector and nobody even seems to care. 9. We can't afford to prosecute the directors of Enron (ENRNQ:OTC - news - commentary - research - analysis) because the Securities and Exchange Commission is too stretched, but the SEC didn't even ask for a appreciably more money at budget time. 10. This big old great economy can't support a single initial public offering, not one. We can't raise a dime's worth of capital in this country for a young business. Not a dime. And we wonder why the market's going down? I think if it weren't for the shorts and the curbs, we should be taking out 6800 on the Dow right now. I think we are lucky that the Nazz is hanging around here, lucky that there are hedge fund shorts that keep propping things up. But nothing happens. Nothing gets debated. No one in the administration acts as if we were in crisis. Everyone is distracted, yet every one of these problems could be fixed by the government either through some sort of recognition and indemnity, or some change in policy or enforcement. It is beyond me that years of economic strength are being frittered away right before our eyes. But it is happening. And the secretary of the Treasury says all is well and the president acts as if things couldn't be better because housing's holding up. Of course, that's only because we have a government-mandated bubble developing. It is enough to make you ill. It is more than enough to get you to be as defensive as possible with your investments. That's the only way you possibly can stay the course until the people at the top recognize how darned precarious everything has become. It has been my nature to be bullish and I have firmly believed that in the last 20 years things do tend to work out in the end. I don't feel that way now. There is too much at risk and too few important people in this nation focused on that risk. That's why we have to continue to use any strength to get even more defensive than we have been until the people in power come to their senses and make changes that can benefit the shareholder class in this great nation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James J. Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com.