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Warren Buffet recently stated in a New York Times article that the bank bailout “was good for the taxpayers” and our financial system would have come to a screaching halt had the Fed and Treasury Dept not come to the aid of wall street and the banks with the TARP bailouts and Quantitative Easing.

I always thought this was untrue. It sounded bad and it felt bad. It didn’t make sense. Low and Behold An astute person, David Stockman, recently posted an explanation of Mr Buffet’s fallacious and self serving statements. The original article can be read at the link below.

http://www.minyanville.com/library/search.htm?search=1&send=1&oid=0&q=&title=&mo=&day=&year=&contrib_id=283

It’s anything but good for the taxpayers. We are being put on the hook for the bailout monies and we will pay more in the form of higher prices through inflation. (the hidden tax) to save the *sses who speculated and played roulette with the financial system and made billions of dollars. Why in the heck are we rewarding these clowns instead of throwing them in jail where they belong? The answer: they have friends in high places. The Paulson, Bernanke and Geitner team of uninformed, illiterate, academics ( who are beholden to the banks and Wall Street boys and think they know everything) who sold out the country at the expense of the taxpayers.

PS Mr Buffet profited handsomely from the bailout.

More on this later with references to Mr Stockman’s article

Paulix

In this year of our Lord, 2010, The Christmas sales have started for the season. I can’t ever remember them starting this early. It is the 7^th of November, and advertisers usually wait until after the Thanksgiving Day festivities before starting to talk about Christmas. It seems only fair to give Thanksgiving its due, before making all that Christmas noise.  I saw an ad on Yahoo yesterday. One of our local merchandisers will be selling appliances for three dollars. Personally, I will do my part as a good consumer. Where I can, provide stimulus. I will buy a washer, dryer, and a new stove. I will buy nine dollars worth. Nice.

Sounds good, a three-dollar appliance. The extended warranty however is a little pricey. The NO COST PLATENUM PLUS coverage starts at a little over seven hundred dollars. And you have to buy the extended warranty for a three-dollar appliance; it is part of the promotional deal. I am only speculating, of course. For all I know, they might be trying to sell carrot peelers for three dollars. That lies at the heart of the matter. What does a “three-dollar appliance” actually mean? It is just a screwed up sound bite, soaked in high-octane ambiguity, meant to excite: a hook.  

 I am, however, in complete agreement with the retailers. Get the consumer in the store early, when they are feeling good. The stock market has been on a tear and is at a two year high. People are looking prosperous on their monthly financial statement; and some have called this the bottom in the housing market. The experts are predicting the highest shopper turnout in years. The consumer has a right to feel good; we are in recovery?

 Be prepared to grab your sack, though, there may be rough sledding ahead. After Christmas, the dollar will fall in value, loosing purchasing power here at home. This will be good for American multinational corporations, or anyone that sell goods overseas. But for me… where I buy groceries, prices are going up. The news tells me there is no inflation, though. In fact, some say we are at risk of deflation. This may be true for items other that food and fuel which is all I can deal with at the moment. Gasoline is nearing three dollars a gallon and milk is sneaking up on six dollars a gallon, ouch.

Here is my two cents worth for the holiday shopping season, for that is all I have left. After listening to all the experts, I have come away with this philosophy. Spend it all, max out your credit card to the limit. Be a good American and contribute to the recovery buy… buy… buy now. Hell, you can worry about paying the bill later. Who knows, you may have a lot of time on your hands after the holidays. If you are lucky and things really get bad, you may be able to get inline for some debt forgiveness, which would cheer things up, right. That will be the day. In the end who can pass on deals like three-dollar appliances? And who in hell cares about saving for a rainy day? The country is counting on you.

David Helmericks