No Longer "IF"; Soldiers WILL Come Home to A Dead Economy

Back in April of 2008, I wrote a piece here at The Command T.O.C. titled: What if The Soldiers Come Home to A Dead Economy? It was a continuation of an article I started back in 2005 when this blog was actually on a completely different site. Unfortunately, the record of the 2005 article is gone but this is the record of the April 2008 article. Remember, this was written back when Bush was still saying our economy is very strong. McCain held to the "strong economy" into September of 2008. Here are quotes from that article:

Many years ago, back when this blog was actually hosted at a completely different site, I wrote a piece called "What if the Soldiers Came Home and There was No Country?". The basic theme of this was while the soldiers were fighting for "freedom" (I cannot remember which excuse it was back then.. started with WMD, then went to Get Saddam and then to freedom for Iraqis .. let's just call it freedom) our Country's economy was in a shambles. Our debt was out of control (both trade deficit and public debt), the personal debt was out of control, companies were moving production overseas at a rapid pace and the leeches on Wall Street were extracting more and more of the wealth from the people who were really doing the work. My fear at that moment was the soldiers would eventually come home and find the Country they were defending was in tatters as the swarm of grasshoppers who consumed the land had moved on to other pastures. 

This was, of course, a prediction and like any prediction it was tough to prove. The warning signs were all there but you could not prove it. The expected right wing lunies came on the site to say "No, everything is fine.. don't worry...". In fact, I remember one statistic they used to tout was to "look at home ownership" and how rich people are with their homes. 

Well, I think the announcement by GE yesterday was kind of the solidifying force which told the Country that yes, we are in a recession and yes, things are really really bad. Yes, the soldier is coming home to a Country in tatters. Of course, the White House is quick to bail out Wall Street with a "Bear Stearns" bail out but thinks the "market" should handle the fact that many are losing their homes. A very predictable response from this administration. 

At the end of the day, the Bush administration will be the one known as the administration which brought the United States on the brink of collapse. We are caught up in wars we have no business in, our economy is beyond a recession (can anyone spell depression), our military is busted and we are far less safe and far less comfortable than we were just a few short years ago.

Well, I think the term "What if" is no longer applicable; it is clear this prediction has come true. Sad but true. Remember this the next time you hear your conservative brethren say, "No one could have predicted this". There were many; I was but one but my point is that it was clear to those who follow business and economics that the Bush economy was a sham from the start. 

The one thing I am amazed came true even beyond what I initially thought was the level of corruptness, deceit and outright criminal activity on Wall Street. Today we learn of more money managers (Paul Greenwood and Steve Walsh) who have deceived their clients. In this case, it was Carnegie Mellon and other institutions. They should be hung and chopped up in the town square. At a minimum, they should go to a maximum security prison like the one in Canyon City, CO. 

Why maximum security? Not because they are flight risks but because we can let some "inmate justice" serve them well.