Ya just can't turn on the television or pick up a newspaper
or magazine without someone shouting that the sky is falling.
This morning I watched in amazement as there were calls for
a "windfall profits" tax on oil.
You would have to believe in the tooth fairy to believe that
a tax on oil companies would bring down the price of gasoline.
Congress has never understood the law of supply and demand,
and this time they are really off the mark.
I spent well over three years in Europe in the mid 1970's, and
gasoline cost the Germans over $4 a gallon then. That was over
thirty years ago, and nothing has changed there.
What has changed is this:
The demand for oil has skyrocketed, particularly in Asia. The
Chinese economy needs oil in a big way, and so does Korea,
Vietnam, Malaysia, and our old friend Japan.
Oil that always made its way to these shores is now being bid
on by many factions and countries.
The Arabs understand this, and are not flooding the market with
cheap oil anymore. They are, very simply, maximizing profits.
Maximizing profits is a good thing for everybody. That money
spills over into our economy and makes things happen.
Does our economy have a few problems?
Yes.
But so do all economies.
But to hear it on Capitol Hill, the Great Depression is just
around the corner. Congress can't wait to throw billions of
dollars up in the air in early summer. And Clinton and Obama
want to throw big billions at what they call "green jobs".
We have a glitch in the real estate market because banks
abdicated their role in the business. George Bush wanted five
and a half million more Americans to own homes.
That was a good idea.
But it was very poorly executed.
Banks started selling mortgages to any Tom, Dick, or Harry
that walked in their doors. They forgot that there were rules
in the lending business, and they didn't care, because they
sold these bad mortgages to Wall Street.
This relieved them of any responsibility for what happened next.
Wall Street firms tripped over themselves trying to get a piece
of the action, and now they want us to bail them out.
NO!
Let them fall. When you screw up you have to pay the price,
but that isn't what's happening.
All this manufactured crisis involves 1 to 2% of the real estate
market. That's a big number, but it isn't going to bring the
economy down.
I've been talking to good numbers of business folks and they
don't get it either.
Hey...I'd be willing to bet the sun comes up tomorrow.
From the big saddle,
Jim Whelan
P.S. The James R Whelan Agency has had double digit growth
every year since it started, and this year is no different. The first
quarter has been very robust, and I expect that trend to continue.
Negative may sell television, but a positive point of view drives
almost everyone else. To get your daily quota of sunshine,
call the Cowboys at 206 407 3124.
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