An interesting addendum to the bit Sandorski mentioned regarding the whole steel tariff debacle. The first domino to fall was the Export-Import backed loan of $18 million to Benxi Iron Steel in Dec 2000. This group then proceeded to dump steel into the american market, leading to the tariffs and subsequent mayhem.
The Bush administration initially called for a 25% cut to the Ex-Im bank's budget as part of an effort "to reduce subsidies that primarily benefit corporations rather than individuals" (White House statement on 2002 budget). Bush, being the corporate puppet that he is, turned around and endorsed a five-year expansion plan that will increase the total value of loans the bank can guarantee to $100 billion (currently $56 billion).
The Bush administration initially called for a 25% cut to the Ex-Im bank's budget as part of an effort "to reduce subsidies that primarily benefit corporations rather than individuals" (White House statement on 2002 budget). Bush, being the corporate puppet that he is, turned around and endorsed a five-year expansion plan that will increase the total value of loans the bank can guarantee to $100 billion (currently $56 billion).
I guess you call monetary mismanagement and military degredation and demilitarization a good thing then?
nik
Exactly...and people wonder why we are in the mess we are in. If we as a people and our goverment hadn't been having such a "good time" then maybe we wouldn't have had our heads up our collective a*s and quite possibly Sept 11 of last year could have been averted.
++No worries, I still got all that crap left over from the big Y2K power outages.
Little FYI here folks, the whole economy of the 90's was fueled by one thing T-E-C-H-N-O-L-O-G-Y Clinton had not one damn thing to do with it, he just sat back in amazement as the whole thing unfolded before him, it was more a matter of good timing as opposed to a great President. There was this little thing called the internet which was basically unheard of in 1990. In a nutshell the whole economic boom of the 90's was caused by computer and technology companies, being formed and speculated on. It wasnt real growth, it was more a blip in the whole economic scheme. Now that the speculation has settled and the market is correcting, everyone is claiming the sky to be falling.
I can remember way back to the late 70's and early 80's when there was an oil bust, it was very similar to the technology bust, everyone feared the worst, and states that had most of their economy riding on oil production fell flat on their face and were faced with the daunting prospect of diversifying their tax base. My Dad sold houses at 20% interest rates, and people were happy to get that. I can also remember people jokingingly saying that if the market would only reach 3000 again, everything would be great. Now people consider suicide and cry if the market dips under 9000
For all you IT guys who are crying about being out of a job and blaming it on the President,and the horrible economy, there were truckloads of oil field workers who were used to making $30-35+ an hour, being forced to dig ditches for $5 an hour, and belching out about the same complaints as you are. And guess what...there were tons of people who lost their life savings in that deal, there were also tons of banks that went under during that time, before the S&L scandal, although that was about the beginning of it. That was only 20 years ago, and now things have rebounded a lot, but everyone seems to think its the end of the world if there is even a slight downturn.
The economy of the US cannot sustain massive growth all the time, massive growth leads to inflation, there must be upturns and downturns to even out the mix. Sure slow steady growth is best, but how many held out of the market in the 90's to help keep it from becoming overvalued? Not many.
I do feel sorry for everyone who lost their life savings, but to be frank, if your best long term retirement investment solution depended entirely on the market growth of the 90's, you are in for a severe reality check. Your grandparents didnt build their nest egg in a 10 year period, they did it at 3-5% interest over their whole life, scrimping and saving. Of course thats just too long of a wait these days, everyone must have everything now.
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