Bruce Springsteen’s most famous and commercialized song is actually a protest song, if you really listen to the words. In the 80’s, when he wrote it, is almost seemed an homage to Pete Segre’s “This land is your land, This land is my land”, also a protest song.
I remember how mad the Boss got when Regan’s support team in the GOP, for a very short time, tried playing it as a positive for their rallies.
Bruce Springsteen is decidedly liberal, and he was incensed at the time. Like a lot of entertainers with working class roots, Bruce seems to think its OK for him to be wildly successful, have over 100 corvettes in his collection, buy 100K dollar show ponies for his daughter to jump 3 foot fences over in equestrian competitions. But his own politics are decidedly socialist. A friend of mine went to see the Boss in Staples center about 10 years ago, at the height of the economic boom of the dot com era. They happened to be guests of Sam Adams corporate, and there fore, unfortunately for them, were sitting in the luxury box area. During the “show” (because it really is a show in every sense of the meaning) Bruce shouted out that he was there for the working people (who of course had most likely had to pawn their food stamps and welfare checks in order to shell out 80 or 100 bucks to sit in the poor folks general admission area with the other truck drivers, garbage men, waitress crowd… you know, the only people who really qualify to be fans of Bruce.. Anyone who happened to have the Gaul to study hard, or work hard and be successful, and make more than minimum wage, well, you couldn’t really identify with Bruce and be a “real fan”… At that point he pointed to the sky boxes and said, something to the effect that those rich assholes up there weren’t part of his true fan base, because they were corporate rich scumbags, or something similar to that. It always makes me laugh when entertainers, who make 20 Million a year plus, are the first ones to publicly embrace raising income taxes to 90 percent. If you make 20 Million and have to pay uncle SAM 18million, you still have 2 million left leaving you with the same relative position of superiority. If the rest of society has to live by the same math, but you, as an entertainer or athlete will still enjoy a lofty place in society. Its heads I win, tails you lose. But the entertainer or athlete gets to feel better about being so wildly successful. Is almost szhophrenic, but its how they deal with outrageous fame and fortune.
If they pretend like they don’t really like it, somehow it makes it more palatable to them as they ride in their armored Suburbans and fly in their private jets. The things they have to suffer with for their art…. There goes Barbara Streisand, Susan Sarandon, The Boss, Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, and Ed Begely now… Well, Ed’s not in an armored SUV, he’s in an aromored Prius because he’s down with the environment.
These are the first people who embrace liberal social dogma. Point out to them what socialism does in reality and they turn a blind eye. Their version of reality doesn’t account for facts. Their minds are already made up.
Pointing out to them, for instance, the abject failure of someone like the emperor for life, Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela, that doesn’t fit. They’d have to get new t-shirts, if they had to pick new heroes.
The fact that Chavez has single handily taken what once was the most profitable export, next to oil, that that country has, and instead have run it into the ground, well that doesn’t count. I am talking about the demise of the coffee industry in Venezuela. Socialism has taken a once very profitable business of export, and made coffee a losing proposition to farm. Venezuela has gone from large exporter to net importer of coffee. What once was a national abundance, has turned into a luxury item which Venezuela must import. Can the left blame that on Reagan/ Bush as well? I am sure they would rather do that than address the fact that socialism doesn’t produce abundance in the long run. It saps hard work and ingenuity. It stifles growth, stifles new ideas, entrepreneurship, After all, if being successful means that people don’t love you, or actually want to punish you for working hard, then why in the hell work hard?
The only thing socialism grows at a regular rate is more government plans and institutions to “fix” things.
In the meantime, Chavez is having 9 course meals with sympathetic US entertainers and apologists. Maxine Waters can always get a table for 2 in Chavez’ restaurant. If she doesn’t mind skipping coffee for desert.
OK, enough of that rant.
The USA seems to be the DE facto investment home for much of the world now. The market is speaking very loudly that 1Billion in liquidity to prop up the Euro was successful in supporting that currency and punishing “speculative wolves” for exactly 24 hours. Not exactly a good ROI for the 1Billion. They better start opening up some more swap lines of credit over there across the pond. Perhaps Harry Potter can call Gringots Bank and have some gold materialize in the treasuries of Europe. That’s about the only recourse left to them at this point in time. At least, that’s what the pesky markets are telling them.
It seems that the adage is true, if the US catches cold, the rest of the world gets a touch of food poisoning and the flu combined. In March of 09, the US caught what looked to be the Ebola virus, but for now has rebounded. The ability to print money and have China purchase our debt made that possible. Our Ebola virus looks like it had given Europe a case of full blown AIDS. There is treatment, but those damn treatments are so expensive. Maybe we can just ask Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to step up? Would that work? Perhaps if we threw in Bruce Springsteen’s fortune. After all, its the right thing to do, correct?
However, if Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, etc, attempt to fire up the proverbial printing presses of currency, the market looks, listens and answers, “Surely you must be joking”. That’s what the investment community is telling them currently.
So, we have the following interesting reality.
1) Gold making all time historic highs. Adjusted for inflation, once we get to 1400 an ounce we will be in truly new high territory. Right now we are there on an absolute basis, but there are enough people holding out for 1400 an ounce to make it official, that we must get that print to satisfy them. I think we’ll be there before the end of May.
2) The US dollar looks poised to rally, along with the US stock indexes. This is interesting. Logic would perhaps argue for not such a robust rally, but facts are facts. The US seems to be the only game in town. Europe with its socialist agenda will be reaping the fruits of its system of check and balances for quite some time. Managed economies look so good on paper, don’t they? Just ask the USSR how those 5 year plans worked out. How did Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution pan out? Oh, wait a minute, history spoke and Russia fell apart. Ditto the cultural revolution in China.. China quietly embraced, *horrors above horrors… some free market ideas…. Perhaps someone needs to re-inform what remains of socialists and leftist in the world of this fact… I’d start with a fax to President Obama.
For now, despite the current administrations left ward leaning tendencies, the US remains the best bet at the world smorgasbord of what can only be described as less than appealing choices.
The world’s investment community is coming back for seconds and thirds, not to the USSR, not to England, not to Cuba or Venezuela. They are coming back to the USA. They may be holding their noses, like Bruce when he has to sing for the corporate suites along with the regular man.
But in the end, love it or hate it, the USA is still the best deal going.
So, look for the flight to quality to bring our friends and enemies alike back to our shores. They may despise us, but they all like what we represent, at least on paper.
In short, don’t stay short the US. That sound of distant rumble, the earth shaking? That’s European investors breaking into a jog to get back here. Back to the USA.
Not Back to the USSR. Chavez and the Boss will just have to wait a little longer for their dream utopia. In the mean time, the USA is the best and therefore only game in town.
Good Trading.
