Kiplinger Magazine ran an article based on Cheney’s financial disclosure statement and, sure enough, found out that the VP is lying to the American people for the umpteenth time. Deficits do matter and Cheney has invested his money accordingly.
The article is called “Cheney’s betting on bad news” and provides an account of where Cheney has socked away more than $25 million. While the figures may be estimates, the investments are not. According to Tom Blackburn of the Palm Beach Post, Cheney has invested heavily in “a fund that specializes in short-term municipal bonds, a tax-exempt money market fund and an inflation protected securities fund. The first two hold up if interest rates rise with inflation. The third is protected against inflation.”
Cheney has dumped another (estimated) $10 to $25 million in a European bond fund which tells us that he is counting on a steadily weakening dollar. So, while working class Americans are loosing ground to inflation and rising energy costs, Darth Cheney will be enhancing his wealth in “Old Europe”. As Blackburn sagely notes, “Not all bad news’ is bad for everybody.”
There you have it folks. Dump your dollars and invest in Old Europe. Your second in command (first?) has lead the way and it’s your patriotic duty to follow. This might explain his actions.
The Bush-Cheney team has racked up another $3 trillion in debt in just 6 years. The US national debt now stands at $8.4 trillion dollars while the trade deficit has ballooned to $800 billion nearly 7% of GDP.
I love fiscally conservative Republicans.
This reveals the fatal flaw in “supply side” economic theory: giving money to the rich is poor way to stimulate the economy because they are far more likely to send that money out-of-country.
If you are dead-set on stimulating the economy by injecting cash — then at least give it to the poor who spend darn-near 100% of it on the local economy. (it eventually ends up in the pockets of the rich, eventually, but at least passes through the US economy first..)
But the most solid way to stimulate the economy is through infrastructure development. That way, deficit spending in lean times has the potential to pay-back in the long run through more efficient markets. But, of course, it creates jobs and income and generally makes America a better country.
BTW, infrastructure needn’t be just hard items like fiber optics in every home. (a cool idea, IMHO) It can also be be “soft” in the form of education or health programs so that our work force is better suited to work.
“The cynicism of those who hate Bush never ceases to amaze me.”
Bush’s amazing ability to create more and more reasons to hate him never cease to amaze me.
Supply side doesn’t give any money to the rich or poor. It recognizes that taxes can have an effect on the economy, and that giving people an incentive to earn more money will likely lead to more money earned.
I think ferners would see investment in their country as a bet on their success, not “betting against the USA.” Or it’s simply an impartial diversification of a rather US bond-centric portfolio.