"You know what the news is-- in a minute, you're going to hear the rest of the story"- Paul Harvey
The jobs data this morning contributed to a weak opening in the stock market. US weekly jobless claims rose 15,000 to 444,000, the most in 4 years. Neither political party (based on their orchestrated conventions) is taking the blame for the millions of jobs lost in the US.
Since 2000, the US has become a service economy while the manufacturing base has been shipped overseas. This process accelerated after Bill Clinton, and a democratic congress passed NAFTA. It was put into overdrive when the Bush administration and a republican congress took over. This just goes to show you that someone other than the voters are calling the shots. Regardless of who is elected in November, there is always someone behind the curtain telling these politicians what to do.
I just shook my head in disgust after hearing the democrats and republicans talk about energy independence. In addition, both parties supported outsourcing, and now they are saying they create more jobs here in the US.
Energy problems resurface every 10 years or so, but the bottom-line is nothing is ever done to fix the problem. If you have followed the markets as long as I have, you start using the old Yogi Berra quote; "This is like deja vu all over again."
Here are some past Time Magazine covers that illustrate my point. I think you'll see that today's scare tactics on oil are the same ones they have used on us in the past. The difference of course is people have short memories.
"THE BIG CAR: End of the Affair" Dec 31, 1973
"The Oil Game" May 7, 1979
"The Energy Mess" July 2, 1979
"War in the Gulf" Oct 6, 1980
"Good News Cheap Oil" Apr 14, 1986
"The Oil Squeeze" Nov 19, 1973
Energy Crunch: Real or Phony? January 21, 1974
"The World Over a Barrel" July 9, 1979
Let's Skip ahead to conflicts over Iran and the Middle East. That's old news too...
"War in the Middle East" Oct 15, 1973
"Iran in Turmoil" Sept 18, 1978
"Israel's Blitz" June 21, 1982
"Iran on the March" July 26, 1982
"Iran vs The World" Aug 17, 1987
What about the problems in our banking system? You would think they would have learned their lesson in 1984, but they didn't. Check this out...
"America's Banks-Awash In Troubles" Dec 3, 1984
You might have assumed that terrorism surfaced during 9-11. Its been around a long time.
July 1, 1985
How about selling our assets to foreigners? Nothing new again.
How about the news of insurance companies canceling your coverage after a claim? Again, old news...
"Sorry America, Your Insurance Has Been Canceled" March 24, 1986
