POST SCRIPTS

Greenspan is full of it. In his latest book, he excoriates Bush for not puting his veto on profligate spending bills. He has obviously been bought off by the Soros cabal. He should have excoriated the Democrats for passing the profligate bills in the first place.

One of my all time favorite spins goes something like this:

GWB and the Pubbies spent more than previous administrations. Duh! But does that tell the whole story? NO. The number is greater but there is always a BUT and here it is:

Many of you will recall the little trick the democrats had of railing about "cuts in funding." Republicans were starving children and tossing old people into the streets to hear them tell it. Actually funds for those programs were increased but by a smaller percentage. Thus they were not CUTS at all...but that didn't stop the dems from purposely deceiving the uninformed public about it.

The same thing has happened when the republicans had control of congress ...they actually cut spending in many cases by lowering the percentages of increase in spending.

Budgeting works and the people should have been given the opportunity to cheer about these savings but of course it was not reported that way and besides, republicans made other rediculously stupid errors that gave them little credence anyway.

As to the state of the economy I'm with Jack...you get a different opinion depending on which expert you consult.

My sense is that the housing problem isn't deep and will recover, a bit painfully perhaps, but it will. The American economy is doing so well that if a democrat was in the WH we'd be sick of all the good news by now.

Our recovery following the infamous dot com burst bubble, 911, and the war is REMARKABLE!!! ...and nothing is said. Not one word.

GWB would be the first to say that the American people deserve all the credit. Let them keep their money where it will be spent, saved and invested and they will create a huge sustainable marketplace...a place where jobs are in abundance and opportunities abound.

Let me first say that when it comes to economic predictions...go with Jack. And that goes double for when I disagree with him...LOL.

Having said that, I'm going to disagree in part.

I think that the housing market hit a very predictable wall. Supply has out grown demand, and interest rates have forced some buyers out of the market, while leaving many stranded with houses they cannot afford or off load. But the commentary on the housing market by the media is clearly biased.

The housing market did not "crash" or "plummet" or resemble any of the other frightening adjectives the brain trusts at CNN used to describe the correction. Communities which had seen house prices raise by over 150% in the last 5 years have now seen them drop by around 20%. Now to clear it up for all of those mathaletes' at MSNBC, thats still quite a rise overall.

Furthermore, I don't think its all that surprising that areas of the stock market go up when the housing market takes a dip. When the housing market was the thing to do, I had my money in Housing, now that its not, I'm looking toward something with greater liquidity and diversity in the stock market.

Reports of struggles in other economies provides opportunities as well as concern. China is looking to take some hits with loan defaults from their investment banks, European economies can no longer afford their elaborate welfare states and are being forced to privatize in various areas. Some of these changes could provide stimulus to domestic industry. We might also see a bump in the US dollar against other currencies provided that our interest rates stay stable.

Our economy remains the most flexible in the world, and the most able to navigate financial storms.

I am optimistic that the US will not suffer a recession within the next 2 years. Now if Democrats take power, all bets are off.

So there is the novice opinion. But if you had to bet your life savings on one of the opinions posted here...go with Jack.

One thing of particular concern for me is that our State's budget may see a shortfall beyond the 2.5 billion in reserve.

Indications are that revenue projections are not meeting expectations already. If this trend continues, as I believe it will, our state budget is going to be in for some serious deficit fixing. Will it be more taxes which will lead to even less revenue or will it be bonds which will add to the long term debt that already equals one full years worth of revenues?

My guess the tax and spend dems need very little excuse to raise your state taxes, fees, permit costs and other hidden taxes.

Regarding Greenspan's comments, this does make people pause and it is troubling. In that sense his scary talk is helpful. It pushes people to prepare for a recession and by doing so, this is one way to make sure it doesn't happen. Recesssions happen by taking a number of people in high places by surprise who then overreact and do stupid things.