May 20, 2010

Today was a pretty spectacular day on Wall Street. We all thought May 6 was bad! At least there was an explanation for that huge drop in value.

But there is no explanation for what happened today. Today the Market closed 376 points down. I think it was the lowest value for the day.

The panic about the global economic situation is spreading and it seems there is a general panic prevailing where there is money involved.

The Euro is dropping, the oil hit a very low price. There are riots in Greece and there are riots in Thailand.

But Goddammit, we live in America, the richest country in the world. Why should we be exposed to these events and suffering the consequences? That is not fair. We should be big enough and strong enough to be immune to these happenings.

These countries and the rest of the world should depend on us and not the other way around. We should be strong enough to withstand whatever happens around us and come out as winners at the end.

But unfortunately it does not look that way. The Chinese in Mao's time called America the paper tiger.

As time goes by it looks like, sadly, a very fitting description of us.

If we don't have any faith in ourselves, how can we expect the rest of the world to respect us and place their trust in us. It is very sad that our leaders don't realize and don't use the opportunities that there are for greatness.

Other countries that used to depend on us are now bypassing us and leave us in the dust.

We are bogged down in bureaucracy and finger pointing. Look at this BP fiasco in the Gulf.

By the time the oil flow is stopped it would ruin unimaginable amount of natural resources as well as people's livelihoods. And what will happen to the people responsible for it? Nothing!

This thing will bog down in a judicial nightmare of finger pointing.

In the old days in the Soviet Union and even today in China these people would be shot for their irresponsible behavior.

But unfortunately our government is not strong enough to act against these people. I think because the oil lobby is so strong that nobody dares to go against them. It seems the government doesn't want to upset them because then we will not get any oil.

That is probably the reason why gasoline prices at the pumps stay high although world prices are falling. Today, oil closed at $68.01 per barrel. This must be the lowest price in a long time.

But the prices at the gas stations are standing still. Had the price gone up, tomorrow morning we would be seeing an increase at the pumps. But it doesn't happen that easily the other way around.

And again, nobody is saying anything. Like people are afraid to raise their voices because they are afraid the boogey man will come for them.