Long time DR sufferers may recall that it was around this time three years ago that we sent a copy of Empire of Debt, written with Addison Wiggin, to all 537 members of Congress. Well, Addison is gearing up to release his latest book, written with Kate Incontrera (aka “Short Fuse”), which is a companion to their documentary, I.O.U.S.A.
Yesterday, we asked you to write and let us know what you thought of their plan to send the books to D.C. As always, you didn’t let us down. Here are a few of the responses we received:
Writes reader Allan Gregory, “I think you’re wasting your time and energy. There is an old but very accurate maxim that says, ‘Belief is held more strongly than fact.’
“Unfortunately the U.S. Government and its bureaucrats (and other national governments) believe they can solve the ‘problems’ they perceive.
“Freaking unbelievable!!! Yikes, I’m getting like The Mogambo Guru!!”
“I wish they would watch it, and become educated by it,” chimes in another jaded DR reader. “But, they have the excuse that they are ‘busy’ saving the US economy. (Excuse me a minute, I have to barf.) Ok, now I’m back.
“With them it’s all farce & illusion (delusion???), smoke & mirrors. Please don’t confuse them with reality or facts!
“Go ahead. Give it your best shot. At least you will be able to say you did everything you could...”
Finally, one reader writes: “In the words of a very wise DR writer, we are ‘freaking doomed’. Send the book to the Congressmen, and maybe a few will read it during their ‘recess’. They all talk a good schtick until they have been in Washington a year or so, and then are ruined by the establishment. Most are so out of touch that they don’t have a clue what the average citizen is going through. Guess what? Things are going to get a lot worse.
“I am a retail jeweler who sees people selling their wedding rings (not because they don’t like each other any more), but to buy gas, groceries, and essentials for their children every day. Not really what I signed on for when I became a jeweler back in the ’80s, but this is the way our country is heading.
“Congress had better pay attention real soon as they should have been doing a few years ago. However, most think that everything can be solved by running the printing press at the mint. Yes George, you are causing inflation already and the people are growing very restless. Foreign investors holding U.S. debt are not going to wait very long either. As the dollar does not inspire much confidence these days, they will soon start dumping it.
“Buy GOLD & SILVER. Also, don’t start any more wars, as we can’t afford the ones we are already paying for with our worthless fiat currency. I could go on and on...”
Keep your comments coming, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated on the responses (if any) that we get from Congress. Send your comments to Short Fuse at kincontrera@dailyreckoning.com
Until tomorrow,
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning Australia
P.S. to get The Daily Reckoning direct to your inbox sign up to our free e-mail newsletter or if you prefer to use RSS, subscribe to the Daily Reckoning RSS feed.
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About the Author
Best-selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing, one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter companies. Owner of both Fleet Street Publications and MoneyWeek magazine in the UK, he is also author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning.
Comment by Robert on 26 September 2008:
The music has ended will those standing please take a chair, whoops there arent enought to go round, looks like the USA will have to leave the game.
My Harvard educated finance professor taught me a lot about money, and real returns so I sold most stuff early and watched it keep rising to unbeliveable heights. Now I am in cash and am waiting for the inevitable bargains, there will be lots of small businesses, with retiring owners that cant sell too. As they say what is misfortune for some is good luck for others.
Comment by Arthur Rosenwald on 29 September 2008:
In today's "Too big to bail" Bill Bonner touches, I believe, at the essence of the financial problem. Although he won't agree with it. He says that capitalism is designed to "separate fools from their money". As if that's a good thing. In this time of smart mathematicians and computers everybody, in the end, will be a fool and thus separated from his money. In my book that's "capitalism gone mad". To say that only the market can put a true value on things is a nonsense. Things, like houses we build and food we grow, do have a real value. Sometimes, the "market" puts an incorrect value on this. So at that time we don't sell and should not be forced to. We then rightly look at our government to put some sense back into the system. This is not to say that I agree with the bailout. But somebody should remove the excesses out of the capital markets. Financing long term loans with short term finance is a procedure to create money out of money itself which should be outlawed.