THE LONG ROAD BACK

"I Would Rather Be In Jail In America Than Free Anywhere Else". Eldridge Cleaver



An Unlikely Patriot. Some of those who read this may be too young to remember Eldridge Cleaver. No, he was not another offspring of Ward and June. He was the leader of the Black Panther party and he knows whereof he speaks. He grew up during the years before the civil rights act and witnessed heavy discrimination against Black Americans. If anyone had a reason to be bitter about America it was him. He spent years in prison for violent crimes and would have gone back had he not jumped bail left the country for Cuba and other communist countries. After 8 years in exile he came back to face the music. He denounced his former violent ways and embraced the country that he thought had done him wrong. He spent the remainder of his life writing and speaking about the role of Black Americans in society. Patriotism is often frowned on in present society. Certainly we have made many mistakes and some of us have become irresponsible in our quest for wealth and power. Still, we are lucky to have the opportunity to live in this country where we can see our mistakes and take measures to correct them.



Coping With New Realities. Many of us are not sure where to turn in this market. Some have lost faith in the ability of the free markets to function with limited government intervention. Undoubtedly, there are those who have taken advantage of the trust placed in them by the investing public. Executives and labor unions have taken money for themselves which should have gone to the investors or retained in the company for research and product development. This would have made these companies more sound. Wall street has also diverted money as they over paid executives and deal makers huge amounts for placing money with the investing public, many of whom had no idea of the amount of risk they were taking. When huge sums are being placed, a very small percentage may sound fair until you look at the absolute dollar amount being spread among a relatively small number of employees.



Now We Look Towards The Government To Save Us. It is highly unlikely that the government is capable of taking over the huge responsibility of keeping companies on the straight and narrow. Look at the motor vehicle department and the post office if you want an example of how the government runs things. Look at the $10,000 toilets and $500 hammers if you think the government is capable of keeping us out of trouble. Look at the social security system if you want to know how to keep a Ponzi system operating for 100 years. Look at the huge debt they are piling up if you want to know how to live high and pass the debt to our children. Look at the way the two parties demean each other if you want to know how to put together a cohesive organization.



How Do We Cope With All Of This? The only answer is self reliance. Watch how you invest, spend, and save your resources. Plan for worst case scenarios instead of the best case. It's not rocket science. Spend less than you earn, invest the difference, monitor those investments closely, and don't let luxuries become necessities.

Be careful who you trust. There are those who look like geniuses until the bubble bursts. Remember Mike Wise. He was the Chairman of Silverado Savings and barely escaped jail when the bubble burst the first time. He did it again and got caught with a huge con game in Aspen. He spent a short time in prison and last month jumped off a 9 story building in Florida. The Chief Financial Officer of Freddie Mac committed suicide a couple of weeks ago, leaving us to wonder what hey may have done to make him prefer death to staying here to deal with the consequences. We will probably never know.