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SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY

You may want to listen to Friday’s radio show from the 2 minute to the 20 minute mark. All my thoughts on what we just saw on the healthcare bill.

Our thoughts:

How does a political party win just about everything: the house, senate, white house, governorships and state legislatures and not able to come away with legislation? Simple! Just do everything wrong. You choose a complex, blob of a legislation that you have been begging to get at for years instead of the probably more easy tax reform. You cobble together quickly what amounted to something that had something that pissed off just about everyone. You drown out the other party so you have zero chance to get even one of their moderate’s vote. You ignore the several factions in your own party and actually do not disclose the legislation to some. You only kiss those faction’s arse when you start to realize you need more votes. You schedule a vote not knowing if you have the votes. You then cancel that vote. You rush and schedule a second vote not knowing if you have the votes for the second vote. And then, you pull the vote and blame it on the other party. Way to go! If we wanted to fail in Washington, we do not think you could write a better script or do it better.

So you move forward…hopefully! Mike Ditka once said “success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal!” We certainly know that in politics success isn’t permanent but it’s the failure part that worries.  We worry because markets and business have put a lot of faith and confidence in pro growth stuff coming out. We worry because markets have had a good run from the day after the election. We worry because valuations are into historic high range. We worry that financials have been rolling over. We worry that “Trump stocks” in areas like construction, materials and cyclicals have topped.We worry that confidence, which is such an important intangible, is slowly slipping away. We are not alarmists but we are realists.  But the good news is that baseball games have 9 innings. After all, it is just over 60 days of this new administration and last we looked, there are about 1400 days to go. But politicians are politicians. They start running for their next election the day after winning an election. We gather most are looking at the shape of things over the weekend and planning strategy not based on what’s good but how to win the next election. This is unfortunate but this is also true.

Our best recommendation: Put your head down. Pay no attention to the national media that was drinking champagne all weekend. Get all factions in your party together. Reach out to the other side. Yes…we said that. AND GET SOMETHING DONE. If there’s anything we know, people understand dollars and cents. Lower corporate taxes. Lower taxes for the middle class. Forget the border tax because a tax is a tax is a tax. The people always end up paying for it. Convince the deficit hawks (we are deficit hawks) that less government and the ability for people to keep more of their money will increase economic growth. Increase economic growth and you increase revenue to the treasury. Increase revenue to the treasury and you enter a virtuous cycle instead of the nightmare we are watching…and that is massive debt, massive deficits and a government that is growing like the blob in the movie “The Blob!” As government grows, the potential of the economy slows and in case you don’t know, federal spending in the year 1999 was less than $1.8 trillion. This year: $4.1 trillion and growing.  Where the hell is the money going? This trajectory must change. This trajectory must be stopped or the markets and the economy will eventually stop them.

Put your head down. Get to work. Stop blaming. Start legislating. If you don’t, markets will head back to the November levels and business confidence will take a hit. And then you think you are in the soup now? Just wait!

One Comment

  1. I have a great job, make good money, the problem is taxes, We’re probably paying close to 50% of my earnings.
    My elderly parents live with us and also my stroke victim brother, mute and halve paralyzed, my wife also very ill. Between taxes, food , energy, and medical prices (thank you Democrats) my life is in shambles. I’m so with you about taxes, I can’t finish any work on my property now even doing the work myself. This uncosinable idiots in power are screwing the middle class… the ones that help the lower class get work and pay taxes and earn a living instead of steeling, selling dope and living their families to live in poverty, crime and in the overwhelmed state social system. I’m sure no kid wants to be on welfare or food stamps but when people have no work, no way to find work and give up that’s what they do,?crime. Get rid of sanctuary cities save 2.5 billion of our taxes, and give it to the cities that obey the laws, then work on a plan to get rid of the people that live of us with out making any contributions. The people with a rap sheet, tax their governments to keep them in jail and then deport them when they served their time. Corporations keeping the moneys earned here, be exempt from taxes the same as in those other Countries, let them grow in the USA and keep the jobs here, the ones taking the money abroad, tax them on every penny they take out of the country at a higher rate than the corporate tax. Help the old, and the children first, then I’ll still be glad to work halve of my life for those no good self proclaimed civil servants. And please, ex presidents can not angage in any kind of book deals, speaking engagements or profit of any kind after leaving the White House unless they give all the money to charity or have a real job, ha ha .Those Self indulging Bastards that sell our Country to the highest bidder for profit after being the Presidents, taking bribes to be paid for after they retire.

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