by PHIL JONES
Barack Obama has been a disappointing president in many ways, and our country (if it can still be said to be “ours”) faces very serious problems. Yet, despite Obama’s failures and shortcomings, he seems to have gained the upper hand against Mitt Romney as the race enters its final six weeks.
This is mostly because, whatever you may think of Obama, Romney is a lousy alternative. He claims to be a job-creating businessman, but there is nothing in his record at Bain Capital to suggest that. If anything, there is reason to believe his record is just the opposite. Romney is a spoiled blue-blood, who has no idea what life is like for the average American. He is a brazen demagogue with no political principles whatsoever, other than simply to say whatever he has to say, to win. He loudly proclaims he will repeal Obamacare, when in reality, it is virtually identical to Romneycare, and repeal has no chance. He loudly proclaims that he believes in America, while hiding huge amounts of his holdings in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. His blueprint for America’s “recovery” reads like the worst nightmare of the average American, but a Christmas dream come true for the international corporate libertarian elite who are destroying America’s sovereignty.
Not to mention that he is a thorough-going hypocrite, who criticizes the elderly, low-income working families with children, the poor, and the men and women of our armed forces for the tax breaks they get, while Mitt himself enjoys a favorable tax rate that puts millions of additional dollars in his own pocket. This is because he does not make his living by working, like the average American, but by speculating on the labors of others. So Romney pays income tax at the capital gains rate of 15 percent, while working people can pay up to 35 percent on the income they earn. And if this weren’t enough, his proposals would raise taxes on the average American by another $2,000 per year, while giving a whopping $87,000 tax handout to himself and the rest of the top 5 percent of Americans – including Barack Obama.
I could go on, but suffice it to say, the American people seem to be catching on. Romney is no alternative at all. Character counts, and policy counts even more.
Nevertheless, all is not lost for would-be president Mittens. He has a potent ace in the hole.
Recently, an expert analyst on the “Nightly Business Report” said that historically, if the stock market is higher on Election Day than it was on Labor Day, the incumbent president has a 90 percent chance of winning re-election. On the other hand, if the stock market is lower on Election Day than on Labor Day, the odds swing in favor of the challenger.
That’s exceedingly good news for Mitt Romney for three reasons. First, all the big Wall Street firms are deep in the tank for Romney. Even Goldman Sachs, which was the leading contributor to the Obama campaign, is backing Romney.
Second, very conveniently, there is already a large, unsustainable bubble in the stock market. In the past six months or so, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen approximately 30 percent. It is nearing the all-time high set in the summer of 2007. This, despite an economy that is growing at a mere two percent. With the fiscal cliff looming on Dec. 31, it is a lead-pipe cinch that the bubble will burst sometime before that date. It’s only a question of when. Some analysts predict a swift loss of about 15 to 20 percent (although still leaving the market some 10 to 15 percent up for the year).
Third, it means Romney can win in spite of himself. He can go right on being repulsively dishonest, incompetent, and out of touch, proposing the worst possible medicine for the economy and the social order, and just “let the market decide” the election.
In order to affect the election, the bubble must pop close enough to Election Day so that recovery is unlikely, but far enough in advance that the pain has time to “trickle down” to Main Street. Say, four to six weeks. About the same time the bubble popped in 2008, remember?
So the time is ripe. I write this on Saturday, Sept. 22. By the time you read this on Thursday or Friday, the bubble may have burst already.
God save the United States of America from the corporate takeover that is nearly complete.
