Collapse of the Western World's Economic System... Why Not?

"A lot of [House Republicans] believe 'enough chaos' would make opponents yield"
      
           - House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
             on his colleagues in the House of Representatives.

I remember when I was learning to drive, my dad would give me advice regarding not getting into accidents. Every so often I would say, 'Yeah, but wouldn't it be the other person's fault in that instance?' To which his response would be 'You're right, but would you total your car on principle?'

Good point.

It raises another question, though. What if you were trying to total your car? Without taking the metaphor too far, I feel like the Tea Party Republicans want the economy destroyed, not just to push some of their ideology to the legislative limit, but because of some inane theory that economic collapse will reflect badly on the president, not them, and that would be a good thing. If the timing of this had not been so terrible, I would dismiss this brinkmanship as politics as usual. But as things degenerate in the Eurozone as well, it looks like a double-dip recession is all but guaranteed.

While Mr. Bernanke contemplates another round of quantitative easing, the 'chaos' has spread across an ocean. Greece, the original of the PIGS nations (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain) now seeks a second bailout as the debt crisis has expanded to include Italy. The weak economies of the Eurozone are now pushing for a Euro bond, while the strong economies (notably France and Germany) hesitate, as such an issuance may affect their credit ratings. Finland asking for Grecian collateral to limit their exposure to bad debt has sparked an unfriendly debate among the other strong economies.

If banks in Europe are tight on credit, it will become more expensive to borrow money here in the states, despite whether or not the Fed decides to proceed with another round of quantitative easing. However, if QE3 does go through, there is no guarantee that the banks will be any more liberal about loaning money as the model of quantitative easing suggests they should. If companies are left without access to credit, then growth, unemployment, and tax revenue will stagnate, and we will begin the cycle anew.

Welcome my son, to the machine

And by 'machine' I mean my new blog. The old one was a tad directionless, and, thus, a little hard for inspiration to strike. This one I intend to be dedicated to current events, which may seem to be a little vague as well, but the current state of things is something of which I try to keep apprised. The blog postings from here on out will be commentary about what is happening in the business world, political arena, society, and contemporary culture. The slant will be to the left (mostly) for social issues and pop culture, and right (mostly) for economic and political issues. The controversial points that are bound to come up will be the most fun to discuss.

For instance, as a resident of Texas, I feel the political landscape has been enhanced by the recent addition of our governor, Rick Perry, to the crowd of republican primary candidates. My sentiment is that though I feel Mr. Perry to be rather ignorant about many things including healthcare and education, I am inclined to think he is a responsible choice for president in 2012. This is based on his ability to balance a budget and stimulate job growth. Unless there is a drastic change, these will be the two most important issues in the upcoming presidential election.

President Obama, on the other hand, has an abysmal record of job creation and controlling a ballooning deficit. Though I feel that a comprehensive healthcare system is important (as a developed country, the lack of such a system is a bit of an embarrassment), the amount of political capital that Mr. Obama used to push that item on his agenda forward was unjustified.

For the past three years, the issue that should have been the most important for the president's policy makers has been the economy. That was part of the reason voters chose Mr. Obama over Mr. Mccain in 2008, and here we are in 2011 with the same problems that existed for the president during his last election. If the economy regains some momentum and unemployment drops in the next 15 months, however, we will see a much different general election.