Bond values continue to fall while stocks and gold hold steady amid an awful display of government mismanagement – action in Syria seems likely, the economy continues to limp along, and large government programs continue to produce results contrary to their stated objectives.
First things first; recall that President Obama was against the Iraq war – even though then leader, Saddam Hussein, gassed the Kurds in the Halabja massacre in the late ‘80’s. While the actual number of Iraqi victims is hard to know, it is widely believed that up to 20,000 people were affected by the chemical attack. The criminal responsible for that Bloody Friday assault, a man nicknamed “Chemical Ali”, was at the top of President George W. Bush’s hit list when he went to Congress and the United Nations to request authorization to invade Iraq and remove those weapons of mass destruction. And even though the “world’s red-line” was already in effect, and crossed by Saddam Hussein, Obama stood against Bush’s Iraqi effort.
The hypocrisy of this administration continues to boggle the mind.
Russia and China are against involvement in Syria – good for them – but under aggressive French Leadership the European Union advocates a “clear and strong” response.
Great, instead of being arm-in-arm with a partner known as Great Britain, America will undergo this effort with those famous for waving the white flag. Just great.
In the fighting thus far, more than 100,000 people have lost their lives in the Syrian civil war, which began almost three years ago. They say that 1,500 people were gassed with chemical weapons – this time. Remember, the same kinds of weapons were used in Syria one time prior, about eighteen months ago.
Right now there are two main groups fighting in Syria. The Iranian terror network Hezbollah, a Shi’a group, is backing the Assad regime. The Al-Qaeda terror network, a Sunni group, is supporting the opposition.
In other words, two enemies of the free world are fighting each other in Syria and President Obama wants to jump into the middle of them. Who does he expect to help —his enemy, or his enemy?
Indeed, many non-terror related Syrians are caught in the middle of this brutal and barbaric war – but it is their middle. Not ours. To get involved is a huge mistake.
And don’t you find it hypocritical with all the war talk on the president’s part that he continues to advance more gun control efforts in America? (see: Obama Administration Rolls Out New Gun-Control Efforts, Wall Street Journal on-line, 8/29/2013.) He is an international war-monger, and a domestic pacifist.
More and more he is getting harder to believe.
IBM recently announced that is was moving 110,000 retirees off its company sponsored health plan to defray rising costs. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama promised that prices would fall and people could keep their current insurance plans if they wanted to. Do you think all 110,000 of these people wanted out of their insurance plan?
Costs continue to rise dramatically and lots of people are losing their healthcare plans because of the new healthcare law. More and more the ACA is proving to be nothing more than a fast-track to a single payer government system. Of course, that’s not what was advertised – though it was fully expected (see: Supreme Letdown).
These kinds of failures in leadership and policy, along with multi-trillion dollar deficits that have added nothing to the economic base (unemployment is still 7.3%), are reasons why Americans are losing faith in their government, and why the world is losing respect for American governance.
That is also the reason that bond values continue to fall (indicated by rising yields) and stocks and gold are flattening (see below.) Stocks are looking for an impetus to go lower; and gold is looking for the same stimulus to go higher.
Syria could be it.
Stay tuned…