03/31/10 Baltimore, MD - “Wow…it’s amazing how many Spanish-speaking people there are in this area…”
The one that we find most striking – after being away from the US for 15 years – is how the Hispanic population has taken over.
The woman who cleans our office speaks Spanish and little English. So does the woman who cleans our house. And the gardener. And the fellow who shovels out the driveway when it snows. And the busboy in the restaurant where we have lunch.
And the maintenance man. Our landlord explained:
“Eusebio came here from Peru. He lived at Macho Pichu. He walked here. But he’s been here 10 years. And he’s great. Always ready to work. Smart. Figures things out. And always nice to work with. He charges $150 a day. Not bad really.”
On our drive to work, we put on Spanish-language radio: CNN en Espagnol. We can only understand about half of what is said. But we’re learning…
Jules, 22, rode along with us in the car…
“It’s amazing. Those people are everywhere. And you know something, they give me hope for the future. They come here. They work hard. And as long as they stay outside of the official status…that is, as long as they’re illegal immigrants, everything works well. Because they can’t go on welfare, I guess. And they can’t vote themselves special programs and benefits. They have to work for a living. And they work hard.
“There’s some movement in Congress, I think, to change the immigration laws so that these illegal immigrants would be treated a full citizens. What a mistake that would be. Pretty soon, they’d be as big a burden on the system as native-born citizens are. That’s the reason we can’t compete in the world… We have to carry too many retired people…and too many people on welfare…and too many chiselers getting a check from the government for not really doing anything…
“The country feels old and worn out…at least compared to India. But these Hispanics are something else. They’re young. And they’re not yet ruined by the system. I mean, they’re not yet leeches…”
Jules explains how to save the US from decline…below…
But first, let’s turn to a related matter.
(Bloomberg) – “Americans are down on the economy and the markets even as stocks and growth indicators are up.
“By an almost 2-to-1 margin Americans believe the economy has worsened rather than improved during the past year, according to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted March 19-22. Among those who own stocks, bonds or mutual funds, only three of 10 people say the value of their portfolio has risen since a year ago.
“During that period, a bull market has driven up the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index more than 73 percent since its low on March 9, 2009. The economy grew at a 5.9 percent annual pace during last year’s fourth quarter.”
What’s going on? The economy is doing well (the last quarter showed a 5% + growth…). Investors are making money. Why all the long faces?
That’s the problem with a zombie economy. It walks. It talks. But it still sucks the blood out of the living.
People at the top are protected. They’ve got their sweetheart deals with the feds. They’ve got their bailouts…and their bonuses. Heck, we’re not complaining. Here at the Daily Reckoning, they pay us enough to keep the table set and the liquor cabinet full. What more could we ask for?
But the poor man on the street is the one who feels the pain. The Great Correction is not just an economist’s abstraction. It’s everyday life. The Bloomberg report continues:
“Barely one-in-three Americans say the country is on the right track. Fewer than one in 10 say they believe the economy will be strong again within a year. Just 4 percent of Americans who cut back on spending during the recession now say they are confident enough to open their wallets, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
“Unemployment in February was 9.7 percent. Payrolls in the U.S. have dropped every month except one since December 2007. Economists expect job growth to turn around in March, with a median forecast that payrolls will rise by 192,000.
“Poll respondents rate persistently high unemployment the greatest threat to the economy over the next two years, with 75 percent calling it a high threat. Chronically high budget deficits are cited as a high threat by 70 percent, followed by homeowners who can’t pay their mortgages, which is cited by 58 percent. Higher taxes are deemed a high threat by 57 percent.
“Nine of 10 Americans believe that cutting the deficit, which is projected to reach a record $1.5 trillion this year, will require sacrifices from middle-class Americans. Still, when asked about a range of potential tax increases and spending cuts to address the problem, the large majorities of Americans favor tax increases that only affect the wealthy.”
Regards,
Bill Bonner,
for The Daily Reckoning
Bill Bonner
Since founding Agora Inc. in 1979, Bill Bonner has found success and garnered camaraderie in numerous communities and industries. A man of many talents, his entrepreneurial savvy, unique writings, philanthropic undertakings, and preservationist activities have all been recognized and awarded by some of America's most respected authorities. Along with Addison Wiggin, his friend and colleague, Bill has written two New York Times best-selling books, Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt. Both works have been critically acclaimed internationally. With political journalist Lila Rajiva, he wrote his third New York Times best-selling book, Mobs, Messiahs and Markets, which offers concrete advice on how to avoid the public spectacle of modern finance. Since 1999, Bill has been a daily contributor and the driving force behind The Daily Reckoning. Dice Have No Memory: Big Bets & Bad Economics from Paris to the Pampas, the newest book from Bill Bonner, is the definitive compendium of Bill’s daily reckonings from more than a decade: 1999-2010.
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You have said much of Paradise Lost Mr Bonner, but what of Paradise Regained?
Yeah.
Transform every U.S. citizen into a ilegal alien. That should make the populace work much harder for much less. Just what Big Corporate asked for.
I’m getting on board the soak the rich train. Go with the flow, like electricity. Or is it water?
I would gladly be an “illegal alien” if it meant not paying taxes. I have had years when I paid over $60,000 in taxes.
If you took a poll of intelligent people, most would probably now say they would love to have dual citizenship with a country of their choice. I would love an exit plan.
This country is not free:
– It’s the hardest country on earth to LEGALLY enter.
– The press is something like 30th in the world in terms of freedom.
– We’re now asked to be electronically strip-searched to travel by air.
– We’re required buy Health insurance whether we want to or not.
– We’re bossed around on a daily basis by bureaucrats, TSA, police… Our police here are among the most abusive in the civilized world. If you don’t kowtow to them it may set a chain of events in place that ends with you getting tazed in the street.
– More and more of our labor is taxed as time goes on. I toil now, mostly for others, courtesy of the Government.
– Our representatives use MY tax money to BUY politicians to vote AGAINST my interests. My taxes go to pay for the values of people I wouldn’t allow in my house and who would probably see me in a concentration camp or dead if they had their way.
I consider the Government here the greatest threat to my personal hapiness. Greater than the threat of terrorism (which it fosters in our name).
It destroys the natural goodnees of the People. Common sense can no longer reign and insanity rules the day.
Bill, are you trying to invent politically correct description of Depression?
sooo disappointing, it’s not even entertaining
Bill Bonner can he remember me when the american lost the right to ask the constutional court to cancel law which prevent him to freely work in the system capitalism
All wrong Bill, illegals here are mooching parasitic shysters, they are stealing the jobs that our legal citizens ought to be doing. Kick the illegals out AND cut entitlements, force all able bodies back to work or starve.
“Bill, are you trying to invent politically correct description of Depression?
sooo disappointing, it’s not even entertaining”
He’s trying to be original. “Great Recession” was original. I should know. I was perhaps the first one to come up with it on the web but to honest probably 40,000+++ others had the same exact thought at the same time so we all thought we were original thinkers. Alas we shall never know. lol On the same vein (vain?), “Great Correction” is about as original as Great Supression, Great Subjection, Great Dejection, Great Deflection, well you get the drift.
We’re all trying to leave our mark in the pages of history. Some of us leave bigger or lesser marks as the case may be except individually we tend to believe they’re truly big ones in the confines of our own minds.
I’m no different and neither is Bill. It’s called ego. lol
RH