Friday, October 10, 2008

Whither America, Part 2

We wrote a year ago about America's undisputed leadership, but we are not so sure anymore.

Dow Jones, NASDAQ, and other indices in past few months have driven even the most brilliant, yet clueless, economists from the MIT, Stanford, and Chicago crazy. As the late Walter Reuther, former head of the United Auto Workers used to say, "Economics is the only field where you can gain eminence by never being right."

So, is America on the decline?

Yes. As long as we have greed-driven CEOs that get insanely sky-high bonuses or exit packages rewarded for cheating, stealing, and screwing stockholders, we'll mimic the decline of ancient Greece and Rome.

No. We still believe in capitalism, school prayers, gun-carrying right-wing radicals, Bible-hugging, racism, and a Viet Nam veteran who fought a useless war that we lost, and a folksy, ice-hockey mom with an IQ of 28.

Dow Jones is down almost 40% from its peak, yet we preach how capitalism can salvage the world. Roger McNamee, a well-respected VC from Silicon Valley said, "Wall Street is driven by fear and greed. But remember, fear is temporary, greed is permanent."

God save America and the world!

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