May 22, 2011

It should come as no surprise that a Frenchman has a hard time keeping his escargot in its shell.

That’s not the REAL story. The real story is what is an avowed Socialist doing staying at a $3,000/night Manhattan Hotel on your dime? Understand this and you likely have a very good understanding of the international monetary system and why our nation and the rest of the world is on the verge of financial collapse.

When our government gives the keys to the federal fisc to fat, over-indulgent elitists, it breeds a hubris mentality, where these self-appointed Solomons think that their “wisdom” is indispensable to the operations and functioning of the world. Having a degree from Harvard, Oxford or the Sorbonne is nice, but hardly substitutes for a “practical” understanding of economics. Meet Bubba Jones, a self-made man who started as a grease monkey and now owns 20 Jiffy Lubes. Bubba has a much better handle on economic principles than these government sponsored flunkies and manipulators whose whole self-worth is dependent on spending other people’s money and not their own.

The IMF is an organization that uses your money to socialize bad behavior, causing much more harm than good, but it does allow for pompous Frenchmen to fly First Class around the world, eating truffles while dispensing your money to corrupt and bloated governments who have no intention of ever paying us back. (The U.S is the biggest shareholder in the IMF).

Bubba understands that if you want to encourage bad behavior, subsidize it. This is why when Bubba’s 16 year old son son, Billy Ray over drew his checking account, Bubba grounded him, took away his truck and made him pay all the late charges and overdraft fees. Bubba also understands that a man who invests his own money is a much better steward of that money than a man who invests someone else’s money. That’s why Bubba didn’t invest in his friend Earl’s Excellent Barbeque Emporium. Barbeque joints are hard to run, and Earl didn’t have enough skin in the game.

Milton Friedman’s greatest contribution to economic thinking was his quote “there ain’t no free lunch.” (Bubba’s favorite expression). OK, Milt didn’t use the word “ain’t,” Bubba likes to put things in his own vernacular. Bubba, who is a deacon at his Church ( Bull Run Baptist ) also understands that ever since Adam took a bite of that apple, man has been imperfect and subject to making stupid decisions, and that this aspect of human nature will never change.

Bubba would not have bailed out GM, AIG, Goldman Sachs or dispensed one plug nickel of TARP Money to any bank. Bubba started with nothing. He understands how resilient people can be when faced with the necessity of having to be so, better get the pain over with now, than prolong it and make it much worse by throwing good money after bad and enabling folks to continue to make bad decisions.

When the bank called Bubba’s loan on his Jiffy Lube on Bedford Forrest Highway, the government didn’t bail Bubba out, but he learned a lesson and he survived. It was painful, but pain is the central nervous system’s way of telling us, we’ve got a problem that needs “fixin.” (Like the time that tire jack landed on Bubba’s foot and he knew he had “done broke sumthin” and went to see ole Doc Johnson).

Having Greece, Ireland and Portugal default on their debt would be painful, but necessary. The problem with the Dominique Strauss Kahn’s of the world is they have never experienced pain, not to mention have never run a Barbeque joint.