Sunday, January 4, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Hamas, Israel and Iran
Today ground Israeli ground forces started marching on the Gaza strip.
Americans are hearing about it, but nobody really cares. I care.
The reason I care is because Iran is very very very anti Israel. And George Bush is very very pro Israel and very anti Iran. This is still in the embryonic stages, but I've said in the past that Bush really wants to go after Iran, and he's running out of time.
With Israel marching into Gaza, this will whip Iran into a frenzy. (click here to see what I mean). With Iran starting to roar, It will get involved on the Hamas side, and go after Israel. If Israel has some really unfortunate civilian casualties, that will be a P.R. coup for Iran to justify strong action against Israel.
And because the U.S. has (i believe rightfully) called Hamas a terrorist organization, and since the U.S. has declared war on terror, it will defend Israel against Hamas. Iran doesn't have nukes, thank goodness, but neither did Iraq. And look what we did saying that they 'might' get them someday.
Bush will pound his war drum saying that Iran must be stopped. What if a little nuke goes off before inauguration? Bush calls for a postponing of the inauguration due to national security issues, and we have a hell of a mess.
If you frequent my other blog, I've said that I felt pretty certain that the U.S. would be in a conflict with Iran before Bush is out of power. These are the stepping stones. I see it like this. With every palestinian life lost, Hamas will vow ten Israelis in retribution. With every ten Israeli lives lost, it will go after one hundred Hamas in retribution. This thing is not going to end any time soon, and Iran and the U.S. are ready for any excuse to go after each other.
I wish they could move the inauguration date up, because with respect to Obama being sworn in, I'll believe it when I see it.
Americans are hearing about it, but nobody really cares. I care.
The reason I care is because Iran is very very very anti Israel. And George Bush is very very pro Israel and very anti Iran. This is still in the embryonic stages, but I've said in the past that Bush really wants to go after Iran, and he's running out of time.
With Israel marching into Gaza, this will whip Iran into a frenzy. (click here to see what I mean). With Iran starting to roar, It will get involved on the Hamas side, and go after Israel. If Israel has some really unfortunate civilian casualties, that will be a P.R. coup for Iran to justify strong action against Israel.
And because the U.S. has (i believe rightfully) called Hamas a terrorist organization, and since the U.S. has declared war on terror, it will defend Israel against Hamas. Iran doesn't have nukes, thank goodness, but neither did Iraq. And look what we did saying that they 'might' get them someday.
Bush will pound his war drum saying that Iran must be stopped. What if a little nuke goes off before inauguration? Bush calls for a postponing of the inauguration due to national security issues, and we have a hell of a mess.
If you frequent my other blog, I've said that I felt pretty certain that the U.S. would be in a conflict with Iran before Bush is out of power. These are the stepping stones. I see it like this. With every palestinian life lost, Hamas will vow ten Israelis in retribution. With every ten Israeli lives lost, it will go after one hundred Hamas in retribution. This thing is not going to end any time soon, and Iran and the U.S. are ready for any excuse to go after each other.
I wish they could move the inauguration date up, because with respect to Obama being sworn in, I'll believe it when I see it.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
2009
I remember last year like it was yesterday. We had some friends over here at the ranch, and we all sat in the theater and watched Dick Clark's New Years. We all looked aghast at each other as the perpetually young Mr. Clark burble and babble, the unfortunate victim of a stroke. It was hard to watch, and amidst all of the hooping and hollering all of the revelers were doing at Times Square, I honestly wondered if they knew what 2008 was going to bring.
2008 is like when you discover a leak on your boat, and you know it is starting to gain water, but you don't know where the leak is, nor would you have the tools to fix it once you found it. We found the leak, and the leak was easy credit and a complete abandonment of reasonable expectations.
2009 is the year the ship sinks. There are 4 million homes about to enter foreclosure, and massive tax bailouts for companies that aren't viable. 2008 was the worst year in the stock market in 70ish years (since the Great Depression) and both job losses and house price losses are accelerating.
The world should not be about money and number of ipods or the latest cellphones, and this is a massive whap on the head reminder. But the loss of homes, retirement funds, insurance coverage, credit card use, etc. is not the reason 2009 is going to be a hell of a year. It's because of instability.
As I write this, Hamas and Israel are in full-scale attack. People are dressing up like Santa and shooting families. A woman who was about to have her home taken set it on fire with herself inside. The reason this happens is because people have lost hope, and feel that there are no options.
I submit that 2009 will be a far easier year to handle if you expect the absolute worst to happen, and lower your expectations drastically. I have a good idea what the markets and economy is going to do, and I'm pretty sure what is going to happen to the U.S. Dollar. And the loss of jobs. If you play this scenario in your head clearly, two things will happen: you will strike a balance between being prepared for tomorrow, as well as enjoying today because disaster hasn't really struck in full-force yet.
So for pre-visualization, here's what I expect for 2009:U.S. Real Estate - half of today's value. Stocks - hard to say. USD - collapse a lot. Job losses - huge.
So having said that, doesn't today feel like a comparatively nice day?
2008 is like when you discover a leak on your boat, and you know it is starting to gain water, but you don't know where the leak is, nor would you have the tools to fix it once you found it. We found the leak, and the leak was easy credit and a complete abandonment of reasonable expectations.
2009 is the year the ship sinks. There are 4 million homes about to enter foreclosure, and massive tax bailouts for companies that aren't viable. 2008 was the worst year in the stock market in 70ish years (since the Great Depression) and both job losses and house price losses are accelerating.
The world should not be about money and number of ipods or the latest cellphones, and this is a massive whap on the head reminder. But the loss of homes, retirement funds, insurance coverage, credit card use, etc. is not the reason 2009 is going to be a hell of a year. It's because of instability.
As I write this, Hamas and Israel are in full-scale attack. People are dressing up like Santa and shooting families. A woman who was about to have her home taken set it on fire with herself inside. The reason this happens is because people have lost hope, and feel that there are no options.
I submit that 2009 will be a far easier year to handle if you expect the absolute worst to happen, and lower your expectations drastically. I have a good idea what the markets and economy is going to do, and I'm pretty sure what is going to happen to the U.S. Dollar. And the loss of jobs. If you play this scenario in your head clearly, two things will happen: you will strike a balance between being prepared for tomorrow, as well as enjoying today because disaster hasn't really struck in full-force yet.
So for pre-visualization, here's what I expect for 2009:U.S. Real Estate - half of today's value. Stocks - hard to say. USD - collapse a lot. Job losses - huge.
So having said that, doesn't today feel like a comparatively nice day?
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