Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Legendary Investor Jeremy Grantham: America is a Banana Republic


Legendary investor Jeremy Grantham (co-founder and chief investment strategist of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo - one of the largest fund managers in the world, having more than US $107 billion in assets under management as of December 2010) writes:

So now (July 30), the U.S. – with a dysfunctional Congress – has to decide between two of the ugliest choices seen in a long time. Should they cut government expenditures and therefore cut aggregate demand at a time of a critically weak economy on the cusp, perhaps, of a double dip? Or should they do nothing and allow a technical default, compromising the integrity of the dollar and sending a powerful signal to the world that the U.S., at least for now, is not a serious country and is probably past its prime. Ouch! Nobly trying to resolve this impasse, a small chunk of Republicans has seized the mantle of blackmailers and turned out to be very good at it. Certainly too good for President No-Show. Come to think of it, the choice was between technical default and looking like a Banana Republic and technical blackmail and looking like a Banana Republic! Just different bananas perhaps?

He's right ... the U.S. has become a banana republic with no bananas.

Previous Grantham quotes:



2 comments:

  1. My solution, or budget for the U.S. involves deficit reduction and a jobs program.

    1. I believe that we should not spend beyond our means, so we should reduce total spending so that we do not go more into debt. The fact that we can print money or have gone into debt in the past is something we can no longer do.

    2. The entitlement programs have to do with the young, the sick, and the old, and any government which is an entity formed to do things for those who cannot help themselves, must maintain the expected supports.

    3. There is no need for the U.S. to be at war in the world, so the military must be cut, possibly by 50%, or more in order to keep within our spending limitations.

    4. The fact that the corporations of America have bled the country dry makes it necessary to stop prefering the owners, and hereafter prefer the workers. Therefore, any company that violates the law or requires bailout from public funds will forfeit some large part of its ownership to the public. The issue in this country is not jobs, it is ownership.

    5. The country has been infected with parasites, and that is why it has come to this sorry state, so hereafter, the people must see to it that these parasites no longer buy off its politicians, infiltrate its regulatory agencies, or write the laws for their own narrow profit.

    Seems simple enough to say, ...be a free people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marbury vs Madison is the remedy for all of this. Why hasn't Roberts used it to protect all our property from this pillaging by a few? And, why is it nobody ever talks about the obligation for their paycheques and pensions by this 3rd branch to keep the other 2 in check when things go so awry? There seems to be a collective air head leak here! How can we hold them accountable when there exists such a rampant air head leak? Memorize this: "Judicial Review"! Have a Dustin Hoffman moment...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison

    ReplyDelete

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