Quick Thoughts on the Economy

As an exercise in brevity, some things that occurred to me while watching political TV and reading the blogs:

• An economic expert is one who provides the arguments that allow me to get what I want. An incompetent economist is one that says I can’t have it.
• The entire argument is based on need. The financial sector needed capital, the automakers need money to get through this situation (however long that is), the country needs the auto industry not to collapse.
• I hope someone is asking just what it is that is going to make any of these sectors come out of the spin. They aren’t going to do it because we need them to.
• If a company is borrowing money to build a factory, that’s hopeful. If a company is borrowing substantially to cover cash flow, that’s dangerous. It doesn’t change if the government is lending the money.
• It’s interesting to see the difference between the folks in the white house and those in congress. Bush is asking for things that a very similar to what Obama wants; congressional Republicans want to say no. (I’m with the congressional Republicans on this, though I doubt they’ll be at all consistent.)

It doesn’t look good!