By Bill Bonner
The US stock benchmarks were flat on Friday. Too many office parties. Too many distractions. Too many investors with no clue.
"Is the news good or bad?" they asked. "Is that good or bad for asset prices?"
Having no good answer, they let the week pass without showing much conviction one way or another.
So let's move on...
The problem with most people is that they aren't cynical enough. A little more distrust... or at least suspicion, combined with sneering contempt... would help them understand how things work.
A Bum Plan
We say that after reading the latest arguments about Obamacare...
"Errors Continue to Plague Government Health Site," was the top story in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. In the newspapers... and all across the World Wide Web... people are grousing and sniping at Obama's new healthcare program. They don't understand how it could be so mismanaged... so complicated... and so incoherent.
But what did they expect?
The Affordable Care Act is not designed to help anyone live longer or to lower the cost of healthcare.
You may care about those things. But the people who run the government have their own motives and incentives. And they are not the same as yours. Instead, they aim to satisfy a more basic desire of government: to control people and transfer wealth.
The failures of Obamacare may not make much sense to the earnest world-improver.
But the cynic sees it more clearly. He knows the real aim of Obamacare is to take wealth and power from one group – the public – and give it to the lobbyists who wrote the legislation; the politicians and professionals who will manage it; and the crony capitalists who will benefit from it most.
In other words, cynicism helps you connect the dots.
The US stock benchmarks were flat on Friday. Too many office parties. Too many distractions. Too many investors with no clue.
"Is the news good or bad?" they asked. "Is that good or bad for asset prices?"
Having no good answer, they let the week pass without showing much conviction one way or another.
So let's move on...
The problem with most people is that they aren't cynical enough. A little more distrust... or at least suspicion, combined with sneering contempt... would help them understand how things work.
We say that after reading the latest arguments about Obamacare...
"Errors Continue to Plague Government Health Site," was the top story in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. In the newspapers... and all across the World Wide Web... people are grousing and sniping at Obama's new healthcare program. They don't understand how it could be so mismanaged... so complicated... and so incoherent.
But what did they expect?
The Affordable Care Act is not designed to help anyone live longer or to lower the cost of healthcare.
You may care about those things. But the people who run the government have their own motives and incentives. And they are not the same as yours. Instead, they aim to satisfy a more basic desire of government: to control people and transfer wealth.
The failures of Obamacare may not make much sense to the earnest world-improver.
But the cynic sees it more clearly. He knows the real aim of Obamacare is to take wealth and power from one group – the public – and give it to the lobbyists who wrote the legislation; the politicians and professionals who will manage it; and the crony capitalists who will benefit from it most.
In other words, cynicism helps you connect the dots.
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