Socialism is Close at Hand

Judging from the lack of comments as of late I must be putting together crappy posts. Sorry if the material has not been interesting. I am really fond of the post Tuesday night where I put the idea:
"..there seems to be a real struggle right now trying to value insolvent banks. As their true value is of course ZERO, their value as a FED backstopped institution is unknown."
Watching the wild gyrations of the financial stocks seems to back up that line of reasoning. Anyways, hope the material is still entertaining and value adding.

Budweiser- Say It Will Not Happen!
The Belgian super sized brewer InBev submitted an unsolicited take over offer to Anheuser-Busch Co Inc. I am not going to comment on the deal, as I have zero interest in the details. I just want to go on record with the statement DO NOT CHANGE BUD PLEASE!. Yes, I am a Budweiser drinker. Yes, I know it is trendy to make fun of Bud and say it is piss and all that. I like it. I like the crisp taste. I love how consistent the beer is from package to package. I like UFO Heffenwizen, but every 3rd or 4th six pack tastes so bad I cannot drink it again for a while. Never happens with Bud. If InBev gets BUD, please do not change a thing.
Note: Late tonight the Mexican firm Modelo has said they have been approached by BUD as a possible blocking move to the InBev deal. I will keep an eye on this one!

Socialism Making a Deep Push Into the Collective Mindset
The key to making people as a group do something that you want, you nee to do two things:
1.) Make the desired outcome seem preferred to the group
2.) Limit or close off alternate options
This is how communism and socialism get a toehold. No sane person thinking rationally would ever choose socialism (or communism for that matter), yet Europe is dominated by socialists, and even modern day communists are just over eager socialists.

In America the whole capitalism thing is under attack right now because the rising prices of some items that people do not want to be more expensive is causing some irrational thought. The whole Bear Stearns bailout will be seen as THE inflection point where something got broken. The next step will be the housing price attempted floor setting.

Not to be outdone, why not just control, well, everything? Take a look at this headline and see how bad things have become:

Oil is too important to leave to market forces
A six-point plan is needed to see off the latest threat to the economic stability of the world
Anatole Kaletsky
Full Article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article4116318.ece

I will not even excerpt this terrible piece which basically says oil and gas are too important to let free markets decide the prices. Home prices were ok to let the markets set them as long as they were rising, but now not so much. Oil is an important world need, so more regulation is needed. You know the drill.

I am shocked daily at the kind of pure socialism thought that is rampant right now in the US. While I am a firm believer that you get exactly what you pay for as well as exactly what you deserve, I realize this was probably inevitable. It is still as sad process to watch though.

Raise Interest Rates
Today saw more talk about inflation and raising the FED rate in August, or September at the latest. Longtime readers know what I think of that line of thought, but just for new readers I will tell you what I think about the idea that the FED will be raising rates anytime this year:
NO WAY! and NO HOW!
Got that? The markets keep wriggling around as if some comments form some FED officials make policy. Actions speak louder than words and August will be here soon enough. We shall see who is right, and who is gullible.

Writing Interlude
I had recently come across a few poems that I remember from High School English written by the great Edwin Arlington Robinson. He wrote two that I remember clearly, "Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy". This remembrance also put me in the mind of the Edgar Lee Masters work "Spoon River Anthology" which I also loved, and am now in the market for a good copy of (preferably old and valuable). Here is "Richard Cory" for review:

Richard Cory
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich, richer than a king—
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

As always, I am open to Friday night entertainment ideas for the blog, so leave a comment.

Have a good night.