Woe are the global markets...

Interesting. Today, I heard on NBC Nightly News that markets in countries all over the world sustained large drops in value today (the US markets showed no change for the holiday). The media talking heads blamed it on the coming multi-billion dollar Bush economic expansion plan. You know, the one where the mainstream media have been moaning that perhaps as much as $800 will be distributed to each taxpayer? I've got a number of related thoughts about all of this, so bear with me.

(1) Why are those that don't pay any taxes at all bitching about not getting a tax refund? They didn't pay in, so how could they believe that they are possibly entitled to any refund? It's like stealing something from a store, and then being outraged that the store won't give "your" money back when you return it.

(2) So the mainstream media were all gloom-and-doom about tomorrow's market activity. Something tells me that, while the market has been very volatile lately, that there won't be much change. In fact, it may rise. Remember, the prime mover for any market is consumption. If the Bush plan puts money in the hands of those who are most likely to spend it right away, that money is going to come right back into our market. Though the media aren't willing to say anything about the results of the 2001 economic stimulus that Bush pushed through, the results were fairly grand, considering the market environment of the time. This will increase the purchasing power of our dollar against the other markets.

(3) Why in hell are we letting President Bush or any other government crony hold our purse strings for us? Even though I believe that giving money back to those that pay it is a good thing, I don't believe that they should be confiscating it at all. I don't need anyone telling me how to spend my money... what I work hard for everyday. That's why I support the FairTax.

(4) Related to this are the issues of illegal immigration, job deportation, and unemployment. To keep it simple: Employees join unions thinking that the unions are looking out for their best interests. The unions negotiate contracts increasing wages for their workers (in essence, buying their support) without taking into consideration any performance-based incentives. The unionized jobs become overpaid and the work output becomes sloppy. The companies find themselves in an unsustainable position. The companies fold, putting these highly paid union workers out of jobs.

These former employees, who are today's unionized workers, are unwilling to do what they have to do to make ends meet, in other words, they will not accept a lower-paying job so that they can make ends meet in the meantime. Illegals, who are willing to work these lower-paying jobs, because they are better than they had before, create a market for themselves with the companies. Those companies that cannot find reasonably priced labor are forced to deport their jobs to countries with lower costs of living to stay afloat. This causes the US markets then suffer overall.

And the cycle continues until it is interrupted properly. The proper way to interrupt it is for everyone to use their heads and not join unions. This goes hand in hand with people learning that they should be paid based on their skills and performance. Good luck getting today's employees who believe everything should be handed to them on a silver platter to understand that.

This is basic economics, folks. No rocket science, here.