If you are wondering why the American economy can't get it in gear, it's because we are constantly being chased to the sidelines. The fabulously organized effort that sees a Vice President slip (how did same sex even become a topic that Sunday on Meet the Press) and then a President fess up (evolve means the winds changed enough to pay homage to his constituents plus there are more bonuses) to an article of how mean Mitt Romney was in boarding school for cutting the locks off a (supposedly) homosexual classmate. Everyone outside of old white folks that believe in God is a victim.

The planet
Spotted owls and Horned toads
Women
College Students
Retirees
Blacks
Latinos
Illegal immigrants
Gays
Lesbians
Union workers

I think someone ran the numbers and said if we can cobble together enough special interest groups or victims groups we can stay in power forever. I saw the Avengers this weekend and it's the exact opposite. Instead of telling great people with amazing gifts they are warriors and should stand tall and make it happen, the narrative from the White House to Meet the Press is you are all under attack and only the government can save you. Moreover, in addition to saving you, any transgressions or mistakes on your part will be overlooked. From unprotected sex to dropping out of high school, you shouldn't be burdened with the worst possible outcome. If we can kill off the Republicans, we'll all dine on manna from rich folks and evil corporations.

For generations, the best individual investment anyone could make was a college degree. Now it's talked about like a curse because it costs a lot of money. It's an investment and it comes with no guarantees, but you would rather have that degree and $200,000 in debt than a high school diploma and no debt. In the meantime, we are supposed to be pissed at JP Morgan for losing $2.0 billion. If they always won, would we say the game was rigged? If you can't lose on a hedge then we wouldn't ever need them. The real deal is it's a chase for those that hate Wall Street to scream murder and those that backed the bail out to save face. The scheme didn't work and will never work.

If you don't want Wall Street to take excessive risk then stop bailing them out.

Perpetuating Victimhood
The thing about creating a mindset of victimization is you have to stoke it from time to time. It doesn't take a lot of work but you have to ring fence possibilities of things getting better beyond higher minimum wage and longer term unemployment. What if the victims see a different light - one that says you don't have to cower and in fact you can take advantage of the greatness of this nation rather than hating those that are climbing that ladder of success? This is the battle liberals have with keeping black people, especially young men, cowering for crumbs. Make no mistake, selling government versus self-reliance has been a huge win for liberals but there is a dilemma.

Rap music

Of course there's the violence, misogyny and every other word is the "n" word. But that's not what bothers liberals, and to be honest, I'm not sure it ever really did. Sure Tipper Gore made a name for herself, but the richer she and Al got the less I heard from her, although if she were ever left waiting for her delayed private jet because Jay Z jumped the line, she could get offended again. In the meantime, there is a campaign to re-domesticate the black man. This is like the left's version of Jim Crow. They can't legally stop these rappers from spitting lyrics about being and getting rich so they will intensify the negative campaign. I don't think it's going to work, but you never know.

I read an article in FT this weekend that complained about luxury rap that has propelled Kanye West and others to the top of the heap. It begins with how West took over the entire top floor of one of London's most prestigious hotels, relegating members of the royal family to lower floors. The article talks about the weed and the noise, but the heart of the matter is how rap has moved from its roots. In other words, how could these guys be talking about fabulous wealth and living the ultimate high life when black unemployment is so high? Of course, the article was sprinkled with the usual stuff about the 99% and the insensitivity of Kanye and company.

"In a time of economic hardship we are bedazzled by the way it conflates black power and wealth worship. It's a document of our times, an expression of a broken system we don't want to fix. Up there on the top floor, "the voice of this generation" does indeed have a message for the rest of us."

If rap music consisted of crying about racism and the mean world where there is no mobility, we would never hear a peep from the media. But all of a sudden, black people are starting to think they can have nice stuff ... I'm mean real nice stuff. This past Saturday there were more dark skinned people Mother's Day shopping at Louis Vuitton than white people. On one hand, I think it's dangerous for anyone to buy things they can't afford, but on the other hand, why shouldn't the sky or Louis be the limit?

Well, the more people that think they can own this stuff the less they will be satisfied with food stamps and public housing. Make no mistake, luxury rap is more dangerous to poverty pimps and the left than "gangsta" rap ever was.

The article quotes Chuck D from Public Enemy as the voice of reason, and while his street creed is impeccable, I like music that celebrates success more than killing policemen. The fact is only a handful of people knew about rap before I did as I hung out at a particular McDonald's in the Bronx in the mid 1970s that was one of the first spots to create the genre. I think rap grew out of music like James Brown's "Black and I'm Proud" and from Muhammad Ali boasting that he was the greatest at a time when a black servant in movies was afraid to the go to cellar because it was dark. It came from the same drive that made graffiti the voice of a generation.

I always loved the notion of someone getting on the microphone and saying I'm great and I don't need to wait for the powers that be that think all leading men and women look the same to provide the stamp of approval. Of course, it hasn't always been smooth sailing as rap's message of economic freedom is muffled with the notion that it's possible by dropping out of school. Plus, there isn't enough room for everyone to rap or play ball. Like I said, I hate the "n" word riddles in every song these days and some of the lyrics are just plain dumb. But I love the American Dream that includes owning a passport and traveling around the world. Particularly as Al Sharpton whines that a lack of identification is a racist plot.

Huddled Masses

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore...
Emma Lazarus

America once welcomed the rest of the world through its golden door lit by the torch of the Statue of Liberty, but these days we are being told we are all the huddled masses. That somehow we are the wretched refuse living in fear of a guy that used to bully kids in prep school. How can America regain its greatness if we are told greatness is a bad thing in the first place? How can we ignite the economy when we are told consumerism is vulgar?

How can we spark that engine when we are all hiding and waiting, when so many special interest groups are being told the glow they see isn't from a torch of liberty but the evil aspects of capitalism?

This is the new New Colossus, a country being ripped apart through a campaign of fear and envy. A country that creates new victim groups while trying to hold down old victim groups that might spin out of the grips of victimization.

When the media spends its time saying the worst thing about an ass like Kanye West is flaunting his wealth and the worst problem in the nation is that Mitt Romney might have been a jerk in high school, we are all in a lot of trouble. We are nothing more than a bunch of huddled masses.

Today's Session

The media spent all weekend hammering away at the JP Morgan trade, trying desperately to make a mountain out of a molehill. JP Morgan invented the CDO and is supposedly the best on the street at understanding and managing risk, so in that regard, maybe this whole thing is newsworthy, but a 2% loss on a given trade isn't a big deal or atypical. I didn't hear one person discuss simply never bailing out banks again. Instead the idea is to castrate the banks in a way that saps their vigor and independence. I'm not sure how this latest salvo on banks, profits, and risk will help the economy.

But this is a not-so-veiled attempt to provide an excuse to nationalize banks. The reason we don't break them up is because politicians salivate over the prospect of controlling them. This is really dumb. It's a white swan event. In the meantime while we are rubbernecking JP Morgan, which is like slowing down on the highway to watch someone change a flat tire there is a pile up ahead that could slow progress for years. The Europe disaster is getting worse, again. Spain and Italy raised money, but it wasn't cheap. Yields are now:

6.23% Spain
5.86% Italy

None of this news changes the fundamentals at many companies that are doing great things, but all stocks will be punished today. This is what we want, although not easy or pain-free, this is when we get the chance to buy great names at discounts. That said, I'm not forcing the issue because we know cheap can always get cheaper especially when all the attention is focused on the wrong area.

Comments

Of course. But in today's world turned upside down? Better below the radar until the terror is over. I just read Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities" again. Funny how 18th Century Paris mob is so much like the Occupy/Liberal mob today dominating our politics. How is it that nobody then "got" the irony of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity or Death? Maybe it's just the French, but I suspect it is the nature of jealous fanatics. kevin kehoe on 5/14/2012 9:50:57 AM

Today's climate of villifying the successful makes coming public questionable. It feels like anyone who is successful now has a target painted on their back by someone who wasn't willing to work as hard. Or, they were only successful because they stepped on the backs of others and thus should pay for it in higher taxes or other penalties. Somehow, their success belongs to the collective not themselves. Scott Heck on 5/14/2012 9:56:50 AM

Charles, since two billion dollars was "lost", then who found it? who earned it? who were the winners? Or are we to think it just evaporated and no one benefitted? James Carley on 5/14/2012 10:13:59 AM

The Democrats' triangulation strategy is based on the classic dramatic triangle of victim-rescuer-persecutor used in the old silent movies, where the villain initially poses as a rescuer in order to seduce the heroine, who becomes the victim until the handsome hero comes along to untie her from the railroad tracks. Romney and Obama are perfectly cast in today's V-R-P triangle. What Romney clearly has to do is act like a real hero, successfully unveil the predations of the real persecutor, and clearly point the way to genuine success, happiness, freedom for today's victims. If he fails, they are looking at permanent serfdom to the welfare state. By the way, in this scenario, the rich -- including all those misguided celebs -- are often willing victims, too. It's their money that keeps the V-R-P drama going. In their counter-attack, the Republicans need to paint a mustache on Obama. That's the trademark of the true villain. Dennis Howard on 5/14/2012 10:16:13 AM

They should stand tall with pride! Linda on 5/14/2012 10:25:08 AM

Is there no other choice? Must one either hide in secret or flaunt their riches? How about living in the open with restraint, sensibility, perspective, and compassion for orhers? When you speak of self-made success, my mind does not include the new entertainment industry. In this new industry, stars shoot to riches without growing to any maturity or developing any attributes worthy of respect. There is a huge difference between an angry rapper who gets rich by expressing the lust and greed of a generation of lazy fools and a person who recognizes an opportunity to produce something of value and works hard to make it happen. In that comparison, you can include Mr. Obama in the former group. He does not get respect because he has never produced anything of value, not even a smart piece of legislation during his brief unproductive time as a senator. How this differs from the stars of old, the ones who worked at their craft for years perfecting excellence. People like Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Sidney Poitier, and Myrna Loy put in the years perfecting their craft before the days of instant riches just for being a slut or foul-mouthed jerk. On a different subject, has a college degree changed in value over the past few years? Society does not pay extra for a degree, but rather pays extra for unique ability. At one point in our history, that extra ability was identified by association with finishing high school. When I graduated college, you could get paid very well for having a BS with a very good GPA. Now, an MS is needed to be considered distinct. Soon, it may be that even an MS from a second tier school is mundane. I was responsible for hiring and supervising more than 100 engineers and technicians during my career. What I learned is that a degree is a poor indicator of value in the field. There were many who had a degree who could not do the work. I even interviewed one young lady who had a 4.0 GPA (out of 4.0 max), but who could not work the simplest problems I could give her. She could not even begin to do analysis of problems using the basics of engineering befause she had gotten a degree without an education. The question is not whether it is better to have a big debt and a BS or neither. The question is about who you are and how you can excel. For some, that may be with an 8 year advanced degree which gives them a mass of facts at their disposal (medicine, engineering, astrophysics, etc.). For others, it may not require years of formal traing, but rather a couple years of trade school and then apprenticeship to become a master craftsman. Society needs both and will reward both, but will only consistently reward either when the job is well done. The question is not about how big the investment and the debt, but rather one of who a person is and what is the right path for that person. It is often used as atrite phrase or an excuse for perverted behavior, but there is also a lot truth in "Be the best you that you can be". Bob G on 5/14/2012 10:55:55 AM

Liberals spout off when J P Morgan loses two billion but say nothing when the USPS loses four billion of taxpayer dollars jepwill on 5/14/2012 11:01:36 AM

Self-made millionaires should neither revel nor hide, they should simply thank God for their good fortunes. The rest of us should remember a few simple admonitions with which most of us are familiar: thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not kill. You see, when you get back to the basics everything is so very straight forward. It was good enough for our founders and framers. Perhaps we should learn from History. George on 5/14/2012 11:20:44 AM

NO, why should they hide. They have worked hard to make the fortune. They should be proud then mentor others to do the same. That is what this Country was founded on Bob Medkeff on 5/14/2012 11:20:59 AM

Charles, a point you should make to Dagen :- If she thinks the banks should be regulated because of the $2bn JPM loss simply because taxpayers bailed them out in the past, what regulation does she suggest gets put in place, if any, on the Whitehouse when they risk taxpayer money on investments , such as medical research projects, or military R&D projects, or alternative energy projects (e.g. solar) and lose billions of $ in the process...seems she is quick to jump on the banks but is happy to give the white house carte blanche Graham on 5/14/2012 11:29:05 AM

I think if all candidates only talked about what they could do to improve the lives of the American people and stopped throwing mud and digging up old baloney we would all be better off. Also while on the subject I think we should limit the time for campaigning to three months before the election so the public can have a little peace. My thoughts for the day. Evelyn Lantz on 5/14/2012 12:09:16 PM

If JP Morgan lost $2 Billion...That usually means someone gained $2 Million???? ERic on 5/14/2012 12:33:28 PM

Superb article as usual. As to the question about millionaires... "Discretion is the better part of valor" tom wayne on 5/14/2012 1:47:55 PM

worse than the decadence of the idle rich is the militancy of the idle poor meyerhoff on 5/14/2012 2:01:06 PM

It's up to them. If they want to keep their financial information private, it's their right. If they like getting their life details out in public, there could be some inspiring message in their story. The same is true for other great achievements besides amassing wealth. Patricia Flynn on 5/14/2012 2:52:43 PM

Will you vote for President Obama again? Thank you. Betty on 5/14/2012 4:12:03 PM

Success breeds success. The American Dream is all about making a success of life in every regard, living up to one's potential and contributing our talents to the benefit of ourselves and others. That won't happen if we're willing to allow "the elite ruling class" of Obama and his Czars to decide (while they're out playing golf) how big each citizen's piece of the "pie" should be. Those satisfied with that false sense of security don't need to live in America--any third world country will do. You, Charles, understand (as does Romney) the "pie" can be as big as we want it to be, as big as the collective contributions(achievements) of empowered, inspired individuals make it. As we each "cook up" our contribution (business), the pie gets bigger, and we get to choose how big a piece we'd like. As the most generous nation in the world, we then share and benefit the world as we always have--not from a position of deficit spending, but through our hard work and personal responsibility, rewarded by success and prosperity! Linda Titcomb on 5/15/2012 1:32:31 AM

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