Person of the Year?

Beginning on June 18th 2002 in East Central Arizona, a wildfire burned and was not controlled until July 7th 2002. It was the worst forest fire in Arizona’s recorded history to date, consuming 467,000 acres of woodland. In addition, several local communities were threatened and had to be evacuated. In actuality, there were two separate fires that combined into one. The first was set by a stranded motorist, trying to signal to a news helicopter. Understandable but stupid. The second, the Rodeo fire, was set by an arsonist who worked as a seasonal fire fighter. He told investigators he set two fires that morning (the first was quickly put out) in hopes of getting hired by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for a quick response fire crew position. He had previously worked as a BIA fire crew member, and was indeed among the first to be called in order to fight the Rodeo fire.

Now, let’s shift gears for a moment. The Federal Reserve, a clandestine and questionable organization at best, has created every bubble since the mid 1990’s. (I don’t have time to tell you what they’ve done since inception, that’s another story.) First, it was the dot com expansion with semi-loose lending practices. Next, it was the encouragement of subprime lending, with interest rates at a ridiculously low 1%. Now, it’s the Wall Street big banks world-at-large-printing-press-gone-crazy-carry-trade-bailout, with interest rates again at 1% to 0.25%.

The maestro of this financial catastrophe was Allen Greenspan. But in lock step, as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and now Chairman of the Federal Reserve, was the newly chosen 2009 Time Magazine Person of the Year, Ben Bernanke. It seems as though the job of the Fed is to create a bubble, and then become the rescuer by creating an even greater bubble. It would appear the thinking is that the American public will only be looking backwards and grateful and not looking forward to what is coming next. Well, maybe they’re right. Did you see the dot com crash coming? Did you foresee the subprime meltdown? Do you believe the credit crisis is about to implode, and be worse than either of the past two bubbles combined? Of course not, you’re hopeful and optimistic. So am I. But facts are facts.

I’m sure the fireman in Arizona didn’t imagine what havoc he created. Perhaps he thought it was all in everyone’s best interest. We know the result. I’m sure Ben Bernanke is hopeful, but Person of the Year? Maybe they should have named the arsonist as Fireman of the Year. Oh well, Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize, and rumor has it that Tiger Woods will be named Husband of the Year!

Till next time,

Bill


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