Who Ya Gonna Call: Bubble Busters by Jonathan Vander Veen

Obama the Bubble Buster

Turns out Obama has the power to regulate market bubbles. He is going to make sure that we never have to experience the effects of a market bubble again. According to Obama, he is going to end the “cycle of bubble and bust.” This guy truly is amazing! I mean, this guy is amazing enough to control the entire American economy. There is no sector that this guy cannot handle and control, there is no industry that will be able to hide from this guy and produce obscene profits for so many, there is nothing that is too complicated for him to solve.

Wait a minute; has Obama described what a ‘market bubble’ is? Is there a limit as to how many people can enter into a specific market and capitalize on it? Is there a limit as to how much money that can be made in a specific industry before Obama shuts it down? Is there a limit as to how many businesses that can exist in a specific industry before Obama closes it off from other entrepreneurs? Is he going to halt the trading of stocks if the market moves up for too many consecutive days?

What is he going to do? How is he going to do it? What is Obama’s definition of a ‘market bubble’? What will happen to investors? What will happen to entrepreneurs? What will happen to prices? What will happen to choices? What will happen to our freedom?

Is every single person on his economic team an idiot? This whole thing is ridiculous. This whole idea of Obama’s is actually quite scary; I am truly afraid for the future of this country. I am afraid for my family and friends. I am afraid for investors and entrepreneurs. I am afraid.

If excessive government regulation is supposed to be so great for an economy that it will never experience market bubbles again, why is that just about every single nation on the planet that has tried excessive government regulation has either failed or performed much better after government regulations have been lifted? Why have the people of these countries, even Sweden, eventually demanded a more conservative government with less government regulation?

Because it does not work! Excessive government and excessive government regulation is not the answer.

Obama and his team of ‘experts’ do not have the wisdom, know how, skills, and abilities to control the largest and most powerful economy on the planet. Trying to do so will only cause panic, chaos, and destruction of this great and wonderful country. The economy cannot be controlled by a small group and end up being as great as it could be. Sure, maybe he can create an economy that never has a bubble (I seriously doubt it though), but what will that economy look like? We would be looking at no growth to, at best, anemic growth for our economy. But who wants to stay at this level forever? It is like someone deciding to stay at their first job earning minimum wage (that never increases) at a job that is not likely to be taken away from them because if they move up the ranks and make more money there might be a small amount of risk being laid off one day.

There are so many complications that go along with Obama attempting to halt the development of market bubbles. What will investors and entrepreneurs do if Obama decides to over-regulate an industry because there might be the risk of a bubble? They are going to do the smart thing, and that would be to back off and not get involved. So eventually what you will get is every major market being controlled by the government because private investors and entrepreneurs will not risk competing with the government.

Without private investors and entrepreneurs in the markets we will see the end of innovation here in America. Without innovation we will lose our status as being the greatest economic power on the planet. We will lose future products that will make our lives easier and make us and our companies more efficient. We will lose technologies that will lead to improved health care and more comfortable living standards. We will lose everything that goes in to making America and Americans the greatest country and the greatest people in the world.

We will also lose are ability to choose from the best possible products on the market if Obama tries to regulate market bubbles. This will happen as a direct result of investors and entrepreneurs leaving the major industries. Once they leave, we are left only with what the government has allowed to exist in that particular market. It is competition from numerous entrepreneurs that provides us with the ability to choose from a variety of products within a market, and not only that, but we are able to choose from the very best of what is out there. Competition provides for the best possible option at the best possible price.

And what about prices? I guess that Obama will be setting those. Market prices will no longer exist, only Obama prices. With Obama controlled prices, once again we will see entrepreneurs leave the market because the prices that Obama will set will most likely not be the market price. This means that entrepreneurs will not be able to make the sort of profits that they could if Obama never got involved. If entrepreneurs are not making those profits, they are not expanding their businesses and not hiring new and more employees.

Obama prices will most likely also hurt the consumer. What if a bubble begins to occur? Well, Obama will step in and raise those prices to a level that will keep thousands, if not millions of consumers from participating in the market. Since his only goal will be to keep bubbles from occurring, he is going to have to raise the prices much more dramatically than what we would see if the naturally occurring market forces were allowed to roam free. In the end, everyone will be hurt by these Obama price controls.

Another major negative affect of Obama’s attempts to regulate market bubbles is that our freedoms will be taken from us. We will not have the ability to choose, we will not have the ability to be involved, we will not have the ability to make the type of profits that we should be able to, we will not have the ability to invest, we will lose so many freedoms that I am afraid to even imagine what it would be like. Obama will tell us when we can buy a house and how much we can pay for it, Obama will tell us how much we can be paid to work in a specific industry, Obama will decide how many people will be employee in a specific industry, Obama will have to try to take over our entire economy if he is going to regulate future market bubbles. Once he takes over our economy, he will have taken over our freedoms.

Now, I understand that there are losers when bubbles burst. I saw my tech stocks lose 60% back in 2001. I am currently seeing the effects of the bursting of the housing bubble. But, unfortunately, there are risks in the world in which we live. Because there are risks, individuals, consumers, investors, homeowners, entrepreneurs, and everyone else out there needs to be sure that they are always aware of what is going on within the economy around them. Investors need to be aware of what might happen when you invest in an industry that has risen more than 300% in the last five years, homeowners need to be aware of what might happen if the value of their home has risen more than 100% in the last three years and then decide to borrow from that to go out and buy an RV and a boat, speculators need to be aware of the risks of purchasing numerous properties when the market has been rising for six years, and so on.

Even though there are some losers, there are also winners. Sure there are those who saw the signs and got out early, but there are also those who see the potential after the bubble has burst. After the stock market crashes, there are always excellent companies out there with stocks priced at a value that one might not ever see again. The bursting of the bubble has now allowed someone who might not have ever invested in the stock market to purchase a number of great stocks at great prices.

For those looking to purchase a home, there are currently opportunities that did not exist a couple of years ago. A young couple who, just a few years ago, never thought they could buy their own home now has numerous opportunities to buy the house that they have dreamed about and also in the neighborhood of their choice. Don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for those who are losing their home, but their loss has provided an opportunity for someone else to take advantage of.

The bursting of a bubble does hurt some, but if you only take a minute to look over the past, you will see that the bursting of bubbles have provided us with some of the best growth opportunities that have ever existed. Entrepreneurs come in and pick up the assets of failed businesses and turn them into something great. New investors buy stock and bring the market back up again. New homeowners come in and purchase homes at great values, bringing the values of homes back up again. Individuals who were working as a mid level executive who lost their job because of the bursting of the bubble finally decided to start their own company and be their own boss and create new jobs by hiring other employees. Not all is bad when a market bubble bursts. There is actually a lot of good that happens afterward and a lot of opportunities are taken advantage of, opportunities that might not have ever existed if the bubble never burst.

Let me write this next paragraph in the same way that Obama would say it if he were giving a speech:

Number one: Obama needs to realize that he cannot control the markets, no matter how many ‘experts’ he has working for him

Number two: Obama’s intervening in the market will only make things worse, affecting each and every one of us

Number three: Who is Obama to determine what a ‘market bubble’ is and when it is about to develop

Number four: Market forces, competition, innovation, the entrepreneurial spirit, and just a good old fashioned work ethic that make this country greater than Obama can even imagine it being will be destroyed

Number five: Consumers would be hurt by higher prices and fewer goods

Number six: Investors would be hurt by excessive regulation on industry

Number seven: The country would suffer like it has never suffered before

I hope that Obama is not serious when he talks about regulating the markets. There will only be one outcome to this: a failed economy. Each individual market of the overall macro-economy knows what is best for its own market, not Obama. Obama needs to learn to have a little faith in the people rather than with these so-called ‘experts’ that he wants to have control our economy. We need to let Obama know that we do not want him to destroy our lives and our futures and our children’s futures; we need to tell him to stay out of our economy and let us choose on our own and let our freedoms reign.

The funny thing about this whole bubble thing is that I am willing to put up all of my assets that the next bubble to hit our market is a green or alternative energy bubble. And the funniest thing about that is that Obama is going to be responsible for creating it. Obama is pushing green energy and has promised to “bankrupt” anybody who decides to build a coal-powered plant. Also, much of his anti-stimulus package is going to create ‘green’ jobs. And if that is not enough, Obama and his liberal allies are still able to fool millions of people into believing that global warming is being caused by man even though much of the evidence goes against that argument.

So in the end, you have an industry that is being followed by millions of people that are being suckered into believing that ‘global warming’ is caused by man, a foolish Hollywood that believes and promotes the same thing, the only industry being supported by Obama and the government, a heavily subsidized industry, an industry that is being funded by this ridiculous stimulus package, and one of the only industries that is not going to see excessive taxes by the government. This is a fantastic recipe for a future market bubble.

This whole idea is completely foolish. Obama as a ‘bubble buster’ is just as believable as Obama being a ‘ghost buster’. Please do not fall for any of this. I don’t care how many people out there are blinded by Obama’s false hope, he is not more powerful than the American free market. Even though, he still does have the ability to severely hurt this economy of ours. The sooner that we stand against his destructive ideas, the better chance that our children and grandchildren have of surviving his policies.