Falling back to the next line of trenches...

The continuing drama of my whole lifetime has been watching left-leaning types repeatedly fall back from one position to another, in their quest for an alternative, any alternative, to the marketplace. Of course there have been the actual socialist revolutions that have come one after another, each with it's cohort of romantically-garbed young westerners going off for a few weeks to "work with the peasants," or to be in "solidarity" with the workers, or some such crap. Then all of them coming back to scorn the corruptions of capitalism while sitting around smugly in some gourmet restaurant in Berkeley or Ann Arbor. (Berkeley, if you are not aware, is now a notable center of gourmet cuisine...all "natural" and organic, of course. Berkeley lefties demonstrate their superiority to mere Americans by eating lettuces no one else has even heard of.)

Besides the 'revolutions," there have also been a series of experiments in government control and "guidance" of capitalism. Each one of which has been ballyhooed by those who hate free markets. Each one of which was certain to doom the disorganized and selfish American variety of capitalism to second-rate status within a decade or two. Remember Japan Inc, and the wise mandarins of MITI? Remember the "German economic miracle?" And supposedly China is going to be next--ha ha, I'm SO worried. AND, just a couple of months ago the EU, with its strong Euro, was the coming powerhouse.

And guess who pushed his chips onto the table, and bet against America? Warren Buffett:

...Buffet, who reportedly lifted his bet against the buck to a position of $22 billion and counting in the first quarter this year, isn’t sounding quite so smug anymore. Normally an equity investor with liberal social views who rarely made forays into the foreign exchange markets, he has had his head handed to him by more experienced currency players. Although his anti-dollar attack worked from 2002 through 2004, since then he has been forced to pay for attempting to mix politics and money...(Thanks to OJ).

Life can be frustrating, but these last few years have been giving me a lot of sweet moments...

Update: Here's PowerLine on some of the books predicting that the EU was the coming superpower. From last year! Look for them on remainder tables everywhere...