Weekend Economists Going to the Dickens December 16-18, 2011

[Demeter]

26. Man for All Seasons By Bill Bonner

http://dailyreckoning.com/man-for-all-seasons/

The Daily Reckoning has no voice in the US presidential elections. But we will nevertheless declare a preference. Were he to toss his hat in the ring, we would line up behind former Senator Jon Corzine. The ex-Goldman chief has the experience that America needs. He has been a front-runner in politics…and in the world of finance, what he doesn’t know about front running is probably not worth knowing. Presuming, however, that Corzine will be too busy fending off lawsuits or jail sentences, our next choice is Republican Newt Gingrich. Of course, we find him completely repulsive, who wouldn’t? But we believe he’s the man of the hour. History needs him, to carry on the work of Bush and Obama, hustling the great nation on its way to Hell.

It is rare for a decent man to seek public office. He is ashamed of pandering. He is embarrassed by the stupidity of his own slogans. He is appalled by the low-lifes and quasi criminals with whom he must associate and from whom he must beg support...They are all swarming around Newt Gingrich now. The handlers, pollsters, word polishers, idea chiselers, fund raisers, donors, hangers on, groupies, roadies — carpet-bagging rascals every one of them. Now they’ve got the scent in their nostrils. Their chests heave. The hearts pump. If they can just keep their man Newt from blowing himself up they’ll be in high cotton for at least 4 years. One will head a commission or a cushy seat at the UN. Another will get a contract to provide the pentagon with new ID badges. Another will ride into a remote Congressional seat on Newt’s coattails. Power. Money. If Newt wins, they win. Newt’s women will think themselves smarter and prettier. The men among them will feel their most private part growing bigger.

American presidential candidates generally fall into three categories. Those who are obviously incompetent. Those who are scalawags. And those who are jackasses. The job of the voters is to choose the defect most suited to the time...Gingrich is their man. A letter in The Financial Times compared him to Churchill. He compares himself to de Gaulle. Both are correct, in our view. He is as humble as de Gaulle and at least as competent as Churchill. He is a cad who reportedly told his second wife that she was too old and too ugly to be a president’s wife. He is a scoundrel who took $1.8 million from zombie mortgage lender, Freddie Mac. He makes angels weep; the gods get their backs up. So cometh Newt Gingrich to the Republican race. If you’re dumb enough, you think he’s smart. If you’re corrupt enough, you think he is honest. If you compare him to the field of candidates, he doesn’t seem any more asinine than the rest.

He is incompetent, scalawag and jackass all in one package. A man for all seasons. Most importantly, he is committed to keeping America on course to its own destruction. The US already runs the biggest deficits in the developed world. Gingrich would add to them — by about $850 billion, according to one estimate. He hopes Reagan-era growth will eventually balance the books. He also thinks an Electro-Magnetic Pulse is one of the biggest dangers America faces. And he believes in American exceptionalism — as if the nation can dodge fate with some special math that applies to it alone. But if you begin asking questions about Newt’s pensee you are missing the point. America’s empire is decadent and degenerate. It needs a man like Newt to help it on its way… to where all exceptional empires end up — on the scrap heap of history.

Regards,

Bill Bonner
for The Daily Reckoning

Read more: Man for All Seasons http://dailyreckoning.com/man-for-all-seasons/#ixzz1gmygHvna