Are We Investing Or Are We Just Dodging Thieves?

The individual with complete control of all his assets is the only truly wealthy person in a kleptocracy.

Correspondent Jeff W. recently posed a deeply insightful question: are we investing or are we really just trying to dodge thieves?

This question slices right through the carefully cultivated illusion of trust and prosperity and plunges straight into the heart of our cartel-state financial system.

Here are Jeff's initial thoughts on the question:

"As we try to preserve capital and earn a return on it, are we investing today or are we really just trying to dodge thieves?

First of all I question how much real investing is going on in America today. We continue to lose manufacturing in this country, so in manufacturing, disinvestment is what is going on. People speak of investing in houses, but today’s McMansions, if you look at how they are built, do not qualify as long-term investments. They are built more to allow their owners to participate in a real estate asset bubble rather than to live in and enjoy for generations (which is the purpose houses would be built for in a sane and honest world).

Investments in strip malls and big-box stores do not increase the wealth of the nation. When you have enough retailing, it is enough. You don’t need any more. Adding more retail space is malinvestment. A lot of retail space that is being added now will have to close down if The Federal Reserve ever starts tapering in a serious way.

So there is reason to suspect that not very much productive investment is really taking place in American at all. Regardless of that, investors still have to dodge the ubiquitous thieves who are swarming all over the landscape.

More