This column takes up two frequently asked questions: One, despite little improvement in the U.S. economy since 2008, why is the stock market so high? Two, what the heck is going on in Syria and the Middle East?
The stock market question is relatively easy: Investors from around the world are seeking the “relative” security of our stock market. Plus, our Treasury Department and our Federal Reserve Bank are creating money out of thin air and printing money like a copy machine run amuck. The result is too much money chasing too few stocks which artificially inflates stock prices, resulting in record high stock-market averages which are not actually supported by the still-moribund U.S. economy.
As for Syria and the Middle East, Syria is engaged in a civil war to determine if the current dictator will remain in power or not. But, more importantly, the Syrian Civil War is a “proxy war” between the rulers of Saudi Arabia (who are Arabs and Sunni Muslims), and the rulers of Iran (who are Persians and Shia Muslims). Thus, we have a war between two ethnic groups along with a war between two major branches of Islam.
As if all this were not dynamic enough, the Russians want the current Syrian dictator to remain in power. The Obamessiahs are supporting the Syrian rebels who may actually be a branch of al-Qaeda operating, as it has does in Libya and Egypt, under the guise of being a pro-democracy expression of the so-called: “Arab Spring.”
The Russians are overtly supplying weapons to the Syrian dictator. The U.S. is trying to supply the rebels covertly and may have, in the process, violated U.S. law. The violations of U.S. law may be uncovered when and if we get to the bottom of what happened in Benghazi on September 11, 2012.
Meanwhile, the Obama Administration makes a half-hearted show of support for Israel while giving its full-hearted support to the Palestinians, in particular, and support for Islam, in general. Example: Recall, Major Nidal Malik Hassan who, at Ft. Hood, killed 13 Americans and wounded 29 others while screaming “Allahu Akbar!” is being treated as the alleged perpetrator of “work-place violence,” rather than as an Islamic terrorist. Consequently, his victims and their families are being denied the benefits and financial support usually accorded our soldiers who die or are wounded in battle while Major Hassan, awaiting court-martial, continues to draw his full pay. So far, over $278,000 of our tax dollars.
Of course, if the U.S. fully developed its own internal energy resources, the oil-rich Middle East would not be a place where we send our young men and women to be killed or maimed and the funding for al-Qaeda which flows, primarily, from Saudi Arabia and Iran would dry up.
The Ponzi scheme that propels the U.S. stock market into record-high territory will eventually unravel, sending the United States into hyper-inflation and the world economy into further economic decline. Meanwhile, just last week, in a foreign-policy speech, Mr. Obama virtually threw in the towel on fighting terrorism. In the background, you could almost imagine the late Eddie Arnold singing: “Make the world go away. Get it off my shoulder. Say the things we used to say, and make the world go away.”
Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.