The U.S. Searches for Self

If you are a doer like I am, you are tired of the incessant blame games and complaining of our U.S. economy. It is all rather nauseating and does little to return us to being the shining beacon that we were at the end of the millennium. Greenspan is to blame. The war in Iraq is to blame. The unfair competition of Third World countries is to blame. The rich are to blame. The speculators are to blame. The oil companies are to blame. The politicians are to blame. Blah, blah, blah. It is so boring to hear and read the same thing over and over again. Instead, ask yourself what are YOU going to do about it? If you had to summarize my philosophy on things, Ayn Rand would be a good start. She put the core of her objectivism beliefs as the following: 1. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" or "wishing won’t make it so. 2. "You can’t eat your cake and have it, too." 3. "Man is an end in himself." 4. "Give me liberty of give me death." These are powerful pillars that if followed in absolute provide a guide for navigating life (and the U.S. economy). It would seem to me that much of what we face today and our reaction to it could be better resolved and more quickly if we all followed these simple rules. Unfortunately we are doing the opposite. The blame game itself seems to be very much our natural desire to want to wish things away. Please, make high oil and commodity prices go away so that I can continue to enjoy economic prosperity. Oh boy. Taking a Long, Hard Look in the Mirror If you seriously want your stock portfolios to go up in value, then take a long look in the mirror. With stocks performance now inversely correlated to oil prices, a reduction thereof will result in stocks reversing the current slide. How do we lower oil prices? Well we certainly can’t play the blame game. We also shouldn’t…try to eat our cake and have it too. This nation consumes 25% of the world’s oil supply and yet only 4% of the world’s population. 70% of that consumption is used for transportation with the majority of that going for personal transportation. Do you want to send a message to those that you are now blaming for our misery? The best thing you could do is consume less fuel. I don’t care how you do it, but using less crude is the quickest way to profits that I can see available. Work from home, move closer to work, run fewer errands, consolidate your driving, buy a fuel efficient car, sell that suv for scrap, buy a scooter or moped, carpool, drive slower, invest in alternative energy are but a few of the things that you can do to take a personal stake in this battle. Imagine the demand destruction that will occur if we take these actions. Because most of these things are already happening, I am more and more convinced that we will indeed win this war on our quality of life. As such I have very little doubt that owning stocks in the oil patch should be avoided at all costs (see, “Dump Oil Stocks: Don’t Risk Your Future are to blame.“). When oil executives state that they cannot comprehend oil above $100 per barrel I know that there is a bubble going on (and yes, I believe them when they say this). To get another point of view on oil prices, you’ll want to read, “Are Soaring Oil Prices a Bubble Set to Pop? “ Change is Now I’m already seeing change in my own neighborhood. In parking lots here in the frozen tundra I am seeing more and more scooters in spots formerly occupied by gas guzzlers. Granted it is summer, but it is nice to see the change. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, sales of scooters in the first quarter of the year were up 25%. I suspect that number is still trending higher. If you are looking for individual plays on the trend take a look at Honda Motor Co. (HMC) or Harley Davidson (HOG). The point of this missive is that we need to take personal responsibility for turning this economy around. Be a doer, not a complainer. If you do, I am most certain we will turn the corner. Stop burning a hole in your portfolio with overpriced oil plays. Sign up for your risk-free trial subscription to Richard Young’s Intelligence Report and he’ll show you which top producers are raking it in for his Intelligence Report subscribers!

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