Posted By:
Greg EcklundFrank,
Politics really doesn't have anything to do with what I was arguing and I think you read a little too much into my post. I'm certainly not defending "my" President (for full disclosure - voted for Bush in 2000, voted Libertarian in 2004 because neither Bush nor Kerry was worth voting for IMO).
Your Ford example is fine, but really has nothing to do with the numbers - the big three auto manufacturers are probably the companies that have had the worst time of over the past five years, so using them as an example of the overall economy really doesn't hold water and would be like me using late 80's or early 90's cards as an example to argue how the whole card market is terrible. Certain companies and industries are experiencing tough times right now, but that has always been the way the economy works and in historical terms the economy is certainly in above average shape, as are our stock markets - I certainly wouldn't expect a Ford employee to want to hear that but it is the truth regardless.
I would say the surge in card prices has a lot to do with the top end of the income scale doing much better than the lower end in the current economy - many people have more money than they know what to do with, so why not spend $8000 on a PSA 8 Tattoo Orbit common or $25,000 on a PSA 9 1952 Topps Del Crandall?
I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments on government spending, but I would add that the C-17 shutdown by Boeing is largely a function of decreased government spending on the planes.