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The world remains shocked over the tragic events unfolding in Haiti. While every life saved is worth celebrating, for every success story, there are tens, if not hundreds, of tales with horrific endings. A country that many thought could get no poorer was dealt a knockout blow.
As much as we complain about the problems in our own country – political, economic and social – the tragedy has done a terrific job showing the rest of the world, that even though we are in a rough patch, America is still the world’s go-to force.
No other country has mobilized quite like we have. From the outpouring of cash to a massive military effort that proves we can fight two wars and still have power and passion to spare, America’s reaction has been impressive.
But what we boast in strength, we lack in endurance.
Resolve is America’s downfall. This week, we are all about helping Haiti. But this time next month, the support will have waned, the troops will be moving on and the news outlets will be covering the latest headline maker.
Yet hundreds of thousands will still be sick and living on the streets.
That is a notion to ponder as Obama unveils his latest budget proposal in just a couple of weeks. While we spend trillions on worthless stimulus, bailouts, campaigning, false science and no-good healthcare initiatives, an entire nation will be following with hungry, tired eyes.
If we are going to be a leader in times of tragedy, we must be leaders when the waters are calm.
So far, we’ve failed that mission terribly.
Ironically enough, the fate of the nation’s healthcare system appears to be in the hands of one of the country’s most liberal states. When Massachusetts takes to the polls tomorrow for its special senate-seat election, voters have the chance to speak for the rest of us as a vote for Coakley is a vote for big government’s overtaking of the health system and a vote for Brown is a vote against it.
To say the world will be watching sounds like a stretch, but it’s true.
If you caught last night’s NBC newscast, you saw a story about a young girl pulled from the Haitian rubble. After awaking from a surgery that amputated a badly mangled leg, the tough survivor’s first words, at least according to the hyperbolic types at NBC, was the question of who was going to pay for the surgery.
That question proves that fixing healthcare goes beyond political borders. But sadly, here at home, we have turned it into little more than a popularity contest.
After bastardizing the separate pieces of legislation approved by both sides of Congress, Americans are now facing the reality that our representatives are about to ask us to accept mind-blowingly expensive and unfair healthcare regulations.
If the current negotiated terms become law, the issue won’t be how much you make or how you make it, but who you work for and where you live. If you live in Nebraska or Louisiana or are part of a labor union, you’ll be liable to one set of rules. For the rest of us, however, we’ll be paying more and getting less.
It’s not just those greedy, no-good politicians that deserve the blame. It comes back to the issue of resolve once again.
What happened to those tea parties that were all over the news last year? How many of us wrote letters to our representatives in the last couple of weeks? How many of us have taken the time to study the proposed legislation in more depth than what NBC or Fox is giving us?
We get plenty of hot air from Washington, but maybe that is representative of the majority of Americans. We talk a big game, but when it comes to endurance, we’ve barely got what it takes to finish a sprint.
For that, I truly feel sorry for the folks in Haiti.
If you gave last week, don’t forget about next month and next year. They have a marathon to endure.
It’s the same story for us investors. The markets have rallied huge over the past nine months. But we all know the sustainability is questionable. As soon as the nation moves onto something other than economic discussions, the inflow will cease and we’ll be left wondering how things got so bad.
Invest for today, but don’t forget about the future.
Original source for this article: Contrarian Profits
