Dear Economy, Can You Be Ready - or just Read?

There are reasons why I blog. I cannot say that there are reasons that I choose the subject matter except when it’s obvious to me. The economy is obvious, and it has an effect upon all of us – within reason, of course.

When I began writing this blog, as I sat with the cable TV stations blaring news of rivers flooding, gasoline prices, children having babies in Massachusetts, and TV news anchors spilling the beans on each other, I watched the DOW JONES TICKER…falling. That’s not to say that I’m right on my announcement of the DEPRESSION of 2008. At least that’s what all the government economists would want to tell you.

Who is stupid enough to say: “It’s not the economy, stupid”???

C’mon – be honest with yourself. Don’t you see how many stories are being reported in the newspaper, the television, the radio, the internet…on the GASOLINE DRIVE-OFF ratio? That is a top ten story/issue on the news broadcasts and it is unavoidable. Why? The economy sucks. The price of oil is driving that sucking noise in part, but also now we have to see that God’s hands are also upon this rapid decline. (Listens for the readers who will say “Did he just evoke God in his daily diatribe?”) Yes. God. The Midwest – Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, even parts of Oklahoma – has been hit hard with rain. Then, flooding. Now that hundreds of thousands of acres have been inundated with water from rivers, streams, lakes, even just hours of soaking rains, we all will be paying for God’s works. That’s just simple mathematics coming from the grain train.

The corn and soybean production drops significantly as a result of the late start to the growing season and the floods that followed. That will be felt throughout the markets later this year when there is not enough corn syrup, not enough corn for all the cornflakes, ethanol costs rise significantly, soy-based inks and soy-based fibers prices rise through the lining on your car roof. Yes, the agricultural community has suffered and will continue to suffer throughout 2008. And the consumers will suffer the rest of 2008 and/or a good part of 2009.

Look. Even Warren Buffett, the wealthiest man on God’s multi-colored earth, is feeling the effects of economic conditions even if one believes that a rich man cannot do so because of his wealth and influence. Let’s face it – Mr. Buffett has a hand in things in St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch and whether or not it becomes a stock controlled by InBev. His words could sway other stockholders whether or not to sell. Warren Buffett and his gigantic holdings group holds about five percent of A-B stock and has received ample media attention over the past several days because of both that fact and the questions he is asked about the economy in general. My point here is that Buffett’s words can actually have an effect on the economy as well as the economy could have an effect upon his stockholdings. He’s that influential.

Now comes my question: what would the average guy on the street ask Warren Buffett --- Omaha, Nebraska’s most sought-after resident --- if he could sit down in a coffee shop (one would guess a Starbucks) and hold conversation with the world’s richest man and pick his brain on the subject of the economic condition?
Well, okay. Perhaps it’s not really necessary to have that conversation with Warren Buffett. We will all see how he “votes” on A-B soon enough. But, what of the other things in the economy? THOSE questions would be interesting subjects to broach with this man who shuns the spotlight yet is held up to it as the icon for whom so many point as the one “in the know”.

Perhaps this is not the right time for me to stop writing this column, for there are numerous other items that could continue this discussion. But, for once, I think there is a stopping point worth taking after I ask yet one more question of Mr. Warren Buffett. No – I’m not going to ask him for money (even though it is tempting).

Mr. Buffett, sir: Could you please help us find the energy source that will fuel our economy in a good way? Also…if I have time to ask one more question --- would you like to sit down and discuss this with a Budweiser in hand?