Dear Wealth Daily reader:
I’m currently in a running debate with a political science professor from a local university.
He teaches Presidential history at the same university I attended graduate school for public policy studies.
The debate started about 3 weeks ago when, while talking on a local radio show, he brought up and supported the idea of reparations to the descendants of slaves.
Before we go further, let me disclose that I’m a libertarian. The good professor calls himself a progressive, which is a sanitized word for socialist.
I’ll spare you the inner debate about reparations, because it can get a bit murky.
However, I will tell you what the professor told me through a heated email exchange. If it can be proven through a paper trail that a corporation in existence today has any linkage to slavery, he supports the American government forcing those corporations to pony up some money.
Okay, that’s not exactly a crazy idea, though I think this sets a dangerous precedent.
But here’s where his idea really gets scary.
Instead of corporations, I asked him if he would support an effort to go after wealthy families if it could be proven that the family’s ancestors were slaveholders.
His answer?
Verbatim:
"If the family’s guilt can be proven and there’s a paper trail, then yes."
Whoa!
Imagine the implications of that policy zinger.
I pressed him further.
I asked exactly whose guilt he was referring to, the ancestors or the present-day family.
No response.
But I suspect it was a little of both… and I suspect the professor found himself in a corner he wasn’t comfortable with.
Then I asked how you could assign guilt to something that was legal at the time.
And my example was abortion.
Say, for instance, science and the American judicial system determine that life begins somewhere in the first trimester. And that the fetus is entitled to all of the rights protected under the Constitution.
Does this mean that all of the abortions performed for the past 30+ years were murder?
And if so, should medical device companies, which profited from abortion, be forced to give back some of the money they’ve made?
My intention here isn’t to bait you into a debate about reparations or abortion. Quite the contrary.
I want to show you how things change. How they change all of the time.
Tastes change. Morals change. Laws change. Attitudes change. In the case of Michael Jackson, faces change. Technologies change. Society changes.
Think about something as simple as this. 25 years ago my parents would let bake in the summer sun with nothing to protect my pasty white skin except for Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion.
Today, if your kid gets a sunburn because you failed to put sunscreen on him, you could be arrested for child abuse.
Things change. Always have. Always will.
And so will our oil economy.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard "the world is awash in oil"… "we’ll find more oil"… "we’ve been through this before."
Look, in the 18th century England ran out of wood as a fuel source because it cut down too many trees.
In the 19th century, coal was king.
Coal was surpassed by oil.
Today oil rules. And he who controls oil, controls the world, right?
Sure, but for how long?
The answer to that question will make many savvy investors incredible fortunes.
And some of those savvy investors are followers of Mike Schaefer.
Mike’s chart analysis has been perfect, citing the head-and-shoulders formation in crude as a catalyst for a move to initially $65… then to $71 a barrel.
Stay tuned… because it’ll only get more interesting from here.
-Brian Hicks
One thing is for sure: It'll Change
