Any Old Fool Could Have Predicted This - Including This One
John Edwards’s old California campaign manager called me recently and said he’d found a letter I’d written Edwards way back in mid-2007. He said I should publish it, because it pretty much predicted the mess we’re in now. I dug up the letter. Here’s a (shortened) version of it:
August 4, 2007
Senator John Edwards
xxxx xxxxxx Street #xxx
Chapel Hill, NC 27xxx
Dear Senator Edwards:
I am dictating this letter from under a tree at a golf course that a friend of mine is remodeling. If it is a little disjointed, it is because I am not going to edit it.
[...] I have been concerned for some time that this economy is going to fall apart. The rot is just too deep and pervasive. The debt on all levels of business and government are enormous. The same things that brought us down in the Great Depression, leverage, speculation and financial shenanigans, can bring us down today.
Everything seems to be cobbled together into all kinds of financial packages, such as sub-prime loans and everyone along the way takes their little cut, until the end investor takes the haircut. The arrogance and disdain of Wall Street is pervasive. Some Wall Street guy just got back from the Hamptons where he paid $110 million in cash for 40 acres of vacant land next to his house just to enhance his view.
[...] The problem with straight talk about the economy, rather than the propaganda spewed out from the Administration and Wall Street, is that the economy, like most things, is a matter of psychology and how people feel. If things are going up and expanding, people feel good. If things are going down or look like they are going down, people feel very nervous. I can tell you right now my from my financial contacts are indicating that people are very nervous and we could be on a downward trend, the likes of which we have not seen for 77 years.
[...] I have no stocks and I have never believed in paper assets. The only thing I have is a short position in building stocks which I have had since March of 2006. I have always believed in land, brick and mortar. Yet, in the past 30 days, every land sale that we were depending on is going sideways or is going down the tubes. On Monday I will be going into my office and playing the game as tight and as close to the vest as I possibly can, while still keeping up our reputation for fair dealing.
I know nothing about running for the party nomination and so I know nothing about pandering to one’s base, but I have a feeling that the things I’ve talked about and the worries and concerns I have, resonate to everyone’s base.
Best regards,
Lee H. Brandenburg
I’m not trying to boast or show off with this letter. I’m just trying to prove that anyone who was actually paying attention and caring about our economy absolutely HAD TO SEE THIS COMING! So what in the world were our elected officials doing before everything went to hell? Dialing for dollars for their next reelection, engaging in petty partisan slap fights, and jockeying for the best committee assignments so they could bring home the most pork for their big donors, that’s what. In other words, our leaders were too busy to, you know, LEAD!
Unfortunately for Edwards, my reading of the economic tea leaves did not help his bid to become president. And as further proof of my lack of clairvoyance, I may have predicted the current downturn but I didn’t say a thing about a certain documentary filmmaker that Edwards had working for him at the time …
Can you tell me who did your layout? I’ve been looking for one kind of like yours. Thank you.