Arete, Starwind, TauZero and I are always being accused of being either perma-bears, or anti-Bush. That's just not the case.
I'm a libertarian, but I voted for Bush last election, and expect to do so again in 2004. Because of the way our election system works, there are really only two choices, the Democrat or the Republican. Failure to understand that just risks giving the victory to the socialist enemy.
And the fundamental moral lassitude that plagues us is a disease that infects our society as a whole. It is not the fault of the politicians. Most of them are followers, not leaders. The ones who can actually lead people to new opinions, new policies and new allegiances are few and far between. Reagan had it. FDR had it (unfortunately.) The Founders had more of it than any American leaders since that time.
As for being a perma-bear, all I can say is that I believe in dealing with things as they are, instead of the way I wish they were. The Federal Reserve isn't holding interest rates at historic lows, well below the market rate, just for fun. The take home message of the past two years isn't the tepid signs of possible economic improvement, it's how tepid the signs are given the tax cuts and Federal Reserve policies that have been wielded to jump start the economy. When you step on the accelerator, and the car barely goes any faster, something's wrong, and no mistake.
As for our discusion on interest rates, I suspect there have been some misunderstandings. Unfortunately, there's something about online interaction that brings out an aggressive, combative and competitive attitude. I don't like to interact with people that way, nor do I have the time to exhaustively debate every nuance and corollary of some issue, just for the satisfaction of having the last word.
If you'd like to be added to my economy/market ping-list, let me know.