Lets give the Economy to Obama

This is tough for most of the OReilly's, Hannitys, Limbaughs, Huckabees out there.

Give the Economy to Obama.

After a strong secular growth year in 2014 with a solid rebound in the economy, jobs, a stronger
consumer, manufacturing - yes manufacturing, strong dollar, and finally color wrt growth. What we need is acknowledgement. Its easy to provide the party line - its not the economy stupid!!!

Its about social issues and foreign policy - well, the US is more popular than 2008 surely. Its not about a few terrorists running around. There is no point when the press is all politics for all the wrong reasons. Just bought and paid for to be attack pavlovian attack dogs.

It takes intelligence to give the Economy to Obama and offer legitimate debate at this time. Fight for the future.

Take a bow, Ben.

Mr.Bernanke, having shown real commitment to the unemployment rate and keeping the bond buying program intact, having helped the runaway deficits with record low interest rates, having stopped a huge recession is ready to move on.

Take a bow, Ben.

Despite the tough years, perhaps Mr. Bernanke will be remembered fondly and well. Lacking the panache of Greenspan, or the flamboyance of the dragon slayers before him, Ben still spoke softly, but clearly. Ben will be remembered in the years to come as Helicopter Ben. And true to form, he kept the chopper still in the air, even as he got ready to parachute out and take the long walk to his next avatar.

It could have been better, it could have been worse, but it is where it is. His successor will have to contend with deficit, as well as the growing entitlements and wonder if the ghosts of Fed before, leave him little room, but to tighten. Yet Ben leaves the US better than what he inherited. For the next
Fed Chairman, there will time to get the hang of the job. We all hope the next Chairman is as tough
and measured as this one.
 

Ben gets real on the Unemployment Rate

As he matures as the chief central banker of the world, Ben continues to find his
footing. By getting real on the real unemployment rate, Ben is starting
to make a point, that Europe and the UK are on the wrong foot with
Austerity - that China, Brazil and India are seriously slowing and the
world economy while held up by a new set of growth opportunities in
Latin America, the ASEAN excluding China, Turkey and portion of
Africa can still march along. And with the headwinds coming at us,
he is starting to react ahead of the problem and not after the fact.
With the Obama administration mired battle with the Eurofile economists in
the Congress, slowdown can be the operational fiscal word. The
central is the last beacon of hope and Ben got it right today after weeks
of missing the point. He boldly went back to accommodation.
I will not be surprised if the emerging markets also stabilize and
even Europe gains a few sympathy points from this move. The only
bullets left today are with the Fed, so he has to shoot a round.
The current world economy needs a few more vitamin shots - more
renewable energy (which could come from a renewed effort from
both President Obama and the energy hungry economies like China
and India and ASEAN countries), more conventional energy also,
more jobs that are based on services like health care and education,
expansion of credit for IT infrastructure to countries in Africa.

Here is a bold plan - a farm bill that enables exports of US farm
output to various nations across the world. The US has lost
its previous leadership in numerous agricultural commodities.
The Garlic capital of the world is no longer Gilroy. US cotton and
wheat, once the growth story of the world, is now a distant memory.
The US needs to reinvest in new crop technologies and genetic
engineering. While Norman Borlaug might have passed on, new
pest resistant crops built in the US can serve the world with new
sources of both food and energy.
Water technologies - while the US is well endowed with quality
water resources, it is also a very prudent user of its own water
resources. By helping other countries manage their water, the US
could help bring about stronger economies. Iraq and Afghanistan
for instance could greatly benefit from US water technologies.
As important is it for India and Africa and even China.

Investments in new parts of the world through an infrastructure bank,
that helps create jobs here, can also be part of the Feds strategy, - in
cooperation with the Obama White House. The Fed works with many
US banks that operate across the world. These banks have dollars to lend
and a premium rate which they don't get in the United states. In fact,
investable opportunities are fewer here. An infrastructure bank that can
lend to different parts of the world can be boon to US technology companies.
The Fed can place some restriction with a statement that to borrow from the
infrastructure bank, sovereigns and other organizations must use American
made products that generate American jobs.

The world's infrastructure when better will also serve America well. It will
build recognition for the American role as a bringer of a better to places -
and American values like Human Rights and Democracy will receive a
stronger and more serious welcome abroad. And it also creates jobs here.
 

Pierce tell Jack Welch to re-read the Romney Article

It is amazing what people say when the get on Television and why they learn to posture forever.

Romney's aim in the article, "Let Detroit go bankrupt" - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html?_r=0

was straightforward in 2008. He was going to shore up his credentials to a pro-Business Republican party.
He wanted to say, "Limit Bailouts to the Auto" industry. When a guy makes a second paragraph that says,

"Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check." 

he is saying that a bailout was not good for Detroit. He is looking to shore up his credentials to the anti-bailout Republican base. He is trying to appeal to the Dick Armeys and Richard Shelbys of the world. That is good and Jack Welch must accept that.  This was 2008 Nov mind you, and it was a courageous stance for a Presidential Wanna-bee who wants to secure his conservative credentials. 

Romney swerved right. Jack, this is the paragraph, that sends a clean message. You have to pin your own lapels to this paragraph or the other way round as a Romney supporter. You have to say, "I stand by this message" and go with it.

Come 2012 Nov, you cannot disavow a statement like, "Detroit needs a turnarond not a check". 

The country needed a turnaround and it was delivered by bailing out a range of industries - after 
as you put it , "those damn investment bankers ! ....". And that turnaround came in the form of a
bailout check!!!! And that is what turned around the American Auto Industry - not RomneyNomics of 2008. 

Jack, you can't be on both sides and stand tall. What's so clever about being on both sides of an argument. Romney in 2008 stood for something. Either he still stands for the same thing or he stands for ObamaNomics. Its time to take one position, not both. You cannot have your cake and eat it too!

Ben goes for Mortgages finally!

Ben, Finally we are seeing you go for Mortgages. You should buy outright mortgages from the banks
in a move aimed at removing a set of homes off the market for a few years while the housing market
gets back on its feet. And work with Freddie and Fannie to shore up the homeowners. While you
misgauged the effects of policy and what was to come along with Bazooka Hank, it is important to
support home-ownership as it is the single largest asset for those who have a Household net worth of
under 250,000. This is not a Fed goal, but it should be.
Cheap capital can create jobs. What has happened in the 2008-2010 crisis is that money moved away
from the small towns into Wall Street. As values plummeted the small towns became poorer and their
ability to sustain people and build communities declined. The displacement was coupled with a jobs
displacement away from small towns as well. Credit has not returned to smaller towns as muni budgets
and state and local govts have shrunk. Expenditures by the Federal Govt. and the Fed, should target these depressed communities. When Amartya Sen looked at scarcity, he explained how there were sections of the
populace that were left out. The state he felt had to step in and create work there. The same is true about
the Fed today. Aggressively buy Mortgages in affected communities to help shore up real estate. Work with
local banks in building a base for credit reconstruction and rebuilding of these local communities.
This is the private sector answer. It has never been the case that the Fed has worked with states. But this is
perhaps the time to do so. Build a policy schedule that is aimed at reinjecting capital and credit into
smaller towns and rural communities, so that a rejuvenation is possible. 

Yo Dirty Harry, Bazooka Hank and Helicopter Ben Did'nt Fix No Nothing

Yo Sheriff, if you rode out of town out East, into nearby Stockton,


you will see how depressed the Real Estate market is. House Prices

are in some places down 50% or more - towns where

whole neighborhoods are under water are a common sight. In the years

after 9/11 the Bush/Greenspan

Economy grew and kept expanding on the strength of the housing boom -

Capital Consumption Adjustment and other related items were 70% of

GDP growth. As supply grew well beyond the demand,

the economy had grown by borrowing from the future. Throw in a big

spending warrior who is interested in going where his pappy has not

gone before and you have the legacy for the first black president of the

United States. As inflation soared Bernanke ratcheted up rates,

popping the bubble that left a deep  recession. This was the legacy,

Obama inherited - a War nobody wanted to fight, homes nobody wanted

to buy, deficits nobody wanted to pay for and a dying manufacturing

base nobody wanted to help - this was Nobody's Ketchup on a Hot Dog

- it was everybody's blood and sweat, well at least everybody who is

Nobody. GM was bankrupt and needed a bailout. The drop in the GDP was

8% in the final quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009. Bazooka

Hank was not around when Right after Obama took office, the Dow fell

precipitously to 6600 and a new Great Depression was coming. A series

of measures restored confidence

in the economy, none more so than the GM bailout. Yet, the housing

recession is not over. The rest of the economy

is recovering, but jobs are not growing despite all the easy money,

outside what the Federal Govt. is creating.

States and local govt. are shrinking their budgets as revenue has been

cut. Median Household net worth in the US

has dropped 35% in 5 years, a statistic that belies the haemorrhaging in housing,

the undercurrent of despair that drives unemployment and underemployment

across the country. After three years of tax cuts and record deficit spending,

the economy is starting to respond. And that is because Bazooka Hank

and Helicopter Ben had not left us Across the Globe, the World Economy

is fast declining. The UK under a conservative PM has been in

recession and is running record deficits. Parts of the EU are falling

apart at the seams as the Sovereign Debt crisis leaves it teetering on

the brink of a collapse. Even China and India have dramatically slowed down.

Compared to this, the US is still growing.



But it is the Obama foreign policy that is their biggest success. We

are out of Iraq. And there is respect from around the globe for

the American way. People respect this President abroad and want

America to lead a peaceful world. You should listen to Ron Paul

who tells us that Syria and Iran are on the cross hairs of the Romney

administration. A nation's got to know its limitations. And the Obama

adminstration understands the value of fair dealing and friendship

and there is greater willingness to follow its principled positions.



Dont sign off on Romney till they tell you that they will not be

fighting any new preemptive wars and will not blow such a big

hole in the deficit that nobody can fix it. Get them to provide policy

on the poor and guarrantees for those on the edge.Till you get

assurances on the actual numbers, listen Clint. Don't Go Ahead and

Make Their Day.

Hard Landing - is Here!!!!

Its for the Congress and President Obama to close ranks again. The Congress is on vacation

as the economy crash lands - and the markets have discounted the hoopla over the debt ceiling.

President Obama seems to be candidate Obama again. Its good though that he has responded with a jobs plan and is offering some amount of respite for a volatile and restive stock market that is trying to guess the impact of a genuine slowdown in Europe on this side of the pond.

The eagles hover over Europe and the Asian pastures are becoming increasingly browner. The cattle is starting to disappear. But here, there is a genuine search for direction based on any tactical manoevering that Obama can do. Declines in tech spending, a sharp drop in steel orders, rapid fall in the price of oil, and the leading indicator that is the stock market on tenterhooks, these are real indications that the Hard Landing is finally here and now.

Obama will have to respond with a call to arms to the Democrats in Congress. Come back and start talking even before Labor Day. Come back and put together a package. Obama will have to lead from the front and forget the rat pack that is scurrying around looking to replace him. He has to get Geithner and Summers, Biden and Goolsbee, all the Presidents men, getting in the trenches and digging themselves out of this mess.

Look at the numbers - it a $1.5 trillion deficit - but at $100 billion, one can create a million jobs, just by digging trenches in Federal Lands. The jobs program needs to be quickly laid out to offer a floor on a restive population. clearly bolder measures are called for not just because we are going into an election year but because the battle weary unemployed and underemployed worker is in need of some respite.

But again let us make it clear - the Hard Landing is here!!!!

Its not time to talk - its time to act - Executive Branch - do something!!

C'mon Tim, lets hear it!

C'mon Joe, lets talk stimulus!