Bailout, Government Action, Hot News, News, President Obama, Trends

And the Economy….?

We have heard much from the President in recent days. About Michael Jackson (super talent who faced troubles in his personal life) to North Korea (very concerned) to Russia (give us some fly-overs and we’ll give you some stuff) to Iran (also very concerned but can’t “meddle” and still willing to have direct talks) to health care (still determined but beginning to realize it will be tough going in Congress).

But we’re not hearing as much about the economy, except comments from VP Biden essentially saying that they underestimated how bad the economy was. When did that take place? January 21? Last week? Who underestimated? The “experts”?  None of this is clear. It reminds me a little of Reagan Budget Director David Stockman’s famous comment about the budget process in his first year on the job, saying, “None of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers.” And this gives them the ability to continue to blame things on the past administration.

We don’t go political here. But I have been consistent in my view that the stimulus package, less than 10% of which has been spent all these months after passage and with jobs numbers still horrible, was more for the benefit of the President’s social agenda than a true stimulus. Even staunch Obama supporter Colin Powell has begun to wonder if the President is simply trying to do too much too fast. And there is no appetite in Congress for another stimulus just for its own sake. I still believe Sen. McCain’s amendment to the stimulus would have made sense – as soon as the economy recovers, all future stimulus spending ends. Alas that was not approved.

So what’s the answer? Not easy. The Fed is out of tricks short of printing money, which is basically what they are doing. Obama can’t spend any more. They’ve shorn up the most struggling big companies by taking them over (but hopefully not for long). Hey, how about looking at taxes? Historically, tax cuts have almost always had a very positive effect on the economy. Sadly that will not happen. Thus, there simply ain’t much to do except cheerlead the old stimulus into working. At some point. And this is why we’re not hearing much from the President other than his being pleased when jobless numbers are not quite as horrible as the previous month. In the meantime the rest of us are waiting. And hoping.