Here is one that sticks out:   A GUY WHO DRIVES           A CAR WIDE OPEN        IS NOT THINKIN’        HE’S JUST HOPIN’

When I had digested President Obama’s strident, partisan and angry oratory in Ohio two days ago, I had the impression he and his speech writers had not been and were not — THINKIN.’   Just hoping that the message would work since nothing else seems to be (working that is).

That messsage?  One the dems have been using a lot lately and one the President believes mitigates all of his disastrous spending policies:  The devil Republicans made me do it.  Especially President Bush.  Not the dems fault.  Blame anybody else but not them.

The crowd that was there loved it.  The ‘anti-Beck’ has spoken and the faithful cheered.

I didn’t buy it and I don’t think the the voters in Ohio will either.

Come on, who is the President kidding?

His Ohio visit and message wasn’t about the economy at all.  It didn’t address the problems nor offer any viable solutions.  There was no meat in it.

Nope.  It was nothing more than a campaign speech with all of the requisite negativity thrown at the ‘not-so-loyal’ opposition.

There is no place in today’s economic and political atmosphere for our President to be so decisive.  I can understand why Beck, O’Reilly, Olberman and the like do it (money, money, money — thank you ABBA).  But the President?  No way, Jose (not Canseco)!

The President’s primary job is to solve American problems, close behind is to be a cheerleader for our weary nation.

Come on Obama?  What have you and your fellow socialists Democrats done in the past two years?  Doubled and tripled the deficit, created unheard of debt and done absolutely nothing to fix unemployment.

The blame game only works so long and the dems deadline to drop out of the game was last spring.  Oh, yeah, Obama, what ever happened to that change in politics you promised us?  Same old same old.

I don’t like either party right now.  I hope you are with me on this.

Bush was an awful President.  The Republicans in Congress just made his terms worse.  But Obama is opening himself up to being right there at the top with Bush and the dems in Congress are not helping the President.

We need solutions from our leaders.  Not stonewalling and criticism.  But President Obama has really opened the door and the Republican leadership is going to go storming through.  I hope they do.

We need new and better leadership.  In Washington D.C. and in our own backyards (cities, counties and states–hope you heard about the city leaders in a small California town that were bleeding the working citizens to death with near $million compensation packages).

To mention just one important thing, we need to start over with a completely new tax code . . . and that will only happen if we get completely new leaders in Washington.  To change the anger and hatred in politics we have got to change the politicians.  In fact we need to rid our nation of the word “politicians.”   No career elected leaders, ever, just genuine citizens elected for a term or two.

I (we?) can only hope that the two parties tear at each other so much that we, the people, see them for what they are and start voting out every single multi-term elected official there is.

By the way, a VAT (value added tax) like most other developed nations have would be an excellent replacement for our income-tax system.  And the best way to stimulate the economy is to create jobs, give incentives to businesses, and then get government the heck out of the way.

Believe me, while I have rested my keyboard-weary fingers for a few months, my mind has been going full-speed-ahead.  I have watched my stock portfolio take a hit that is reminiscent of 2008 (I cringed when I got my statement today), Congress has proven yet again their unworthiness to govern and President Obama  has demonstrated to all sensible  Americans that he is  as American born and Christian as the next   (only attends church on Easter and for funerals).  The economy is souring with unemployment still (20 months into this recession) the #1 problem.

But wait, there is more.  Iraq is no longer a combat zone for Americans (pity the poor Iraqii’s though), Afghanistan is ballooning into a Vietnam and a Korea all balled up into one awful nightmare, and the Mid-East situation is no better at all (despite the opening of Obama’s direct talks with Palestinians and Israelis) as the threat of Iranian nukes hovers ominously.

Hold on!  If you keep on reading you will get even more from CapitalistMarks in the coming days.  Health care reform is proving to be the opposite of the wonderful promises made  (Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Utah has cancelled my policy and forced me to take another with significantly less coverage/benefits coupled with added costs that could easily be in the tens of thousands of $$ each year).  I am told there are a bunch more like me out there that won’t be helped at all until at least 2014 when the new Obamacare/Democratcare plan kicks in.  Health care costs will continue soaring, and health insurance companies profits will bollow in lockstep.  But will I (others) live until 2014 with reduced coverage and costs that exceed average American family incomes?

Bailout spending?  Sure a few big banks have survived and some large Corporations  too . . . but only to the benefit of the CEOs and a few of their croonies . . . surely not you and I . . . the employees,  ‘head-shaking’ shareholders or the stunned taxpayers.

Stimulus?  Cost billions more than we were told originally and now Obama and his minions are talking about adding a few dozen more billions.  And, the Federal Reserve is out of arrows with interest rates at zero (of course they have quantitative easing left . . . but the Fed buying up government notes will add to the already enormous deficit).

Fiscal Policy?  Don’t look for any help in an election year.  Everyone in the country knows that the tax system needs to be reinvented.  But, don’t expect any politicians to offer  any credible solutions that would cost any votes.

Remember the old sage who said (roughly) ‘when 51% of the poor decide they want to live off the honest earnings of the other 49% then democracy will fail.’   Well, Obama’s democratic solutions of socialism at it’s worst are beginning to make that a possibility.  Wouldn’t it be something if he really is a Muslim or Communist ’sleeper’ who ends America’s greatness by destroying our economic/political system with old fashioned Marxist policies?  NOTE:  I do not believe this . . . but I can see why some bloggers are going conspiracy theory on us.

China?  Passed Germany as the #2 economy in the world and is only 30 or so more years of double digit GDP growth from passing the U.S.  Oh, yeah, don’t forget their military is growing faster and more aggressively than any other in the world, nor their efforts to grab natural resources from the rest of the world for their own good (sounds pretty capitalist to me).  Note that the ‘rare earth’ minerals used in so many high-tech products are produced primarily in China’s two mining/mineral centers, and that the costs of these crucial minerals have gone up over 1000% (yep, one thousand) in the last 10 years or so.

Iran?  I can’t even bear to talk about it.  Ahmadinejad is nuts!

Venezuela?  Run by a lunatic dictator who makes Castro (in his old days) seem like a kindergarten recess monitor.

Housing?  Millions of homes in foreclosure and the banks still won’t bend over to help anyone despite federal laws requiring them to do so  (wait until those very real writeoffs hit the books!).

Unemployment?  Some estimates put actual #’s as high as 20+% when underemployed and work-force abandoners are included but regardless there are at least 25 million Americans who want good full-time jobs and don’t have them.

Global warming?  Only the HOTTEST summer in history for our northern hemisphere.

I could go on but my moist, fearfuk and warm tears are clouding my eyes too much.

All I can say is it behooves you to stay tuned to this channel.

I will tell it like it is–give my answers to tough questions–offer solutions where needed.  I will be right-on most of the time and never wavering in pursuit of truth and justice.

But,remember this always:  the single biggest problem America has today is professional politicians.  They call D.C. home and they love living there and partaking of their un-American perks and benefits.  The new byword is ‘if you don’t like their perks, get rid of the jerks.’

Do NOT vote for incumbents . . . we need citizen leaders who leave their real lives to serve for 4-8 years and then go back to those same lives.  Guys like you and I who can listen to both sides consider the alternatives and decide what is really best for our country.   Our founding fathers intended it.  We really have to now.  Oh, and eliminate the guaranteed jobs, golden retirements and benefits for congress and government employees.  Make them live like the rest of us . . . they won’t want to stick around more than they are welcome if we can push that through.

I hope you will join me at the polls in November to oust the greedy, self-serving ‘pros’ and vote in our neighbors and friends who will do an honest job (particularly those who promise to go home after one or two terms).

I will post when impressed to do so and not just in order to get another word in.  You can count on that.  Also, due to some continuing health issues, I may not post as regularly as I would like.  I promise though, every post will be important, current, relevant and helpful.

Too many politicians and far too many economists have been wearing monetary policy blinders for the last year or so.  They do seem to be working.  but that isn’t enough today.

Sure interest rates are too low, sure there is no more expansionism the FED can do right now, and sure the ‘quants’ have been spending far too much time at their computers modeling what future rate policy will do for/against economic growth.

We all pretty much get that.

But, what about the current White House administration whose present worries seem  limited to the problem with employment?  I think they are leaning too much on the FED’s liberal current views of expansion.  They need to act unilaterally.

The problem is that with so much apathy in the White House (apathy to real action in their own front yard that is) no one is paying any attention to the mood of small businesses and hopeful entrepreneurs.

Why?  Doesn’t take a bunch of polls to tell us that most Americans in those two categories are cautious . . .  and that they are cautious due to lack of direction in terms of fiscal policy.

Anyone with a payroll knows that employment and business taxes are too big of a burden right now.

Uncertainty regarding the administration’s views on the subject are restricting growth (particularly in all-important employment).

What to do?

Announce soon, as in this week Mr. President, that the former administration’s tax cuts are going to be allowed new life rather than an early death.  Don’t let those tax cuts die President Obama.

Too many of the potential ‘hirers’ in the economy are waiting–even though they see obvious signs of economic growth–waiting to hire, waiting to expand, waiting to add to inventories, waiting to take a flyer an new products focused at the consumer.

You, Mr. President can change all that.

Continuing (and maybe adding to) the Bush tax cuts would very likely calm the nerves of businesspersons (nearly half of them are women afterall) and consumer (more than half) alike.

Take a flyer on American intelligence and ingenuity President Obama.  I am pretty sure that if you took such action, we would see a surge in the economy and in stock markets within a few weeks (at most).

I’m ready to pile back on and a bunch of others will be too–if you calm our fears of imminent tax hikes.

thanks to flickr’s wonderlane for the photo

How do I count the ways?

Jeeze Louise, couldn’t he have dropped back just a little bit before making the ‘hail Mary’ pass?

Sure he talked about unemployment and even mentioned a few generalized notions about how to deal with the problem . . . but, nothing specific and nothing immediate.  Strike one.

As I predicted the stock market, which represents most of us through direct investment or indirectly through ownership of funds/retirement accounts or such, tanked.  The DOW was down 181 points early on and was only a ‘fiddy-cent’ away from breaking through the 10,000 barrier.  Anyway a BIG strike one.

The next problem was that Obama apparently has decided to continue his original massive agenda to change America in his own way.  He didn’t back down on a single issue.  This of course diminished the issue of unemployment.  How the heck can he expect a now crippled congress to pursue the ‘Obama’ agenda?  If you are at a huge, expensive buffet — everyone knows you have to pick mostly the best stuff and leave the ‘veggies’ alone.  Every one but our President.   Hence, strike two.

Then the fact that he blamed everyone but himself for our current miserable status.  Wasn’t he the one that promised the stimulus would hold unemployment to 8%?  Dang, he blamed Bush and everyone else who was involved in the previous 8 year administration–as if Obama himself  could have done nothing to save us.  You take the job . . . you gotta take the blame, my man.  Don’t hide in the White House . . . get out and about (not just at democrat fund raisers).

It was such a partisan speech, yet he took big jabs at the dems, and huge one at the repubs.  Shoot, he even managed to offend the Supreme Court and the Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff.  He wants gays in the military, limits on corporate election spending and to tax every state that uses coal to generate electricity?  Why doesn’t Obama just make this great nation one huge state . . . he could be the Governor and run forever.

Oh, ohh . . . strike three!

Then there was the 2,000,000 jobs he supposedly saved.  How the heck can he ever prove that! Even if its true it doesn’t comfort the 15 million that are still out of work.

President Obama seems to be living in another world (‘Avatar’?) and not paying any attention to public opinion.  The poor dems must be shaking in their already shaky ‘red’ election shoes.

This unrelenting, strident approach to the Presidency is not working.

The shotgun approach Obama is taking  is clearly wrong and misdirected.  The only thing that I can think is that he is throwing so many ‘things’ out there that he is just hoping  one of them will hit the target and make him a hero.

That is not going to happen.

And what is up with promising that American exports are going to double in 5 years?  CNBC confirmed this morning that the last time we doubled exports it took 12 years.  What is this guy smoking?  Strike four (guess this is a new and different game).

As I wrap this up Ben Bernanke has been confirmed by the Senate to continue as the head of the FED for another 4 years and that should help the market — oww, the DOW  closed down only 115 points.

You paying attention Mr. President.

It is ALL about:

Unemployment, Unemployment, Unemployment!!!!

thanks for the flickr photo to the giant vermin

A Noble Peace Prize?  Oh come on, who thinks the world is safer or more peaceful than it was a year ago at this time?

Really.

But, with few real accomplishments in his first year, tomorrow presents our  ’celebrity’ leader a 2nd chance to move America forward.  The State of  The Union message is traditionally a time for the President to speak of past achievements and lay out plans for the coming year(s).  This time around there is only cause for future plans.

Tomorrow Obama needs to talk about only three things — unemployment and unemployment and unemployment.

If he does so in a way that is encouraging and restores optimism to the average American,  I think they will give him another chance and perhaps his party too.

If he does not, then I believe both America’s and World-wide stock markets will tank (accelerating last week’s declines) in a visible reflection of the populace’s distrust and doubt regarding the World’s preeminent leader’s policies.

A lot of this will have to do with how the media characterizes the future after the speech, but I believe most American’s will ‘get it’ on their own too.

This  ’do nothing ‘ Democrat-heavy government has got to start focusing on the issue that resonates with Americans of class except the ‘royalty’ residing in plush Washington D.C. homes.

It is not a difficult call.

With 15 million unemployed, 5  million under-employed and at least another 20 million more who are married to, parents of, or friends to the first 20 million, there will be heads to roll in the next election.

That ought to give the D.C. royalty a thing (or 20 million) to think about.

How many voters really give a crap about high falootin and pork belly  health care issues if they or a friend/relative is out of work!

President Obama had better have some genuine solutions for unemployment, and not the income transfering middle-class benefits that have been touted on the news as White House leaks lately.  Giving a few $$ more deduction for kids on someone’s taxes isn’t putting anyone to work!

Things that he needs to promote are:

Immediate infrastructure projects that have real usefulness over the long-term,

increasing military recruitment (to take the pressure off of soldiers who have spent 2 or 3         tours in the battlefields),

immediate, huge  incentives to small businesses to encourage them to hire,

the same incentives to entrepreneurs to encourage them,

and, how about the government hiring another 500,000 or so homeland security types — it isn’t like we don’t need them at our airports, border crossings and in our malls.

We need action that will add jobs within 60 days —  not 3 years!

And, stop VP Biden,  or anyone else in the administration, from talking about the millions of jobs Obama has saved or created . . . that is just political ‘preeming.’

Show us the money!

I’m waiting Mr. President, because I really want you to succeed.

Darnit, I have friends and family that are out of work and can start tomorrow!

Actually day-after-tomorrow will be fine with them.

thanks to flickr’s ewen and donabel for the photo

I will be honest, I have not stayed out of the market and in fact have traded stocks at a pace about double what I have done in the previous 4 or 5 years.  But I have done so with less money and with substantially shorter-term  trades.  That is what caution and the high volatility of the past two years have dictated (at least from my view).

But hold on here, folks!  The wait for smoke to start pouring out of American factories is about to end.  (please take this metaphorically because lots of growth will come from small business and service industries)

Anywho, starting a few weeks ago I began to take a different tack as the view from the bottom had changed.  I have been looking for investments and not trades.  That means that long-term buys appeal more than short term trading.  I did so very cautiously and with a bit of trepidation. A lot of worry still wracked my fragile mind.

Then as the news piled up last week (I will give you the headlines soon) I realized that key economic indicators were finally confirming my earlier impression.  Now I am looking at investments to hold on to for at least six months and perhaps even a year or more.  Things that have real growth potential in an expanding economy, things that provide a steady income stream via historically high dividends that can only grow if the corner has  really been turned.

Why am I telling you this.

Its simple.

For the first time I don’t believe we will have a “W” recession — the kind where another big downturn would be imminent any day.  For the first time I really believe that a “V” recession is what we have just gone through and that the right-hand side of that “V” is going to be steep and long.

That means companies will start growing, earnings will increase (a lot really since most companies are ‘lean and mean’ right now), tax revenues will begin to increase (so the government can start paying off our incredibly high national debt), and unemployment will start to shrink (not as fast unless Obama really takes action as promised recently).  More importantly, because the FED is keeping interest rates low (no quick end to that policy) and hundreds of billions of Obama’s stimulus plan will start to hit main street this year, growth could be pretty phenomenal.

Now, let me give you a few of the headlines from last week as promised:

“Exports up for 6th straight month, boost recovery” — a weak dollar has helped here

“American’s net worth up for 2nd straight quarter” — think both home values and investment portfolios

“Leading indicators rise for the 8th straight month” — money supply, stock prices, building permits, improving labor markets all helped here

“Americans most pessimistic they’ve been since January”  — this is a contra indicator (from CNBC) and and is mostly reflective of political issues rather than raw economic ones

The bottom line is that I have changed my view on the current recession.

It’s over folks!!

And it is not coming back anytime soon.  It was painful, yes, but the gain from the pain is just ahead.

The next year or so of economic and investment  (primarily stocks) growth is going to be really good — probably at least 3% GDP growth in 2010 and the stock markers should be up steeply as well (but not straight up)  I wouldn’t be surprised with the  Dow at 13-14,000 by next year end.

I’m feeling real good about the near term future ( I always feel good about the long-term future) and I think you should too.

The old caveat on unemployment is always out there but it is a 6-12 month lagging indicator and yet I expect it will begin to improve almost from the first months of 2010. So I’m not going to beat that dead horse anymore (unless Obama and the dems fail to stimulate here as they have recently promised — and I will be watching President Obama).

Whew!  Thanks heaven (and I really mean that).

The recession is over.

Good times are just ahead.

I’m counting on it!

Thanks for the photo from flickr to ahbijeet.rane

Good thing too.

But, what is the deal here, is Obama chanelling the Gipper?  Has he been studying Reaqan’s successes in his spare time?  Wouldn’t that be cool?

On Tuesday, when the President began to lay out his new employment strategy I thought I was listening to the President Ronald Reagan.

You probably did too (if you are old enough to remember or have read about his economic policies).

Consider that Obama and his team are contemplating reducing employment taxes, providing direct incentives for new hiring, eliminating capital gains tax (one year only — but hey that is a supply side beginning) on new small business spending, federal guarantees of small business loans and ressurrecting the Gipper himself to coordinate the program.  Okay, that last was just for fun because everyone knows that Obama can’t to that . . . he is not a God as some (the Nobel Committee among them) think!

This is all good classical supply side stuff . . . not enough to satisfy Reagan’s good buddy Arthur Laffer(who posited that lower tax rates could increases tax revenues) . . . but a start.

I wish there was some direct government hiring instead of extending unemployment benefits (which adds to costs with nothing in return).  Heck if we are going to pay the unemployed for a year or more to not work then lets get them doing something productive  (see earlier post).

This is pretty cool stuff coming from a new President who has proved to be much further left than many voters thought he would be. And I am further encouraged he will seek real change in D.C.

Along with this he proposes increased federal spending for highways, bridges and stuff.  A further improvement in my opinion (again see earlier).

Now the bad part . . . the Obama team are talking even more about spending our way out of this  crisis.  Watch out deficits the dems are at it again!

But let’s focus on the good stuff . . . helping small business is a great start (and maybe enough to jump-start employment).  Small business are the real engine of growth in America–where the real ingenious stuff happens, where innovation hits the tar of the growth road.  Two thirds or workers in America are putting forth the good effort with small businesses . . . hence the best place to expand.

My bottom line:  I like this.  If implemented quickly this can be a great impetus to the economy.  Further such a quick implementation would likely raise confidence and increase consumer spending.  All good things.

I am hopeful just as long as the Republicans are supportive of the good stuff and don’t fight all change just for partisan political reasons.

Now, I would like you to remember this important point:

The best, quickest and most permanent way to improve governance in the United States of America is with strict term limits.  If our legislatures won’t implement this then we, the people, can.  Just don’t vote for anyone who is in office.  Any change is better than the status quo in Washington D.C.!!

thanks to flickr’s will hybrid for the photo of Hoover Dam

Attendance was mandatory at West Point (he is the Commander-in-Chief afterall) and still the reception there was muted at worst and respectful at best.

What up dude?  Why did this strategy take more than 3 months to formulate?

What’cha got?

Adding more troops as General McChrystal (the commander in the field) had requested, though not as many as the good General had hoped for.  A plea for help from our allies (who are they any way?).  And the incredibly naive promise of beginning withdrawal by the summer of 2011.

Hello!  That wasn’t a strategy, it was an admission of failure to date and an unequivocal assurance to the Afghan people that America is tired of this war and will try a bit more but not too much before leaving with our tails between our legs.

Yechh!

I am flat out disappointed.

You should be too.

Why is it that our political leaders never seem to reflect the views of our military leaders (which they always seem to seek).  The military types are professionals, the political types are glad handers.  It should not be too difficult to recognize that professionals have a broader and better perspective on any issue than part-time thinkers (congress–you pick the subject).

You can’t run a war on a schedule and President Obama should know that despite his lack of real experience.  Putting an end date on a war that has lasted 8 years while Americans died (a century or more if you want to count the Russians and British) is downright  folly.

With all the hype leading up to the speech at West Point yesterday we should have been given more.  How in the world do the democrats put a positive spin on this mess?

President Obama was perfectly clear vague on the details and preciously void of any understanding of what is happening in Afghanistan relative to the Taliban and Al Queda.  Where has he been for the last 8 years?  Doesn’t give me any confidence and it sure can’t be very promising to our men and women-at-arms.

If you want my prior views (unchanged to date) on the Afghan war go back to here.

My worst fears at the election of Barrack are being realized and I don’t see any turn for the better in the near term.

Hew as a great campaigner and does really well reading off scripts from the teleprompters . . . but what happened to the great ‘mind’ the democrats and broad minded independents were voting for?  To the Nobel Peace Prize winner who ‘earned’ the medal before doing anything to merit it?

91 days to come up with this plan?

If our President doesn’t understand the issues in this war then how is he going to get our allies (again who are they?) to step up more than they have in the last 8 years.

Here is what I see with the plan as it now stands: 30,000 more Americans will show up (but with uncertain directions), $30 billion more will be spent next year on this ‘war’, a few (compared to our 100,000) troops from other lands will arrive to direct traffic (but not fight), the Taliban and Al Queda forces will rally their own troops (knowing they only have 18 months left to kill infidels with hidden bombs and suicide idiots), and then . . . America will withdraw like we are doing in Iraq and declare that the local government is going to be in charge from now on because we trained them so they can . . .

End of story.

The political bottom line:  President Obama is NOT proving possession of great intellectual capacity, is proving to be indecisive, continues his efforts to change perceptions of America in the rest of the World (with a hopelessly inept diplomatic approach — Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, California . . . ) at a cost to be determined later, watches as unemployment keeps on climbing, AND . . . proves why his popularity diminishes further.

Oh, what great hopes I had.  At least President Bush (the worst President in my memory), didn’t care about celebrity.  He always (when not on vacation) seemed focused on the job.

Come on President Obama, you still have 3 years left to show us what you got.  The first year is a dismal failure in my estimate but hope reigns eternal!  I don’t know who I am more disappointed in — Tiger Woods or Barrack Obama.

Forget the celebrity, stop needless travel (foreign leaders can come here for crying out loud!), start focusing on the real problems and pay attention to the ‘experts’ you hired!!

thanks to isafmedia at flickr for the photo

This is to be expected I suppose with the continuing weakness of the Dollar.  You sell the same, or perhaps a few more, number of products overseas at the same price in local currencies and you are going to get more $$ in return.  This is particularly true of the companies mentioned above because they have a big presence in countries like China, India and Brazil where last quarter’s (or 2009) GDP estimates are MUCH greater than those in the U.S.  For example, China’s economy is expected to grow at a rate of over 8% in 2009 (negative 2.4% for the U.S.) and Brazil’s GDP grew nearly 8% in the third quarter, or more than twice the GDP growth rate for the same period in the U.S.

Governments and people alike are spending in these countries.  And they are buying great consumer products made by American companies such as those I mention above.  Cause for joy?

Tack on to this a DOW that is well above 10,000 (even with a 100+ point loss in the last two days of last week).

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it?

Maybe so, but I am concerned about a few things . . . like Obama’s public satisfaction ratings dropping below the 50% level in two major polls this week.  I think that these polls are forward looking (6-12 months) just as much as the markets normally are (and here I feel I must remind you that they are still WAY below levels from two years ago).  Hold on here buckaroo!

Tack on to that a few other parcels of data such as the unemployment rate at post-depression highs, the real unemployment rate about 17.5% (adding in those job-hunters who have just quit looking or have taken part-time/underpaying jobs), almost ONE IN FIVE AMERICANS un- or under-employed, more than 120 banks have failed this year, lenders are being more restrictive, consumer confidence is low, and credit card companies are raising rates (in the face of record low rates from the FED) and they are adding all kinds of crazy fees for dumb little things (you know what I mean if you have read a CC statement lately).

This has been a good year as far as market equities go (since March 9’s low anyway) but after any kind of Santa Claus rally there is bound to be  a big dose of concern and dubiosity.

Ah huh, times are great for employers (who are still in business)  . . . they can hire the best talent out there on the cheap, and they are cutting costs in other ways too.

However, you and I know that this is not a great time for consumers or workers and it sure as heck isn’t a good time for government (spending our tax dollars for the next five years this year).

Truly, this is all a tough read economically right now.

If you read or hear about highly positive thoughts from economists in the next couple of weeks you had better check who they are working for (banks, lenders, GM, or others with TARP $$).

If you hear or read about highly positive vibes coming from any politician in the next couple of months you had better check who they are working for (and it ain’t you my friend!).

Two problems reign supreme  now: unemployment and public (the government’s) debt.

If President Obama and Congress don’t get a handle on BOTH of these pretty quick then you had better lock the barn doors and hide the chickens.

This isn’t a gloomy forecast . . . it is more of a warning of what could be ahead IF . . . . . .

And, IF you want change you had better be calling and writing your elected leaders to get to work on the two problems noted above.

It doesn’t take a genius to recognize this (I am sure you do) but our elected leaders are rarely genuises (as history has amply proven).

That means you know what to do even if they don’t!!

thanks to flickr’s danoxster for the photo

Here is the reality:

Factories closed.  Warehouses shut down.  Homes in foreclosure.  And more.

Unemployment at 10.2%.  That means nearly 16 million Americans are unemployed (the highest in history).  Add to that those who have quit looking or have taken part-time or low paying  jobs and the percentage soars to 17.5 and climbing.  A total of 190,000 jobs were lost in the past month. Imagine the entire population of a medium sized city losing their jobs in one month.  Imagine the entire population of sixteen of our smaller states without work.

Consider that we have now had 22 straight weeks of employment decline in our wonderful United States of America.  The longest streak of loses in 70 years! Ah, but who seems to be counting?

Consider that 7.3 million of our fellow citizens (and probably several that you know quite well) have lost their jobs since December of 2007 when this recession started.  I can think of ten myself without straining.  Ah, but who seems to notice?

Consider that the average workweek is only about 33 hours and that average  hourly earnings are only $18.72 (including of course the many bankers, investment managers and politicians who have become rich while the real work force strangled on their greed and self-interest).  Ah, but who seems to care?

If you do not have a good friend who has lost their job in the last two years then you are an exception — an exception that likely means your own head is dangerously near the chopping block.

This is frightening stuff.

And yet congress works the weekend to pass a deficit numbing health care bill.  Our President makes the extraordinary Saturday visit to congress to push his agenda.  The like of Microsoft, Eli Lily and Boeing announce layoffs of thousands more people.

When will it end?

The stock markets hit new 2009 highs earlier today, oil is trading at around $80 per barrel, interest rates are so low that saving any money is worse than going to Las Vegas for the weekend with our your available cash.

When will it end?

The President  talks with congress, congress talks with each other and nearly one out of five Americans are under- or unemployed.  Two people on my street have lost their jobs already this year.  What about looking around your own street?

The real unemployment numbers?  Yeah, they are horrible and include people we all know.

Families are in danger of losing their homes.  Mortgage failures have not peaked — not by a long shot with this kind of continuing unemployment.

I get tired of writing about it.

But . . .

Our leaders are not leading.  They debate with no purpose, they argue for the sake of argument, they blabber on TV just to get a few more votes, they get sick and  benefit from the best medical-care available at little or no cost, they vacation and travel on taxpayer $$, they sleep soundly at night, they . . . just . . . don’t . . . seem . . . to care!  They talk but they don’t act.

Call, write, email or fax.  Join the growing number of Americans that are angry about inaction or misguided action.  Vote out ALL incumbents and press new electees for term limits.

You think this is a joke?

Wait until next year when the economy falls off another cliff because there have been no real fixes for the biggest problem of all — unemployment.

Jobs, jobs, jobs . . . when will they get it!

thanks to flickr’s shoes on wires for the photo