OBAMA WARNS AGAINST `PANIC’ AS ECONOMY HAS UPS AND DOWNS

From Marshall Auerback:

Amazing that Obama is telling people not to panic over the economy. Means to me he is panicking.

Then again, he should be. He’s basically negotiating terms of surrender on Republican terms. And we have the spectacle of his Treasury Secretary and the soon to depart head of the CEA telling us that we’ve just hit a small “bump in the road”, along with trumpeting the idea of how ‘profitable’ the bailouts have turned out to be. This gives the impression that the trillions thrown at the problem are sufficient and therefore, we have to “rein in” fiscal stimulus, or we become the next Greece.

It’s all insane. Obama really doesn’t deserve another term of office, as he’s a complete fraud, but the other party has undergone a bout of Glenn Beck induced insanity and that probably saves the President.

Then again, he’s following the old model: if you’re going to panic, best to panic early.

The rhetoric continues to deteriorate.
Labor is fundamentally a scarce resource.
Policy should encourage business to use as few workers as possible.
And, of course for any given size govt taxes can always be adjusted to sustain aggregate demand for optimal employment/output.

Obama Tells Companies to ‘Step Up’ and Hire Workers

May 12 (Reuters) — President Obama urged businesses to “step up” and hire workers, pressing banks and other corporations to do more to help an economy that he said would take “several years” to recover fully.

In a town-hall style meeting conducted by CBS News on Wednesday, Obama said the weak housing market and high gasoline prices were the biggest “headwinds” dragging on the economy.

“We’ve got a lot more work to do to get businesses to invest and to hire,” he told the audience in remarks broadcast on Thursday.

“It’s going to take us several years for us to get back where we need to be.”

The strength of the U.S. economy is likely to be the main factor that determines whether Obama will succeed in holding on to the White House next year.

He said businesses and banks that reaped the rewards of extraordinary measures to pull the country out of a deep recession had a responsibility now to invest hordes of cash into U.S. jobs.

“It is time for companies to step up,” Obama said.

“American taxpayers contributed to that process of stabilizing the economy. Companies havebenefited from that, and they’re making a lot of money, and now’s the time for them to start betting on American workers and American products.”

U.S. companies created jobs at the fastest pace in five years in April, according to the Labor Department, pointing to underlying strength in the economy even as the jobless rate hit 9.0 percent.

It may indeed serve public purpose to sell federal property.

In fact, the burden of proof of public purpose is with the federal government as to why it would own any specific property in the first place.

However, selling property does remove net financial assets from the economy, make the dollar ‘harder to get’, and is thereby a contractionary/deflationary bias that reduces aggregate demand/output and employment.

The continuing problem is that deficit reduction doesn’t currently serve any public purpose that I can discern, but it’s actively being pursued by both sides, now trying to out do each other in what’s shaping up to be a death race to the bottom.

The good news is that at least so far the Saudis seem to be following/allowing crude oil prices to decline. Possible reasons range from the demand destruction or looming supply increases due to the higher prices, to the possibility they got short in their personal accounts. There’s no telling why they do what they do, and as a simple point of logic they remain swing producer/price setter.

Falling crude prices serve to directly make US dollars ‘harder to get’ as the US bill for imported crude and products falls, and thereby offers substantial and ongoing fundamental support to a US dollar that has to be one of the most oversold items of all time.

The only negative for the US dollar I can see is the chart, which has been telling me there continuous portfolio shifting away from the US dollar, which, when assisted by the rising crude prices, combined to keep the US dollar in decline. Without the support of the rising crude prices the tide could be turning.

The White House Blog: Saving Money by Selling Excess Property

By Jeffrey Zients

May 4 — As we look at our fiscal situation, the President understands that the Federal Government must do what American families are doing all across the country: find ways to live within our means and invest in the future. That means cracking down on waste and getting the most from taxpayer dollars.

Since President Obama took office, we’ve made unprecedented progress in reforming the way Washington works – saving billions of taxpayer dollars through IT reform, cut contracting spending, and eliminated duplicative and ineffective programs.

In his State of the Union address, the President discussed another area that is ripe for savings and reform — the real estate footprint of the Federal government. For too long, the American people’s hard-earned tax dollars have gone to waste, funding empty buildings and holding on to valuable properties the government no longer needs. That is something that shouldn’t be tolerated at any time, but especially with this challenging fiscal environment, it’s unacceptable.

Today, we’re sending legislation to the Hill that will cut through red tape and politics to rid the government of the burden of excess property and save taxpayers at least $15 billion. We look forward to working with members of Congress to pass this legislation, the Civilian Property Realignment Act.

The Saudis operate by posting prices for their refiners and then filling all orders at their posted prices.

It looks like the spike in demand for Saudi crude due to Libya has pretty much passed, and Libya is not back to full production.

So look for Saudi production to fall further when Libya comes back on line.

Prices, however, will remain at whatever level the Saudis decide to post, much like Donald Trump has been proclaiming. And with Trump having the President’s ear, there’s at least an outside chance the President figures it out and lets the Saudis know he’s on to them and works out a price cut?

We, the undersigned economics and financial professionals,
seeking to foster world prosperity,
send the following urgent message to President Obama and the US Congress:

Taxes Function to Regulate Aggregate Demand (total spending),
Not to Raise Revenue per se

That means:

Federal spending is NOT inherently dependent on revenues from taxing or borrowing.

ANY constraints, including debt ceilings and budgeting rules, are necessarily self imposed by Congress.

The US can’t EVER have a funding crisis like Greece- there is no such thing for ANY issuer of its own currency.

The correct analogy is between Greece and the US states.
A US state can indeed become unable to fund itself, and look to the US Federal Reserve Bank for funding, much like Greece is getting assistance from the European Central Bank. But as issuers of their own currencies, the notion of a funding crisis for the US Federal Reserve Bank or the European Central Bank is entirely inapplicable.

Furthermore, federal borrowing is nothing more than a matter of the Federal Reserve debiting reserve accounts and crediting securities accounts. And paying off the Federal debt, as done continuously as US Treasury securities mature, is nothing more than a matter of the Federal Reserve debiting securities accounts and crediting reserve accounts.

THERE ARE NO GRANDCHILDREN INVOLVED IN THIS PROCESS!!!

Nor is there any inherent financial risk posed by foreigners or anyone else buying or not buying US Treasury securities.

Additionally, the risk of federal overspending relative to taxation, as available labor and materials become fully employed,
is higher prices, and not insolvency or any kind of funding crisis.

Therefore, with our currently recognized and highly problematic shortage of aggregate demand,
as evidenced by unemployment and economic slack in general, you’ve all got it backwards.

Given the current depressed state of the US economy, an informed Congress would be in heated debate
over whether to increase federal spending, or decrease taxes.

And with the current risk of inflation largely from crude oil prices and food prices,
which are now closely linked, for all practical purposes price stability is also currently in your hands.

Signed:

Warren Mosler
President, Valance Co.

Roger Erickson, PhD; Chairman
Operations Institute

Joseph M. Firestone, Ph.D.
Managing Director, CEO
Knowledge Management Consortium International
A Division of Executive Information Systems, Inc.

Stephanie Kelton, Ph.d
University of Missouri, Kansas City

Thomas E. Nugent
Chief Investment Officer, Victoria Capital Management, Inc.

Chris Hanley
Owner/Broker Farchette & Hanley Real Estate, US Virgin Islands

Art Patten
President, Symmetry Capital Management, LLC

Andrea Terzi
Franklin College Switzerland

Bernard J. Weis
Norfolk Markets

***If you wish to sign on, return this email with how you would like your name and associations to appear, thanks, and please distribute this to other academics and financial professionals who may be interested in signing on***

Obama Urges Democrats Help Him ‘Finish the Job’

April 15 (Reuters) — President Barack Obama said Thursday a Republican debt-reduction plan would create “a nation of potholes” as he used the first events of his 2012 re-election bid to strike a sharp contrast with his opponents.

Seeking to reignite the energy of supporters that propelled his candidacy in 2008, Obama said “extraordinary progress” has been made during his two years in the White House but much work remains.

He called on supporters to help him finish the job.

The president, who offered a 12-year plan Wednesday to reduce the U.S. deficit by $4 trillion, skewered a proposal by Republican Representative Paul Ryan.

Ryan would trim about the same amount without raising taxes and by making cuts in spending, such as on medical and social programs for the poor and elderly. Republicans have attacked Obama’s plan for raising taxes on wealthy Americans.

“Under their vision, we can’t invest in roads and bridges and broadband and high-speed rail,” Obama said.

“We would be a nation of potholes.”

The Republican approach, he said, is that “we can’t afford to do big things anymore” and says to the underprivileged, “tough luck, they’re on their own.”

Obama, who reluctantly agreed to extend Bush-era tax cuts late last year even for the richest Americans, said if the wealthy were to “pay a little more in taxes,” it would help solve America’s fiscal challenge without forsaking its responsibility to its people.

“If we apply some practical common sense to this, we can solve our fiscal challenges and still have the America that we believe in. That’s what this budget debate is about and that’s what the presidential campaign is going to be about.”

Obama has tried to straddle a middle ground and sought compromise with his political adversaries since Republicans took command of the House of Representatives and picked up strength in the Senate in elections last November.

He said he recognized that some of his liberal supporters have been frustrated “because we’ve had to compromise with the Republicans a couple of times,” and that he felt the same way sometimes.

“We knew this wasn’t going to be easy.”

Even NY Fed Chief Bill Dudley, well aware of his role as a manager of expectations, is worried:

Dudley Headlines:

DUDLEY SAYS IMPORTANT NOT TO OVERREACT TO RISING INFLATION
DUDLEY ATTRIBUTES LOSS OF MOMENTUM TO RISING OIL PRICES
DUDLEY SAYS U.S. ECONOMY LOST SOME MOMENTUM IN PAST TWO MONTHS

Last I heard Congress agreed cut $38 billion in spending from this year’s budget as a ‘down payment’ on reducing the federal deficit.

Followed by every economic forecaster on Wall St. and Main St. reducing estimates for this years’s GDP by maybe 1/2% or more. (These are people who get paid to be right, and not to produce propaganda.)

I have no problem with cutting wasteful and unnecessary spending, but when we have this kind of shortage of aggregate demand said cuts would be more than matched with either tax cuts and/or other spending increases, to sustain aggregate demand.

(Aggregate demand is the total spending, private and public, that supports employment and output).

The proposals are now to get to work on more serious deficit reduction- maybe $5 trillion over the next 10 years, or about $500 billion or so per year.

Ask your favorite forecasters what that does to GDP. I’ll guess they’ll tell you it would be a proactive reduction of more than 3% per year. Plus multipliers. And maybe a 50% increase in unemployment as the output gap skyrockets from already insanely high levels.

In other words, maybe 10 years of negative growth, unless private sector (including non residents) spending somehow increases at least by that much.

For domestic sector spending to increase to fill what my mate Bill Mitchell likes to call the spending gap, there would need to be an increase in private sector debt (which is likewise measured as a drop in private sector savings).

With today’s credit conditions, I don’t see where that could possibly come from. Borrowing to spend on houses and cars- the traditional engine of consumer growth- rising to levels sufficient to close the output gap seems highly unlikely. Particularly when federal deficit reduction is cutting incomes and savings.

For the foreign sector (non residents) to fill that spending gap, the trade gap would have to somehow stop going up and suddenly drop down by that amount. Not impossible, but a very ugly process (for us)- massive decline in our real terms of trade, etc.- should that actually happen.

So why is this happening? Why are we drinking the hemlock?

Because both sides- Democrats and Republicans- have it all dead wrong.

They both agree the federal deficit is too large and is a dire threat to our well being.

When, in fact, the exact opposite is the case- the output gap/unemployment is telling us- screaming at us- that the federal deficit is too small, and that Congress should be arguing over whether they should cut taxes and/or increase spending.

(And throw in an energy policy, and fast, but that’s for another post).

But because they think we could be the next Greece and face a federal funding crisis, they continue to work to turn us into the next Japan with two lost decades- and worse.

It’s either ignorance or subversion, so let me take the liberty to again borrow from John Kenneth Galbraith and call it innocent subversion.

“The worst part is that, because both sides have no clue about the real functioning of the monetary system, they have both been hard at work misinforming the public. And, since they both watch and react to daily polling numbers, unless something is done, they will continue to react to the reflections of their own ignorance.”

Atty Donovan Hamm

Stupid headline and stupid response.

Unemployment is a macro problem, and cutting spending does’t create jobs.

It’s the continuing saga of the blind leading the blind.

Looking for $31 billion in federal spending cuts this week.
And that’s just a down payment.

Obama: Shift From Foreign Oil Will Help Create More Jobs

April 2 (AP) — President Barack Obama says shifting the U.S. away from imported oil and toward cleaner forms of energy will add momentum to a trend that has led to 1.8 million new jobs in the past 13 months.

Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to promote his ideas for bringing down gasoline prices by decreasing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. A blueprint he outlined in a recent speech calls for increasing domestic oil exploration and production, making cars and trucks more energy efficient and building vehicles that run on alternative fuels or electricity.

Noting that the U.S. doesn’t have enough oil reserves to meet its needs, he set a goal of reducing imports by one-third by 2025.

“By doing so, we’re going to make our economy less vulnerable to wild swings in oil prices,” Obama said. “We’re going to use cleaner sources of energy that don’t imperil our climate. And we’re going to spark new products and businesses all over the country by tapping America’s greatest renewable resource: our ingenuity.”

The address was Obama’s third in recent days on the issue. On Wednesday, he travels to the Philadelphia area to visit an arm of the Spanish company Gamesa, maker of giant turbines that generate electricity from wind.

Oil prices have climbed because of increasing demand in China and instability in some oil-producing countries in the Middle East. That, in turn, has pushed U.S. gasoline prices to new highs. The national average for a gallon of gas hit $3.619 on Friday, the highest price ever for this time of year, according to AAA and other sources. Prices have climbed 23.2 cents in the past month and more than 81 cents in the past year.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell agreed with Obama on encouraging more domestic energy production. But he accused the administration of stifling that industry’s growth by canceling drilling leases, halting drilling off the Gulf Coast after last summer’s oil spill and increasing permit fees.

“As a result, thousands of U.S. workers have lost their jobs, as companies have been forced to move their operations overseas. That must end,” the Kentucky Republican said. “We must do more to find energy here at home, and the jobs that go with it.”

Obama said that sparking new products and businesses during a transition away from imported oil will help create jobs. The government reported Friday that 230,000 private sector jobs were created in March, bringing the total number created in the past 13 months to 1.8 million. The national unemployment rate also dipped to a two-year low of 8.8 percent last month.

“That’s a good sign,” Obama said. He recorded the address at a UPS shipping facility in suburban Maryland, where he examined all-electric and hybrid vehicles used by AT&T, Verizon, PepsiCo and other companies.

“But we have to keep up the momentum, and transitioning to a clean energy economy will help us do that,” Obama said.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, focused his party’s weekly message on steps he said the government must take to encourage small businesses to create jobs. Among those steps are continuing to cut spending, blocking tax increases, reducing the bureaucracy and eliminating regulations. Boehner once owned a small plastics and packaging business in Ohio.

Boehner said Congress also needs to pass a bill funding the government through Sept. 30, when the budget year ends, and avoid a shutdown. The government’s authority to spend money expires next Friday.

“Washington’s inability to get spending under control is creating uncertainty for our job creators,” Boehner said. “It’s discouraging investment in small businesses and eroding confidence in our economy. To put it simply, the spending binge in Washington is holding our country back and keeping our economy from creating jobs.”

Barbour slams Obama on taxes, economy

By Jillian Harding

March 26 (CNN) — Mississippi Republican Gov. Haley Barbour on Saturday criticized President Obama’s economic policies and urged fiscal discipline in Washington.

Speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, to a crowd of conservative activists, the potential 2012 GOP presidential contender said, “When the government sucks all the money out of the economy, how is the private sector supposed to create jobs?”

Spending $1.5t more than taxing ADDS that much income and $financial assets to the economy

Barbour slammed the Obama administration’s tax policies for placing an extra burden on taxpayers and inhibiting job growth.

“The president from the beginning has been calling for the largest tax increase in American history,” Barbour said, adding “the policies of this administration in every case have made it harder to create jobs.”

What tax increases? Just talking about them?

Barbour also struck out at taxes placed on the oil industry, saying they would be passed on to consumers.

“Who’s he think is going to pay that? Exxon?” Barbour said, “That’s going to be paid by the people who are pumping gas and diesel fuel into their cars & trucks.”

Citing the need to jumpstart the economy, Barbour told the crowd that reducing spending would be key.

“I urge you to remember the most important thing, cutting spending is the means to an end, the end is to continue to grow our economy,” he said.

What sense does that make???

He’s a menace.

This is not looking good.

The economy is perceived to be at least modestly growing and improving.

The President is now perceived to be working with the opposition, first to extend the tax cuts at year end, and now with the spending cuts.

The President has kept us out of direct conflict in the latest round of disruptions.

So what’s the problem?

Gasoline is pushing $4/gallon and there’s no plan except to tax it so we don’t use so much?

They all believe we’ve run out of money, are dependent on borrowing from the likes of China, and could be the next Greece?

The rebels are losing in Libya and there seems to be nothing we can do about it?

Homes are still being lost by the hundreds of thousands?

Vast numbers of people owe more on their house than it’s worth?

People can’t find decent jobs?

The healthcare situation is worse than ever?

There is a perception that the President and Congress are insensitive to what people are going through?

There is no actual recovery plan, nor even any proposals that make sense?

There is a general feeling that America is in decline?

If this is actually the jist of the proposals they make no sense to me.
For me the starting point is the question,
‘Is there public purpose supporting home ownership for lower income earners?’

Under current institutional arrangements, I’d say yes, and come up with an entirely different set of proposals, as I did
a while back for my website.

As is, looks to me like an obstacle to higher levels of output and employment.

Mortgage Costs to Rise As Government Lessens Role

February 11 (AP) — The Obama administration laid out three broad options Friday for reducing the government’s role in the mortgage market. All three would almost certainly lead to higher interest rates and costs for borrowers.

The administration said in a report that the government should withdraw its support for the mortgage market slowly, over five years or more. The report describes a path for winding down the troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But rather than making a single recommendation, the administration offered Congress three scenarios and will let lawmakers shape the final policy.

The options are:

— No government role, except for existing agencies like the Federal Housing Administration.

— A government guarantee of private mortgages triggered only when the market is in trouble.

— Government insurance for a targeted range of mortgage investments that already are guaranteed by private insurers. The government guarantee would kick in only if those private companies couldn’t pay.

Looks like the media is getting on to a lot of what I’ve been saying since President Obama was a candidate?

These are not your father’s Democrats.

And they afraid we might be the next Greece, and so are on a path to turn us into the next Japan.

GDP is improving modestly, thanks to the 9% federal deficit. However, given the current credit environment and high productivity growth, it’s not enough to bring down unemployment in any meaningful way.

The near 0% interest rate policy continues to suppress private interest income and, along with it’s positive supply side effects, has helped the inflation indicators to continue to decelerate.

Increased exports evidence the more to reduced real terms of trade, with higher crude prices hurting as well. (we are exporting more and more just to ‘pay for’ the same amount of imported crude)

The last thing our standard of living needs is what the President threatened when he said something like ‘now that the worst of the recession is behind us, we can turn our attention to deficit reduction.’

LEFT TO WONDER IF HE’S ON RIGHT
By Charles Hurt
Publication: The New York Post
Date: Wednesday, January 26 2011

 
WASHINGTON – Stop spending! Cut taxes! Simplify the tax code! Expand free trade! Slice the deficit! Slaughter the pork!

No, that was not some Tea Partier or the battle cry of Republicans last night in response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address.

It was Obama himself, talking like a true convert to the Conservative Party.

The lefty liberal asked both parties last night to come together to eliminate the endless complexities in the tax code that has created a cottage industry for accountants but has been the bane of businesses and workers alike.

And he urged Congress to cut taxes. But not just any taxes.

The man many believe to be an all-out socialist whose policies have been hostile to businesses actually called on Congress last night to cut the corporate tax rate.

Few Republicans in these tough times have the guts to carry the banner of cutting this country’s corporate tax rates, which are among the highest in the world.

And it is truly astonishing to hear this from the leader of the party that is so completely devoted to trashing companies and corporate successes like Wal-Mart – even as Democrats claim to want to lower unemployment rates and foster a thriving economy.

Obama called for free trade with foreign countries, even as his fellow Democrats continue to insist that all free traders want to do is send jobs overseas.

And he hewed to a conservative line on cutting the deficit – a truly terrifying burden that just months ago Obama dismissed as insignificant as he added trillions of dollars to it.

The moment Obama really threw down the gauntlet came when he locked arms with conservative Republicans to denounce earmarks, those fat chunks of your money that lawmakers grab to pay for pet projects back home and plum favors for political supporters.

Obama explicitly vowed in no uncertain terms that if Congress sends him any piece of legislation with any earmarks in it, he will flat out veto it.

This was met with muted applause and just a small handful of decent politicians in the chamber leaping to their feet to applaud.

The question now is whether the President Obama we heard last night was genuine – or the speech was just another cynical political ploy by a Washington politician looking ahead to his re-election next year.

Will Obama actually follow through and lead his party to join Republicans to lower the corporate tax rate, dramatically cut the deficit and finally put an end to the political pork spending that politician after politician has proved is the “gateway drug” to corruption?

A glance at his record does not leave much room for hope.

“You’re the type that would complain if they hung you with a new rope.”

Hopefully this entire administration and Congress will go down in history as the last out of paradigm regime that nearly succeeded in turning the US into the next Japan, which now includes the drive to become a net exporter, before the lights came on and every lived happily ever after.

Meanwhile, it’s more of the same, with Paul Ryan ratcheting up the fear mongering after taking the hand off from President Obama, specifically stating we were going to be the next Greece if didn’t take immediate proactive measures.

And, of course, absolutely not a peep of criticism from any politician, the media, or headline economist- hawk or dove- on that operational absurdity.

Some of the risks listed at year end seem to be coming on line, including slower growth out of China, euro austerity keeping a lid on demand in the euro zone, and US fiscal balance too tight for anything more than very modest top line growth, given current credit conditions and the negative income effects of near 0 interest rate policy and QE.

With crude oil continuing to soften, and Brent looking to close the gap with WTI by falling more than WTI, the dollar continues to gain fundamental support as it becomes ‘harder to get’ overseas.

And falling gold and silver prices, along with most other commodities, are showing a world that is sensitive to those indicators that QE2 doesn’t look to have been at all inflationary, leaving many people with positions they otherwise would not have taken (long gold, silver, commodity currencies, and other implied ‘short dollar’ positions).

The risk here is that the dollar gets very strong, and commodities very weak, which can lead to a US equity correction as well as a strong bond rally, all contributing to a deflationary malaise, as the theme remains:

Because we believe we can be the next Greece, we continue to work to turn ourselves into the next Japan

Which includes a misguided national effort to export our way to prosperity, which is likely to be featured by the President tonight.

The President is on a roll, so he’ll likely keep doing more of what he thinks is working.

Regardless of whether those policies that win him approval are considered ‘progressive’

Obama reiterated the talking points he has been pushing for the last two weeks. Borrowing $700 billion to pay for a tax cut for “millionaires and billionaires” doesn’t make any sense, especially when one considers the evidence that the wealthy are far more likely to save than spend their tax cuts, thus providing very little stimulus to the economy. The cost-benefit analysis just doesn’t work.

Since he doesn’t understand monetary operations he doesn’t realize that if the money isn’t going to be spent there is no point in taxing it with regards to aggregate demand.

He’s giving the wrong reason for ‘taxing the rich.’

In a bold move to the right, President Obama proposed a series of Republican type business tax cuts that would not have been the first choice of anyone on the left, in addition to a tax cut for workers earning less than $250,000 per year.

Boehner’s best move would have been to embrace the business tax cuts as well as the personal tax cuts, declare victory, and claim it was voter rejection of the ‘liberal agenda’ that caused the President to break ranks with the left and join the conservative cause, etc. And I’m sure he could have spun it far better than my feeble attempt.

Instead, Boehner fell into the trap, as he rejected the entire pro Republican agenda proposal, and opened himself and the Republican party up to a crushing condemnation of his position by a President who was back to his teleprompter led candidate form.

Looks like a major political blunder to me. While Obama’s proposals can be said to fall short of the mark, there was precious little the Republicans should have been objecting to. Now Boehner is stranded in no man’s land, regrouping and groping for a position that makes sense. (Reminds me of the Arafat’s public relations disaster when he rejected a far more than generous offer from the Israelis.)

Unfortunately, Obama took advantage of and reinforced the anti deficit fear mongering and added to that fear mongering, claiming he didn’t extend tax cuts to the rich because the govt. needs those dollars for deficit reduction. This further sets us up for higher unemployment down the road and has already limited any fiscal response to levels that will keep US unemployment ‘high for long.’

Now the Democrats are hoping that the numbers between now and the election show a double dip is not in the cards, and that things have slowly turned, which is very possible.

Even so, there’s a good chance it’s too late to stem the anti incumbent tide.

Obama Blasts GOP, Boehner on Economy and Taxes

September 8 (AP) — President Barack Obama strongly defended his opposition to extending Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans on Wednesday and delivered a searing attack on Republicans and their House leader for advocating “the same philosophy that led to this mess in the first place.”

Obama said the struggling U.S. economy can’t afford to spend $700 billion to keep lower tax rates in place for the nation’s highest earners despite a call by House Minority Leader John Boehner and other GOP leaders to do just that.

Speaking in the same city where Boehner, an Ohio Republican, recently ridiculed Obama’s economic stewardship, Obama said Boehner’s policies amount to no more than “cut more taxes for millionaires and cut more rules for corporations.”

Obama’s comments came as the administration rolled out new proposals designed to re-ignite a sputtering recovery, including new tax breaks for businesses and $50 billion for U.S. roads, rails and airports.

“Let me be clear to Mr. Boehner and everyone else. We should not hold middle class tax cuts hostage any longer,” the president said. The administration “is ready this week to give tax cuts to every American making $250,000 or less,” he said.

Actually, Obama and other Democratic leaders want to extend the tax cuts except for individuals making over $200,000 a year—or families earning over $250,000. The sweeping series of Bush tax cuts expires at the end of this year unless Congress renews them.

Obama went after Boehner—who would probably become House speaker if Republicans win control of the House in November’s midterm elections—directly by name.

In Boehner’s remarks on Aug. 24, Obama said, the Republican leader offered “no new ideas. There was just the same philosophy we already tried for the last decade, the same philosophy that led to this mess in the first place.”

Ahead of Obama’s speech, Boehner offered his own proposals on Wednesday, saying in a morning broadcast interview that Congress should freeze all tax rates for two years and should cut federal spending to the levels of 2008, before the deep recession took hold.

“People are asking, ‘Where are the jobs?”‘ Boehner said, calling the White House “out of touch” with the American public.

Obama gave one of his strongest pitches yet on allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire at the end of this year for wealthy Americans but allowing them to remain in place for everybody else.

Republicans, and even some Democrats, have suggested that it was no time to raise taxes on anybody, given the fragile state of the economy.

The debate is an unwelcome one for dozens of vulnerable Democratic incumbents just weeks before Election Day. Already, a handful of Democrats in conservative or swing districts, such as Reps. Gerry Connolly in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and Bobby Bright in southeastern Alabama, have come out publicly for extending all the cuts—at least temporarily.

Still other embattled Democrats, wary of alienating middle-class voters, are siding with Obama. In central Ohio, for example, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy has said the tax cuts for higher earners should be repealed, but middle-income people should see no tax increases.

Obama acknowledged that the recovery that began in late 2009 had slowed considerably.

“And so people are frustrated and angry and anxious about the future. I understand that. I also understand that in a political campaign, the easiest thing for the other side to do is ride this fear and anger all the way to Election Day,” he said.

“The middle class is still treading water, while those aspiring to reach the middle class are doing everything they can to keep from drowning,” Obama said.

Polls have shown a steady slippage in Obama’s approval ratings and an accompanying rise in Republican prospects for winning House and Senate seats in November.

In his speech, Obama outlined plans to expand and permanently extend a research and development tax credit that lapsed in 2009, to allow businesses to write 100 percent of their investments in equipment and plants off their taxes through 2011 and to pump $50 billion into the economy for highway, rail, airport and other infrastructure projects.

He also renewed a pitch for a small business package that has been stalled in the Senate because of Republican delaying tactics.

Of the debate over the expiring Bush tax cuts, Obama said, “I believe we ought to make the tax cuts for the middle class permanent. These families are the ones who saw their wages and incomes flatline over the last decade—and they deserve a break. And because they are more likely to spend on basic necessities, this will strengthen the economy as a whole.”

“But the Republican leader of the House doesn’t want to stop there. … He and his party believe we should also give a permanent tax curt to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.” Obama said these taxpayers were “folks who are less likely to spend the money” to help the economy grow, a notion disputed by Republicans and conservative economists.

Even Obama’s former budget director, Peter Orszag, has said that while he prefers Obama’s proposal to impose the higher taxes on the wealthy, getting such a formulation through Congress in this politically charged time might be extremely difficult. Orszag suggested a compromise—extend all the tax cuts, but just for two years, and then let them all expire.

Obama is strongly opposed to such a deal, White House officials said.

They call Obama a ‘socialist’ who’s taking from the rich and giving to the poor, but the facts show that instead he’s presided over the largest transfer of wealth from poor to rich in the history of the world.

GDP has been growing by around 4% for the last two quarters, while the lowest income people suffered through job loss and declining wage growth.

That means someone else got the increase in real wealth:

World’s rich got richer amid ’09 recession: report

By Joseph A. Giannone

June 22 (Reuters) — The rich grew richer last year, even as the world endured the worst recession in decades.

A stock market rebound helped the world’s ranks of millionaires climb 17 percent to 10 million, while their collective wealth surged 19 percent to $39 trillion, nearly recouping losses from the financial crisis, according to the latest Merrill Lynch-Capgemini world wealth report.

Stock values rose by half, while hedge funds recovered most of their 2008 losses, in a year marked by government stimulus spending and central bank easing.

“We are already seeing distinct signs of recovery and, in some areas, a complete return to 2007 levels of wealth and growth,” Bank of America Corp wealth management chief Sallie Krawcheck said.

The fastest growth in wealth took place in India, China and Brazil, some of the hardest hit markets in 2008. Wealth in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific soared to record highs.

Asia’s millionaire ranks rose to 3 million, matching Europe for the first time, paced by a 4.5 percent economic expansion.

Asian millionaires’ combined wealth surged 31 percent to $9.7 trillion, surpassing Europe’s $9.5 trillion.

In North America, the ranks of the rich rose 17 percent and their wealth grew 18 percent to $10.7 trillion.

The United States was home to the most millionaires in 2009 — 2.87 million — followed by Japan with 1.65 million, Germany with 861,000, and China with 477,000.

Switzerland had the highest concentration of millionaires: nearly 35 for every 1,000 adults.

Yet as portfolios bounced back, investors remained wary after a collapse that erased a decade of stock gains, fueled a contraction in the global economy and sent unemployment soaring.

The report, based on surveys with more than 1,100 wealthy investors with 23 firms, found that the rich were well served by holding a broad range of investments, including commodities and real estate.

“The wealthy allocated, as opposed to concentrated, their investments,” Merrill Lynch head of U.S. wealth management Lyle LaMothe said in an interview.

Millionaires poured more of their money into fixed-income investments seeking predictable returns and cash flow. The challenge ahead for brokers is convincing clients to move off the sidelines and pursue riskier, more fruitful investments.

“There is still a hesitancy,” LaMothe said. “Liquidity is incredibly important and people need cash flow to preserve their lifestyle — but they want to replace that cash flow in a way that does not increase their risk profile.”

The report found that investor confidence in advisers and regulators remains shaken. The rich are actively managing their investments, seeking customized advice and demanding full disclosure about the securities they buy.

There were signs that investors were shaking off their concerns. Families that kept money closer to home during the crisis began shifting money to foreign markets, particularly the developing nations.

North American and European investors are expected to increase their exposure to Asian markets, which are projected to lead the world in economic expansion. Europe’s wealthy are seen increasing their U.S. and Canadian holdings.

More wealthy clients also are taking a harder look at large companies that pay healthy dividends, as an alternative to bonds and their razor-thin yields.

“Investors are open to areas they hadn’t thought about before as they try to preserve their ability to be philanthropic, to preserve their lifestyle,” LaMothe said. “To me, the report underscored clients are involved and they’re not inclined to stay in 1 percent savings accounts.”

An Open Letter to President Obama

By Joe Firestone

Link

A true day of infamy!

Financial reform and fiscal policy…

9:45 am – President Obama speaks on fiscal policy. At the opening of the inaugural meeting of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

10:00 am – Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on the financial crisis. The hearing should run through mid-afternoon.

10:00 am – Fed Chairman Bernanke and OMB Director Orzsag testify on fiscal matters. At the first meeting of the president’s fiscal commission.

12:30 pm – Senate party conference meetings. Following last night’s Senate vote on financial reform, in which Democratic leaders failed to invoke cloture (i.e., close debate) on the question of whether to proceed with debating the bill, both parties must now decide how to proceed. Most observers expect that although Republicans opposed the bill last night unanimously, that unity may not last very long, as many members have a desire to eventually vote for some form of financial reform legislation. Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee and their staffs have been writing an alternative proposal to offer on the Senate floor, though when and even if that comes at this point is unclear. Senate Democratic unity was set back yesterday by one member, Sen. Nelson of Nebraska, voting yesterday with Republicans against moving forward. The ongoing discussions today, and partiuclarly the conference lunches at mid-day, will set the tone for the next steps in the process.

Afternoon – Vote on financial reform? Most observers expect Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) to call for another vote moving forward with Senator Dodd’s financial reform bill as soon as later today, potentially followed by yet another vote tomorrow if today’s vote does not hit the 60 votes required. Following the first cloture vote yesterday, subsequent reconsideration of that vote can be called for at any time.