http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03Obama-t.html?_r=1&hpw It's long, but a worthy read. I supported Obama in his bid for election against McCain, all things being equal, although I wasn't exactly enthusiastic. I'd much rather have had the chance to have voted for someone loyal to pure American interests, which no one from either major (same) party will do, or can do, given who controls them. Also, I'm not sure things would have turned out any better or differently had McCain won - we would have drifted lower, for different reasons, and the buzzwords would have been different. But in this interview, if you pay attention, you will read about a grand plan that literally makes FDR's New Deal seem tame by comparison. I am not Keynesian nor am I completely free market. Moderation is the key in all things in life. But we now have an Administration that has very laudable, yet totally unrealistic goals, given that we are becoming less central, and not more central, in global consumption, commerce and even military projection. The deniers won't want to hear or believe this, but it's staring them smack dab in the face, waving at them, as fact. The Obama Administration wants to wean us off cars, lull us into mass transit, provide universal health care, set up a clean energy grid that nearly eliminates our carbon footprint within several decades, speak of restoring 'rights' and 'privacy' as government grows ever larger, criticize the cozy ties previous administrations have had with Wall Street while allowing that very institution to literally draft economic policy (and I do mean literally; during his transition, President Obama submitted letters and other documents printed on the stationary of a good friend's hedge fund and another friend's law firm which has close ties to big investment banks, and President Obama's transition team worked out of the office of that same hedge fund friend's offices in D.C. - I couldn't make this up if I tried). In the meantime, we are following in the exact same footsteps of the U.K., allowing manufacturing and the jobs that accompany it to flee (encouraging it, even), which takes critical legs of technology with it, and banking our future on the 'information and finance age.' Memo to President Obama - no great civilization ever existed or survived that didn't make leading edge 'things;' things that the rest of the world lusted after, but couldn't produce themselves. And it will never happen. You can take Google, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and all other firms like them, and they'll never provide the employment on a numbers basis, or remotely close to a wage basis (because of the numbers) that the Whirlpools, Ford Motor Companies, Electroluxs, Boeings, RCAs, GEs, Boeings, General Motors, Pfizers, Kodaks, Cornings, Dows, Strykers, EDSs, Hughes, Raytheons, United Technologies, Amanas, etc. provided this nation in the 50s, 60s and even 70s, and to add insult to injury, the Googles, Microsofts and Goldmans are expanding overseas, and not here, as are the latter companies I listed. We are devolving into a services sector economy, just like the UK, and China, Japan and South Korea are building all the products that the rest of the world will lust after, and not be able to build for themselves, and on top of that, in our arrogance and tendency to believe the lies we are told, we will try to maintain our former standard of living by borrowing and levering whatever assets any given one of us has, so as perpetuate the myth that we still lead the world and are immune, and that we are christened as perpetual untouchables, destined to rule. We are being lied to. No service oriented economy will ever provide us or our children the living standards or power that the business of making 'hard to design and fabricate things' ever will - it's not even a close equation. So, whether you agree or not, read this article, and if your mind is clear and your eyes lucid, you will see that President Obama and the technocrats that he has empowered are leading us into decline, on grand promises that can never be delivered upon, and it's all one carefully constructed theatrical production, with no substance behind it. I still personally like President Obama, and don't believe the Republicans were providing any 'vision thing,' let along a flawed one, and that's why Obama won handily. I just happen to believe President Obama has ambitions that are far too grand, will put us into perpetual debt, and like so many others before him, refuses to level with the American People about the realistic choices we face and must make as a nation. Our institutions of government and education are failing, we are falling behind in math and sciences, and we have a Democrat who wants to keep feeding the same failed institutions that are, in part, sucking our human and financial resources up at an alarming and incredibly inefficient manner. But unless we refuse to allow Toyota, Samsung, Honda, Komatsu, Airbus, Siemens, Roche, etc. to stomp our 'makers of things' out of preeminence, we're doomed to the same fate as the U.K.
Nice editorial ByLo. As far as the interview, there doesn't seem to be a motive to inspire much of anything except for maybe this: if you're going to be punched in the nose, would you rather know you are going to be punched in the nose or not know?
Why do you think Taleb says buy what China is buying (gold, coppper) and Nourini says the Yuan may become the 'reserve currency." China has quietly taken our place and our leadership has allowed this. A New World Order as Bush the Greater bellowed. Your new world order is here..........how do you like it.
The interview demonstrates again Obama's pragmatic, level-headed thinking and mental sharpness. I am convinced he is the right man to lead the US out of its self-inflicted mess, and I believe he will succeed to a significant extent. He is following through on virtually all the initiatives he mentioned during his election campaign. I find his integrity, in that regard, refreshing.
Then do something about it!!! There is too much debate over "crap" issues while the system of things is fundamentally flawed and not sustainable.......(federal reserve, anyone?) It's two political parties fighting over what color to paint the walls while the outside of the house is on fire. Ask yourself, "How can the years up to 2006 be so "prosperous" and then suddenly everything rolls over and we are on the verge of a "global financial collapse"?" I don't know about you, but it my house, when I've made some real financial progress, i.e. become richer, I don't lose 40-50% of my wealth in a few months. So much of this political GARBAGE is just shuffling this over here and that over there.......let's get a new Mastercard to pay off that old Visa! This crap doesn't work in my house or yours. We have to bring in some income in some way. A job perhaps!? This "job" is an example of a fundamental change. The needs of people haven't changed in thousands of years. Yet, we have all these "issues" and "problems" that we "need" political figures to "solve" for us. If they did truly "solve" anything, they'd be out of a job! And they won't do that, now will they? Check out the link below. It is part 1 of 5 on a very interesting topic few people truly know about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb26u9g8&feature=related After you've watched the rest of the videos, you may be interested in what these people have to say. If you are, pass it on. http://www.campaignforliberty.com/
the crisis was building up underneath as the housing bubble and the previous bubbles were used to hide it
I am hearing this type of buyer's remorse over Obama more and more. Were you people totally asleep during the election? No, as i recall you were the ones telling us we were crazy to be calling Obama a leftwing radical and assuring everyone that he would be moderate and reasonable once in office. In other words, you were totally taken in by the Obama campaign's sound bites and the media's suffocating support for him. McCain was not my first or second or even fifth or sixth choice. He was preferable only to an inexperienced radical from the corrupt world of Chicago politics. It's frustrating but sometimes(most times?) we end up selecting the least bad alternative. As much as people wanted to love obama, they desperately need to wake up and admit that they made a terrible mistake. You can project your values and policies on him as long as you want, but it won't change who he is. He certainly has no intention of changing. The Chrysler strong arm play was just a warm-up. Most of you have no idea just how much money has been poured down the Fannie Mae/Freddi Mac rathole. They are favored democrat slush funds, so there is no media outrage like there was with AIG. (BTW, the answer is $400 billion. that's billion with a capital B. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-...400-billion-fannie-and-freddie-bailout-2009-5 )