On this day 9 years ago, America suffered an attack on her home soil. On that day I felt thousands of souls pass through me and pierce my heart with a sadness like I had never felt. On September 11, 2001, Americans united as a nation for the first time in a long time. We all came together and celebrated the heroes who struggled to save survivors when the Towers fell. We also mourned the thousands that died that day In NY, Pennsylvania and in Arlington, VA at the Pentagon. For quite a while afterward we were united as a nation, as brothers and sisters. We forgot all our differences and pulled together, help one another out and showed our patriotism.
Since that day, we have all now faded back into the horizon. Where is all the Patriotism, the unification of people, minds and ideas? In this time of economic strife, we need to become more patriotic, we need to unite, pull together as a nation and help out those in our own country in need. When someone falls down, put out a hand and help them up.
You see, when the towers fell, the terrorist hoped we would fall apart as a nation. That in some form we would self destruct. Well during our current crisis, that is exactly what is happening. They are sitting back and laughing at us as we all continue to fall apart. We are not uniting, we are not working together and no one is putting out that hand to help a fallen neighbor back up.
So today is a time to remember what happened. Remember how we all united and stood strong, how we went the extra step to help each other out. Let's not let them continue to win, we need to show the world our true strength. Show the world what America stands for and that we are Proud to be Americans!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Romer's Departure and the Economy
Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, was giving her "valedictory" at the National Press Club before she returns to teach at Berkeley, she used this stage to establish four points, each point much more unnerving than the last:
1. She had no idea how bad the economic collapse would be.
2. She still doesn't understand exactly why it was so bad.
3. The response to the collapse was inadequate.
4. She doesn't have much of an idea about how to fix things.
She will be leaving the council chairmanship after a dismal tenure that resulted in a loss of nearly 4 million jobs in a year and a half. Understanding this is not all her’s or this administration’s fault; the financial collapse occurred before she, and Obama, took office. It must be understood though that she was the president's top economist during this time and the administration consistently underestimated the depth of the economy's troubles. These serious miscalculations have caused many Americans to lose faith in the President and the Democratic party as a whole.
Romer had anticipated that President Obama's stimulus package would keep the unemployment rate at 8 percent or less; it has been at 9.5 percent and higher. One of her main bosses, Vice President Biden, had told Democrats in January that "you're going to see, come the spring, net increase in jobs every month." The country lost over 350,000 jobs in June and July.
In her speech Romer acknowledged, they (her and the administration) did not realize "how quickly and strongly the financial crisis would affect the economy." They "failed to anticipate just how violent the recession would be." Even I had seen this coming and people who are paid to analyze and predict these events did not see what hit them? What kind of amateurs are running our country. They had calculated that with the stimulus package they proposed being passed that unemployment would remain below 8%, instead it had the opposite effect and unemployment rose to 10%. Why would they think a bailout of corporate America would stimulate the economy, all it allowed for was companies to clear the red off their books and give them some breathing room while all the corporate heads could remain employed or receive generous severance packages to leave. All this while lowly middle class Americans were laid off in droves or had their salaries frozen for at least a few years.
The administration does not have an answer nor do they understand the concept of how America works. Here is the process – a person goes to work and earns a salary or wage, he takes home his pay, pays the bills, supports his family and in this process goes out and spends his earned wages. In so doing, he supports sales at other companies and in turn they are able to go out and purchase more products, pay their employee wages and with enough sales expand their operations. Now this is what happened, so many of the people that spent their money are now forced to reduce their spending because their wages were cut or frozen or can not spend or even pay their bills because they have no job. The companies that used to benefit from these sales on a consistent basis now are faced with reduced sales and have been forced to cut back on staff and reduce many of their prices. So this created a recession. This is what the current Administration that is running the country does not seem to understand – this simple concept.
How do we fix it – you have to get middle class America to feel confident about spending and then find a way to stimulate those people – not corporate America. If people were spending again, corporate America would fix itself. Unfortunately, in this process you have to train and condition people to spend again. The government has done the opposite, they have conditioned people to spend less and be more cautious now. This in effect will slow down any recovery.
Home sales have not recovered why? They have not and will not do well because so many people that were once eligible to purchase are now unable to even qualify. So many people have been foreclosed on and lost their jobs that now they no longer are even able to qualify for a loan. Sadly, many are even unable to find anyone to give them a lease to rent and have been forced to move back in with parents or relatives. This administration does not understand this. Not only this administration – but the one before it was not any better.
Fixing the problem is an issue that can not be ignored or delayed. Extending the tax cuts for wealthy Americans will not work. We need to stimulate the Americans that make less than $150,000 per year, this is the group that in the long run will pull us out of a recession. One they are able to spend again, sales will increase across all areas of the economy. But how will this administration and this congress understand this or find a way to fix it? – My explosion of thought!
1. She had no idea how bad the economic collapse would be.
2. She still doesn't understand exactly why it was so bad.
3. The response to the collapse was inadequate.
4. She doesn't have much of an idea about how to fix things.
She will be leaving the council chairmanship after a dismal tenure that resulted in a loss of nearly 4 million jobs in a year and a half. Understanding this is not all her’s or this administration’s fault; the financial collapse occurred before she, and Obama, took office. It must be understood though that she was the president's top economist during this time and the administration consistently underestimated the depth of the economy's troubles. These serious miscalculations have caused many Americans to lose faith in the President and the Democratic party as a whole.
Romer had anticipated that President Obama's stimulus package would keep the unemployment rate at 8 percent or less; it has been at 9.5 percent and higher. One of her main bosses, Vice President Biden, had told Democrats in January that "you're going to see, come the spring, net increase in jobs every month." The country lost over 350,000 jobs in June and July.
In her speech Romer acknowledged, they (her and the administration) did not realize "how quickly and strongly the financial crisis would affect the economy." They "failed to anticipate just how violent the recession would be." Even I had seen this coming and people who are paid to analyze and predict these events did not see what hit them? What kind of amateurs are running our country. They had calculated that with the stimulus package they proposed being passed that unemployment would remain below 8%, instead it had the opposite effect and unemployment rose to 10%. Why would they think a bailout of corporate America would stimulate the economy, all it allowed for was companies to clear the red off their books and give them some breathing room while all the corporate heads could remain employed or receive generous severance packages to leave. All this while lowly middle class Americans were laid off in droves or had their salaries frozen for at least a few years.
The administration does not have an answer nor do they understand the concept of how America works. Here is the process – a person goes to work and earns a salary or wage, he takes home his pay, pays the bills, supports his family and in this process goes out and spends his earned wages. In so doing, he supports sales at other companies and in turn they are able to go out and purchase more products, pay their employee wages and with enough sales expand their operations. Now this is what happened, so many of the people that spent their money are now forced to reduce their spending because their wages were cut or frozen or can not spend or even pay their bills because they have no job. The companies that used to benefit from these sales on a consistent basis now are faced with reduced sales and have been forced to cut back on staff and reduce many of their prices. So this created a recession. This is what the current Administration that is running the country does not seem to understand – this simple concept.
How do we fix it – you have to get middle class America to feel confident about spending and then find a way to stimulate those people – not corporate America. If people were spending again, corporate America would fix itself. Unfortunately, in this process you have to train and condition people to spend again. The government has done the opposite, they have conditioned people to spend less and be more cautious now. This in effect will slow down any recovery.
Home sales have not recovered why? They have not and will not do well because so many people that were once eligible to purchase are now unable to even qualify. So many people have been foreclosed on and lost their jobs that now they no longer are even able to qualify for a loan. Sadly, many are even unable to find anyone to give them a lease to rent and have been forced to move back in with parents or relatives. This administration does not understand this. Not only this administration – but the one before it was not any better.
Fixing the problem is an issue that can not be ignored or delayed. Extending the tax cuts for wealthy Americans will not work. We need to stimulate the Americans that make less than $150,000 per year, this is the group that in the long run will pull us out of a recession. One they are able to spend again, sales will increase across all areas of the economy. But how will this administration and this congress understand this or find a way to fix it? – My explosion of thought!
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