President Obama's Weekly Address 10/23/10 : Letting Wall Street Run Wild Again

Pointing to the foreclosure crisis and the economy, the President cites passage of Wall Street Reform over the ferocious lobbying of Wall Street banks as a pivotal acheivement -- and condemns Republicans in Congress for vowing to repeal it.

President Obama's Weekly Address 7/24/10: Moving Forward on the Economy vs. Moving Backward

Following the signing of historic Wall Street Reform legislation, the President lays out his plans to strengthen the middle class, give tax breaks to small businesses that create jobs here, invest in homegrown, clean energy, and cut taxes for working families. The President also contrasts that plan with the agenda outlined by the Republican House Leader that would return America to the policies that created this economic crisis, drastically increase the deficit, and make permanent massive tax breaks for the very wealthiest Americans.


Learn more about Economy

Letter: Why Are Turf Fields Top Priority During Worst Economic Times Since The Great Depression?

Politics has overcome any sense of good government in Middletown Township.This is an egregious miscarriage of politics masquerading as government in this community.

When economic conditions are ignored and artificial turf fields are the major priority of the township committee members, there is something radically wrong with those elected and hired to administrate in this township. Most families are endeavoring to keep jobs,keep their homes, and trying to keep food on their tables and pay their bills. Their prime concern is not whether their kids have artificial turf fields to run on for sports activities.

There are many residents and citizens in this community that can connect the dots in this scenario. Remember the vicious political rhetoric of the 2008,2009 campaigns for township committee and the 2009 freeholder race and the individuals responsible for those vicious accusations against the democratic candidates in those races...( the alleged petitions for recall of the board of education member were never circulated or filed). These names connected to all that vicious rhetoric are the same names that trace connection to the turf field company favored for the current endeavor to construct two turf fields in Middletown during the worst economic circumstances since the Great Depression.

These questions demands answers......Is this proposal for turf fields somehow payment of a political debt for that vicious ranting that commanded so much attention in the fall of 2008 and again in 2009? Is common sense or reason absent when this township cannot pay it's financial obligations without emergency resolutions,refuses to consider a finance committee and choses turf fields over jobs.

This all reeks of political motivation and ineptitude.Smell the coffee residents of Middletown....it's your tax dollar at work. You pay these bills!

These are not the times for this kind of ignorance from those who claim to govern.This suggests incompetence when one examines the priorities of those chosen to serve in this community!!


Barbara R.Thorpe

President Obama's Weekly Address: 9/18/09 Progress in the Global Economy

With the next G20 Summit approaching in Pittsburgh, the President goes over the progress in stemming a global economic crisis. He discusses the impact of the Recovery Act, and pledges that lobbyists for big Wall Street banks will not prevent real reform for the future, including a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Byrnes Sends Open Letter To Corzine Asking For 3 Year Moratorium on COAH

Middletown Democratic Committeeman and candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder, Sean F. Byrnes, sent this open letter to Governor Jon Corzine recently asking him to consider placing a 3 year moratorium on COAH regulations while our state "wrestles with the financial crises that has cripples our economy".

I think Byrnes's request is a sensible one when considering the state of the economy and falling real estate values. I hope that the Governor will consider it:

Dear Governor Corzine,

I write to you as an elected official in the Township of Middletown. In compliance with the most recent guidance from the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), we submitted our Affordable Housing Plan to COAH in December 2008. Although our Township Committee met its legal obligation, we did so with great reservation.

Middletown is an economically diverse Township whose history is free from any effort or intention to exclude or restrict the growth of a base of affordable housing. Nevertheless, because of the calculations that we must employ under COAH regulations, we must now expand our base of affordable housing. To meet the goals imposed by COAH, we must compel land owners and developers to add additional housing units that might not otherwise be constructed in the Township. We do so at a time when the marketability of these units, due to the current housing crisis, is open to question.

While I recognize that COAH was created in response to a legal mandate from the New Jersey Supreme Court, I write now to ask that you consider a three year moratorium on imposition of the most recent round of COAH regulations. As I know you are keenly aware, our country continues to wrestle with a financial crisis that has crippled our economy. I commend you for making hard choices this year to counter a $4.0 billion dollar loss of budgeted revenue, and I am asking for this additional step to assist local municipalities in their efforts to engage in thoughtful use of their land and to balance their budgets during these difficult times.

A moratorium would take the pressure off and allow all parties, including the Legislature, to assess the financial impact of this most recent round of legislation in the light of this recent financial downturn and to engage in this implementation process at a future time when this crisis will have abated and not loom so largely over our decision-making.

I am concerned that we are making very permanent decisions on the future of our housing stock and the use of our limited, undeveloped property at a time when the full impact of this financial crisis has yet to be fully measured and its long-term consequences assessed. I thank you for your consideration on this very important matter.

Very truly yours,
Committeeman Sean F. Byrnes
Township of Middletown

Middletown Committee Sets Example

In our current economic crisis it is safe to say that everyone is suffering right now with tens of thousands of job losses and pay freezes nationwide. When times are tough, our elected representatives must make difficult decisions by taking the finances of our town seriously and helping those that need the most help. The taxpayer. What better way to lead in these trying times than by setting a good example and taking charge of what they were elected to do.

Therefore I would like to applaud the Middletown Township Committee for deciding to forgo their pay. They should go one step further by eliminating the stipend and health benefits of all Committee appointees, namely the sewer authority. A request should go out to ask the appointed professionals, like lawyers and engineers, to accept a reduction in the contracts that were negotiated in December. This is the example that should be set and is being suggested by Committeemen Patrick Short and Sean Byrnes,

There are some that report that Committeemen Short and Byrnes criticize insignificant savings, when in reality, they are looking to find significant savings in items that are not self-funded so that those that need the most help are not subject to the town helping themselves to your hard earned dollars. As homeowners and taxpayers, we deserve a Township Committee that is going to set the tone for a township budget. This is not what is happening and over 20% of this years budget has already been spent. Committeemen Short and Byrnes are the kind of positive and creative thinkers that are required to lead our town. They are putting the taxpayer first by looking for ways to allow the taxpayer to keep more of what they earn.

I applaud the work that Committeemen Short and Byrnes are doing to drive this budget process. Even the other Committee members recognize the effort and have adopted some of their Ideas. Hopefully, our town can come out of this process on a positive note.

Paul J Jansen

Middletown, NJ

Obama Wants To Halve Budget Deficit By End Of First Term

In an article posted on Yahoo News,  President Obama will be working to cut the federal budget deficit in halve by the end of his first term.

How does he plan to do this? Mostly by scaling back Iraq war spending, raising taxes on the wealthiest and streamlining government, an administration official.

According to the article: 

 "Obama hopes to achieve his deficit-reduction goal by generating savings as he follows through on three core campaign promises over the next four years.

He has pledged to wind down the Iraq war by withdrawing most combat troops within 16 months of taking office. He also has said he would let the temporary Bush tax cuts expire in 2011 for people making more than $250,000 a year, effectively raising taxes on those people. And, he has vowed to scale back spending and improve government efficiency by eliminating programs that don't work."

To me, it seems like a lofty goal given the current economic climate. He may be relying to much on the hope that the economic climate will change sooner rather than later, which would tend to follow Obama's  personnal outlook of being an optimist. The President tends to see a glass half full rather than half empty.

I certainly hope that he is right and I wish him well because if the budget deficit is not brought under control soon the Nation will be looking at annual budget deficits of over a trillion dollars annually for many years to come.

U.S. Jobless Rate Soared in January and Payrolls Kept Plunging

Shobhana Chandra
Bloomberg

Millions more U.S. workers are likely to lose their jobs after the economy’s freefall sent unemployment in January to the highest level since 1992 and payrolls tumbled, reinforcing the need for an economic stimulus plan.

The jobless rate rose to 7.6 percent from 7.2 percent in December, the Labor Department reported yesterday in Washington. Payrolls fell by 598,000, the biggest monthly drop since December 1974. Losses spanned almost all industries, from construction and manufacturing to retailing, trucking, media and finance.

“The scary thing is there is really no end in sight to the soaring jobless rate,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “It’s difficult to see what’s going to turn the situation around. This is the sort of catalyst that could get Congress to move” to agreeing on a compromise plan.

President Barack Obama, who predicted a “dismal” report, is pushing for a stimulus plan to revive the economy and create jobs, and is expected to announce a new effort to shore up credit markets. The rate of the job market’s decline means it’s unlikely government efforts will halt a collapse in consumer spending until the second half of the year, economists said.

Read more >>>Here

President Obama's Weekly Address: 1/31/09

In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is preparing a new strategy for reviving our financial system, and urged the swift passage of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

Governor Corzine talks Economic Stimulus, NJ Economy on CNBC, 1/29/09

If you missed it, Governor Corzine made an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box yesterday morning. The Governor talked about President Obama's Economic Stimulus package and what it means for New Jersey as well as the Country.

The Governor talked about New Jersey's economy and how the State is fairing during this economic crisis. He also talked with Jack Welch about the bonuses being paid out to some of the executives on Wall Street.

Wall Street has its doubts about stimulus merits

By Ian Swanson - The Hill

Not everyone on Wall Street thinks the stimulus package Congress and President-elect Obama are constructing will solve the economy’s ills.

While many think a combination of tax cuts and spending will spur the economy at a time when consumers and businesses are keeping a tight grip on their cash, others are preparing for another plunge in markets.

“I think there’s still a big split here,” said Brian Gardner, a former aide on Capitol Hill who now offers analysis at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Some investors think “the stimulus package is not getting at the fundamental problems of the economy,” Gardner said, particularly the housing problem at the center of the crisis.

Axle Merk, the portfolio manager of Merk Investments, sees Federal Reserve actions to keep interest rates low as “propping up a broken system” and questions the wisdom of providing incentives for consumers to spend on mortgages and cars when they should be saving.

“I think as this thing progresses, they’re going to get frustrated,” he said of Washington policymakers. “Nothing will work out as planned.”

Read more >>> Here

Trends Analyst Gerald Celente: Great Depression of 2009 Coming

Unless you're a night owl, or happen to work the overnight shift, you propbaly did not hear the latest interview of Gerald Celente, the worlds leading authority on trends. Celente appeared on the Coast to Coast AM radio program this past Thursday night with host Art Bell.

Celente's predictions for the coming year is extremely gloomy, you may or may not, want to heed his advice. Either way this interview made good radio. 

Trends analyst Gerald Celente shared his dire economic outlook for the coming year. By February, there'll be major bankruptcies in the retail sector, leading into the collapse of the commercial real estate market that'll be worse than the problems with home mortgages, he warned. He sees a global depression taking hold in 2009, and protests by students and/or workers related to the economy coming in the Spring.

Celente's predictions for the coming year is extremely gloomy, you may or may not, want to heed his advice. Either way this interview made good radio.

Here is Art Bell's interview broken down into 4 parts:

Gerald Celente Economic Update 12/18/08 pt. 1


Gerald Celente Economic Update 12/18/08 pt. 2


Gerald Celente Economic Update 12/18/08 pt. 3


Gerald Celente Economic Update 12/18/08 pt. 4

Deficits and the Future

Nobel Laureate and NY Times columnist Paul Krugam makes the case  this morning for the US government to spend  its way out of this economic  free fall. He argues that by aggressively expanding our economy, it will prevent it's free fall and that we shouldn't worry about large budget deficits at this time:

"Right now there’s intense debate about how aggressive the United States government should be in its attempts to turn the economy around. Many economists, myself included, are calling for a very large fiscal expansion to keep the economy from going into free fall. Others, however, worry about the burden that large budget deficits will place on future generations.

But the deficit worriers have it all wrong. Under current conditions, there’s no trade-off between what’s good in the short run and what’s good for the long run; strong fiscal expansion would actually enhance the economy’s long-run prospects.

The claim that budget deficits make the economy poorer in the long run is based on the belief that government borrowing “crowds out” private investment — that the government, by issuing lots of debt, drives up interest rates, which makes businesses unwilling to spend on new plant and equipment, and that this in turn reduces the economy’s long-run rate of growth. Under normal circumstances there’s a lot to this argument.

But circumstances right now are anything but normal. Consider what would happen next year if the Obama administration gave in to the deficit hawks and scaled back its fiscal plans.

Would this lead to lower interest rates? It certainly wouldn’t lead to a reduction in short-term interest rates, which are more or less controlled by the Federal Reserve. The Fed is already keeping those rates as low as it can — virtually at zero — and won’t change that policy unless it sees signs that the economy is threatening to overheat. And that doesn’t seem like a realistic prospect any time soon..."

Read more of what Paul Krugman has to say HERE about the economy.

Obama Talks Economic Mess in Video Address

President-elect Barack Obama urged Congress to get moving next week on an economic rescue plan that would extend jobless benefits among other actions. This is the first of Obama's radio addresses that has been will be videoed and posted on YouTube

Fox Business: Gerald Celente Predicts Revolution

Fox News recently aired this segment with Gerald Celente the founder of the Trend Reasearch Institute.

He mentioned that before 2012:

1. America will be the first undeveloped country
2. Revolution, food shortages, riots, marches
3. Food instead of gifts for Christmas

The segment lasted for more than 5 minutes. He said things like parents shouldn't send their kids to get business degrees or psychology degrees and send them to community colleges to learn a real skill. He kept implying that food will become the most important thing for us. He said the retail industry will die off completely but local markets will thrive.

The host even introduced him as a guy who's "predictions always come true".

Lets hope he is wrong



Gerald Celente's website:

Trendresearch.com

Obama’s First 100 Days Scream for Boldness, Not Piddling Plans

Within hours of Barack Obama’s election, naysayers chastened caution. Don’t go too far, they inveighed. Build trust slowly with restrained, moderate, and gradual actions, they admonished.

In other words: Start with piddling plans.

Basically, they want to abort hope — kill it before it has a chance.

That is all wrong after an election in which it’s believed that a higher percentage of Americans voted than at any time in the past 40 years; a win that brought tears to the eyes of even hardened reporters; a result that drew joyful citizens into streets across the country to celebrate, a balloting that swept even larger majorities of Democrats into the U.S. House and Senate.

This moment during which the nation is suffering great economic peril pleads for political valor. This moment screams for boldness.

Troubled times demand greatness. Franklin D. Roosevelt knew that. He’s the reason U.S. presidents are judged by the sum of their accomplishments in their first 100 days in office.

When FDR was inaugurated in 1933, the country was in the midst of the Great Depression. He didn’t waste time tinkering. After 100 days, he’d given the country the Emergency Banking Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Federal Emergency Relief Act and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Obama may not inherit a Great Depression, but he’ll take the oath during an intense recession. Look at the news that arrived the same week as his election: unemployment rose to 6.5 percent after 10 straight months of jobs losses totaling more than 1.2 million; the stock market dropped 1,000 points in 48 hours after the worst October showing in two decades; auto makers travelled to Capitol Hill begging like hobos for handouts to stave off bankruptcy, two dozen major retailers revealed sales declines, most double digit, and the New York Times reported hospitals strained as they register fewer paying patients and increasing charity cases.

These problems won’t be solved with timidity. In his first press conference after the election, Obama said resolving the economic crisis is his top priority. He said, in fact, “I will confront the economic crisis head on.” No weak-heartedness suggested there.

He said a new president can restore confidence and advance an agenda for the middle class. That is exactly what FDR did with the combination of legislation and fireside chats.

During this brief press conference, Obama got it right, emphasizing aid to the middle class. He said it is essential to pass a rescue plan that would create jobs and extend unemployment benefits. He wants aid to state and local governments so they don’t increase taxes or furlough workers.

The federal government should help both small businesses and the huge auto industry, which provides jobs directly and indirectly through its suppliers.

The $700 billion bailout must be reviewed, he said, to ensure that it is stabilizing markets, that it’s not unduly rewarding the Wall Street risk-takers who caused the crisis, and that it’s helping families avoid foreclosure.

In addition, he said it’s essential to implement policies to grow the middle class such as investing in clean energy technology, resolving the nation’s health insurance dilemma, and providing tax relief for working families.

These are the correct priorities. And his plans are audacious. Which means he needs our help.

He called for bipartisan cooperation in accomplishing these goals. But he’ll need more than that. He will need the kind of support he got in those weeks just before Election Day.

All of those who voted for him, all of those who want to keep hope alive, and all of those who want real change must demand both houses of Congress and both political parties work with Obama to accomplish it. Those who believe in real change must make it clear that they won’t stand by and allow courageous action to be reduced to faint-hearted baby steps.

On election night, Obama told the crowd in Chicago that the victory was theirs: “I know you didn’t do this just to win an election and I know you didn’t do it for me.”

Then he warned of what is ahead:

“You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”

With more than 10,000 volunteers across the country, the United Steelworkers campaigned hard to help get Obama on that Chicago stage to make that speech. We will back him as he works to fulfill his promises of what is a New Deal for the new century. And we urge every American who wants real change to join us to ensure his success, the nation’s success.

Leo W. Gerard
United Steelworkers International President

Wall Street's Just Deserts

By Harold Meyerson-The Washington Post

At the risk of speaking ill of the dead, what good was Lehman Brothers, anyway? And if Merrill Lynch was so bullish on America, why is it that, despite the torrent of foreign investment that flowed in to Lehman, Merrill and their Wall Street peers over the past half-decade, so few jobs were created in America during that period of "recovery"?

During the late, lamented Wall Street boom, America's leading investment institutions were plenty bullish on China's economy, on exotic financial devices built atop millions of bad loans, and, above all -- judging by the unprecedented amount of wealth they showered on the Street -- on themselves. The last thing our financial community was bullish on was America -- that is, the America where the vast majority of Americans live and work.

Over the past eight years, the U.S. economy has created just 5 million new jobs, a number that is falling daily. The median income of American households has declined. Airports, bridges and roads are decaying. Rural wind-power facilities cannot light cities because our electrical grid has not been expanded. New Orleans has not been rebuilt. And as productive activity within the United States has ceased to be the prime target of investment, household consumption -- more commonly known as shopping -- has come to comprise more than 70 percent of our economy.

The banks' underinvestment in America was hardly due to a lack of capital. But even as petrodollars and China's dollars poured into Wall Street, the investment houses directed trillions into new and ever more dubious credit instruments, which yielded massive profits for Wall Streeters and their highflying investors, and put chump change into efforts to improve, to take just one example, American transportation.

It was not ever thus on Wall Street. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bankers such as August Belmont and J.P. Morgan invested European capital in American railroads and steel. Moreover, by the 1830s, a major political party, the Whigs, had arisen on a platform of "internal improvements" -- fast-forwarding the nation's development through a public commitment to building roads, rails and canals. Their successor party, the Republicans, continued these commitments, as Lincoln's support for the transcontinental railroad and land-grant colleges makes clear.

By the mid-20th century, the behemoths of American manufacturing reinvested their own resources to meet most of their capital needs, while New Deal-era and subsequent administrations (including that of Republican Dwight Eisenhower) invested heavily in the nation's infrastructure. Wall Street played a diminished role during the golden years of mass American prosperity but came roaring back beginning with the financial deregulation of the Reagan era.

Finance set the terms of corporate behavior over the past quarter-century, and not in ways that bolstered the economy. By its actions -- elevating shareholder value over the interests of other corporate stakeholders, focusing on short-term investments rather than patient capital, pressuring corporations to offshore jobs and cut wages and benefits -- Wall Street plainly preferred to fund production abroad and consumption at home. The internal investment strategy of 100 years ago was turned on its head. Where Morgan once funneled European capital into American production, for the past decade Morgan's successors have directed Asian capital into devices to enable Americans to take on more debt to buy Asian products.

Worse yet, as Wall Street turned its back on America, so did government. The Bush administration and congressional Republicans (John McCain among them) kept American incomes low by opposing hikes in the minimum wage; helping employers defeat unionization; and shunning policies to modernize infrastructure, make college more affordable, and boost spending on basic science and research.

Today, it's the Democrats who sound like Lincoln's Republicans. In recent months, the Obama campaign and liberal think tanks in particular have generated numerous proposals for heightened public commitment to infrastructure and education. Unlike tax cuts, which chiefly bolster our ability to consume imported goods and commodities, infrastructure investments make us more productive and have a multiplier effect that creates more jobs over and above those that the government funds directly. Congressional Democrats have included major infrastructure investments in their pending new stimulus bill, which Bush and GOP leaders oppose.

Someone needs to invest in the United States of America. For the past decade and, in a broader sense, for the entire duration of the Reagan era, both government and Wall Street have opted not to. Should Barack Obama win, the era of neglectful government will probably come to an end. No matter who wins, Wall Street is vanishing before our eyes. And by the measure of their contribution to America's economic strength and well being, both Reagan-age government and Wall Street's investment banks plainly deserve to die.

Barack Obama: Confronting an Economic Crisis

Barack gave a speech detailing his plans for repairing America's struggling economy in Golden, CO on September 16th, 2008.