FFM

Robert J. Samuelson in the Washington Post says: "Raising taxes in a weak economy doesn't make sense. Just consider this astonishing fact: These affluent households represent almost a quarter of all consumer spending, according to Zandi. Increasing their taxes, he estimates, would cost 770,000 jobs by mid-2012. Richard Curtin, director of the University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers, says his data suggest that uncertainty about the extension of the Bush tax cuts has already caused affluent buyers to cut their spending." I say, balderdash! The question is not how many jobs would be lost because of increasing the taxes on the affluent. The question is better stated by asking how many net jobs would be created by using the revenue generated by such an increase to invest in projects such as repairing infrastructure, and restocking the military by replacing much of the equipment destroyed or damaged by the two wars we are currently fighting. The projects worked on do

At the very least, Fannie and Freddie were accomplices and victims.. Wall Street and our beloved federal government played the key roles. Wall street created the bomb, sub-prime loans. The government failed to fulfill one of its principle responsibilities; assuring that private enterprises and markets are conducting business in an honest manner that protects the citizens of this country. I have extensive experience in the residential mortgage industry. In 1998 I left that industry to concentrate on commercial real estate loans. In 2005 a life-long friend of mine asked me to do some consulting work for him on a residential mortgage company that he started in 2004. One of the first actions I took was to review some loan files to check the "quality" of the loans that they were making. After reviewing a half-dozen files I went into his office and said he had a huge problem. The loans that his company was processing were of very poor quality and either he was wasting allo

Raising the taxes of the wealthy, while maintaining the tax rates for the middle class makes sense and is justified. The rich have gotten richer at the expense of the middle class as a result of our government not doing its job of defending our freedom. We have a historically large disparity between the income of the wealthy and the middle class. A significant reason for this disparity, as compared to earlier times in the '70's and '80's, is the government turned its back on its responsibility to govern "free markets" and allowed such markets to be controlled by oligopolies. A central role of our government is to protect our freedom. This includes not only from foreign enemies, but also enemies from within. Why are we not quoting Justice Louis Brandeis when he said in 1928:

I find it very interesting that conservative talk show hosts who say that Obama wants to surrender some of our governance to the United Nations are the same people who claim we have done nothing to cause the Palestinians, and much of the Muslim world, to be so upset with us. They forget that the state of Israel was taken from Palestinian land without their approval. The  Balfour Declaration of 1917  formalized British policy preferring the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people. Following  World War I , the  League of Nations  granted Great Britain the  Mandate for Palestine , which included responsibility for securing "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" .  In 1947, Tte newly created United Nations approved the Partition Plan for Palestine, which sought to divide the country into two states—one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be designated an international city administered by the UN.

 On August 1, 2010 this blog stated: “We are in the midst of a Great Recession that could have been a depression. The net worth of all Americans were affected negatively, as has their optimism and willingness to go on spending binges as they have over the last several decades. Controlling the binge is a good thing; however, it means that we must find another engine for our growth rather than the American consumer. The good news is there is a new engine, and an established one, that will drive us to prosperity again. The new engine is exports. The rest of the world is rushing to catch up to our life style and wealth. They want to consume and someone is going to fill their desire. People throughout the world are looking to increase their consumption of goods and services. If we do not meet this demand there are other nations clawing to fill their needs. These consumers are in  China ,  Iran ,  Southeast Asia ,  India ,  Pakistan , Eastern Europe, South and Central America,  Af

President Obama has failed as a leader on the economy. The job of a leader is to guide his followers through a course or problem to the solution. When you are President of a democracy, your job is to come up with the right solution, convince your followers, the countries citizenry, that your solution is the best one available and then implement the solution. Obama is on the right course for the solution, a long-term plan that provides an immediate stimulus and a path to reduce our burdensome deficit over several years; however, he has failed to convince the citizens. They will not follow until they believe.

Obama must go big with a long-term economic plan. The plan needs to include a discussion of how we are going to reduce the deficit over time, what he is going to do in the short term to simulate the economy and a growth plan for the next decade and beyond. Next weeks discussion must be the beginning of a dialogue with the American people about the economy. He needs to reconvene his campaign team of 2007-2008 with the focus of convincing the American people that his plan is right.

I find that I get into the most difficulty with my personal budget when I ignore the problems facing us. It seems that this is exactly what this country is doing right now as it relates to our current economy. The conservatives are not saying much, but they are taking allot. They are saying do not stimulate and control the deficit. The liberals are saying and doing nothing because of having heard the conservative message repeatedly. By default, the conservative message prevails.