Monday, November 2, 2009

In My Opinion


Sunday I watched the two morning news shows I have been watching for years. This Week on ABC and Meet The Press on NBC. I go back a long ways with Meet The Press as I watched it with my father in the 1950s.

In Cincinnati, This Week comes on first and it is almost the same thing every week. The conservative George Will giving his conservative take on the world while the Dems that are more liberal listen. The Rev. Sharpton was on this past Sunday and I wonder, other than he is black, why is he on. George Will serves up his brand of intellectual conservative folklore and the Rev. Sharpton should have hit it out of the park, yet he sat there and let it pass. This crap about the conservatives wanting less government is a bunch of nonsense. The Republican Party and the Democrat Party listen to the people that pay the money for access, period. The conservative talk about less government is just plain nonsense because if they really meant it, there would be more competition in health care insurance just for one example. Where are the conservatives when it comes to creating a level playing field and promoting more, not less, competition? So much for George Will and his conservative folklore.

Tim Geithner, the Treasury Secretary was on Meet The Press with David Gregory. Geithner needs to attend the Dick Cheney school of public speaking. I loved it when Dick Cheney appeared on the Sunday news shows. Cheney always acted like he was telling you something you didn't fully understand. I liked the way he would tilt his head and explain to the interviewer as if he was going to educate you about the finer points of his argument. Cheney was full of shit most of the time, but he had confidence that he knew more than the person asking the questions. Geithner needs to answer the questions and at least act like he knows what he is talking about even if he doesn't. It never stopped Dick Cheney.

The economy is going to take quite a while to come back. The playing field is still not level. The new regulations with regards to Wall Street are still a joke. Smart money is not going to get back in the game until there is real transparency. So, the Obama administration has a choice, a fast or a slow economic recovery. They are not going to bite the hand that gives them so much campaign money, and that is exactly what Wall Street does. So, be prepared for this economic recovery to take some time as the credit markets and the credit rating agencies are not ready to be trusted. Without effective movement in the credit markets, our domestic economy will not expand very rapidly.

Stay tuned.

Later addition.

I was asked to comment on CIT, and here is my comment.

Read the CIT story. Bottom line: confidence in the end is the currency of finance. The Federal Government is made up of people who do not understand how the credit markets work. The credit rating agencies are more important than the majority of the people understand, especially in government. Garbage in garbage out at the credit rating agencies pollutes the whole credit environment. Few people in a position to do anything, or say anything understands this. The Federal Government just lost $2.3 billion on preferred stock in CIT, and it could have been worse. Aren't we all happy to know this. President Obama does not know what he needs to know, and, his administration isn't going to tell him. At least not Summers and Geithner. Sorry, but we are in for some weak times economically, so, enjoy whatever else it is you like because, economically there is not going to be much to enjoy.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

My property value, like everyone else's, is down. But my taxes on said property just went up by almost 10%. ? I know one can challenge - but the period for challenges is from August to September. So they won't even TALK about this until next August. Meanwhile ....

Summer Smith said...

Meanwhile .... back at the bank .... our deposits are being eroded by inflation and we are being further insulted by interest rates that are too small to see without a magnifying glass!

Fidelity can't help my puny little account get out of the cellar or give it a transfusion.

Chase (my credit card) waived any payment this month, hoping to entice me into adding something to my card because I paid most of it off last month (I'm one of the people they refer to as keeping the economy going). Chase has been very friendly to me this past year with a 3.5% rate, but even so, this kid's not doing any Holiday Spending to speak of.

Paid my taxes October 15th, and it really thrilled me this year to see where my tax dollars are going.

Between the bailouts, the Medicaid fraud, the demolition derby on Wall Street, coupled with a Legislature that is owned by the Power Elite, I'm seriously considering joining the bastards -- may as well. We sure can't whoop 'em -- may as well join 'em!!

Let's see -- where do I start on the political ladder??

Summer

winslow said...

Obama is beginning to get whipsawed, just like anyone would be in that position. He needs to take fim control and get all talking head together. Tomorrow he should announce a 3 part platform: 1)form a bipartisan committee to solicit ideas for an energy policy for 5, 10, and 20 years periods, 2)form a bipartisan committee to recommend ideas to reduce the deficit, 3) to encourage middle-Americans, eliminate taxes on dividends AND interest for anyone making under $100,000, and offer government bonds at a 5% rate ONLY for individuals.

Butch said...

Found this article that goes with your comments on how the economy will come back and the regulations not used. Here is what Bernie thought. We had and still have some regs that can be used, not that some of those that have been disbanded shouldn't be brought back in but there are ways to find and see what is going on. It is just that they need to be used. I really found it interesting that B. Madoff said he thought for sure he would have been handcuffed before he was, that no one looked to see if he was actually making trades to make his absurb returns.

A little long.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202450.html?wpisrc=newsletter