REPUBLICANS OR OBAMA OUT OF TOUCH?

Obama, in a desperate attempt to help his fellow Democrats keep their seats in the upcoming elections, lashed out at Republicans for being "out of touch" with the daily problems of ordinary Americans. Really? Did the his administration listen to ordinary Americans when they overwhelmingly opposed recent health care reform? Did they listen to ordinary Americans who opposed massive spending of taxpayer money to bail out some of the corporations largely responsible for causing the economic collapse? Have they listened to ordinary Americans who would much rather be going back to work than getting yet another extension of unemployment? I think not. One has to ask, who is really out of touch here. I think ordinary Americans decided who's out of touch when they elected a Republican to fill Ted Kennedy's seat. Hopefully they follow suit later this year.

As for the President's comment, regarding the GOP,

"Their prescription for every challenge is pretty much the same—and I don't think I'm exaggerating here: basically cut taxes for the wealthy, cut rules for corporations and cut working folks loose to fend for themselves."

Who exactly does he think creates the jobs ordinary Americans are looking for? It's America's wealthy, who invest their money in American corporations and businesses who create jobs, not rhetoric spouting, self-righteous politicians. Don't get me wrong, I think President Obama is basically a good man, definitely a smart man, but we should always keep in mind that he is also a politician with a political agenda. Is this agenda in the best interests of ordinary Americans? I personally don't think so. It is not in the interest of ordinary American citizens to have an administration who spend the taxpayers money like a bunch of drunken sailors on shore leave. It is not in the interest of ordinary American citizens to have an administration who thinks it's O.K., on the one hand to destroy one corporation over an accident, while on the other hand, bailing out other corporations with taxpayer dollars, who deliberately engaged in business practices which should have landed them in prison, but instead earned them large bonuses at the taxpayers and shareholders expense.

Once again, we have to ask, who is really out of touch with ordinary Americans here? Right now, I'm thinking one-term presidency.

For more information see: Obama Slams GOP Comments on Wall Street Reform, BP at http://www.cnbc.com/id/38021006

A Second Stimulus?

While talk is circulating among top Democratic leaders about the possible need for a second stimulus plan, the Republicans are wasting no time putting Obama and the Democrats in the hot seat for lack of results from the original stimulus package. Personally, I've seen no improvements in the economy other than some stabilization in financials and the auto industry. I tend to agree with some who think that any further stimulus package should include payouts to taxpayers, legal citizens of the United States. If they want to get the economy moving, give the money to the people who will put it back in to the economy, i.e. consumers. The banks have horded stimulus money, while at the same time increasing the burden on the taxpayers through fee and interest rate increases. If you're not helping the cause, then you're hurting the cause. Charging more fees and higher interest rates while cutting charge limits is not going to get consumers spending again. I personally have stopped using credit cards entirely.

The real bottom line is, we are not going to see the economy improve until people go back to work. An unemployment rate of 9.5 % will continue to drag the economy down and now experts are saying it could go as high as 11 %. That's a great deal above the what Democrats predicted with the passage of the economic stimulus, so I think the Republicans and the American taxpayers are right to be throwing some hard questions towards the current administration.

Given all this, I think the stock market will remain down for the better part of this year and in to 2010. It does present some great buying opportunities, the price of good companies being down along with the bad. But it does call for investors to be very selective. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've recently invested in Proshares TWQ fund, which shorts the Russell 3000 index, as a hedge against falling stock prices. I'm doing this on an experimental basis and while it is too soon judge overall effectiveness of this strategy, the price per share did go up as the overall market fell earlier this week. The real test will be its' effectiveness over a longer period of time. I'll keep the readers posted on how it's working out.