Saturday, July 17, 2010

I guess it's not just me


He came, he saw, he spent

By Henry Payne / The Michigan View

In the latest stop on his "Recovery Summer" tour, rock star President Barack Obama landed in Holland, Michigan Thursday, insulted its congressman, handed American stimulus dollars to a Korean corporation, and proclaimed Obamanomics a success even as Michigan has lost 94,000 jobs since his Recovery Act was enacted.

All in all, another day in the life of an increasingly unpopular president who seems to be living in an alternative universe.

That universe insists that government is the source of jobs, and so Obama was in Western Michigan to declare another victory in Washington's mission to create a new green economy.


Obama Has Shot 41 Rounds of Golf as President

by KEITH KOFFLER on JULY 16, 2010, 3:30 PM

President Barack Obama has played a remarkable 41 rounds of golf since becoming president, easily outpacing his predecessor and possibly damaging his ability to portray himself in 2012 as a populist advocate of average folks.


With the excursions lasting on average at least five hours, the president has devoted a total of more than 200 hours to golf, not counting time spent on the White House putting green. That's the equivalent of twenty five eight-hour work days, or five work weeks spent smacking golf balls.




(CNN) -- President Obama and his family arrived Friday for a weekend getaway in Maine, but along with a little rest and relaxation comes criticism that the president is taking it easy with the Gulf of Mexico oil crisis in a critical phase.

The Obamas plan to spend the weekend on Mount Desert Island, home of Acadia National Park. The trip marks the president's third weekend vacation since the oil disaster began in April.

MEANWHILE:


World at Risk of Folding in on Itself: Deputy Doom
The global economy is at risk of folding in on itself unless policy makers face up to the threats of inflation inflexibility and exchange-rate inflexibility, according to Arun Motianey, director of fixed income strategy at Roubini Global Economics.A Japan-like outcome is a big risk for the developed world with deflation a big danger, he said.

Recent figures show that the recovery is sputtering in the US while China's booming growth has slowed down slightly, as Beijing unwinds stimulus measures.

The Bank of Japan revised upwards is economic forecast but reiterated it will maintain its easy money policy.

In his new book "SuperCycles" Motianey says the world has managed to recover from a number of shocks since the Latin American debt crisis, but getting over the financial crisis will be much harder.

"The global rebalancing mechanism through flexible exchange rates is not working as well as it should," Motianey said.

"Many emerging markets are resisting changes in nominal exchange rates. Higher inflation is causing some correction in real terms but it is too little and may turn out to be too late," he added.

China is the key to correcting this problem, according to Motianey. He warned that the challenges facing the developed world look even more problematic.

"If we slide into deflation - the likely fate of the developed market - a Japan-style outcome will become inevitable," he said.

"In Japan, the BoJ has lost the ability to create inflation and is condemned to deflation. Central banks may now need to talk about the necessity of inflation...before it is too late."


5 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Did Obama play golf before he became President?

revereridesagain said...

And we thought Eisenhower never got off the golf course.

Could someone explain deflation in how-it-will-affect-you terms to those of us who are total economic idiots?

Epaminondas said...

Deflation is when prices begin to fall so much that waged are forced down until finally there is literally not enough money to go around.

IN the 90's in Japan a real estate bubble took out the loans at so many big banks that were not allowed to fail that interest at 0% failed to stop the downward spiral of prices falling to get sales, and wages following. It took ten years to stop the cycles.

In the 30's the spiral was so bad that towns and localities started printing local scrip to substitute for bartering which had sprung up.

The effect is that by having a very low money supply, the money itself becomes much more valuable. For people with mortgages caught in a deflation spiral it is DEATH. Their homes and land are worth less and less, jobs become more and more scarce until there isn't money enough to subsist let alone pay a mortgage. And the states have no money to prevent catastrophe since they cannot print it.

That is why the fed goes berserk releasing created money, not to pay the debt and deficit, but to stop the killer of deflation... but the banks merely add it to their reserve so doing it that way solves little. The money has to reach the people who have to have the confidence to spend some and save some.

Black_Rain said...

by now Dubya would have spent a least year at his ranch dig'n up Brush..

no one else in Texas ever digs up Brush.. it destroys the environment, causes dust blows, sand dunes,.. dehydration of soil.
besides being damn stupid thing to do.. someone probably told him to do it hoping he'd get bit by a Rattler.. so he'd quit embarrassing the party..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z12lrlNsjgQ

and another just like the other..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPjWolNr5aY

Epaminondas said...

Bush is gone

Backwards comparisons are STUPID

That was then this is now.

Obama sought the responsibility he now hankers for a vacation from, and at a time when fewer than ever can afford vacations, and those in the gulf are threatened with loss of their way of life in the hundreds of thousands.

As every elementary school teacher could tell you ... it's called modeling correct behavior.

Did BUsh go on vacation while we were invading Afghanistan? WHile the Taliban ran the joint? DUring the invasion of Iraq?

Obama has taken off 4 times since BP took out the gulf.

GET REAL