Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Has President Obama's Presidency Already Tanked?

OBAMA HOPELESSLY ADRIFT IN FOREIGN POLICY AT PAJAMAS (A TRULY FRIGHTNING EXCHANGE YESTERDAY AT HIS PRESS CONFERENCE)


Mr. Obama, you can no longer hope for the best. You must prepare for the worst to save our country from protracted depression and a failed presidency.

"Has Barack Obama’s presidency already failed? In normal times, this would be a ludicrous question. But these are not normal times. They are times of great danger. Today, the new US administration can disown responsibility for its inheritance; tomorrow, it will own it. Today, it can offer solutions; tomorrow it will have become the problem. Today, it is in control of events; tomorrow, events will take control of it. Doing too little is now far riskier than doing too much. If he fails to act decisively, the president risks being overwhelmed, like his predecessor. The costs to the US and the world of another failed presidency do not bear contemplating.

"What is needed? The answer is: focus and ferocity. If Mr Obama does not fix this crisis, all he hopes from his presidency will be lost. If he does, he can reshape the agenda. Hoping for the best is foolish. He should expect the worst and act accordingly....


"....The correct advice remains the one the US gave the Japanese and others during the 1990s: admit reality, restructure banks and, above all, slay zombie institutions at once."

-----Martin Wolf at Financial Times Online, must reading in my opinion

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THE FED NEEDS TO GO

What Mr. Wolf is saying in a nutshell and among many other things is this: Allow zombie banks and financial institutions to fail. The longer you keep them on life-support, the longer and deeper this crisis will be. And it will sink your presidency sooner rather than later, if you don't take the bold action that's necessary. Stop trying to save everyone. It will only prolong the agony.

I have much more to say about all this as the week rolls on. I am going to write it as simply as I can. I am going to make an argument for the completely abolishing the Federal Reserve. Much of what has happened to this country is a result of its malfeasance and over-management of the normal business cycles of the economy, beginning with Alan Greenspan in 2001. It's scandalous and will destroy this country if we don't start to understand this. It's President Obama's job to understand it. Geithner is currently more a part of the problem than the solution. And we won't even talk about the numb skulls in Congress.

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