Listening to the State of the Union speech last night gives the impression it came from a desperate president who has had very little success with Congress his first four years. Obama repetitively pleaded for a Bill, any Bill that he could sign as an alternative to his habitual executive order approach to push his agenda upon the American public. Obama frequently resorted to quotes from past presidents ranging from Johnson to Kennedy to even parroting many of George Bush’s ideas of the past desperately trying to beguile his listeners.
Obama’s futile attempt with his State of the Union speech to change his appearance from the Democratic Party’s winning black stallion to a republican look-a-like did not work: he ended looking more like a zebra than anything else. You cannot fool the people who are paying attention. Using fuzzy numbers and wish-washy political rhetoric, trying to win over the republicans, is not going to work. If listeners were really paying attention they would have recognized the disparity between his original platform rhetoric including his past four-year ‘rule by executive order’ record and what he was trying to sell last night. Don’t be fooled, Obama is still Obama.
Current market upsurges do not truly reflect what investors are getting. Far more dollars are being spent to acquire the same commodities of the past, thanks to the QE program. It might look good on paper, but it is distorted. Where is this market up-surge coming from? From all the money that has been sitting on the side lines hoping to take advantage of low prices. So, the recent upsurge is not healthy and will not last due to its very weak and volatile underpinnings: you cannot borrow your way out of debt, especially when one reaches the point of no return—borrowing to pay interest—like America has. So keep in mind that the numbers are inflated in either direction thanks to the QE program.
With things heating up in North Korea, debasing wars on the rise, no end in sight with our own QE program, a new record of 3 trillion dollar deficit and rising, middle class shrinking, ignoring Syria, increased use of drone strikes, efforts to remove guns from the hands of honest and upright citizens, too many people out of work who have given up trying, and too many other things to delineate here, Obama had little to offer in the way of originality and real hope at the State of the Union last night. Much of what he offered was little more than zebra politics that is hard to miss, if you are paying attention.
Comments