Bushonomics or Obamanomics?

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals, we now know that it is bad economics"  - Franklin D. Roosevelt, hero to John McCain

Today Barack Obama is meeting with the nation's top economic advisors, then going to the White House to meet with George Bush. Laura will meet with Michelle, hopefully telling her about the charity programs that she has been endorsing. It took seven years for Laura to come into her own, and she's even been feuding with Dick Cheney over the creation of an international wild-life sanctuary. The wives of the Presidents probably have done more for charity than any other public figures, they don't get the publicity that their husbands do over their slightest pronouncements, and it can be argued that they do more goodwill. Here's hoping that Michelle will hit the ground running and not be so intimidated by being in Washington.

In the last quarter, Americans have lost 1,179,000 jobs, not factoring in places like AMG, or Lehman Brothers. Just about every worker in the country is fearful that their job may be next on the chopping block. Here in Colorado Springs, places like Intel have left, many of the restaurants are closing,  and even groups like Focus on the Family have laid off employees. It's almost an insurmountable task that lies ahead for the next President.

Ford has posted a 2.9 billion dollar quarterly loss, GM has posted a 2.5 billion loss, yet the oil companies posted a collective 44.7 billion dollar profit. This might explain the sudden drop in the price of gasoline. Newt Gingrich's slogan "drill,baby,drill" is really just the opposite of what the oil companies want. They haven't applied for an application to build a new refinery in over 30 years, and have cut back in current refining capacity. They haven't exercised their current offshore leases, nor has the coal industry figured out how to extract oil from shale at a reasonable price. The lazy nuclear industry hasn't come up with a better way to dispose of spent rods other than burying them in Utah. And this, during a rabid pro-greed, pro-deregulatory administration.

Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economic journalist, has written a good opinion piece on what Obama should do next. He says that its best to go with what has been promised and not listen to the critics and naysayers, especially in taxes and health care. In fact, our deficit may go higher for the first two years, up to a trillion dollars, but if it helps pull us out of this tailspin, it will have been worth it.