Yippee… We’re ridding Obama’s hand basket to Hell!

Populism prevails. Let’s picture the outcome of our federal government spending trillions of dollars that it needs to borrow from China, Europe and Russia, our new bankers and mortgage holders.

Setting is in the Whitehouse about dinnertime. Phone rings…

Obama: Hello?
Person on phone: Is this Bolak?
Obama: Who?
Person on phone: Bolak Omaba
Obama: I’m sorry… there is no one here by that name. You must have the wrong number.
Person on phone: Yu no tlickie me. I no yu be Omaba. You be deadbeet. Pay up tlilion dalas intelest you oe now. We can make bad fo yu!
Obama: Uh… I said you have the wrong number.
Background Voice: Honey, who is that on the phone? Is someone threatening you? You look pale!
Obama: (putting his hand over the receiver) Shhh. It’s the Chinese again asking for their interest payment.
Background Voice: Oh my God! When are they going to stop harassing us? They know we don’t have the money right now. What do they expect?
Person on phone: I leepete… pay up mista Omaba! We get money by tomolow oh we put led an bactelia in all stuff we make fo Wallmalt.
Obama: (still covering the receiver) Oh my! They are threatening to taint all of the goods we import from them with lead and SARs. I have to do something. (pause, with a thinking frown)
Background voice: Can’t we sell some more government bonds or print some more dollars to make a payment.
Obama: (turns on the speaker phone)
Person on phone: No tlicke tlicke. You pay wif gold. No wan no mo funny paper from yu
Obama: (placing speaker phone on mute). Those options are gone. We need hard currency, and now!
Background voice: We can’t count on our European friends. They already cut us off. What about our rich taxpayers? Let’s ask them to pony up some more cash.
Person on phone: (over the speaker phone) You no speak dedbeet? What yu do about money?
Obama: (speaker phone still on mute) Can’t do that, honey. Most of our rich tax payers have found loopholes or left the country. Those that remain would only pay us in worthless dollars. God I wish we had invested in gold before I went on this spending spree!
Person on phone: Yu ansel me yu deadbeet!
Obama: (hangs up phone) I need to call Sam Walton and warn him about the lead and stuff.
Fade out.

To MSNBC - Genius Extraordinaire

You at MSNBC purport economic idiocy. When is a job paid by the government by borrowing money an economic stimulus? Let’s get this straight. Borrow money to create a job that may pay taxes, which will go to paying interest on the borrowed money? Isn’t this like a snake eating its own tail?

Hey genius… compare this to creating a job in the private sector based on economic incentives, tax or otherwise. Here something tangible is produced and consumed, taxes are paid and wealth is created… without the government borrowing money!

Stop drinking the Democratic cool-aid, flush with giddiness, now that YOU control the legislative and executive branches of the Federal Government. Your mantra that the Republicans are now just a regional party is tantamount of dismissing 49% of the American voters that did not vote for the Democratic Party. Keep it up whiz kid and your ratings should drop to Zero, where they belong!

Dear President Obama

Our economy, educating our children, effective health services, mitigating climate change and a rational foreign policy... Your decision to run and the outcome of being elected President now makes these problems, or opportunities if you so embrace them, your executive burden, against which your legacy as Commander in Chief will be judged. There is no wiggle room. No legal arabesques by redefining the word”is.” You cannot shun this burden. You wanted it, so the job is yours.

I do not presume to know how to fix the problems our country faces, other than treat them as opportunities. Too often the experts, overconfidently, promote meddling, even when common sense and historical evidence contradict the outcomes of their resolve. What comes to mind are the unintended consequences and the chaotic interdependence of complex systems... our economy, educating our children, effective health services, mitigating climate change and a rational foreign policy... the outcomes of which should be in the best interest of our citizens, our nation and the world that we share.

My advice... be bold and act bravely, regardless of public opinion or political consequences. Our government and its politics got us here, with these seemingly insurmountable problems. Changing them to opportunities requires decisive policy action to nudge the outcomes in a “libertarian paternalistic” way... allowing us to make our own decisions, even if mistaken, but your administration can architect our choices to influence those decisions by building a solid knowledge base, sharing information, providing practical incentives and offering meaningful and timely feedback.

So here are some opportunistic thoughts:

Economy – focus on developing a national campaign towards producing and transmitting clean, cheap, renewable energy, creating new jobs here and building our economic leadership worldwide as the “best” producers and consumers of energy. See education, health, climate and foreign policy opportunities.

Education – increase incentives for States to experiment and innovate a coordinated delivery of k-12, vocational, university and postgraduate education so we can reclaim, as a nation, our stature in the sciences and engineering disciplines, promoting ingenuity and the land of opportunity. This is critical in sustaining our the organic growth in a global economy. See economy, health, climate and foreign policy opportunities.

Health – effect a fundamental change in our health care delivery model, where the patient and not the health provider controls the consumption of his/her health services and the willing price that is paid. A systemic change in the delivery model needs significant pressure from the Presidential bully pulpit, amassing enough inertia to realize a meaningful change against the push back of self-interest groups that today benefit from our chaotic, bureaucratic system. See economy, education, climate and foreign policy opportunities.

Climate – increase support and funding for research and development of clean and renewable energy options, its transmission, climate conservation and the efficient transformation of our smokestack industries, thus leading the world by example. See economy, education, health and foreign policy opportunities.

Foreign Policy – Whatever it is, it needs to be consistent. It needs to be communicated. And it needs to be based on our constitutional principles and humanitarian values. Instead of policing we should be coaching. Instead of judging we should be educating. And instead of threatening we should be influencing those that could cause harm. See economy, education, health and climate opportunities.

Where does it come from?

So the financial sector is in the dumps! Ops... so are the big three US automakers. And then there are the department stores because nobody is spending. Why should we? My 401k is now a 101k and all I did was work hard and contribute my money. No sir... no more expensive dining out!

So how do we fix this? Doesn't look like bailouts or government stimulus will help. And creating another Roosevelt-like WPA is just another debt incurring government stimulus. Wages paid by the government are ultimately funded with our taxes, or deficits.

So where did this financial turmoil start? From our own doing! Riding the real state roller coaster until it derailed. Yes, I too rubbed my hands in glee as I watched climbing home values in my neighborhood. Now we know that those values were driven by "exuberant irrationality" of all parties involved... buyers, realtors, lenders and their incompetent appraisers, just because it was fashionable and everybody else was doing it! Don't blame it all on the speculators. But do blame the builders, whose greed created an excessive inventory of properties.

Moreover, the financial geniuses on Wall St. packaged and repackaged volatile debt instruments with hedged and leveraged derivatives in an attempt to mitigate risk. What these geniuses fail to note was one fundamental flaw. So entwined were these derivative instruments in their mathematical models that they inadvertently encapsulated cannibalistic properties. So with the slightest change in their valuation, a self-feeding frenzy ensued, and what normally would have been dismissed as a market blip, amplified into devaluation levels of quantum proportions.

The ensuing tightening of the credit market has accelerated the inevitable. Business models that depend heavily on debt financing are now surfacing to their true unsustainable levels... that of not being able to mask their ongoing operating losses! In other words, bad business! If I can't make something that I can't sell for a profit, so why am I making the @#%&*! thing? Can you hear me GM? And making "green" cars at a loss is also BAD BUSINESS. Can you hear me Nancy and Harry?

So what to do? Me... I believe in draconian measures. Government needs to tighten its belt, stop all the foolish bailouts or stimulus that cost the tax payer money. It only extends the inevitable and prolongs the misery of dying businesses. Instead, implement incentives so that the private sector can create new jobs... and get the hell out of the way! Saving GM to save jobs is a kiss of death. Let GM fight its own battle and become competitive by restructuring its business model.

The mantra should be "business incentives to create jobs" and throw away the "tax and spend" ideology of the progressive movement.

But that is my opinion... Leo