His popularity is sky high, but he is the CEO of the American economy, and his Titanic is not exactly doing well right now. His ship is 30 points down in the polls and, by extension, so is he.
I never doubted Barack would win: Jupiter And Obama. And I do not doubt for a moment that Barack will see the country through this crisis and put it back to a shape from where the tomorrows look better than the yesterdays. He is destined to be a transformational president - you don't get one of those every four years, if you are lucky, you get one of those every 40 years. He is destined for greatness.
Capitalism In Crisis Wall Street Journal the dizzying array of programs that the government is deploying and the staggering amounts of money that it is spending or pledging -- almost $13 trillion in loans, other investments and guarantees -- in an effort to avoid a repetition of the 1930s. ..... could lead to high inflation, greatly increased interest costs on a greatly increased national debt, much heavier taxes, the restructuring of major industries, and the redrawing of the line that separates business from government. ........ When the banking system breaks down and credit consequently seizes up, economic activity plummets. ......... prices were rising because interest rates were low. So when the Federal Reserve (fearing inflation) began pushing interest rates up in 2005, the bubble began leaking air and eventually burst. It carried the banking industry down with it because banks were so heavily invested in financing houses. ........ Though the banks are continuing to hoard bailout money and the stimulus program is just beginning to be implemented, these and other recovery programs have probably slowed the downward spiral. ....... because risk and return are positively correlated in finance, competition in an unregulated financial market drives up risk, which, given the centrality of banking to a capitalist economy, can produce an economic calamity ..... we need our central bank, the Federal Reserve, to be on the lookout for bubbles, especially housing bubbles because of the deep entanglement of the banking industry with the housing industry. Our central bank failed us. ..... we may need more regulation of banking to reduce its inherent riskiness. .... a restoration of business confidence ...... Anything that amplifies this uncertainty slows recovery by making businessmen more likely to freeze and hoard rather than venture and spend. Reregulating banking, hauling bankers before congressional committees, passing laws tightening credit-card lending, and capping bonuses all impede recovery. All that is for later, once the economy is back on track. ........... international regulation of banking is needed in principle ...... the government responded to the crisis with spasmodic improvisations, amplifying uncertainty and mistrust and thus retarding recovery. ......the influential economists who assured us that there could never be another depression. They argued that in the face of a recession the Federal Reserve had only to reduce interest rates and flood the banks with money and all would be well. If only.
There are parallels to what we are going through right now and the Great Depression. Many have called this the Great Recession. But the number one lesson from back then is not that you need a huge governmental spending to get out of the ditch, important as it is. The number one lesson from then is that the collective consciousness matured on from microeconomics to macroeconomics. Now the challenge is to mature on from macroeconomics to globoeconomics. There I don't see much work being done so far. The work is to lay down a new, robust set of rules for the global financial system. Two words: transparency and accountability. Jacking up the IMF's resources is only a small part of the equation. Most of the work will affect the private sector. Laying down the ground rules is not about snuffing out the market impulses. It is about laying down the ground rules to make great soccer possible.
Money is a resource. It has to go where the need is the greatest, where the return is the greatest, and often times those two are in sync. If there were enough transparency and accountability in place, money would not flow to create housing bubbles that are by definition bound to go bust.
Microfinance could digest a trillion dollars easy. You pour a trillion into microfinance across the Global South, and you are not going to see a bubble. You are going to see a return on your money that is twice the return from the UStreasury bonds.
Flush money should go into creating the jobs, companies and industries of tomorrow. Money should go into small businesses. Money should go to the tried and tested.
Bubbles are a sign the smart money is not being very smart. But the money has to go somewhere. So it ends up in bubbles: short term glory, long term pain.
And then there is that standard monopoly thing. If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big. It should not have been allowed to get that big in the first place. And it is not too late to break up a few banks. Turn them into smaller size chunkies.
The Car Connection is the go to place on the web for car reviews. Maybe you want to buy a new car. Maybe you are just checking. Maybe you are an auto fanatic and can't help it. You would at least like to take a look. And then maybe buy.
Honda Fit: This baby falls in the subcompact category. This one is slightly longer and wider than the 2008 model. It boasts of a "larger front quarter windows, larger, shapelier headlights, and sportier body-kit-like moldings." The interior has won better reviews than the exterior. How about the "abundant blue LEDs at important marks?"
Cadillac: The 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe is chic. Also take a look at the 2010, and 2009 models. The 2008 Cadillac CTS remains the most popular. “The front fender air vents, the knife-edged third brake light, and the LED-encrusted tail lamps are beautifully executed,” said a ForbesAutos.com reviewer, “the charismatic glow radiating from this car will draw looks away from the more conservative blue-blood import sedans and make this Cadillac the center of positive attention wherever the affluent gather.” This is obviously a high end car. It is Cadillac, like Macs are high end among computers. This model breaks the conservative mold.
Hyundai Genesis: The styling is on the conservative end. As in, why take chances? Caution seems to be the word. Car and Driver: “a bit of S-Class in the headlights, a hint of Lexus GS in the hood, some 5-series in the taillights, and a BMW- or Nissan-like kink in the C-pillars.” But there is some gush on the "stylish interior."
Chevy Silverado: The styling is "safe," and designed to please everyone. Some reviewers have complained of the "cheesy mirrors," others have praised the same. This baby scores high on performance. The steers and handles have been worked upon to make this pickup more small street friendly. It is thought to be smoother than the other half ton pickup trucks.
Pakistan is where the fight is. It is not in Iraq, it is not in Afghanistan. The gradual withdrawal from Iraq seems to be bringing in relative normalcy, the democratic state is gaining strength. Afghanistan is a relatively small country. But Pakistan is huge. It is a nuclear power. It is, officially speaking, a democracy. It has a rabid, Islamist, vocal right wing in the parliament and in the streets, and in the wastelands.
Pakistan is a tough nut to crack. America is already inside Iraq. America is already inside Afghanistan. Should America think of going into Pakistan? That is a very tough nut to crack. My instinct says no, a big no. If you have to go in, you have already failed. You could argue should not everything be done to prevent the Islamists from taking over in Pakistan, up to and including going in? To that my reply is going to be, why did you not exercise all options that would have made it unnecessary to go in? But going into Pakistan is not unimaginable, just like a dirty bomb going off in some city is not unimaginable. You just hope it does not happen, you do everything possible to make sure it does not happen.
Pakistan is a challenge for the democratic ideal. How do you build a state? How do you bring a big, strong army completely under the domain of a popularly elected parliament? How do you bring forth grassroots democracy and genuine reform? Why do the Islamists represent the idea of land reform in the Swat valley? Why not the democrats?
Why was it so easy to kill Benazir? It should not have been. The Al Qaeda managing to kill Benazir is like if the democratic forces had managed to kill Bin Laden. That was a big prize for them. That helped them grow.
How do you strengthen democracy in Pakistan? How do you strengthen the democratic state? America has singularly poured tens of billions into the Pakistani army. The paranoia can be partly understood. But the solution is primarily political, not military. How many billions has America poured into Pakistan's primary education sector? Can America compete for the hearts and minds of Pakistan's young and vulnerable?
I am not naive. I appreciate that there is a military angle to the fight, but if that is the only angle you see, you are doomed to fail. Even with that military angle, the fights end up being nontraditional and asymmetrical.
The world has to help build Pakistan's political parties, and its democracy, and its reform efforts. The Islamists can't be seen as the vanguard of reform. The democrats have to eat their lunch.
First the bottom fell out and that was before he was even elected. The bad news ran through his transition and runs today. This was not what he was expecting last summer.
Just the banking crisis, or just one war, or just one epochal climate crisis might have been a full plate, but the Gods had other designs.
What has been amazing is that he has stayed cool and steady at the helm. He has performed fabulously in the global arena.
The question is not if he can win reelection, the question is can he turn America into a greater country than it was before the crisis hit? Can he turn this into a more optimistic country by the time the economy sees an upswing? Can he turn this into a healthy, growing economy? Can he transform the energy consumption patterns in this country?
Can he be a great president, one that went on to define an era? That is the question. I think he has had a great start.
The Sri Lankan army has eaten up that country's entire budget, it has snuffed democracy, it has attacked journalism - and I am talking Sinhala journalists - and it has been mowing down Tamils for weeks, months now. This is a democracy gone so insane, it is not a democracy no more.
Sometimes a human being snaps. In this case an entire country has snapped. It has more than lost its way. It has gone criminal.
Hitler did not round up people like this. His crimes became public only much later. People being taken to gas chambers did not know they were being taken to gas chambers. But the Sri Lankan Army is being brazen about killing thousands a day. It has erected an iron curtain around a massive chunk of territory where it has gone berserk.
I am not for violence. But then I am staunchly against ethnic prejudice and discrimination. Democracy was not the answer to Tamil grievances for decades. If the LTTE had never been born, if Prabhakaran had never picked up his gun, would the Sinhala leadership have brought about equality for the Tamils? I don't think so. If the Sri Lankan Army were to achieve its goals of ethnic cleansing, and perhaps route the LTTE, will the subsequent Sri Lankan federal government finally bring forth equality for the Tamils? I don't believe so.
The Tamil issue is something I have thought about a long time. I never thought violence was the solution. But then I also knew Sri Lanka had proven the Tamils could not expect respite in peaceful democracy either.
Minorities like the Tamils of Sri Lanka should have the option to take the Sri Lankan federal government to the international courts to seek justice and equality. Otherwise we are asking the Tamils to make peace with a second class status. The world today does not have that kind of structure. We have to build that kind of structure, so a people do not have to choose between inequality and violence.
But before that we have to deal with the immediate issue of genocide, of ethnic cleansing. The world is mute, and people are dying. If grieving for Tamils is too much of a stretch of heart and imagination, grieve that the Sri Lankan army has murdered democracy and free speech also for the Sinhala majority. A government that can so mercilessly kill its own people has had to have lost its soul. It has.
That violence is not a solution goes both ways. I never predicted a military victory for Prabhakaran. I doubt there is a military victory in store for the Sri Lankan Army. The solution was, and is political.
Sri Lanka's crime has been that it has been a unitary state. Sri Lanka's crime has been that it has not had a constitution that guarantees minority rights. I wish it had not, but violence resulted.
And if India is turning a blind eye because Rajiv Gandhi was murdered at the orders of Prabhakaran, it has to be pointed out Rajiv Gandhi was not murdered at the orders of the Tamil civilians who are currently being wiped out in the thousands in a slaught.
What Hitler did in an autocratic framework, Sri Lanka is doing in what is officially a democratic framework. The country does have a duly elected president. Sri Lanka is proof democracy is no solution. Sri Lanka is the most literate country in my neighborhood of South Asia. Sri Lanka is proof literacy is no solution. A heartless, soulless democracy is no solution.
This massive act of genocide has to be brought to an end. World leaders have to speak out. Journalists have to go cover the happenings. Marches have to be organized worldwide. Or after over six decades of Hitler we will still have made no progress.
As things stand, the president of Sri Lanka stands guilty of crimes against humanity, and is a ripe candidate for The Hague. End the onslaught. Seek a political solution.