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My Take on the 2012 Presidential Election

madhedgefundtrader's picture




 

My Take on the 2012 Presidential Election. As I write this, I am sitting at the San Francisco consulate of the People’s Republic of China, awaiting the issuance of my business visa. Since I will soon be in the neighborhood, I plan to interview some companies that I want to buy on the next upswing in the global financial markets. The Defense Department has asked me to call on my senior contacts in the People’s Liberation Army to try and get a read on the Middle Kingdom’s next likely president, Xi Jinping. Also, it has been ages since I had a decent Peking Duck.

It seems that whenever you do anything with China, there are always scads of people around. I had to wait in line on cold and foggy Geary Street an hour just to get into the building, pestered by assorted anti-government demonstrators. I’m now inside with my laptop, but my number is A288, and so far they have only gotten up to A24. It looks like I have a long haul.

Therefore, I am going to take advantage of the very rare luxury of some extra free time and speculate at length on the prospects of another president, that of Barrack Hussein Obama. Having spent time in the White House Press Corp under Carter and Reagan, I have some inside knowledge about how whole election process works.

The most important factor to affect global financial markets next year and years beyond will be the outcome of the 2012 presidential election. As card carrying paid up members of the Mad Hedge Fund Trader network, I therefore have not only the responsibility, but the obligation to give you my forecast about how this is going to play out.

To believe that President Obama is anti-business and bad for the economy is lunacy of the highest order. Barack knows more American history than either you or I will ever forget. He is well aware that a poor economic performance has been the primary creator of one term presidents since WWII.

Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson retired early, Carter was demolished by the stagflation caused by the Iranian revolution and the second oil shock, and George H.W. Bush was turfed out by a minor recession, despite winning the first Gulf War. Therefore, the economy had to be Obama’s top priority from the first day in office. To do otherwise was for Obama to risk becoming one of the countless jobless himself.

I believe that the economy that Obama inherited was so broken that it will take decades to fix, if ever. It is easy to forget that virtually the entire financial system was bankrupt, the credit markets had seized up, and the ATM’s were two weeks away from failing to dispense cash. The government newly found itself a major investor in the country’s 20 largest banks, General Motors, and AIG.

But the reflationary measures he was able to get through a reluctant congress were too small to engineer the recovery he needed. The boldness of the moves seen during the Great Depression was sadly absent. Remember, Franklin Roosevelt directly hired 3 million men during his first two years through the Civilian Conservation Corps, immediately preventing 5 million from immediate starvation. This was when the population was less than half of what it is today.

To a large extent, Obama has become the fall guy for the excesses of earlier administrations. The big problems facing the country are long term and structural. The $15 trillion national debt is the product of 30 years of tax cuts and spending increases, primarily for defense.

Our runaway health care costs can be traced by our failure to nationalize health care when the rest of the developed did so in the late 1940’s, enabling them to keep their medical expenses to two thirds of ours, with better results. Fear of communism was the reason. That saddled corporate America with the costs, eating into our competitiveness.

Social security and Medicare were financially flawed from the day they were launched, and modern day politicians were loath to touch them once they became sacred cows. None of these intractable problems are amenable to a quick fix.

All of this leaves Obama’s popularity in the polls falling, going into one of the most acrimonious and hard fought elections in American history. Obama has become the Jackie Robinson of American politics, the first African-American to play in major league baseball. The better the job he does, the more people hate him. When the stock market doubled after he came into office, he received none of the credit. When the Tea Party the threat to default on Treasury bonds prompted a 25% plunge, he got all of the blame. Robinson died at 53, largely due to stress.

If he can’t pull out of his tailspin, I believe the president will withdraw his candidacy, and throw it open to other contenders. That is what Lyndon Johnson did in 1968 due to declining health and an unpopular war. When you try to push history forward too quickly, sometimes it bites you back. The election of Obama was such a generational leap in so many ways that some retracement was inevitable. Blame it all on the excesses of the previous administration, which were many. After all, the Democrats don’t want to commit suicide.

There are two potential candidates. I believe that Hillary Clinton was given the safe position as Secretary of State precisely to hold her in reserve as a backup candidate in 2012 in case something happened to Obama. People of both political parties agree that she has done a spectacular job managing America’s role in the Arab spring, providing military support to drive Khadafy out of power, and keeping the Chinese buying out gargantuan debt issues. But as a presidential candidate, she is not without baggage.

The dark horse in the race is Michael Bloomberg, the highly popular mayor of New York. If there was ever a politician who can change his spots quickly, it is Michael. A lifetime Democrat, he switched parties to win as a Republican in a Democratic town. He could flip flop again, or bolt to form a third party.

I have known Michael since he went door to door on Wall Street seeking funding to start his data business to replace the aging Quotrons. A more quixotic mission there never was.

Yet he succeeded wildly, making himself a billionaire many times over, proving his credentials as an entrepreneur and a businessman, and creating an urban legend. An early adopter, I have personally paid him over $1 million in fees for the past 20 years for his versatile machine, as have most other hedge fund managers.

Where do the Republicans stand in all of this? They have to spend a year appealing to the conservative base, attempting to outmaneuver each other in a marathon to the right. Then they only have two months to swerve back to the middle to win the election. They have a somewhat hopeless task, and is why we have so many two term presidents.

What Rick Perry harangues about is popular in libertarian, oil based Texas, but will they wear it in Ohio, Washington, or Florida? I think not. Mitt Romney’s Mormon origins leave his party’s Christian base cold, and he is unelectable without them. Both these men are presenting themselves as modern day incarnations of Ronald Reagan. But I knew Ronnie for decades, first as an aspiring governor of California, and a Reagan they are not. I can’t imagine Perry telling me an off color Irish joke, as Reagan did frequently, after the cameras stopped rolling.

The rest of the field are just “also rans”. On top of this, the power of the presidency as a campaign tool is not to be underestimated. Air Force One versus a chartered bus? Give me a break.

For those who wish to participate in Macro Millionaire, my highly innovative and successful trade mentoring program, please email John Thomas directly at madhedgefundtrader@yahoo.com . Please put “Macro Millionaire” in the subject line, as we are getting buried in emails.

To see the data, charts, and graphs that support this research piece, as well as more iconoclastic and out-of-consensus analysis, please visit me at www.madhedgefundtrader.com . There, you will find the conventional wisdom mercilessly flailed and tortured daily, and my last two years of research reports available for free. You can also listen to me on Hedge Fund Radio by clicking on “This Week on Hedge Fund Radio” in the upper right corner of my home page.

 

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Thu, 09/15/2011 - 00:18 | 1671905 malek
malek's picture

Even If I tried my hardest, I couldn't come up with worse drivel than that. Unf'ingbelievable. One can only hope that guy's a joke and all his references are made up...

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 16:03 | 1670104 Alvaro de Esteban
Alvaro de Esteban's picture

Was he Ironic? Sarchastic? No, sure he needs Obama interventionism & Geithnernomics, to ensure the bail-outs, high volatility, irrationality & privileged informatión schemes that seem to made him so succesfull in the markets.

And about Obama´s history knowledge, please remind his Cairo speech..., pehaps Oliver Stone is his head "historier"  

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 15:25 | 1669899 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

Looks like we've got a libtard junker on the loose.  (All sane commenters get to net off 1 red)

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 17:57 | 1669865 CIABS
CIABS's picture

where to start with this guy?

first he tells us that he works for military intelligence, as if that's totally cool.

more:

"As card carrying paid up members of the Mad Hedge Fund Trader network, I therefore..."

nice sentence structure.  after setting up a reference to his subscribers, he can't wait to talk about himself.

"Barack knows more American history than either you or I will ever forget."

no, the saying is that barack has forgotten more american history than you or i will ever know, with the implication that he has forgotten the trivia, not the important parts.  i don't know how much obama knows, but that's not my point.

nice incomplete survey of presidents since jfk, without getting too close to the truth of any of the situations mentioned.

obama is going to withdraw and maybe hillary but more likely michael bloomberg will be the nominee.  wow.

here's my take:

obama is the best "designer president" yet.  the people who run things have been crafting the candidates and the role over the years, and obama is pretty much exactly what they have had in mind.  the presidents who have not measured up, some of whom had no intention of doing so, have all been terminated.

there is no indication that obama will be terminated.  it appears that he will serve for eight years.  if so, he will be the fourth two-term president among the last five, a reflection of the success of the design project.

among democrats, hillary and bloomberg are not "designer" candidates.  they are too willful, too connected, too powerful.  bloomberg is probably too wealthy to be controlled through campaign money.  and hillary was already vetoed once by the establishment, in 2008.  (something like this was applied to donald trump recently, on the other side of the aisle.)

if obama is not re-elected, he will most likely be replaced by a republican.  in 2008 henry kissinger announced during the christmas week (end of 2007) that he was endorsing mccain, and that was a little signal of what was going to happen.  not that kissigner is the decider, he was just putting the word out.  we should be watching for that kind of thing a few months from now.  the media blocked hillary and gave obama the nomination.  mccain and palin were not meant to win, but in case obama collapsed, mccain was viewed as the most acceptable alternative.  romney might be viewed the same way this time, and again only as a backup to obama.  his mormonism would help obama win, which is the plan.  most of the other republican candidates are not acceptable.  it's possible that someone else will join the race, but it's getting late for that.

longer-term, perhaps the most interesting question is whether jeb bush will succeed obama in january 2017.  but that's not a prediction.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:53 | 1669716 Rick64
Rick64's picture

If Obama wins, his first term will look great compared to the second term thats how bad it will be, then we will be ready for the new messiah to rescue us only to find out 10 yrs. down the road that he too sold us out to corporations and banks. Same old story.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:47 | 1669683 healey
healey's picture

This article is crap..keynesian drivel...Durden, please remove this, and don't allow this guy to post anymore articles.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 15:27 | 1669907 MiguelitoRaton
MiguelitoRaton's picture

"Barack knows more American history than either you or I will ever forget." Really, on what basis do you jump to this conclusion, his travels to all 57 states? The author is in the tank for BO...what a waste.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:38 | 1669658 Plata con Carne
Plata con Carne's picture

What a big pantload of bullfunky!

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:51 | 1669388 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

Bob Turner and the failed Wisconsin recalls are pretty good and recent indicators that Barry's coattails are torched.  There are so many things incoherent and slanted in this "analysis" that it's not worth dissecting.  The whole piece is pablum personified.  I needed to drop some words down to justify the time spent reading it...

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:20 | 1669545 CompassionateFascist
CompassionateFascist's picture

This effusion bests Banzai. I cannot stop laughing. A complete, contra-factual inversion of reality. We need more of this from MHFT: comic relief.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:50 | 1669383 mind_imminst
mind_imminst's picture

Is this article a joke? Satire?

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:03 | 1669453 combatsnoopy
combatsnoopy's picture

no, Obama IS the fall guy.  Why do you think the neocons endorsed his candidacy by running Palin as a VP candidate? 

Fri, 09/16/2011 - 02:05 | 1676246 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Yep... and McCain showed he was clueless in the crises leading up to TARP...

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:48 | 1669371 Nothing To See Here
Nothing To See Here's picture

Let me get this straight : the Obamination is not anti-business because he knows his history? Gee I think you just $Y?/! convinced me.

And OF COURSE Kennedy was assassinated because of his economic performance, who did not know that??

Oh and why not add a "strong buy" recommendation on SocGen and BAC while you're at it?

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:32 | 1669270 DosZap
DosZap's picture

Election?, what election?.

Unless the GOP gets a REAL contender into the fray, obummer will be re-electe with 38% of the vote.

Hide n watch.

Then I KNOW I will Expat to any where but here.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:05 | 1669474 combatsnoopy
combatsnoopy's picture

it's time to play "PICK YOUR PIMP 2012!"  Who would you rather play the pimp?  The black socialist or the stingy  socialist?

 

 

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:25 | 1669248 Lazane
Lazane's picture

LMAO too tears....

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:23 | 1669237 Diamond Jim
Diamond Jim's picture

Prez Owe will never give up his chance to a second term...Queen Michelle would kill him. Take off the blinders.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:02 | 1669097 hivekiller
hivekiller's picture

This is either satire or planted news by someone from a CIA/NSA drone. Either way it was a waste of time to read what little of it I did.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:21 | 1669221 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Now that was fucking deep....

Why don't you write one coherent paragraph without ad hominems or regurgiation of talking points on  the 2012 election that actually has some analytic content.

I dare you.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:50 | 1669384 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

I'm not him but let me try. Obama depends on Wall Street for their generous support. The one thing he cannot fail to do, is allow stocks to underperform bonds, which is 3% plus or minus, YOY. The DOW only needs to get to around 12K to do that, however should he, Obama, fail, (considering all the tools at his disposal, Presidents Working Group, Plunge Protection) then Wall Street will abandon him, and without THEIR support he cannot be reelected, because the man in the street won't put him back in office under those circumstances.

Now so far we have been watching some preseason games, but the right wing nutjobs have nothing to add, and Obama is just repeating tired homilies. shovel ready jobs. shovel this up your ass. There are more than a few capable candidates who will throw their hat in the ring, should Obama fail to secure his most coveted supporters, and fool the rest of us too, who think the stock market has something to do with the economy.

jan 1 is the make or break date, stock market finishes the year up 3% or more, or Obama is finished in this town. who would run?

HC? Kerry again? Gore again? If you check the bad bad year of 1968 you recall that Humphrey ran behind a surrogate candidate, who pledged his votes to HH at the convention. Something like that could happen this time around. Would it disrupt the country and the economy? Perhaps not as much as you think, as things are already bad, but there is little the status quo can do, and Bernanke will keep marching no matter who gives the orders.

as a point of comparison, not the Taliban is conducting their own TET style offensive, TET you recall destroyed the official hopium the experts were giving us about Vietnam. and so Obama is also getting problems from the foreign policy side.

recall LBJ withdrew after Eugene McCarthy beat him in NH on the antiwar vote. (and Bobby Kennedy was waiting although he had promised to to run) The war is not that big an issue this time around, its the economy, but the rank and file in his party have lost patience with BHO, and it turns not on Afghanistan so much as the stock market, but they have a formidable one two punch of sorts.

best guess is Obama survives, the stock market rallies and we all live happily ever after, except for that shovel up our butt. read a whole lot of lousy temporary jobs.

happy new year

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:05 | 1669470 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

For those too young to remember or too lazy to look it up, Tet was a major defeat for the VietCong. It was our wonderful mainstream media, and Walter Cronkite in particular, that convinced US citizens that it was a defeat for us and accelerated us down the path to ignominious retreat. Today we have that same MSM cheerleading for Obama and ignoring everything bad.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 15:12 | 1669835 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

perhaps but to clarify, TET was directed by the North, and until that time the various factions were not united, which included the VC. The casualties, which were staggering pretty much eliminated the factional divisions, remember at the peace talks they spent a year arguing over who sat where at the table, the VC were not as firmly under the control of the North as the Am people were led to believe. TET filled in the blanks, and made the revolution a part of the international Communist conspiracy, before that it was a political civil war. 

The VC took one for the team, during TET. Uncle Ho ran the show after that. If history rhymes I would guess that whichever Taliban group it was that attacked the embassy, that Al Qaida will get the blame. and you are correct that the press keeps repeating the mantra about the deadliest month (due to that one helicopter shoot down) with all the economic problems its logical to disregard most of this news, but the press can turn on the President also.

we weren't going to win in Vietnam as long as Russian merchant ships were delivering SAM missiles to Hanoi. there was some misapprehension that China was the real fear, after Korea, but China and N Vietnam fought a war after the US left. Apparently the whole thing was symbolic, but to our side only. the domino theory turned out to be crap, and the North would have done better to lose the war and ask for reparations.

i see Obama on a similar path to LBJ, who extended a lot of policies JFK might have changed. he won an election by dismissing his opponent Goldwater as a radical, and then pursuing most of Goldwaters campaign rhetoric.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:54 | 1669405 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Not bad... Not bad at all...

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:36 | 1669307 hivekiller
hivekiller's picture

You talking to me? 

 

I'll tell you what I think will happen based on the past Presidential elections. Bush engineered 9/11 in part to get re-elected just like Clinton engineered Oklahoma City in part to get re-elected. The legislation is in place to declare martial law in the event of a national emergency and we've already seen that Obama has no respect for the Constitution, the law, or anything else. All Obama and company have to do is instigate another false flag attack, declare martial law, and it's all over. The American people will fall for it just like they have everything else. They are blind and dumb.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:49 | 1669378 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Yes I was talking to you....

If that is a paragraph about the 2012 election and you are at all representative of the Hedge, this place has slid further than I ever could have imagined....

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:53 | 1669047 realitybiter
realitybiter's picture

I am befuddled.  How can Obama be such a success if David Rosenberg is stating that we are in a modern day depression?  I am not sure, but I think BO is captain of the good ship SS Depression.  I know MHFT is a data guy so how does he reconcile US poverty at an 52 year high WHILE Mr bidness is running the show?  

Markets Doubling?  Well it all depends on how you measure it.  In terms of commodities (CCI) the market is down 30%.  In terms of gold, 40%.  In terms of Lloyd Blankfeins bank account it is awesome!

 

 

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:47 | 1669002 SirIssacNewton
SirIssacNewton's picture

 

 

Like most, I thought this article could have only been satire of the highest order.  I can't believe the author continues to perpetuate that there is actually any dichotomy between the supposed Republican and Democratic parties.  Every politician now is merely a leech on the ass of the American People, but unfortunately we have so many leeches that we are almost drained of blood.  OBummer, and his supporters, need to quit blaming everyone else for the problems they themselves have caused.....the Prez has added more wars, failed to fulfill any of his campaign promises, Gitmo is still open, the Patriot Act was renewed.  Let's not forget that the Dems had control over both houses for the first two years of his term......oh.....let's not forget Obamacare......which as it gets implemented will be called $hitcare or IllegalAliencare, but it will only mean more people getting less with a worse standard of care....yippee....we're saved.  There are not two parties..... There is only One.....and they only care about cronyism, nepotism and any other "ism" that will line their pockets.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 16:04 | 1670109 Lord Koos
Lord Koos's picture

I don't like Obama, but what part of this didn't you understand: 

 

"...the economy that Obama inherited was so broken that it will take decades to fix, if ever. It is easy to forget that virtually the entire financial system was bankrupt, the credit markets had seized up, and the ATM’s were two weeks away from failing to dispense cash. The government newly found itself a major investor in the country’s 20 largest banks, General Motors, and AIG."

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 18:42 | 1670784 SirIssacNewton
SirIssacNewton's picture

I can appreciate what you are saying, but OBummer knew this job was going to be tough.  The economy was already struggling while he was on the campaign trail, so he KNEW that he was going to have to face this and, through his advisors, most likely knew it would be a tough road.  He wanted the job, though.

So his first thought out of the gate was...... what was it........ Obamacare......a huge economic bomb based upon failed socialistic, excuse the expression, crap.  He was trying to buy votes regardless of the cost.  He's certainly adding to the mess.

He continues the Iraq war and starts new ones..... that has really helped the bottom line.  It has lined the pockets of the military industrial complex and added trillions onto the public debt.

Instead of holding the banksters to task and forcing a proper unwind, he perpetuates it and tries to the kick this can down the road as far as he can.  Giving a FICA break to everyone was a really smart idea....lots of jobs are happening off of that one.  He's making the Social Security Trust more insolvent all to get a second term.  The American People be damned.

As a Senator, he voted to renew The Patriot Act in 2006 and as President also supported and signed its extension.  There may have been a hole, but there are times in history where critical junctions meet and courses can be turned.  He promised to be such a person and such a President.  He has dug the hole ever deeper and caused us to miss a chance to return to a more sound Democratic Republic.  I am tired of him trying to deflect any responsibility for the terrible mess he has added to an already difficult situation.  He has only made things worse.

In 2007, Obama was adamant that the president did not have the power to authorize an attack if there was no imminent threat to the U.S. But now he has authorized just such an action in Libya.  He's a liar and he is corrupt.

My point is both parties suck and, in reality, there's only one party that has been bought by Mega Corps.  Oh, by the way, the government didn't FIND itself a major investor....our politicians chose to save their buddies instead of reinstituting Glass-Seagall and then nationalizing the assets of the failed banks and letting new, more healthy banks emerge from the rubble.  It would have been painful, but now we have cancer throughout the body.

<rant off>

 

Thu, 09/15/2011 - 10:35 | 1673235 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

well said.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:09 | 1669137 daxtonbrown
daxtonbrown's picture

"I thought this article could only have been satire of th highest order"

 

I had to put down my bong pipe to get a hit of some of this babble. He claims it lunacy that some might think Obam is anti-business?  Well, maybe Baarry is pro crony capitalist, that is true. And there wasn't enough stimulus? Who needs a crack pipe when you can shoot pure horse right into your brain?

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:51 | 1669039 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

The author appears to be chasing the proverbial Dragon, not realizing that it has nothing to do with China, but rather, centers around dopamine, endorphin & serotonin receptor cell exhaustion/depletion.

Smoke up, Johnny (or MadHedgeFundHopiumSmoker).

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:42 | 1668998 centurain
centurain's picture

Obama swept into office as the savior.  Remember he was going to stop the rise of the ocean just by his sheer power of smugness.  He is going to get blame because he promised everyone stupid enough to listen that he would fix all their woes. 

If you think Mayor Bloomberg has any shot you are seriously delusional.  He may be popular in NY but not anywhere else, a fact you observed with Rick Perry but conveniently missed with Bloomberg...

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:43 | 1668997 centurain
centurain's picture

DP oops

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:39 | 1668982 realitybiter
realitybiter's picture

JEEEEZUS!!!

 

Someone just took a dump in my eyes!

 

Dude, when you sober up off your 50 year binge of liberal, democrat drunken kool-aid-fest, write something that makes logical sense.  Intellectual dishonesty is no way to go through life.

MoronHedgeFund Manager.  How big is that hedge fund anyway?

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:36 | 1668972 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Remarkable the nonsense that is spewed here in the comment section if the echo-chamber doesn't resonate....

I don't necessarily agree with MHFT but the fucking inane prose on display here make MHFT come across as a wise old man...

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 16:02 | 1670099 Lord Koos
Lord Koos's picture

Yep, ZH commentators are in lockstep in their narrow-minded ideology... mix that with a sprinkling of room-temperature IQ and you have a fine recipe.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:58 | 1669424 KIPPY KAPPSLOCK
KIPPY KAPPSLOCK's picture

Flakemeister.

Write us a paragraph in your own words detailing your positions on this matter.  I dare you!  You get junked to oblivion here because you are a piece of shit...a nappy little establishment attack dog. 

How about you go fuck yourself.  Yes?

Fri, 09/16/2011 - 02:28 | 1676241 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Hey Dippy Dipshit....

Took me longer to get to this than I wanted, being on the road doesn't allow much time for the Hedge..

-----

Prior to the 2008 election I was telling everyone that I "pitied the fool" that won the election. Obama has been a disaster, lacking political acumen, caving in at the first sign of any political confrontation. He showed his lack of judgement and leadership from start when he called upon the same old cronies that got us in the mess we are in to advise him. In 2008, the country needed a real leader, we did not get it, instead we got a spineless mediator-in-chief. Lest you think Mr. McCain would have "saved the world", his number one economics guy was Phil Gram. Phil Gram was the most craven and base of the Wall St. thralls.  His finger prints are all over some of the worst legislation that was passed; i.e. repeal of Glass-Stegall. I don't think that I need to go much beyond that.

Going forward to 2012, O does not deserve to win. However, the sorry array of Republican candidates does not offer an nationally  electable choice and O will likely win unless the wheels come completely off in the next 6 months. I give that a 50/50 shot.  The only 2 real players are Perry and Romney, both are seriously flawed. If you pointed a gun to my head, I would go with Romney if only because he wouldn't fuck things up as bad as Perry is likely to. Before you get all excited about me not going gaga over Ron Paul, I will say there are lot of things I like about him but there are some ideas that truly belong in the 19th century, e.g. Corporations do *not* self-regulate. I do not think he is electable, but I would take him over Rick or Mitt  anyday. Actually, from the little that I have heard him say, I would like to see Huntsman get some more recognition.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:02 | 1669448 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

I would love too but  I have plane to catch...

Check back tomorrow and I will have something...In the meantime why don't you provide some content for all of us to discuss, asshole.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 14:29 | 1669618 CompassionateFascist
CompassionateFascist's picture

Flackbait, Zero doesn't even know how many states comprise the USA; "57", he said. One thing for sure, if it's Zero vs. Perry in 2012 and Zero wins, there's going to be a lot fewer. 1860------>2012.

Fri, 09/16/2011 - 01:38 | 1676214 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Well, you may be right... The country is very polarized as it was in 1860 and it takes no great stretch of imagination to see some states wanting to go their own way for ideological reasons.

For shits and giggles check out the following. It breaks down Federal taxes recieved and Federal monies spent state-by-state:

http://visualizingeconomics.com/2010/02/17/federal-taxes-paidreceived-for-each-state/

The following takes several years of data and compares the tax data and Federal spending with voting patterns:

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/04/18/red-state-moochers-federal-taxes-favor-those-who-complain-the-most-about-federal-taxes/

Ummm.... it seems that "Red" states tend get a free ride from the Feds, i.e. a Red state typically gets more money out of the Federal govenment than they put in....

I'll give Texas some credit, it gets back 94 cents on the dollar; California gets back $0.78 and New Jersey gets back 61 cents.....  I personally am amused that Alaska gets $1.84 for every dollar it sends to D.C...

I guess the moral of the story is that some people simply cannot be pleased. Maybe, it would be best to split up...

----

Not a defense of Obama, but I wish I had a nickel for every misstatement by W....

Now... do us all a favor and go off quietly in a corner and fist yourself.... 

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:28 | 1668938 onlooker
onlooker's picture

 

“”To believe that President Obama is anti-business and bad for the economy is lunacy of the highest order. Barack knows more American history than either you or I will ever forget.””

 

To think that Obama is good for business, including the small business that hires 50% or more of the work force is stupidity of the highest order.

 

“”What Rick Perry harangues about is popular in libertarian, oil based Texas, but will they wear it in Ohio, Washington, or Florida?””

 

Texas is about half Democrat and half Republican. Most are more conservative that the SF Bay Area. Texas is a broad based economy. Oil is no longer #1. And I do not like the man--- but get your facts correct.

 

“”Barack knows more American history than either you or I will ever forget.””

 

So is/were Castro, Stalin, Hitler, Lenin, Marx, Mao, Chavez, and etc. What he has read and what he was taught and what became the “truth” in his mind might warp the holy hell out of the views of other historians.

 

But, I have to agree on one point; Clinton appears to be the “new savior”. God help us.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:24 | 1668917 ChiefJohnRutledge
ChiefJohnRutledge's picture

This is the most nonsensical piece ever posted on ZH.   I will take the other side of any political trade regarding elections this turkey has.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:19 | 1668888 dirtbagger
dirtbagger's picture

For god's sake - pay an extra $20 and use a visa service.  Look like MHFT values his time at about $7.00 per hour.  About the wage he can expect when people no longer read his nonsense and he has to flip burgers for a living.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:16 | 1668874 Savyindallas
Savyindallas's picture

Obama knows History better than you and I?  Are you directing this statement to your fellow graduates at Martin Luther King Junior High in Macon Georgia?

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 13:46 | 1669356 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

U.S. history is mandatory in the Indonesian school system.  Apparently, when Barry was there, they studied it both before and after he led them in morning prayers.

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:18 | 1668863 mikem54321
mikem54321's picture

A socialist and an idiot. We get this garbage non-stop in the MSM. Why in the world would ZH allow this idiot to waste our time reading his high and mightly crap. I might as well have accidently read an entire Paul Krugman article. Ugh...the filth. Same feeling when I accidently watch a Jerry Springer commercial.

What a dissapoint to understand the propaganda network has infiltrated the once pure Zero Hedge. 

Wed, 09/14/2011 - 12:13 | 1668859 Savyindallas
Savyindallas's picture

Man , I feel like such a fool. I was upset because I thought this guy was serious  -then I realized the entire column was just a big joke.

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