The presidential elections are coming up again. The last 4 years went by very quickly, and as always, we are confronted with BS blown all over the mainstream media. This time (like last time) the focus is on the POTUS and the economy. I fear many lay persons and even some who should know better fail to realize that the president has very little willful control over the economy - at least to the upside. Now, it is possible for a president to wreck the economy. For instance, we had one not too long ago who took it upon himself to start several concurrent wars while cutting taxes at the apex of a cyclical economic peak (aka, bubble about to burst), but that rarely occurs, right?
Generally, the POTUS is either blamed or glorified for things that are largely out of his control. Prominent examples have been:
- Reagan, whose policies actually sucked but rode a cyclical bull to acclaim...
- Clinton, whose policies sucked less, but still rode a cyclical bull to acclaim.
- Carter, the poor bastard... Wrong place at the wrong stagflationary time.
- And last but not least, Obama - there was no way in hell anyone, regardless of who it was other than the almighty God/Buddha/Allah [fill in the blank] himself could have extricated the country from the mess that Bush contributed to.
To be fair, although I would like to say he made the mess, in all actuality he (as in George Bush Jr.) simply was in office when the bubble burst. His greatest crime (other than being the worst president this country has ever seen - and despite the fact that he was re-elected [or re-appointed if you followed that whole hanging chad thing]) was that he exacerbated the effects of the downfall by squandering our resource cushion in unnecessary wars and tax breaks and failed to invest in the entrepreneurial spirit of American small and medium sized businesses, where ALL of the big business (his constituency) actually came from.
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As an aside, see How Inferior American Education Caused The Credit/Real Estate/Sovereign Debt Bubbles and Why It's Preventing True Recovery [8] for my views on education in America. This video tells a tale as well. Please take note of the comments in the video - here's a tell tale burb, "I'm sure Reggie is well aware why this video only has 3667 views, when it should easily be in the millions...........sad.........sad...sad...sad.....pray for your children"..
See also:
Is this a brother from another mother???
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My highly entrepreneurial and uber-cognitive 11 year old son (my older son is and artistic genius wrapped around a true scientist and my young daughter is a legitimate powerhouse and leader - yes, all three of my children are special and yes I am biased :-)) asked me to sit in on his homework assignment of critiquing the presidential candidate speeches. I explained to my boy that a tertiary (if not primary) labor of the POTUS is to pump BS to the masses. Jobs... Schmobs... As clearly articulated in BS At The BLS Leads To Profitable Short Opportunities As Hopium Smokers Get High Off Of Depreciated Dime Bags Of Manipulated Euphoria! [11] Following up on the premise of that article is our next release in the follow of overpriced and over valued retailers. This time around, we get wet... Subscribers, download - Retailer_Final (801.03 kB 2012-09-11 01:30:21) [12]
Now, back to the original premise - Guess what my 11 year old uncovered in the process...
[13]Reggie Middleton on Obama vs Romney Acceptance Speeches
'Nuff said!