The number 1,2,3 problems in the US Economy are as of September 14,2008:
1)All the banks are not working and not willing to lend at all.
2)Both consumers and governments are not paying for what they consume.
3)Jobs are in rapid decline.
The number 1,2,3, problems in the US Economy are as of October 2009:
1)Jobs are still in precipitate decline despite the fact that more people quit the labor force.
2)Governments are not able to pay for what they are mandated to provide; yet the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy continue.
3)Banks are still not lending to small businesses nor to homeowners; but they are giving out biggest bonuses in history.
The number 1,2,3, problems in the US Economy are as of June 2010:
1)Governments at every level are only able to pay about 80% of what services they provide; and increasingly those services are delivered inefficiently and /or less effectively than desired.
2)Jobs are barely increasing despite the hundreds of billions of TARP funds and other government spending while the number of marginally employed or leaving the workforce increases. Unemployement rates for recent graduates of high school and college are topping 20%.
3)Banks are still not lending to small businesses nor to homeowners; but they are making huge profits with hundreds of days of no trading losses as the Fed gives Banks fund at near 0% while the banks charge others 3%++ including the Federal Government that gave the funds in the first place. Finally, the banks have effectively stymied financial reform as too big to fail protection, derivatives gambling, and no prosecutions for 2007-2009 financial malfeasance have all been achieved by financial institutions and their lobbyists.
The Obama Administration Economic Team has no solution to the country’s problems and needs to be replaced. The “Cater to the Banks”, “Deficit Spend Yet Again” and “Ignore the Rampant Own Problems in Effective Government Regulation of Industry” strategies are simply not working. Its well over time to change the Economic Team – starting with the Three Stooges – Larry, Tim and Ben.
Wall Street, you are cutting all our collective throats. The US is rapidly losing its middle class, its manufacturing/innovation base and its home grown capital advantage. If you think doing a Switzerland is good enough, think again. London, Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai will have something to say about that.
In sum, these are questions of management of change and adaption – something the US has prided itself on doing effectively, especially in the business/corporate sector and during national crisis. Have too many years of “meeting quarterly earnings expectations” dulled the strategic perspective and the ability to drive long term consensus. The bitter partisanship in Congress and resorting to the Lobbyist Well all too often would seem to confirm that “God Bless America” is now the only Hail Mary Play that business and government can agree upon.