The Power to Fix the Economy Rests With the Next President

The President has a great deal of power to deal with the economy. What we have is a straight line economy the money goes to the top 2 % and stays there.

Companies such as Hewlett Packard see themselves as the supplier in a supply side economy. they are not the supplier, the manufacturer is, and the manufacturer is China and India, the true supplier clearly benefits, this short sided view so many of this countries corporations have excludes the majority of America from the economic process, I have no idea if the next president can recover or develop new products that would put the labor force in play once again, Obama says he will, Personally I believe him.

But Infrastructure has always been a key element in creating jobs and getting the economy moving again a good example of bottom up economics, most memorable Presidents used it well.

Taxes are a good way of economic stimulus, Bush's tax cuts certainly have not helped, an example is Obama???s proposal to give seniors a tax break, Those making less than $50,000 would pay no tax or even have a requirement to file. This tax break would put 12 to 14 billion annually into the economy, again from the bottom up.

The opportunity seems to be in the green technologies both in some manufacturing again developed in this country, and in infrastructure, Can you imagine what the infrastructure of this country would be if the trillion plus spent on removing Saddam had been spent in this country?

We would have looked like what we should look like in the 21st century and certainly would have no concern fixing bridges that actually go somewhere, but there are so many examples of missed opportunities by this administration they are hard to count.

An interesting side note speaking of missed opportunities is McCains view the missed opportunity was the failure of the government to entice people to community service, while most of us feel the missed opportunity was losing world support on fighting terrorists and most likely ending the war in Afghanistan when we could.

With McCain and Palin we will have a prayer, nothing more! With Obama we will have deregulation in a market that has billions of dollars of American's hard earned dollars. Obama gets it! McCain has historically repeated the same phrase over and over like one of those, that came from a seed pod in the invasion of the presidential candidate snatchers sequel! Scary prospect huh?
There is a boycott of Alaska as it apparently lawless and not deserving of American's tax dollars. let Russia be the only ones to visit them, they already have their fishing licenses.

The problem is simple corruption needs to be stopped beginning with those who have profited for years from corruption. Please look up this individual ---- Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich ---- he was the father in law of Mr. Rockefeller who's family went on to controll the private banks which became the central bank the FED which is a private institution. This individual Nelson came up with the Income Tax and The Central Bank. Follow the money and you will find the corruption behind the problems in society. For 240.00 the Central Bank the Fed can create 1 million dollars then using the IRS they can bilk the public for 1 Million plus interest. Its easy math to see they have the complete control of the US government and even the world. Money is the root of all evil. Look up the owners of Standard oil it is a circle leading right back to the FED.

Your article is cruel and not very considerate when you say "If you believe that, I've got some subprime mortgages I'd like to sell you".

There are some foriegn derivitives investors and Wall Street securitizers getting excited again!

Know why McCain wants to distance himself from former Senator Phil Gramm? It is not just because of Gramm's recent obnoxious remarks calling Americans "a nation of whiners" and that unemployed Americans are in "a mental recession." In fact, those remarks were so obnoxious that I wonder if they were engineered just to provide McCain an excuse for publicly distancing himself from Gramm. This issue is a lot deeper than it looks on the surface.

When Gramm was a Senator he was chair of the Committee on Banking, and in that capacity he was able to push through the legislation now known as the "Enron Loophole." This loophole allowed US investment banks to bypass the Federal regulations governing futures trading, and is the reason why the investment banks were able to falsely inflate the prices of oil, wheat, corn and other commodities through massive futures trading, causing your costs of gas, heating oil and food to go through the roof.

Gramm was a member of McCain's campaign team, but now Gramms' name is turning to mud. In addition to the Enron loophole, Gramm pushed through the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act in 1999, which got rid of the laws that seperate banking, insurance and brokerage activities in America. Essentially, this Act did away with all of the good laws written after the Great Depression to protect us from another Wall Street/Banking Industry collapse. That's right, Gramm stripped the system of it's safe guards nine years ago, and guess what? The value of the dollar has nose-dived, Wall Street is highly unstable, and we are in the midst of a recession.

Now you could say that this is not Gramm's fault, that he didn't know what the outcome of his actions would be. However, it turns out that the same investment banks that benefited from the Enron loophole and from the Gramm Act gave more than a million dollars to Gramm's campaign. Uh oh. A Congressional hearing is going to be convened to investigate this. And McCain wants to have noting to do with Gramm, wants us to forget that Gramm has been a key player on McCain's campaign team. Gramm was McCain's campaign CO-CHAIR and LEADING ECONOMIC ADVISER.

With Gramm in the driver's seat as his leading economic adviser, now you know why economists and analysts are saying that McCain's economic policy plans are untenable.

...the strong economy they oversaw. They were mostly lucky SOB's to be in office at the time that they were.

Most of the commenters apparently slept through their high school civics class and have never found the time to read our constitution. Thank you Mr. Gross for an informative article, but you failed to mention that our constitution simply does not grant much power to the president in this area. Congress has much more control because they control taxes and spending, as well as all manner of legislation that impacts trade. The biggest sources of economic woe are the large federal budget deficit, the trade deficit, and the lack of an energy independence policy; all within the power of Congress. True the idiot in the White House aggrevated the budget problem with his stupid war, but Congress could have shut off the funds at any point. Reagan and Clinton do not deserve the cudos for the e

THIS IS IT! We will get the reserves uncapped as they (oil reserves) will be obsolete in a few years.
JOHN McCAIN???S 3R ECONOMIC PLAN 2008
Abbreviated version

Progressive Republican Candidate John McCain comes through for America with his 3R economic plan. In the persona of Theodore Roosevelt, McCain???s plan just makes sense.

FIRST , keep in mind that to drop the fuel tax, the local gov???ts would crash. We must use the 3R to replace taxes lost from replaced fuel through green energy (Yes, we have it ready to go!)
www.betterconstructed.com

1. RETHINK: America must see globally on what America is capable of in our current state of technology, engineering and meet the demands that face the world.

Private Sector framework is in place and current laws allow the 3R to happen. The Progressive attitude of John McCain to get things done by crossing party lines will resurrect America.

2. REFORM: The American people must demand higher quality products and less restricted trade routes for Made in USA components. We will lead the way of MFG again!

The USA will reform its dead manufacturing base

3. REINVENT: America and Americans must reinvent themselves to reach and maintain these standards and by sheer American ingenuity, control the world???s marketplace in the competitive manner, as the USA has always been proud to be #1.

NUTS AND BOLTS of the plan are simple.

Billions of savings equates to millions of lost tax revenue from energy companies. The US needs a separate tax revenue source before we can move away from fossil fuels.

McCain 3R solution.

McCain???s 3R is about technical, closely monitored and rapid hands on training from pros to create new pros. Thousands of currently-job-displaced ???once leaders in the manufacturing arena??? will be asked to train and play instructor rolls in the 3R plan. Paid, of course, as these new leaders will help create a whole new style of prosperous America. A massive restructure providing thousands New American MFG means millions of new jobs for infrastructure alone.

We have the buildings, needs and infrastructure to do this!

New jobs is the mainstay for Creating a new guard for Social Security.

This is the new place for financial speculators to invest!

McCain???s Progressive nature embodies Theodore Roosevelt more than any US presidential candidate in history since the original Rough Rider blazed the greatest era of growth in America.

We need John McCain to lead our nation with the same type of change.
www.betterconstructed.com

THIS DRAFT COURTESY OF:
John Lewis Mealer,
Founding President of Mealer Companies
www.betterconstructed.com/mccain3R.htm (original promotional site)
www.mealercompanies.com (blank)
www.mealercompanes.tv (blank)

I can't believe Daniel Gross' views that a president does not have the power to fix the economy. I have lived through Presidents Eisenhower through George W. Bush. The people they surround themselves with are the key. Look at the jump in energy prices since the "oil men" Bush and Cheney took control. The credit card debit is a major scandal. If these people have no solutions, they had no business being in those jobs. Lets just do away with the President and Vice President and save the salaries if what Dan Gross says is true. Not only do these powerful peope have the tools to heal the nation, they also have the weapons to wound us all. You can bet that if the economy was great, Bush, et al, would be standing front and center glowing with smug importance. Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan.

Dear Mr. Gross,
Abosultely, the power rests with the next president and something Senator Obama can do which the Republicans won't do is day and night. Senator Obama wants to TAX HEDGE FUND DEALERS to pay for one particular program he is proposing--any senior citizen with an income under $50,000 wouldn't have to pay any federal income tax and he would pay for it by TAXING THE HEDGE FUND DEALERS. Senior citizens have mounting medical bills and their working days are done. This would be no more than fair considering HEDGE FUND DEALERS headquartered offshore down in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands making billions of dollars a year pay no federal income tax. This fact was brought out in two good books we read, one being "Free Lunch" by David Cay Johnston and the other one being "Greenspan's Bubbles--The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve" by William A. Fleckenstein with Frederick Sheehan. If Senator Obama would put a new Fed Chairman in that was a true conservative like Paul Volcker was and have a new Treasury Secretary that knew the difference between what a HEDGE FUND DEALER and a SPECULATOR is and all those many EXOTIC DERIVATIVES that they were talking about in the Basel II meeting that took place in April.2008 in Basel, Switzerland that Business Week magazine was talking about. I know there are a lot of paid lobbyists down in Washington promoting their cause for more deregulation which caused the problem in the first place. The solution is to reinstate the Glass-Stegall Act and I believe the Blue Dog Democrats in the House would back up Senator Obama and I would hope he would appoint a vice president with his same views such as Senator Hillary Clinton. We used to be a creditor nation and now we are a debtor nation. If we can't get this title back, we will never be respected as a world leader. These are some of the issues that the media should question the candidates on before the fall election.
Yours truly, Disgusted Middleclass Taxpayer, LaVern

Did you know McCain has had 4 different campaign managers? McCain just can't get it right. He keeps changing managers, as if it is their fault that he can not succeed. Fact is, McCain is NOT a good candidate.

After his first run at the Presidency when he got swift boated by Bush, his manager John Weaver got McCain to play "Maverick" and cross party lines to become a NeoLiberal. McCain almost changed parties and became a Democrat and Kerry's running mate, but at the 11th hour he switched horses again and hired Terry Nelson to manage him. Nelson is a strong GOP establishmentarianist, and got McCain to throw himself behind Bush, with promises of the GOP giving him the 2008 nomination. But Nelson didn't last, because the strategy failed. The right wing was suspicious of McCain because McCain voted against abortion, for gay rights and for gun control during his "maverick" phase. They didn't know if they could trust him. Also, Nelson spent money hand over fist, nearly bankrupting McCain's campaign. So he replaced him with Rick Davis, who was at the helm for the past year. Davis is a fiscal conservative, made McCain sell that expensive big bus, and made McCain mind his manners and act polite in public. But now, Davis has been fired too. Why? Because McCain is getting desperate, and the gloves are coming off. His new manager is Steve Schmidt, a Rove disciple and former Rove employee. McCain has also hired Nicole Wallace and Greg Jenkins to head his "Communications Team." Nic and Greg are also former Rove employees, masters of the art of swift boat smear campaigns. McCain going to let the Rove bulldogs off the leash. Look out, America, this is going to get ugly.

My prediction: the 20% of America that is made up of ignorant jingoists will be cheering to see Rove's bloody tactics. But you know what? They were all going to vote for McCain anyway. The rest of America will be so disgusted by the hatchet work of the NeoCons that they will vote AGAINST McCain.

The "last resort" tactic of the GOP to win this election will be to bomb Iran, starting another war. Mark my words, if McCain is not doing well in September, Bush will bomb Iran. He is already setting the stage for this, by saying that Iran has nuclear weapons, even thought inspections by the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency have both found NO EVIDENCE of nuclear weapons. REMIND YOU OF ANYTHING? It's the fake "weapons of mass destruction" all over again.

Did you know that on June 26, Bush, very quietly, declared a state of National Emergency? During a National Emergency the President can DECLARE WAR without waiting for the approval of Congress.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080626-4.html

It is going to be a very bumpy ride, America, so hold on, and DON'T LET BUSH AND ROVE STEAL ANOTHER ELECTION. I wouldn't mind so much if they were good for the economy, but let's face it, they are destroying America.

Why did the US military cancel a news conference where they were going to display the "Iranian" weapons they found in Iraq? Because there WERE NO IRANIAN weapons to display. Here are links supporting the fact that the weapons found in Iraq did not come from Iran:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013695.php
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/05/fire_next_time.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/05/iraq-the-elusiv.html

NOT TO MENTION that the Untied States itself has had a notable role in arming the insurgency. When the US dissolved the Iraqi Army, that flooded Iraq with weapons. More recently the Pentagon admitted that it had lost track of a third of the weapons distributed to Iraqi security forces in 2004-05, totaling 190,000 assault rifles and pistols that are currently on the streets of Iraq. The British paper that published this article got it's information straight from the US Government Accounting Office's public website: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pentagon-admits-190000-weapons-missing-in-iraq-460551.html

Ask yourself, why would America want to pretend that Iran is pushing weapons in Iraq, when actually WE (the USA) has flooded Iraq's streets with weapons? Because Bush wants to declare war on Iran, and just like the fake "WMDs" in Iraq, he needs something to frighten Americans, so he comes out with this BS about Iran killing US soldiers in Iraq. He has also said that Iran is making nuclear weapons, but recent inspections have found NO EVIDENCE of nuclear weapons in Iran. JUST LIKE how repeated inspections found NO EVIDENCE of WMDs in Iraq. The reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN inspectors and nuclear experts at the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) all agree that Iran DOES NOT have nuclear weapons. The IAEA report states that Iran only has "low enriched uranium, not the highly-enriched uranium necessary to produce a bomb." The ISIS reports states "It is important to note that they do not encompass the full scope of work required for a comprehensive nuclear weapons program. Missing is theoretical work on nuclear weapons, uranium metallurgy, and the development of a neutron initiator." http://www.yirmeyahureview.com/articles/2008/iaea_report_on_iran.htm#_ftn9

In case you think the idea that Bush wants to bomb Iran is reactionary, you should know that John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN, recently told FoxNews that he can "definitely envision Bush bombing Iran before he leaves office." By bombing Iran, Bush makes it more likely McCain will be elected. But can the US Treasury, can the US economy stand more war? Even if we could afford it, we don't have the manpower in uniform. You know what that means: draft and conscription. Vote for McCain. Watch your children come home in body bags. Watch America go into a Great Depression.

The President doesn't have control of the money, so therefore cannot fix the problem...nor do I believe that the government wants to fix the problem.

The problem is that every dollar made by the Federal Reserve is LOANED to America with interest. Which means that all money is essence belongs to the FEDERAL RESERVE. There is no solution because as long as they print money, we will always be in debt.

Changing the system is the only way...however the elite bankers own and run the politicians so the system will never be changed.

KOOL-AID??????..From the kitchen of the obama sheeple!! take one heaping spoonful of an inexperienced elitist white male seeking self validation through exploitation of his african-american genetics. Combine two parts black liberation theology clerics spewing intolerance! With two parts of unrepentant intellectuals committed to the destruction of America. Stir in one cup of militant black wife harboring the overwhelming desire to stick it to whitey and one spoonful of typical white person grandmother mix well. Pour a gallon of anti-patriotism into tall glasses and sprinkle with naïve foreign policy ideations. Serve on a platter of meaningless oratorical hyperbole with a generous dollop of wealth re-distribution. Sprinkle liberally with zest of white guilt flip it and flop it till it tastes right.top it off with a ounce of anti-semitism and Serve large portions to the undiscerning and spellbound masses convinced that the Second Coming is upon America and now you have a complete recipe for disaster

Mr. Gross,
Good article. I wonder what you think about the weak dollar and budget defecits as troublesome economic data? There was no mention of this problem. Do you believe that Clinton's balanced budgets submitted to Congress in the nineties (I don't care who wants the credit, that's not the point) did not bolster the US economy? And today...vice versa? I'm curious because you seem to suggest that consumer confidence is more important than a balanced budget???