We Have a New President - Where Will We Be in a Year?

[Crimson Speed]

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Now that the inaguration is behind us, it would be interesting to see what everyone thinks where the nation will be in one year. What are your expectations and what do you think will happen?

1) I expect him to keep us safe as a nation.
2) I expect him to focus on improvements in the economy and job growth.
3) I expect him to maintain a strong military.
4) I expect him to do something to stem the rampant increase in health care (I'm not saying universal health care).
5) I expect him to seal our borders and remove illegals from this nation.
6) I expect him to make significant progress toward the elimination of government waste (including pork barrel spending).
7) I expect his administration to lead with integrity, free of corruption (in a God fearing way).
8) I expect him to be color blind leader.

I realize this is an ambitious list. Realistically, only a few of these will have a chance of happening in the first year. I firmly believe we are in for a very tough year with the economy. I This will be his most serious challenge and not sure any president can fix our financial mess. I believe we will digress on the economic front.

Given the people he has chosen for cabinet and staff(especially the Chicago gang), I believe he will struggle to maintain a honest administration. But, he can rise above it if he wants.

What say you?

[Pluck and Grit]

#5 and #6 are pipe dreams and will not happen. I wouldn't have expected #3 to happen with this guy, but some of his appointments give me hope that it will. No administration is capable of 100% on #7, but if the top guy has integrity, it helps. (I don't know if he does or not.) #2 and #4 are things he will certainly work at, and we'll see how successful he is. I couldn't guess at #8, but I've seen no reason to believe it wouldn't happen.

I pray for #1 every day.

[TexasBama]

If the banking system is still intact and the economy shows signs of progress and there isn't another 9-11 I'll be fairly pleased.

[NYBamaFan]

Sorry, I expect nothing. I am praying for him, but he is a politician in a world filled with politicians. They are all crooks and liars. They are just selling different snake oils.

Those who are getting excited about Obama will learn what I have learned - that there isn't a politician in the world that you can trust. In the end he will do what he does, but it will not be with our country's best interests at heart - it will be to serve those who put him in office - and I don't mean the voters...

[Professor-JK]

I haven't liked a president since Regan but I will put my support behind Obama and see how he does. Though I usually vote Republican I do have some liberal views one of them being health care for those who cannot afford it and someone has to get this country back on track creating jobs in the USA instead of outsourcing everything.

I hope Obama does reopen NAFTA. Only two good things came from Canada, my wife and Mexico, Tequila.

[LCN]

	Quote:	Crimson Speed
	What say you?

I say that you're more than likely in for a rather rude awakening .

[RhodeIslandRed]

I don't expect any of those things to occur.

As far as the banking industry goes, it is much worse predicament than most realize. Here is an interesting article:

	Quote:
	BANKRUPTCY OR INFLATION The solution must be some combination of policies to reduce the level of debt or raise nominal GDP. The simplest way to reduce debt is through bankruptcy, in which some or all of debts are deemed unrecoverable and are simply extinguished, ceasing to exist. Bankruptcy would ensure the cost of resolving the debt crisis falls where it belongs. Investor portfolios and pension funds would take a severe but one-time hit. Healthy businesses would survive, minus the encumbrance of debt. But widespread bankruptcies are probably socially and politically unacceptable. The alternative is some mechanism for refinancing debt on terms which are more favorable to borrowers (replacing short term debt at higher rates with longer-dated paper at lower ones). The final option is to raise nominal GDP so it becomes easier to finance debt payments from augmented cashflow. But counter-cyclical policies to sustain GDP will not be enough. Governments in both the United States and the United Kingdom need to raise nominal GDP and debt-service capacity, not simply sustain it. There is not much government can do to accelerate the real rate of growth. The remaining option is to tolerate, even encourage, a faster rate of inflation to improve debt-service capacity. Even more than debt nationalisation, inflation is the ultimate way to spread the costs of debt workout across the widest possible section of the population. The need to work down real debt and boost cash flow provides the motive, while the massive liquidity injections into the financial system provide the means. The stage is set for a long period of slow growth as debts are worked down and a rise in inflation in the medium term. http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debat...debt-disaster/

This next one is the most interesting article I've come across recently. This is a Federal Reserve secret document written in 1961. It discusses the problems of pursing the 'strong dollar,' staying the dollar as the reserve currency of the world via the Bretton-Woods Agreement of 1944. World currencies were to keep a stable exchange rate against the dollar and the dollar was to be fixed against gold. Instead of practicing strict monetary discipline, the Treasury and Feds decide on courses of currency and commodities manipulation.

	Quote:
	... In short, it lays out what the Treasury and Federal Reserve needed to do in order to begin intervening in the foreign exchange markets, but there is even more. This document plainly shows what happens when government operates behind closed doors. It also makes clear the motivations of the operators of dollar policy long described by the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee and its supporters -- namely, that the government would pursue intervention rather than a policy of free markets unfettered by government activity. The run to redeem dollars for gold had put the government at a crossroads, forcing it to make a decision about the future course of dollar policy. This paper describes what the government would need to do by choosing the interventionist alternative. ... U.S. Foreign Exchange Operations: Needs and Methods: Introduction The current international position of the United States clearly demonstrates the advantages that would exist if the United States had at its disposal the resources and techniques for undertaking foreign exchange operations as a permanent feature of public policy. The present international financial structure, characterized by convertibility of the major currencies, relatively free short-term capital markets, and the existence of large dollar holdings by foreigners (both public and private), has greatly enhanced the possibility of large recurring movements of capital out of and into the United States. Such movements of short-term capital, as the Federal Reserve System has learned from its experience of the past year, can greatly complicate the execution of an appropriate domestic monetary policy. http://www.gata.org/node/7095

[Braveheart]

I expect we'll see tens of thousands of Americans dead from terrorist attacks and our economy in utter shambles, much worse than now after gigantic tax increases. No, I'm not kidding.

[Crimson Speed]

I consider myself to be an optimistic person, but we are in deep trouble in this nation. The economic condition is so very dismal and it will, I believe, take many years to overcome. I am concerned that our government will continue its path of attempting to bail out financial instutions and large companies, only to finally realize this money prolonged the inevitable pain that lies ahead.

I'm going to closely watch what happens to the strength of our military. It is no secret that Bill Clinton loathed the military and he made deep cuts to our armed forces while in office. I hope Obama does not follow that lead.

[CrimsonChuck]

Were will we be in a year? Celebrating Bama's BCS Championship victory, of course.

[Bama Reb]

I don't know where "we" will be in a year. But I've had my eye on this nice little private island. Maybe this year, or the next, depending upon what happens with the economy, etc. But one of these days, I'll be writing from my laptop with a connection to a satellite..

[CrimsonNan]

I expect none of the above to happen.

[RedElephant92]

	Quote:	Crimson Speed
	Now that the inaguration is behind us, it would be interesting to see what everyone thinks where the nation will be in one year. What are your expectations and what do you think will happen? 1) I expect him to keep us safe as a nation. 2) I expect him to focus on improvements in the economy and job growth. 3) I expect him to maintain a strong military. 4) I expect him to do something to stem the rampant increase in health care (I'm not saying universal health care). 5) I expect him to seal our borders and remove illegals from this nation. 6) I expect him to make significant progress toward the elimination of government waste (including pork barrel spending). 7) I expect his administration to lead with integrity, free of corruption (in a God fearing way). 8) I expect him to be color blind leader. I realize this is an ambitious list. Realistically, only a few of these will have a chance of happening in the first year. I firmly believe we are in for a very tough year with the economy. I This will be his most serious challenge and not sure any president can fix our financial mess. I believe we will digress on the economic front. Given the people he has chosen for cabinet and staff(especially the Chicago gang), I believe he will struggle to maintain a honest administration. But, he can rise above it if he wants. What say you?

I say tell Mr. Roarke and Tattoo I said hello if you really expect all of this.
As for his cabinet and staff, who do you think he will have trouble with? He chose them with full knowledge of who they are.

I expect Chicago style politics. We've seen it even before he officially took office. I expect more of the same. Hopefully, the weight of the job will sway him away from some of his "activists" ideas. It's one thing to be an activist and spew nonsense, when none of your theories will be implemented at a level high enough to impact the country. It's another thing to be faced with REAL information on a daily basis and to have to make REAL decisions that actually have an impact on the whole country and, most of the time, the whole world.

Can reality sway him or is he entrenched in special interests? I think this will determine where we are a year, two years down the road.