U.S. Economic Plan 2009: The Path to Economic Independence

Are you ready to create a new Nation?

 

Recently, I took a hiatus from blogging heavily by playing an old game called Colonization. (Sid Meier, of Civilization fame, developed Colonization.) Now, the game is nearly 15 years old, the graphics suck, and the play is slow and antiquated. However, it does one thing fairly well: it mirrors the ideas of trade, money, tax hikes, and infrastructure building, or in short, the economic planning of a fledgling nation.

 

We no longer are fighting for independence from a tyrannical king, but we Americans are fighting the forces of Globalization during the midst of a once-in-lifetime economic mess. Housing sector damaged. Heavy industry nearly gone. Financial institutions teetering on the brink of collapse. The United States is no longer like it once was during its economic heyday of 1946-1972, before I was born.

 

In my lifetime, the forces of international competition from Japan, China, India, Mexico, Brazil and our former cold war foe, Russia, among others, have left us mired in a quandary of our own making: stuck believing the once considered impervious industrial might may resurrect while under investing in education and technology and overlooking real budgetary and fiscal problems for the last 25 years. And the solutions to these often opposing forces will require great sacrifice and a new vision to stem the tide of a soon-to-be overwhelming problem of under utilization and individual obsolesce.

 

We cannot continue to ignore serious flaws in how we promote our nation’s success or fail to compete in a new international landscape.

 

Investment and New Trade. How we maximize trading partners is as much internal as it is external. We have logically tried to develop trading partners that can sustain and merit such ties. However, how many avenues or ventures have we short-changed in order to help another nation at the expense of developing a new product or technology base in America? Investment in eco-friendly and next generation technology has to be promoted to keep America at the pinnacle of world economy. Resting on our laurels of the 20^th century is not an option.

 

Therefore, these would be my recommendations if I had the ear of new President:

 

$200 billion in immediate investments will be made in the U.S. auto industry over a period of 4 years. We will revamp the assembly lines; construct models that not only achieve high fuel economy, but will use electric, hydrogen, natural gas and battery designs. As a result, many of the service stations we currently use, will also see much modification and upgrades. Road projects will be reflected in this new technology that all Americans must familiarize themselves with. This does not mean that every worker currently employed via this industry will stay – the industry will and has to become leaner and more efficient across the board.  A $4,000 voucher for new “eco-vehicle” purchases will buttress these new programs while getting older, less efficient vehicles off American roads.  Which leads us to the next program.

 

 

$125 billion in environmental programs will be afforded over the next four years. These industries include solar, wind, geothermal (in concert with housing) and tidal/hydro programs will be researched, implemented and launched. The immediate deployment of green workers in “green alleys”, those with all ready depressed housing markets, will result in improving current homes while harnessing designs for next-generation housing. Water usage, natural resource depletion and pressing environmental issues must be met head on by our scientists and business leaders. This broad investment will spur independent and private development with the hopes of turning America into a far more effective and efficient country. It will also lead to an “exportable commodities” that will be our way of stemming Global Warming and improving the world’s health. We will be the world leader in environmental investment, incorporating technology, manufacturing ideas and data systems into the mix. We will also assist those companies that create environmental programs, across all sectors, through tax incentives.

 

$125 billion will be afforded in additional funding of education in various programs related to these and other new technologies. Our kids, our parents, and even grandparents, must be adept at using all levels of innovation and global tools to compete and succeed in this world. Many private sector partners will introduce America to these skills quickly. We can no longer wait to disseminate these skills to only the financially well off or tech savvy. Each of us needs to learn everyday – some need to catch up to their peers around the world. The new technology officer of the administration will work with the top information technology firms, small-but-innovative outfits and large-scale businesses to adopt both at home and abroad a learning network that can educate and alleviate education and technology gaps apparent in our society.

 

$200 Billion in direct funding of infrastructure projects and urban planning will be instituted. Some of these projects may have “to tear down in order to create” because we have misused land and placed housing developments in areas that do more harm or cost us opportunities to support our population as it increases in size. Americans most affected by these projects will be adequately and uniquely compensated in that they will garner first access to the “eco-houses” we intend to build, if they desire. Inconvenient though this seems, the long-term is what we are striving for.

 

Our destiny as a great nation depends on immediate action. As intrusive as it does or may appear, doing nothing or waiting for a market solution to appear on the horizon may prolong a painful readjustment to economic forces. Many of your neighbors need help now. Waiting is time lost to an enemy that has no time constraints.

We are not a nation of haves and have nots. We are an American nation that fought and won freedom time and time and time again. We are all sharers of this land’s great abundance. We have to promote as much our economic fairness as we should promote the ability to grasp for that extraordinary potential of the human spirit and garner the rewards of that spirit. We will be better each day ahead – together, as one nation on a blessed mission.

Having the boots, roads, homes, vehicles and necessities to an independent life are at the foundation of this nation. We are all better when our neighbor can assist us readily and we in turn can assist them. This is our way of assisting – to promote economic diversification, establish new exportable commodities, rebuild the highways and highways of the human mind to a better, lasting prosperity. The long-term will see a better America for this investment that will lead to incalculable job growth, a technological superiority and ingenuity, yet envisioned.

 

This would be my plan.

 

And all this from a 15-year old game…

 

 

Letter to the Editor: McCain’s judgment in economics is inherently flawed

Economy is inherently sound

As the markets spin out of control, with wild swings based on calamitous events such as Countrywide, MBIA, Ambac, Bear Stearnes, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, IndyMac, Lehman Brothers,  Merrill Lynch and AIG, why do many insist that Bush’s administration, or his party’s nominee, John McCain, have gotten anything right at all?

John McCain’s former top economic advisor, ex-U.S. Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, had a primary hand in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 that eliminated the firewall protections made by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 between investment, commercial banking, and insurance services during the Great Depression when so many banks failed. As a result of this deregulation, we are now seeing the enormous problems of integrated services spread like a plague throughout the market as many of these financial players mixed investments and savings and high-risk loans together and across various business entities.

 

You are a nation of whiners

McCain’s economic proclamations and company kept should be an albatross around his neck. You cannot expect change from a man that hires people that called Americans, “a nation of whiners,” during an economic crisis of their making. Meaning: Phil Gramm had his hand in your misery and now blames you for it.

Phil Gramm continues to be major cog in McCain’s campaign.

How is that change we can believe in?

Oh No!: Lehman Brothers 158-Year run is at a close likely

I wanted to write about Carlos Zambrano’s no-hitter today. But with Hurricane IKE, my region’s rainfall of 7-9 inches in two days, and now, Lehman Brothers going under, I suppose the financial crisis is most important.

 

It should have come as no surprise. The investment bank, by some metrics, the 4th largest in the USA, has been on the ropes for months. According to Deal Book:

Lehman made its bankruptcy filing late Sunday in New York, reporting $639 billion in assets and $613 billion in debt. In legal documents, Ian Lowitt, Lehman’s chief financial officer, blamed the bankruptcy on a loss of liquidity that caused a ” chain reaction of adverse economic
consequences.”

Wow. More than a 1/2 trillion of debt. Nice Debt-to-Equity ratio. It is a wonder it lasted this long. But it should not have surprised. This market is filled with bad paper passed by big players around the world.

What is sad is a Maryland professor of economics are all ready discounting this news stating this morning on NPR, “well, in 2 weeks, this news won’t be remembered.” Really Doctor? People won’t remember that 3 big hitters are in a financial freefall?

I think people will trace a path through Northern Rock, Countrywide, MBIA, Ambac, Bear Stearnes, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, IndyMac, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch and whomever is next up in “The Price is Wrong” Financial Meltdown of such epic proportions not seen since 1929-1933. Yet, why worry?

The FED has got their back. Wrong. (At least Lehman found that out.)

For an interesting and thorough Wikipedia read, go to this link about the subprime crisis. Good Show!

Write downs by banks:

Company	Business Type	Loss (Billion $)
UBS AG	bank	$37.7 bln [1] [2][3]
Citigroup	bank	$39.1 bln [4] [5] [6][7]
Merrill Lynch	investment bank	$29.1 bln [8] [9][10]
Morgan Stanley	investment bank	$11.5 bln [11] [12][13]
Crédit Agricole	bank	$4.8 bln [14]
HSBC	bank	$20.4 bln [15][16][17]
Bank of America	bank	$7.95 bln [18][19][20]
CIBC	bank	$3.2 bln [21]
Deutsche Bank	bank	$7.7 bln [22] [23][24][25][26]
Mizuho Financial Group	bank	$5.5 bln [27]
Barclays Capital	investment bank	$3.1 bln [28]
Bear Stearns	investment bank	$2.6 bln [29] [30]
Royal Bank of Scotland	bank	$15.2 bln [31][32][33][34][35]
Washington Mutual	savings and loan	$2.4 bln [36] [37]
Swiss Re	re-insurance	$2.04 bln [38][39]
Lehman Brothers	investment bank	$3.93 bln [40][41]
LBBW	bank	$1.1 bln [42]
JP Morgan Chase	bank	$5.5 bln [43] [12][44]
Goldman Sachs	investment bank	$1.5 bln [45] [11]
Freddie Mac	mortgage GSE	$4.3 bln [46]
Credit Suisse	bank	$9.0 bln [47][48]
Wells Fargo	bank	$2.9 bln [49][50]
Wachovia	bank	$11.1 bln [51][52][53][54]
RBC	bank	$1.2 bln [55] [56][57]
Fannie Mae	mortgage GSE	$0.896 bln [58]
MBIA	bond insurance	$3.3 bln [59]
Hypo Real Estate	bank	$0.580 bln [60]
Ambac Financial Group	bond insurance	$3.5 bln [61] [62] [63]
Commerzbank	bank	$1.1 bln [64]
Société Générale	bank	$3.0 bln [65] [66]
BNP Paribas	bank	$0.870 bln [67] [68]
WestLB	bank	$2.74 bln [69][70]
American International Group	insurance	$11.1 bln [71][72]
BayernLB	bank	$6.7 bln [73]
Natixis	bank	$1.75 bln [74]
Countrywide	mortgage bank	$4.0 bln [75][76]
DZ Bank	bank	$2.1 bln [77]
Fortis	bank	$2.3 bln [78]
ICICI Bank	bank	$0.264 bln [79]
IKB Deutsche Industriebank	bank	$3.45 bln [80]
Aozora Bank	bank	$0.397 bln [81]
Dresdner Bank	bank	$3.49 bln[82][83]
HBOS	bank	$7.06 bln [84][85][86]
Lloyds TSB	bank	$1.32 bln [87]
Bank of China	bank	$2.0 bln [26]
ICBC	bank	$0.448 bln [88]

 

Lehman didn’t even take huge writedowns. Meaning: how much are these guys lying about their losses? Do they even know their losses? Are they going to fess up to the multi-trillion dollar nature of this?

The Perfect Storm has reach a Category 5 stage. It is still off the coast of this nation. But I have a sense it is going to hit rather soon…