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No Percentage in Pessimism
No Percentage in Pessimism
The election is over and in January we going to have President Obama and essentially one party rule. That is a simple fact. And in my view lamenting over it is just a waste of time for those of us who feel that this was a mistake. Besides, it is something to be enormously proud of that we have elected an African-American. Now we have to rally around our new president unless and until he makes some serious mistakes. There is just no percentage in going negative right now unless you enjoy wallowing in misery.
The way I see it there are several possibilities:
1. President Obama faced with ballooning deficits and the restriction these place on any new programs, calls together his team of financial advisors and modifies the things he said on the campaign trail. Bowing to the realities of the moment, he puts off for now any income tax increases, assures our trade partners that protectionism was just campaign rhetoric, does not heap on business too much in the way of new regulation, and proceeds with a strong dollar policy to ride out the economic storm.
2. President Obama is a true believer in Keynesian economics and big government and embarks on massive new social and work programs to stimulate the economy from the bottom up. He ignores deficits as necessary to stimulate demand and urges the Fed to continue dumping dollars into the economy along with other governments around the world. To pay for all of this he raises taxes first on the wealthy but later on everyone as necessity dictates. This inevitably leads to hyper-inflation and ultimately even depression.
3. He tries 2 first, when it hits the rocks he pivots to 1, and in the end we live happily ever after if we are lucky and he does it in time. JFK is a good role model for this.
As the Zen Master said, we will see. How things appear are rarely how they end up and the consequences of our actions are never known until later. What seems bad often ends well and vice versa. Anyway, my three scenarios are just a guess and anything could happen.
So, here is my advice. Hope for the best, support our new president until we see how things develop, and go about your daily business without fear. Getting all worked up about what hasn’t happened yet will just lead to nothing. I for one plan to focus on the positive while at the same time advising you if the worst happens.
By the way, don’t forget that this Thursday is the first day for my new weekly radio talk show on 1100 AM KFNX, Phoenix. The time is 9:00 am in Arizona (Mountain Zone). For those of you not in the listening area it live-streams at www.100kfnx.com and we will post on our website an mp3 version after every new show in case you missed it. Also, check out our new webpage for the show and our new e-letter at www.getrealwithherbkay.com. I hope to hear from all of you soon. Exciting things are in the works!
Posted by Herb Kay on Thursday, November 06, 2008
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