The Average Joe

Over the last week we have been hearing that Larry Summers might be President Obama’s pick for the next chair of the Federal Reserve after Ben Bernanke retires.  Just from looking at his history, as well as the economic history of the United States over the last 15 years, he is the wrong man for the job. President Obama has demonstrated that he is loyal to those that have supported and aided him, but picking Larry Summers would be a terrible mistake, as we are still recovering from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.  It is best to put somebody at the Federal Reserve that will respond quickly and effectively.  In looking back to the late 1990’s, it is clear to see that Larry Summers is not that guy. Back in the late 1990’s, Brooksley Born, the former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), vigorously pushed to regulate the risky over-the-counter derivatives market, which are off-balance sheet agreements whose prices are dependent up...

The other day, I had a long conversation with a good friend of mine on the topic of deregulation, the doing away with government regulations on industries, and whether or not it is a good thing.  The general consensus seemed to be that some industries require serious regulations, while in other industries; not so much is needed. From looking at our own history, deregulation will lead to companies having monopolies in certain industries, while in other industries; there is innovation and competition that seems to be long lasting.  So now the question is which industries benefit and which suffer from deregulation? First we should discuss trusts and monopolies in the United States for those that may be unaware.  A  trust  was an agreement by which stockholders in several companies transferred their shares to a single set of trustees. In return, the stockholders received a certificate allowing them to a specified share of the consolidated earnings of the j...

After reading an article in the New York Times by Michael R. Gordon, titled “ 1991 Victory Over Iraq Was Swift, but Hardly Flawless ”, I thought it was a well written article, but I disagreed with a few points the author makes that I would like to address. Mr. Gordon suggests that the Persian Gulf War was not flawless, as the end result left Saddam Hussein in power, as well as the Iraqi war machine, otherwise known as the Iraqi military, intact, which paved the way for the 2003 Iraq War. Also, he quotes Walter E. Boomer, the retired general who led the Marine attack into Kuwait, by referencing his belief as whether or not the 1991 Persian Gulf War ended too soon, " I continue to be asked if we stopped too soon,” he said. “The answer in retrospect is ‘yes.’ ” . Granted, military actions in combat do not always go as they are planned, but in the case of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, I believe the best way to examine it is to look at the bigger picture. Taking Saddam Hussei...

On November 6 th , 2012, President Barack Obama defeated former Governor Mitt Romney by a decent sized margin.  Many political pundits on the right were baffled as to how Mitt Romney could have lost, especially with the economy recovering so slowly, as some Americans feel.   The answer to that comes in two parts. Aside from Mitt Romney being a bad candidate, it is also due to the Republican Party being so out of touch with mainstream America. Mitt Romney has taken numerous positions on some very controversial topics.  One day he was pro-choice and the following day he was pro-life.  He was a believer in climate change, then he flip flopped and was no longer a believer in it.  These flip flops would continue to grow across other hot topics that would lead voters to question who he really was and what he believed in. His economic policy almost mirrored what Paul Ryan had proposed earlier this year.  It was highly unpopular amongst Amer...

We saw a lot of mudslinging last night between VP Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan.  Let’s review some of the key comments made during the debate and determine fact from fiction. From the Washington Post : “We weren’t told they wanted more security there. We did not know they wanted more security.” — Biden, speaking of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya Biden’s bold statement was directly contradicted by State Department officials just this week, in testimony before a congressional panel and in unclassified cables released by a congressional committee . “All of us at post were in sync that we wanted these resources,” said Eric Nordstrom, the top regional security officer in Libya earlier this year. A Utah national guardsman who led a security team, Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, said: “We felt great frustration that those requests were ignored or just never met.” Maybe Biden was too busy in debate prep to watch? “The congressman here cut embassy security in his budget by...

In looking back at the first debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama, it appeared that Mitt Romney came out much stronger, while the President looked very fuzzy in delivering his statements.  Historically speaking, debates do not always make or break an election for candidates.  If we look through the election history of the United States, not every candidate that has dominated the debates went on to win the election.  Regardless of which candidate “won” this first debate, it is more important to determine fact from fiction between what both candidates said. From The Washington Post : “Governor Romney’s central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut — on top of the extension of the Bush tax cuts — that’s another trillion dollars” — President Obama “I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut” — Governor Romney How can both facts be true? The $5 trillion figure comes from the fact that Romney has proposed to cut tax rates by 20 percent and ...

On Tuesday, September 11, 2012, Libyan militants launched an assault on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya .  The result of this attack led to the death of the U.S. Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and 3 other Americans at the consulate.  This attack was horrendous and entirely uncalled for, but the comments made by Mitt Romney made it even worse. A nation comes together in a time of crisis and puts politics aside.  This was not the case for the Romney campaign .  Just after the attack took place, Mitt Romney issued a statement. “It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks”. This statement is both unfair and untrue.  The White House issued no such statement sympathizing with the militants that waged the attack.  It was the U.S. Embassy in Cairo that issued the following statement, “the continuing efforts by ...