Time, Gentlemen

What’s Wrong Today:

OK, the wild ride in stock markets around the world is beginning to get to us. Fear is creeping into our thinking. The news about the European economic situation is bad and we hear that Merkel and Sarkozy have differing views of both what steps will fix the problem, and when they should be implemented. How almost – well, Red and Blue of them! While here in the colonies, President Obama and the Republicans won’t work on any real solutions, preferring to kick the ball ahead, trying to buy just a little more time to see if they can sell their political bases on some variant of the entrenched position.

So, our confidence in our political leadership erodes, as does our belief that our banks and large corporations have our back. Our thought that we are part of a growing economy begins to die; our understanding of what is really happening clouds over; our anger rises.

And our savings, 401ks and pension plans get free tickets to a scary ride on the equity roller coaster.

So, What’s Wrong?

We have run out of time. The competing dialectics have hardened into trench warfare. We can’t even agree on the definition of the problem:

  • Too much debt?
  • Too little economic growth?
  • Too much social safety net/defense?
  • Too much/little stimulus?
  • Too little certainty that the way forward will be agreed by our political ignorati?

The average family may be ahead of the politicians. They know that the answer is cut what you can and earn more. Take another job if you have to. That’s what people who don’t live on dividends and capital gains instinctively do when faced with this problem. And they know that the trickle down approach will not work, since there is no time to try it again and because, net-net, it hasn’t given them a blessed thing in the past.

Look, we survived 1987 and we probably will come out of this (eventually) with the Dow and the S&P back to where they were in Q2 2011, when we thought we were on the way back to prosperity.

Time Gentlemen, no more trench warfare, we need a direction and a plan. It will take moral courage. We need to suppress our debating gene for a year or two and speak to our businesses and our global partners with one voice.

Can it be done? Geez, I hope so.

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