Ben Stein in a stupid hat makes the point that it's all about confidence. If Obama and all of Obama's top financial leaders said the recession would end in a year, then it would end in a year, he says in the video below. That may be true. But that doesn't fix the problem.
I think Obama sees the big picture, completely missed by those who are just thinking about the stock market and relieving the pain. The rich are even hurting, which is why there has been so much urgency for bank reforms. But the fact is our economy has long been out of whack. Stocks have been completely over valued. Not that I'm giving stock advice, but now seems like the time to buy. Stocks are finally below value and it might even be prudent to wait to see if they dip lower. Housing has been completely over valued. We have too many malls. We over built. Consumer spending has been off the charts. Debt is sky high. We're killing our planet.
The big picture is to not get ourselves in this mess again. The big picture is for Americans to begin to save more of their income, regardless if it hurts the economy in the short term. So-called experts say now is the wrong time to be saving. They're wrong. The big picture is rethinking the economy so that it isn't driven solely by consumer spending. Our economy and our planet needs more than just consumer spending. The big picture is to enact reforms that prevent bankers from becoming bankers to live high on the hog, forgoing ethics and morality. The big picture is revising the tax structure so that it doesn't favor the rich and lifts more of the poor out of poverty. The nation has been on a path of haves and have nots. We can't continue to live as a me-first society, survival of the fittest (those with the most money). The big picture is to learn some lessons and not just go back to the way it was. For that reason the recession is good for us.
