The Obama Boom

So the DOW inches to 12,000 and the economy grew by 2.5% last quarter and we are now experiencing modest signs of re-sourcing, American companies bringing their manufacturing units back to the United States.

Think about this. We had the debt ceiling debacle and probably will have again, constant rhetoric about a double dip recession, and constant Republican obstructionism in Congress. And yet, the GDP is now at slightly above the peak level before the recession. Now the GDP took a 7% fall in 2008, a figure grossly underestimated at the time. But here we are back at the same stage we were before the collapse of the global economic system.

That doesn't mean more shouldn't be done. The Democrats on the Super Commission yesterday offered a debt reduction package which would cut $4.5 trillion for the national debt. Add to that the 1.25 trillion from the debt deal this summer and you surpass the "grand bargain" offered by President Obama to John Boehner. Will it go through? No, because Republicans want to cut more taxes and not add to revenues.

This morning it was announced that the Eurozone would cut Greece's debt in half and pony up $1.5 trillion to back up the Euro. The outlook for Europe is slower growth and a restriction on lending because of the requirements bank must keep added cash on hand.

So maybe we are heading where Evans-Pritchard said earlier in the week. Back on top. Critics of his article point to the rise of other developing countries to rival the United States and that America will not be the dominate country in this century. But then no one else will be and the famed multipolar world of Henry Kissinger's will be a reality but not at the expense of America's decline.

This is even more interesting when you consider that America's trust in its institutions is at their lowest point in polling history. Congress now nets a whopping 9% approval rating, while the Supreme Court has dipped to the mid-40s. It's no wonder that President Obama now refers to the "Republican Congress", since the Senate is hamstrung by GOP filibusters despite a Democratic majority. The President himself is clunking along in the low to mid-40s but still ahead of his Republican rivals at this stage of the political game.

But let's say Evans-Pritchard was right about our energy and fuel self-sufficiency in five years. What does that mean? Basically, it eliminates the so-called national interest in having troops in the Middle East, with the exception of special forces to fight terrorist groups. The fantasy of Dick Cheney's "energy empire" is gone. There is no need for it. President Obama's overly generous assistance to Israel, in my opinion, makes sense if you see the strengthening of Israel as a logical consequence of our retrenchment in the Middle East. Paradoxically, this also diminishes the chance of any Israel-Palestinian solution in the near term.

But it's doubtful that we will hear any of this discussed by our political leaders. Willard Romney basically has said that America's global military presence is "desired by our major corporations." That I want to explore at a later date. And President Obama himself will only trim the military and not explore a total retrenchment, even during a second term.

But if the United States made sensible decisions, its future would be secure. But the grave doubts remain about the ideological warfare among the political parties and the rise of repressive elements in our own culture.