Rich On Money

Robert Lovett – one of the smartest men ever to serve a President

Being candid, I tend to vote in the Barry Goldwater tradition of conservative Republicanism, and I mean real conservative, not the phonies you see today. Nevertheless, whoever the President of the United States is, I root for his success. This is because we can’t afford 4 wasted years. Now it looks like we are going to have two failed Presidents in a row, and this is tough for America to swallow. We don’t have the time. China is down our back economically, and we are in transitional period because we simply don’t have the excess wealth to waste on programs like we have for decades. 

Bush hurt us terribly because he cut taxes mostly for the rich, but did not cut appropriate spending to compensate for it. He ran wars without paying for them, and we all had a party. For 8 years, I do not remember a single veto, certainly not for the first six years, and the Republican Congress accompanying him was scandal ridden and full of thieves who were avaricious beyond belief with their bridges to nowhere costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Obama then runs for the Presidency, and it is without question the finest campaign I have ever witnessed and I could lecture at Harvard about Presidential campaigns. Remember, Obama knocked out Hillary Clinton who was the sure favorite to win. There is not a professional in the Democratic Party that thought Obama would prevail over Clinton, but he did. He then rolls up a flawless campaign and trounces McCain the old man who should never have ran. 

Expectations for the Obama Presidency were SKY HIGH 

Now for the disconnect. When one objectively looks at the performance of Obama in the campaign and then as President, they are diametrically opposed – a disconnect exists. He and Jimmy Carter are what I term failed Presidents. Here’s why:

• Health Care – Yes, America should have health care for every living American. It should be an inalienable right just like freedom. Here’s the rub. The problem was that 45 million Americans lacked health care. That represents about 15% of the American population of 315 million, but 85% of the population DID have health care. So the President completely screwed up the system for 265 million Americans to instead help 15% of the population. He should have simply concentrated on a program for the 15%. This was a terribly misguided decision that cost him two years of his Presidency when he should have concentrated on JOBS, JOBS, JOBS.
• Insanity – They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. The President has proposed programs that simply do not work, and he keeps coming back with the same initiatives that we have heard for generations. At some point, you have to give it a break. They thought that the recession we are in was the same as previous recessions, and that all it required was spending trillions and we would be on our way again. He simply doesn’t get it.Millions of jobs have been lost to China. They are gone forever, that’s it, those jobs are not coming back. We need to retrain millions of people for jobs that are coming back, and there are such jobs. Look at any catalogue for any community college in America, and you will see those jobs that need people. We need to take a couple of million people without college education that are receiving unemployment benefits right now and create a program similar to the GI Bill of Rights for them. I say that for $8000 we can send them to community colleges which are now 40% occupied and get them an Associate’s Degree so they can be gainfully employed. Every one million people in community college will cost us $8 billion. This means we could do 10 million unemployed for $80 billion versus Obama’s $447 billion stimulus program which is simply to aide his re-election chances.
   
• The President’s people are in over their heads – Sometimes you need advisors around you that have been there, done that. Even the old guys can get it wrong, but they have seen it before. Lyndon Johnson had such a group that included Clark Clifford, John McCloy, Robert Lovett, Averill Harriman, George F. Kennan, and Chuck Bohlen. Every one of them a giant. The people around Obama haven’t been there, and haven’t done much. The President himself has very little resume. What I am surprised at is that after 3 years, you would think he would know what he is doing, but he still seems to be out of his element. 

In conclusion, I am hoping that this President is successful, but hope has never been a great recipe for success. For us in the investment world, we are permanently endangering our future success, and losing much valuable time that could have been used to truly restore the economy. This country is desperate for inspired leadership, and I don’t see much from the Republicans at the moment. Where is the talent in America.