Real World Lessons of the Obama Administration

There are two things that some of President Obama’s base is finding out. First, you just cannot walk away from war. Before you are “in the office” you can say all you want about ending wars or not getting into wars, but once “you get the seat” just being against war is not a sufficient policy. There are dumb wars and there are smart wars; there are well run wars and there are stupidly run wars; but wars are always present in one way or another. To many of President Obama’s supporters, President Obama is not walking away from war, and they don’t like it!

The second thing is that powerful nations need a healthy business sector. Regardless of how important you feel the role of government is in a society, without a strong economic system that is performing well your government will always be weak relative to other countries that have strong economic systems that are performing well.

I addressed this point from a different perspective in a recent post: see “Emerging Markets and the Future”, http://seekingalpha.com/article/214661-emerging-markets-and-the-future. One can deduce a similar point from Floyd Norris in today’s New York Times, “How to Tell A Nation Is at Risk,” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/business/economy/16norris.html?_r=1&hp.

Norris writes: “Which governments will not be able to pay their bills?

The ones with private sectors that are not doing well enough to bail out the government.

That should be one lesson of the near default this year of the Greek government. Government finances are important, but in the end it is the private sector that matters most.

If so, those who focus on fiscal policy may be missing important things. Spain appeared to be in fine shape, with government surpluses, before the recession hit. Now Spain is being downgraded and has soaring deficits.”

The take away from these two pieces: You need to have a strong, vibrant capitalistic system in place, even if it is a state driven capitalism like that of China. The exception is those despotic nations that have a monopoly on a natural resource like Venezuela or many of the middle eastern fiefdoms, but these situations have their own problems. Economic weakness and slow growth lead to waning economic power. Check out much of Europe.

Today’s New York Times was filled with signs that the Obama administration was cognizant of the role the business sector must play in the economy in order to ensure its success and continuation. On the front page of the Times we read of the “Obama Victory” with respect to the financial reform package. This is the coin thrown to some of his supporters.

The real news, to me, is on the front page of the business sector in bold headlines: “Cut Back, Banks See a Chance to Grow: Its fight ended, Wall St. Is Already Working Around New Regulations.” (See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/business/16wall.html?ref=business.)

Funny, but some of this article seems especially like my recent post “Financial Reform: Ho, Hum”, http://seekingalpha.com/article/213263-financial-reform-ho-hum. The authors of the Times article write:

“The ink is not even dry on the new rules for Wall Street, and already, the bankers are a step ahead of everyone else…

So after spending many millions of dollars to lobby against the legislation, bankers are now turning to Plan B: Adapting to the rules and turning them to their advantage."

The Obama administration and those in Congress that wrote the bill had to have enough in the bill to “declare a win” but many are looking at the legislation as just a cost and an inconvenience. Main street must be given something to justify the possibility of re-electing those currently in office. But, Wall Street must be healthy so that the Administration can stand up to China!

Financial institutions spent a lot to keep a lid on Congress and its “spewing into the gulp” and in this respect have been more successful than BP with its oil spill. But, now that the cap is on in terms of the financial reform bill going to the President, it is time to get back to business. And, really, that is what the administration wants as well.

The third important headline on the front page of the business section (the other two articles were there too) is “With Token Settlement, Blankfein Unscathed”, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/business/16deal.html?ref=business. The New York Times claims that the deal Goldman Sachs reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission was a “Token”…mere pocket change. The people from the S. E. C. declared this to be a victory. What a joke! Well, now we can get back to business!

Just one more piece of information being shared this morning: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner seems to be very opposed to Elizabeth Warren becoming the head of the new consumer protection agency created by the financial reform package. She is apparently too strong, too emotional of an advocate for the consumer. It seems as if such a person would rock the boat.

The reality of the situation seems to be that the Obama administration needs a strong, rebounding economy. It needs a strong, rebounding economy to not lose much ground in the elections this November. And, it needs a strong, rebounding economy to give the United States more bargaining power in the world.

The United States is still the number one economic and military power in the world. It is just that at this time, with a somewhat weakened economy, room is given to those large emerging nations to be more assertive in world affairs and to gain confidence in their ability to present their positions in world forums. Again, see my post on “Emerging Markets and the Future.”

The Obama administration is walking a narrow line. It cannot afford to lose the support it has been given in the past by the Independent voter and the middle of the political spectrum. And, it cannot afford to be captive of the sovereign wealth funds of the world that control large amounts of financial capital.

In order to achieve these goals, the Obama administration cannot stifle the United States business engine. The issue it now faces is how to support Wall Street and business without appearing to be abandoning Main Street. The danger the administration runs is that in attempting to walk this narrow line, it might not please anybody.