#11---Straight Talk About Tough Issues

Obama gave a major speech on the economy today and a nice prelude to it yesterday. In today's speech he outlines solid proposals for tax policy including tax credits for small businesses who create new jobs, tax relief for seniors making under 50K, help for city governments that need to borrow money and for people facing foreclosure. He has scraped his plan for windfall taxes on oil companies as long as oil stays under $80 a barrel. He still advocates repealing the Bush tax cuts for people who make over 250K a year. It's a good plan, not perfect but good.

My favorite part of both speeches is when he addresses reality. For the past 8 years we have being living in the haze of affluenza---buy now-pay later- and refusing to face reality.

I just watched a youtube of Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman defending himself against Bill O'Reilly's manic screaming, finger pointing and accusations that Krugman was a Bush basher. Krugman did bash Bush fiscal policy and guess what-many of his dire predictions have come true . Watching the vidoe would be hilarious if so many people were not suffering so greatly. Take my advice- don't even open the envelope when your investment statements arrive

Without Bush bashing or finger pointing Obama called the nation to fiscal responsibility. I like his style. He is not promising pie in the sky or pandering to get votes. If you want authentic straight talk about the issues that matter read his speeches. Here are my favorite parts from yesterday's speech:

"Part of the reason this crisis occurred is that everyone was living beyond their means – from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street. CEOs got greedy. Politicians spent money they didn't have. Lenders tricked people into buying home they couldn't afford and some folks knew they couldn't afford them and bought them anyway.
We've lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits; to borrow instead of save.
We've lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits; to borrow instead of save. Now, I know that in an age of declining wages and skyrocketing costs, for many folks this was not a choice but a necessity. People have been forced to turn to credit cards and home equity loans to keep up, just like our government has borrowed from China and other creditors to help pay its bills. But we now know how dangerous that can be. Once we get past the present emergency, which requires immediate new investments, we have to break that cycle of debt. Our long-term future requires that we do what's necessary to scale down our deficits, grow wages and encourage personal savings again."

You can read today's speech here.