I've spent a lot of time in the last 24 hours clicking on my Facebook page, moderating what became a pretty impassioned debate on the economy and President Obama's policies. I always stick a link to these blurbs up there, and yesterday's generated more chatter than usual.
With the gyrations of the market and so much uncharted territory ahead, it's impossible to know where the bottom of the market will be -- even moreso than usual, it seems. Stan wrote,
"When people start to have faith that it's OK to re-enter the market, or buy things, or invest safely, that'll be the bottom. Now if you can tell me when that will be, you'll be my new hero ... :-)"
On Obama, David wrote:
To which Larry replied:
"Obama doesn't have to be sabotaged, he's doing that himself, he will go down as the worse president we ever had. Hes getting this country into a real mess, one that it will take years and years to get us out of."
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... and it went on from there. It reminded me of a piece I looked at yesterday on "Obamanomics," the theory of "bottom up" or trickle-up economics versus the classic Reaganomics "trickle-down." It's a bit of a dated interview with the author of the book, Obamanomics, in an appearance last year on MSNBC's Morning Joe, but you can watch it here.
Author of the book John Talbott says it's a theory that involves all the American people equally in Democracy, and in the Economy. I looked up the book, Obamanomics, on Amazon.com and the "product description" says:
"As the Obama administration takes on the current economic crisis amid accusations of planning a socialist system, economics and political writer John R. Talbott argues that such complex problems found both at home and abroad cannot just be left to the actions of government or the free market business world, or the Bush administration's version of Reagonomics that still sticks to a “trickle-down” policy.
"The change that Talbott sees from a Barack Obama presidency is one based on justice and cooperation, principles that have not held sway in Washington, DC for a very long time. Obamanomics, infused with Obama’s speeches, campaign policy statements, and other writings, describes not just a government but a NATION acting according to democratic principles to reform lobbying, banking, and housing as well as restore economic growth, address the healthcare system, improve education, and find solutions to our aging population and declining energy sources."
Okay, that's the pitch for the book! I won't add a disclaimer here; these are clearly the views of the author John Talbott. Figuring out the economy and all the forces that drive it are so beyond me, that I do find myself surfing a lot of financial websites, especially lately. Yesterday while putting up a link to Bob Pisani, our CNBC analyst who joins Chris and me every morning around 6:45 to talk about the trading day, I discovered his blog. I hesitate to even call it that because it's so well written and .. well .. everyone has a blog these days. (Look at me!)
Bob was kind enough a few years back to take Chris and me onto the floor of the NYSE at closing when we visited our counterparts at the Today Show, and he wowed us with his wit and wisdom. Anyway, he is a scholar when it comes to things having to do with the economy and as a reporter, always gives us just the facts, with a little analysis on what it all means. He's a prolific writer -- I should warn you, there were two posts yesterday, four or five the day before! I find that if you read enough, even stuff you don't fully understand, it all starts to make sense. Well, eventually.
I'll return to writing about ANYTHING but the economy tomorrow!
