The Stimulus Package and Beyond

As we all are now observers and participants in the greatest global financial meltdown in recorded history, I considered it almost graveyard humor that President Obama would propose a "stimulus package" designed to reverse the collapse of our economy. It's sort of like putting a couple of logs out on the hill to reverse an avalanche. Big banks are virtually insolvent, a multitude of other nations are self-destructing, and America is deconstructing.

Many astute economists and journalists are wisely noting that this president has advising him the same amoral financialists who were the "enablers" behind the money-drunk banksters who used the global economy as their personalized roulette wheel and lost big. The likes of Timothy Geithner (who presided over the New York Fed when all this was going on) and Lawrence Summers (on the team of Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan when they pushed for the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that would have prevented the sub-prime mortgage debacle) are advising the new president. My only hope, now, is that he will begin to comprehend the nature of the fossilized "insider wealth" elitist culture that has fostered these gentlemen and come to his senses in the nick of time.

In spite of all this, I was pleasantly surprised when I surveyed the chart for the "stimulus package". Without going into the astrological lingo, this chart points to putting people to work, temporarily subsidizing people out of work, and creating and installing new energy technologies. Tax breaks will be implemented. In short, this will do exactly what the president promised, with some exceptions. The healthcare part of it will likely run into implementation problems due to the opposition of Saturn to Uranus in signs associated with medicine and health. In addition, we must be vigilant that American citizens will be the ones employed on these projects. All in all, the plan will help millions of individuals for a few years, until the money runs out.

The bad news is that it will not stimulate the economy. Civil engineers, construction workers, green energy companies, will all temporarily be put to work, which is a good thing. But the black hole of sub-prime debt and bad derivatives positions in the trillions of dollars will push this so-called "free market capitalism country" into some version of nationalizing our so-called "zombie" banks. The continued fear of lending will close millions of businesses that generate jobs. As I said in my last article, the nation is moving in whiplash fashion from the right of Ronald Reagan to the left of Karl Marx.

We are asking the impossible of the new administration. Nobody can fix a catastrophe of this magnitude over night that is the result of deconstructing the rule of law in the financial sector for some 25 years. Selfish, narcissistic people at the top of the food chain developed grand Ponzi schemes. They even marketed it as a "good thing" to be selfish and narcissistic, calling it "free- market-keep-the-government-out-of-it capitalism" instead of what it was; a self-interested Plutocracy (to borrow an astrological term). All of this has brought the innocent as well as the guilty to their financial knees. Pres. Obama may be thinking that having their insider friends on his team (remember the historic "Team of Rivals" Lincoln appointed to his cabinet whose approach Pres. Obama has expressly admired) will help him unravel an otherwise incomprehensible Gordian Knot.

This president may be among those with the widest array of talents and focus on the "greater good" that we have seen in a very long time. His recent speech before the Congress is a demonstration of mastery of both substance and political craftsmanship. My prediction is that by November, when Pluto in Capricorn is square Saturn in Libra, new crises will compel him to reconsider some of his decisions and bring new people on board. Monumental and far-reaching changes are needed in the system as a whole. We are all in this for the long haul.

Comments

[JimR]

"As we all are now observers and participants in the greatest global financial meltdown in recorded history,"

Really. So you've already concluded this is worse than the Great Depression?

[roxette]

Looking at the big picture is important indeed but here's a thought: when I travel back and forth on highway 15, 210 and 57 in southern California, it is very evident that there is money now being spent that was not available just a month ago on construction projects such as widening of ramps and structural work.

Does that mean that shovel-ready projects that were dormant for months are getting a second life because of stimulus money? It seems that way.

I would suggest that everybody out there does the same in their own neck of the woods and we will be able to come up with a fairly accurate way of measuring if President Obama's stimulus package is doing the trick.

[KathySpilio]

Right on. I would add that the unfettered frenzy of short selling that has brought the stock market to it’s knees and below, will not stop until someone takes action to regulate it. Time for some truth telling and tough actions, not just blah, blah, blah.
I’m reminded of the old adage: “a camel is a horse designed by a committee!” President Obama’s penchant for throwing many advisors the problem generates interesting conversation, but dialog alone will not dig us out of this mess. The very capable President Obama must now retreat to his Oval Office, as the country’s “CEO” not just a team leader, and crystallize his vision.
Mr. President, you know the secrets that the previous administration has hidden from us, are witnessing the results of failed past policies, and are hearing from too many advisors, both those that got us into this mess and those that have good ideas how to dig us out. It is high time to do what you do best – ponder on the pieces to the puzzle and create a vision as to where we should be headed.
That done, surround yourself with professionals capable of implementing the vision, and that care about the country, not just their pocket books. That is why Hillary Clinton failed at fixing the HealthCare system – she relied on "experts" that liked things just as they were.
Mr. President, please show us the painful reality, your clear vision, and tell us how we can help.