Too little, too late for the President

President Obama has just appointed Professor Alan Krueger of Princeton University to provide much-needed, albeit too late, aid to Timothy Geithner as they grapple with a stymied economy and a lackluster jobs market. While I am no Columbia MBA graduate, it is clear that if people do not have jobs, they cannot pay their bills, nor pay their mortgages - a jobs bill was promised by both Democrats and Republicans but in their need to have a major pissing contest, these so-called elected leaders have come up with nothing.

As of this writing, the President's approval ratings are positively abysmal, in the 40% range - low 40's, that is. While it is laudable that Professor Krueger has joined the Obama team, that is an action that is years overdue. This recession did not occur overnight - Krueger or someone else of his stature and economic prowess should have been appointed when this nightmare began two years or so ago.

President Obama began his presidency promising change - he has tried to deliver but has caved far too often when what he needed was to use his executive powers as Executive in Chief and veto any legislation he did not like and instruct then Senate Majority Leader Pelosi to keep the balance in the Senate and get Republicans and Democrats to come up with a comprehensive jobs proposal - one that both sides could live with and failing that, he should have admonished his economics team to do just that - come up with a plan and insist that congress fall in lockstep.

That brings me to the ne'er do well Mr. Geithner. From reading his bio and credentials, Mr. Geithner should have brought a lot to the proverbial table of the Obama economics team - he has, however shown little leadership; instead appearing like a deer in the headlights when confronted on difficult economic subjects - he has clearly no clue what he is doing, nor what needs to be done.

The time for Americans to be patient is past and the President has unfortunately squandered far too much political will and capital on playing Mr. Nice Guy - it has backfired and horribly.

What is needed now is strong leadership and a fiscally responsible President - one who is not scared of making tough decisions, no matter how unpopular - it is nice to be liked, but politics is not for the fainthearted.

President Obama has made history and for that, I am grateful - his time has clearly passed. It is still, after all is said and done - the economy, stupid!

Why Warren Buffett is right

Warren Buffett has recently called for millionaires and the ueber wealthy to pay more than their fair share of taxes. The entire country has been asked to share the sacrifice, take lesser paying jobs, move back home with family and are otherwise doubling up in their living arrangements. They are working part time jobs sans health insurance, working more than one job to make ends meet and not foreclose on their mortgages. They are sharing the sacrifice.

It has been suggested that the wealthy not pay their share as they have earned their money the old-fashioned way in many instances. In today's CNN online edition, Jeffrey Miron of Harvard University suggests that the circa $73 billion generated by taxing the wealthy at 10% would merely be a drop in the bucket and would do little to alleviate the financial issues presently facing the country. Miron believes that demonizing everyone who hits it big would be wrong.

Clearly there are policy issues to be addressed here - not least of all, the tax code needs to be rewritten to ensure that the wealthy, ueber wealthy and corporations are paying their fair share.

The Obama administration has erred greatly by not including the likes of Warren Buffett on the super committee to address budget negotiations - indeed, the Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner would do well to heed the advice of Buffett and others of his vision - they clearly know what works and what doesn't in business.

Geithner on economy: "Progress is going to be uneven."

With Mr. Geithner's IRS travails, I was not entirely sure of his abilities to be head of the treasury. I was even less sure with the initial set of briefings and meetings on Capitol Hill.

All that is behind me now with his recent meetings and press conferences. A new and more confident Tim has emerged, brimming with great ideas, no doubt inspired by the formidable leadership of his boss, our President.

He was interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper last evening.

Here is the link to a portion of the interview: http://sprint.cnn.mlogic.mobi/cnn/lt_ne/lt_ne/detail/277069/1

I think we are going to make it out of the woods, but it is going to take some time. Let's be patient - remember, we are all in this together.