July 1, 2008, - 12:29 pm

Looking More & More Like Dole-Clinton ’96 Replay: Wall Street Addresses “President” Obama

By Debbie Schlussel
While I will reluctantly vote for John McCain in November, it sadly seems that the conventional wisdom–even among normally Republican constituencies–is that Barack Obama will be President and that John McCain is a weak, lackluster, Bob Dole-esque, throwaway candidate.
It’s looking more and more like everyone assumes he will lose. A look at the Wall Street Journal’s financial pages, today, will show you that. The paper’s “Marketbeat: Market Insight from WSJ.com” has an article about a letter of financial advice written to Barack Obama by highly influential Bond-fund king Bill Gross. Gross manages $128.8 billion in assets as head of Pimco Total Return.

johnmccain.jpgbobdoleviagra.jpg

He’s Not Bob Dole . . . Yet.

Gross’ letter is addressed to “President” Obama (that’s a scary thought) and is posted on the Pimco site. He advises Prez Hussein Obama to double the deficit to stimulate the economy (I think that’s a cheap rip-off of “Reaganomics”–though Reagan also tried to cut spending while stimulating the economy with tax cuts).

Bond king Bill Gross called on presidential nominee Barack Obama to double the federal budget deficit to $1 trillion by fiscal 2011 if he became president.
“The economy will need an additional jolt of $500 billion or so of government spending real quick,” said Gross in a letter to “President” Obama posted on Pimco’s Web site. “It must replace both reduced residential investment and consumption whose decline has placed the U.S. economy near, if not in a recession.”
Gross noted that this year’s budget deficit should be about $500 billion. By doubling that to $1 trillion in three years, that would put the deficit at about 6% of gross domestic product, “a mere pittance by Japanese standards.” He said its deficit exceeded 10% at its peak a decade ago.
In taking shots at President Bush and the “mess” Obama would inherit as chief executive, Gross – a registered Republican – said, “Although your campaign slogan says, ‘Yes we can,’ I have my doubts.” While saying increased income taxes under an Obama administration would end “an eight-year lease extension on the ‘high life,'” he called on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to drop pretenses of Obama’s plans not adding to the budget deficit.
“While the Republicans will blame you for years and label you ‘Trillion Dollar Obama’ in future campaigns, there is in fact not much that you or any other President can do,” said Gross. “You’ve inherited an asset-based economy whose well has been pumped nearly dry with lower and lower interest rates and lender of last resort liquidity provisions that have managed to support Ponzi-style prosperity in recent years.”

Partially true, because we don’t produce anything. We are a consumer-based society that has shipped all of our jobs, companies, and products oversears. That’s the Ponzi scheme part of it.

As a result, “What you need now is fiscal spending and lots of it. No ordinary Starbucks will do, Mr. President, you need to step up for a six-pack of Red Bull.”
Gross noted that the spending will help push inflation higher still early next decade, with Treasury yields likely to continue rising into a potential second Obama term. “Your term will not go down in history as investor friendly,” he said.

If Obama is elected, that last part will be true. But Obama will be spending like a drunken sailor on the wrong things–more government social services, which will take away from (not contribute to) the economy, while contributing to the deficit and crushing the economy. And he’ll probably be a one-termer, things will be so bad.
But I don’t count McCain out . . . yet. He’s not Bob Dole. He’s more charismatic, though maybe not enough.






15 Responses

Debbie–
More negatives will be coming out on Obama (similar to recent scathing Boston Globe piece). Not sure why he is considered such a shoo-in.
Blacks, libs, and the young have always voted Dem. Exactly what more is he bringing to the table?
AND, Dole was a simply terrible candidate, possibly one of the worst of all time in connecting with voters. The comparison is not apt. There is little doubt that a strong Republican candidate could have won the 1996 election.

Red Ryder on July 1, 2008 at 2:00 pm

I, too, believe the election is Obama’s to lose. McCain seems to be doing everything he can to antagonize his potential base, is pro-amnesty illegal immigrants position, failure to say a word about the affirmative action boondoggle, supporting massive government handouts & giveaways on the mortage front, supporting the witholdoing of income tax rebtes from those paying the most taxes and so on. He is better than McCain, but how do we balance that against the long-term damage of his moving the Republican Party even further to the left. I haven’t decided yet, & don’t know yet whether I’ll vote for McCain or sit the presidential election out.

c f on July 1, 2008 at 2:23 pm

President Obama…shiite! To me, Bill Gross’s presumptive remark, was more like an insult. Talk about taking all of this messiah crap for granted. Barack Hussein Obama will NEVER get my vote, nor will he EVER be my president!
Matter of fact, many across the Internet are still raising questions about the legitimacy of his posted birth certificate, located on the Daily KOS, and on his Anti-Smear web site. Among numerous questioned discrepancies, when the BC images are viewed with a hex editor, show as being Photo-shopped fakes. The Daily KOS and the Obama campaign have some serious explaining to do.

Jackson Pearson on July 1, 2008 at 2:58 pm

How big a loser do you have to be to vote for any a**hole who’ll lengthen an illegal war, killing thousands of innocent Americans? Conservatives want one thing – to kill other people’s children, brothers, fathers and husbands. Oh yeah, and their own, too.

jeff on July 1, 2008 at 3:10 pm

Jackson Pearson: “Among numerous questioned discrepancies, when the BC images are viewed with a hex editor, show as being Photo-shopped fakes”
It’s nonsense like this that is going to guarantee the election for Obama. The smears have never been louder or more grotesque, and Americans are fed up with this silliness.

Audacious on July 1, 2008 at 3:11 pm

I read that Mike Dukakis had a 16 point lead at this time of his presidential campaign. Things change fast. However, I have found that some GOP members are prepared to sit out 4 years of Obama idiocy, in order to rebuild the Republican Party. Example: a self-described “social conservative,” Roland C Eyears has been posted at ALL the leftwing blogs. Eyears, a little heard college radio mouthpiece, congealed all the malicious speculations and concoctions against McCain, in a single attack article. I’m not posting links to that dirtbag, but Google same and you can see his defamations first hand.
Bush was and is a disaster. He is owned by the Saud terrorist entity. Why else would he proclaim, “islam is peace,” while the bodies of his fellow countrymen were being pulled out of the Pentagon and WTC? But McCain is distancing himself from the oil patch brat’s enemy nation building. I think McCain will win, because Americans will see the Obama campaign as surrender, disguised as politics.

supercargo on July 1, 2008 at 3:53 pm

Another slip — I obviously meant to say he is better than Obama.

c f on July 1, 2008 at 4:19 pm

Gross could use some ‘tough love’ himself. How typically arrogant and ego-centric for one of our Wall Street geniuses to tell a presidential candidate, even this fine young Irish lad, Barry O, what he needs to do to save the country from the prior administration’s mistakes. Glass houses, young man, glass houses.

iowavette on July 1, 2008 at 4:47 pm

Debbie, we really still do quite a bit of manufacturing in the U.S. A major study quoted last year in Financial Times puts U.S. share of global manufacturing at 25%, compared with 12% for China, 13% for Japan, and 26% for all of Western Europe combined.
http://photoncourier.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_photoncourier_archive.html#8398186398533995155
Even if the Chinese numbers are understated because of currency, that’s still a lot of stuff being made in the U.S.
Some of the reduction in U.S. manufacturing employment stems from offshoring, but much of it is the result of automation and other efficiency improvements…just like improved farm efficiency greatly reduced the % of the population working in agriculture.
Bill Gross is a smart guy, but I don’t know how much feel he has for the real issues facing U.S. manufacturing businesses. In general, I observe that manufacturing executives are less enthusiastic about Obama (and about Democrats in general) than are Wall Street people.

photoncourier.blogspot.com on July 1, 2008 at 5:23 pm

Good comments about a bleak future. Is it “bleaker” if Obama wins? Probably. But it’s bleak either way.
Expanding government spending is definitely the wrong subscription. Even if the money didn’t go to the types of things that Debbie mentions, the days of a new Manhattan Project or NASA to the moon are long gone. People have learned how to milk government programs from square one, and a new “Energy Independence” agency would fast become yet another trough for the government pigs to feed off of.
It’s hard to believe that we will someday look back at GW Bush as “smart,” but I daresay that he will look positively brilliant compared to the two guys left running.
Obama is eloquent and handsome, but is otherwise an empty suit. Like JFK, we risk having the worst possible man in the job at a time of great physical danger to the nation.
McCain is blundering every bit as much as Dole ever did. Debbie is right to compare them, for it is an apt comparison. I’m not sure that he’d do any better than Obama.
We are *so* screwed…

RobM1981 on July 1, 2008 at 5:36 pm

I agree with Deb, it is looking like Dole/Clinton Part Deux. But there’s a lot of time on the clock.

DocLiberty on July 1, 2008 at 6:25 pm

The Diebolds will make sure Barack was OH SO CLOSE…all THIS is just “fronting”

EminemsRevenge on July 1, 2008 at 9:34 pm

Hussein is doing anything and everything to be president, err, to be “the first Black Muslim president.”
Hussein will kiss Satan’s butt to get what he wants.
McCain, likewise.
Except that McCain is too fake, is not a good actor, to pretend something he is not: a Conservative.
Hussein and his people, the Muslims and others, are after any vote, touting Evangelicals if it comes down to it, and Hussein is doing it.

Independent Conservative on July 1, 2008 at 10:39 pm

Mr. Gross, I believe you meant “realLY quickLY” instead of “real quick.” Now, how am I to take the rest of your ideas seriousLY?

bleechers on July 2, 2008 at 8:08 am

What would you call Obama’s economic plans if elected Prez?
Pretzel Logic!

Bobby's Brain on July 2, 2008 at 7:43 pm

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