Apparently, Obama has shifted his strategy for the upcoming Fall. He plans a major address on health care that supposedly reconciles the unreconcilable -- expanding health care coverage and reducing overall costs -- can't be done, but that may not prevent Obama from saying that it can be done. It's unlikely this will help much as voters have figured this charade out. But then, at this point, Obama is speaking mainly to members of his own political party, since that is where his biggest problems now lie.
The plan, then, is to emphasize "punishing Wall Street" this fall and letting "cap-and-trade" twist in the wind. Presumably "punishing Wall Street" is designed to offset the bailout image that this Administration has earned for itself.
At the moment, the economy needs credit. One of the things Wall Street does is provide financing for commercial and residential real estate and most main stream public companies. The supply of credit has been greatly reduced, as any person in business would gladly bear witness. You would think that the President would be concerned about credit problems and propose ways to provide more credit to the economy not less. Punishing Wall Street will reduce Wall Street's ability and incentive to provide the necessary credit for a modern functioning economy.
All of this simply re-emphasizes that this Administration does not know what's going on. We are in a recession. Lots of folks are out of work. Policies should be designed with the recession in mind. Nothing coming out of this Administration helps the country emerge from the recession and virtually every plan put forward by the Obama team actively discourages employers from hiring employees.
Obama needs to wake up and smell the coffee. The country needs jobs, not rhetoric, and not more attacks on the very people who are crucial to economic recovery.
