President Obama's State of the Union: Ten Skirted Issues
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:10PM I confess; I expected to be bored out of my mind listening to President Obama’s campaign - I mean, State of the Union - I mean campaign, speech. I kept hoping some truly earth shattering story would sneak in there beforehand, like say some discovery that Mitt Romney had been having an affair with Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife while he was creating jobs at Bain capital, and we could all focus on that instead.
It turned out that my pre-determination proved accurate. I wonder if the members of Congress felt the same sense of same déjà vu that I did, as they were bopping up and down and applauding.
Obama's speech was a compilation of highlights from his past ones. One part optimism, two parts repetition equals one total uninspiring. Maybe it’s so boring, because it matters so little at this point. Taking away popularity polls, our national threshold for belief in hope or change has been trampled, not just because of Obama or Romney, but of the whole political apparatus that thrives on deflection of reality and posturing. We don’t have the same energy to expend listening to politicians, the endless spin that renders fact obsolete, responsibility absent, and true accomplishment, unnecessary.
We saw Optimistic Obama in his first address to Congress in 2009: “While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”
We got Presumptuous Obama in 2010: “As we stabilized the financial system, we also took steps to get our economy growing again, save as many jobs as possible, and help Americans who had become unemployed.”
We watched Philosophical Obama in 2011: “We are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea -– the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That’s why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here… The future is ours to win.”
Now, we had Campaigning on Fairness Obama. He returned to the roots of his pre-Presidential words, having accomplished little to attain the goal that his words implied. Here are ten things that President Obama skirted:
1) The cost of healthcare insurance. Obama tried to play both sides, slapping a populist spin on an insurance industry gift. “That’s why our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a Government program.” He claimed he won’t “go back” on things like health insurance companies being able to cancel policies. He didn’t say that insurance premiums have already risen 22% in the past two years. Republicans hate Obama’s ‘signature’ healthcare reform bill because it unconstitutionally forces people to purchase insurance. Democrats support the bill because Obama passed it. The reality is – by the time it takes effect in 2014, premium costs may have doubled. Frame it however you want, that means health insurance could cost twice as much when this bill takes effect as it did before it was passed. Meanwhile, there are more people without insurance (because they can’t afford it) even though insurance companies can’t cancel policies or deny insurance for pre-existing conditions. This bill merely offers insurance companies a wider pool of customers, with a few restrictions on how much they can pillage them.
2) Student Loan Defaults. Obama claimed he wants to cap interest rates on student loans - which would be great, but can only work in this particularly low rate environment. He urged colleges to keep costs down – again, something that’s worked out really well when he’s mentioned it before. This year, student loan debt surpassed credit card debt, breaching the $1 trillion mark, at an average of more than $25,000 per student (and up 47% over a decade ago, not all under Obama, but still a problem). Not surprisingly, student loan defaults rates have risen alongside this debt increase. Nearly 9% of loans defaulted in 2010, of those that began repayment in 2009, vs. 7% that began in 2008.) Obama didn’t mention this growing concern.
3) Youth unemployment. Obama took credit for the creation of 3 million jobs (I’m not going to debate that here). Regardless, youth unemployment is at its highest rate since 1948. The unemployment rate for those under age 25 is 18.1%, (31% for blacks) having risen sharply since 2008. Do the math. High student loan debt + diminishing job prospects = bad ending. Work-study programs have to be intense to really alter that.
4) Big banks. The largest firms continue to grow their asset bases and fee extrapolation strategies from their captive customer base (If you’re say, a JPM Chase customer, it costs you $5 to extract your own money from a Bank of America ATM – both banks get a cut). It was Obama that re-confirmed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for another fourteen years (and yes, a bi-partisan Congress agreed), and who still keeps Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner around. Both men were gung-ho about the merger mania that dotted Wall Street in the fall of 2008 and making the ‘too-big-to-fail” banks bigger, as they now are.
5) Small banks. President Obama didn’t address the smaller bank closings occurring because the big banks got disproportionate subsides;, 389 smaller banks (with $297 billion in assets) failed from 2009 to 2011. Like during the early years of the Great Depression, this means less choice for individuals, less loans for local businesses, and consolidation of influence and market share for the big banks – which comprise Obama’s largest bundling base.
6) Borrowers. Despite a few tepid programs to help homeowners, the sheer number of foreclosures is higher today than it was in 2008. There were a record number of foreclosure filings: 2.9 million in 2010 and 2.7 million in 2011. These are predicted to rise in 2012 amidst default surges and more lender notices than in 2011.
Why? Because Obama’s program (that was supposed to help 5 million borrowers, and helped half a million) had to be approved by the banks. Banks don’t like citizen aid programs, even if they screwed citizens to begin with by fueling a $14 trillion toxic asset pyramid repackaging risky (for people), high interest-bearing (for them). Obama said, “The banks will repay a deficit of trust”? What?! When?! Where?!
7) Recent regulator incompetence. Regulators looked the other way, Obama said, pre-crisis. But he mentioned nothing about regulators' more recent passes; the SEC bestows banks settlements for fraudulent mortgage asset products, without extracting any admission of wrongdoing. He missed saying anything about the lack of related DOJ criminal indictments. The top five banks agreed to pay $1.149 billion to the SEC to settle subprime-mortgage related fraud charges, with no admission of guilt or criminal indictments. (The SEC settlement of $285 million with Citigroup was rejected by Judge Rakoff in November, 2011 and is being re-negotiated.) And Obama wants to create a Financial Crimes Unit? What’s the SEC supposed to be doing? or the DOJ? or the FBI?
8) MF Global and customer money. On the same topic – the deficit of trust thing: Obama avoided any talk about his buddy, Jon Corzine or MF Global, the nation’s eight largest bankruptcy. He didn’t point out how diabolical it was to use and ‘lose’ customer funds that were supposed to have been kept separate from bad bets. He didn’t suggest having a solid separation between customer money and financial firm money - as in - don't have it at the same firm. He claimed, "we will not bail you out again” and yet, we still are.
9) Banks hoarding. Obama neglected to mention the $1.6 trillion that banks are stashing at the Fed in the form of excess (and interest-bearing) reserves, which do nothing for the Main Street economy. Meanwhile, small business loans are at a 12-year low, having shrunk continuously since 2008.
10) Obama conveyed that we dodged a bullet by getting the banking system under control. He didn’t note the rising risk in the banking system: the largest four US banks (JPM Chase, Citibank, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs) control nearly 95% of the US derivatives market, which has grown by 20% since just last year, to $235 trillion. JPM Chase holds 11% of the world’s derivative exposure, Citibank, Bank of America, and Goldman comprise about 7% each. Goldman has 537 times as many (from 440 times last year) derivatives as assets and it’s still considered a bank holding company (as per Bernanke) that gets federal backing.
In all, the President's speech was reminiscent of George Clooney’s in Ides of March. We’ve heard it all before, maybe with slightly different words: America lost 4 million jobs before I got here, and another 4 million before our policies went into effect, but in the last 12 months, we added 3 million job. We must reduce tax loopholes, and provide tax incentives to businesses that hire in America. We must reform taxes for the wealthy (though he signed an extension of Bush’s tax cuts.) We must train people for an apparent abundance of expert jobs. We need more clean energy initiatives. We created regulations (big sigh of relief he didn’t use the word ‘sweeping’) to stop fraudulent financial practices. We will help homeowners. Wall Street must make up a "trust deficit.” Like Jamie Dimon cares.
In other words, Obama gave Wall Street a pass, while waxing populist. Don’t get me wrong. I expected nothing different. I will continue to expect nothing different, when he gets a second term, given the lame duo the GOP favors his key contenders to be.
Reader Comments (25)
Great article.One exception on the lame contenders part.Ron Paul is not lame.
I agree with your entire post Nomi, right up to the statement "given the lame field of contenders all around." I would expect that does not include Congressman Dr. Ron Paul. He is the only candidate on either side of the isle with true integrity and a sound plan to extricate us from the mess the other bought and paid for career politicians have put us in.
If Obama gets re-elected to a second term, it will not be because of the popular vote, it will be ONLY because of a rigged election unlike anything we have ever seen in the history of this planet. If it were left to the people of the Republic of the United States of America, Dr. Paul would most certainly occupy the oval office.
END THE FED!
DR. RON PAUL 2012!
The Diebold Voting System will ensure it's NOT Ron Paul in 2012
Hi Ed and wearechange and BK - I thought Paul supporters might take issue with that last sentence, but my point was tying it back to the opening paragraphs, and that Obama will likely face off Romney (or with a minor, minor, minor chance, Gingrich, but doubtful), and not about Ron Paul. I think he falls outside the established opinion of what the GOP believes it wants a nominee to be, not because his ideas aren't good. I think he is the only one in the GOP field that understands economics, and certainly the role of the Fed - none of the others have even brought that up. He also lives humbly, compared to the others, which I think is meaningful in these times. I still think he should run as an independent, which could change things.
Nomi, the speech was exactly as expected. A lot of hot air and sound bites. That doesn't depress me. What depresses me are the GOP primaries. We are to the point where people are voting for politicians they don't agree with or even like. Pols who have lied, baldface lied, and then lied again. The only criteria needed to win is avarice for common enemies: Obama, Islamists, liberals, the poor, the "weak" (i.e. non-interventionalists), etc.
My uncle, who is very intellegent, a pilot, a veteran, said he couldn't vote for Ron Paul because he would allow Iran to establish a caliphate (sp?) whatever the heck that is. On the other side (the "left") everyone just wants a free ride, courtesy of the taxpayer.
I would estimate maybe 10% of the population is even slightly aware of the issues you thoughtfully raised. God help us all.
Thanks Nomi,
I watched some of the speech last night (well, it was 2 a.m. here in the UK!) and had to turn it off, it made me feel ill. Reminiscent of Tony B Liar (sic) at his most oleaginous. So thank you for your summary!
Watching from several thousand miles away, Ron Paul has been consistently watchable, pragmatic, honest and consistent with his message(s). What a shame a man of his apparent calibre is unlikely to be elected President, instead of which we are more likely to get 'Pregnancy through rape is God's gift' Santorum (hmm, coincidence that his name sounds close to 'sanitorium'?).
DavidC
David - yes it was very reminiscent of a Blair speech - I lived in London when he was PM, and there's a distinct similarity - a distance behind the words.
Nomi good job as always. You always know how to drive home major points in a succinct manner. Thanks.
BTW, @" Like Jamie Dimon cares. "...he really doesn't.
see...JP Morgan Chase Continues PR Blitz
Dimon responded, “I’ve disagreed from the beginning of this blanket blame of all banks are all bad guys. I think that’s just a form of discrimination and it should be stopped. It doesn’t lead to productive conversation.”
http://usawatchdog.com/jp-morgan-chase-continues-pr-blitz/
..a form of discrimination?
Is he Narcissistic?
"Narcissists have such an elevated sense of self-worth that they value themselves as inherently better than others. Yet, they have a fragile self-esteem and cannot handle criticism."
or Paranoid?
"Paranoia is a social disease--you get it from screwing other people."
Thank you Nomi, I did not watch the speech, as I had better things to do (anything) but was glad for a legitimate fact check article (Yahoo doesn't count). The waterfall of facts is going to be useful for linking it to my college friends who still want to believe Obama.
We must all stay vigilant, and keep the facts as our ally while we talk with our friends, family, and neighbors.
Hey Rich - I don't think narcissistic is the word - it seems rather socio-pathic....
Ron Paul is the only candidate (including Obama) who consistently tells the truth and is not a self-serving malignant narcissist who's already been pre bought and paid for by the Corporatocracy.
Unfortunately if he were somehow elected President of the United States he probably wouldn't make it through the first year, courtesy of the Corporatocracy
Leave it to the late great George Carlin to sum it all up in 3 minutes and 15 seconds back in 2005..
George Carlin ~ The American Dream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q
Ron Paul for President? This is a joke right?
Anyone who believes that food and medicine should inspect themselves is not fit to be president of anything, let alone the USA.
Great thoughts, Nomi, great thoughts indeed!
On #1, I still think the health insurance reform (originally created within the Heritage Foundation, utilizing Enron-created health exchanges [future taxpayer-funded vehicle for q-Forwards and mortality derivatives, one wonders???], and aided in its final legislative draft by Wellpoint lobbyist, Liz Fowler) was the insurance back door bailout to replenish those securitizations the insurance industry did in order to fund that "dead peasants" insurance which unethically and amorally benefitted the senior execs, etc.
On #2, didn't the cost for student loans shoot up when the banks began securitizing them?????
Great stuff, and to all those Ron Paul supporters, I respectfully submit that Dr. Paul, like all the other candidates, including the present President, are anti-worker (Rep. Paul has repeatedly sponsored the "Truth in Employment" legislation, hasn't he?????)
Otherwise, everyone should go see this movie:
THE BAIN IDENTITY
He has a secret Swiss bank account (and dozens of Cayman Islands' accounts).
He appears to have amnesia and is never quite sure who he is.
He's being pursued by an evil fat man, codenamed The Newt !
THE BAIN IDENTITY
He's travelling around the country trying to find out who he is.
His former mission was the destruction of companies and jobs by loading them with endless debt!
THE BAIN IDENTITY
He may be identified by the following code phrases:
"I'm also unemployed."
"Corporations are people too, my friend."
His present mission: increase the national debt, destroy the nation's tax base while assassinating the American worker!
See THE BAIN IDENTITY, coming to a republicon primary near you.
[Legal disclaimer: Only those paying 13.9% in federal income taxes will be allowed in the theater --- all you little people paying 35% or greater --- KEEP OUT!]
Paid for by Super Pac Man
Nomi, we really appreciate your insights regarding the corruption and inner workings of politics, corporate America and wall street. You are a godsend to those of us who seek to be informed of significant contemporary developments. With bankers and powerful lobbyists indirectly but effectively running the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, what can we do as a people to change our current course? I know there is no panacea or quick fix, but our most powerful weapon (voting) has been rendered ineffective, because we no longer have much of a choice. Our votes are cast for a less bad candidate versus a really good candidate, and there is no substantive difference between democrat and republican. Those who actually wield the power control both partys. It seems the two party system exists only as an ideology and mainly to keep us divided as a people. As long as this division exists, it will be difficult for us to fight unilaterally for a common cause. We need you and others like you on prime time televison in order to reach a larger audience, but we know that is unlikely because of who controls the mainstream media. So most people will continue to be bombarded with junk food for the brain.
All I am going to say here is what innovated ideals have you come up to help re-build this country every body has something negative to say but I haven't heard one person say what can I do to help us reach our goal of rebuilding this country, no not one all u people do is complain, complain, of course the President didn't get it all done in a few years, everyone came at him with full force knowing when we sent him there; there was going to be great opposition first of all because how is this Black man going to tell us what to do, oh he think he can do a better job, we will put him in his place and make him look as bad as we can, no I am not playing the race card I am playing the card of facts and truth, many of you wanted him to fail, so much hatred in this world we couldn't see truth if it was in our eye, we are so ignorant in supportive vision all we want is what we think is right, well its not about you, or them its about the welfare of the children that will be the next generation, where would you like your children to live what type of life do you want them to have, you are so blinded by your own self hatred that u can't grasp hope, Hope is what he ran on I hope that we are able to come together and make things different for our country and those of us who live and love it, I hope we can make a difference, I know the road isn't easy but we didn't come this far to bow down to defeat, raise the bar in your own hearts and stand up for change. We may not get it all but we can get the majority of what we want if we dare to change within ourselves and stop bickering about what we don't have and whats not and try to make what we do have prosperous and use whats on the inside of you that is pure and innovated to reconstruct this country....I'm standing with, beside and behind the man with the vision to get as much of what this country needs as possible, I say this put somebody else in there and let me here your cries then Its what you asked for hopelessness....My thing is so what, how much have u done to make a difference besides complain can somebody please stand up change don't happen by one mans words change happens when we come together but aside our petty difference and lets get to work, where is your brick, do you have some iron, how about you do you have a shovel, do you know how to make this wheel turn, that's what I was hearing in the speech whose ears where you listening with, we can always find fault in anyone but take the molt out your eye first, don't write in the sand about someone else open your hearts to solutions and then you can breath again with some sigh of relief because you made a difference by changing
Specialadi,
It's called constructive critisism. We have to be critical of our leaders and recognize their faults and shortcomings regardless of their party affiliation, religion, race, gender, etc. if we are to restore a true democracy, by the people and for the people. Obama has done some good things, but we still fall way short as a Nation of where we should be, and we are not necessarily headed in the right direction. If it makes you feel any better, the Bush administration was much worse IMO.
Really perceptive article, and well-written! I'll forward it widely. Thanks!
Thanks for the censorship. I guess even our so called allies are questionable.
President Obama's jobs offshoring crew who he appointed to his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness"
Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric chief executive
(see “Secret History of GE”)
James W. Owens, head of Caterpillar
(On boards of the Peterson Institute – whose long-time agenda has been the offshoring of all American jobs, the privatization of Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and is the baby of Peter G. Peterson, LBO pirate, and on board of Business Roundtable)
Robert Wolf, chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas
(Oh great, a guy from the major Swiss bank!)
Mark Gallogly, founder and managing partner at Centerbridge Partners L.P.
(formerly with Blackstone Group, world’s largest private equity LBO firm, Centerbridge is also a private equity, leveraged buyout firm)
Penny Pritzker, chair and founder of Pritzker Realty Group and Classic Residence by Hyatt
(Member of the ultra-rich Pritzker family, questionable bank ownership w/involvement in subprime industry, and you do know about all the anti-labor and criminal behavior at Hyatt, right?)
John Doerr, partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers
(Doerr has a mixed background, but while he was with Intel, he appeared to strongly support the jobs offshoring program --- Intel lost over $1 billion in the chip project in India, which they belatedly relocated back to America. Doerr also appears to support the privatizing of American education.)
Monica C. Lozano, Director of Bank of America
(BofA director, what more need be said? That she was also on the BoD of Walt Disney Corporation, and the Tenet Healthcare Corporation [from a wiki entry: In the early 1990s as National Medical Enterprises, the company was accused of committing fraud by admitting thousands of psychiatric patients who did not need hospitalization and then charging these patients inflated prices. In 1991, the federal government investigated the company for fraud and conspiracy. In 1993, offices of the company were raided by law enforcement in an attempt to show that the company was defrauding patients and insurance companies. In 1994, the company paid $2.5 million to settle lawsuits from 23 patients at its psychiatric hospitals. Again in 1994, National Medical Enterprises settled fraud charges with the United States and 28 states involving payments of a record $380 million USD at the time and federal guilty pleas on eight criminal counts by two of its units. The company also agreed to a 5-year corporate integrity agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.] Also on BoD of a Mitsubishi financial subsidiary.)
Charles E. Phillips, Jr., president of Infor.
(former managing director with Morgan Stanley)
Richard L. Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO
Austan Goolsbee, chairman of Council of Economic Advisers
(Told the Canadian press, during Obama’s first presidential campaign, that all the talk against NAFTA was purely political, and not to be concerned. Goolsbee’s wife is a former management consultant at McKinsey & Company, historically the major PR/mouthpiece for the global banking cartel. Also Yale Skull & Bones)
Christina Romer, former chairperson of Council of Economic Advisers
(Submediocre economist, questionable papers on causes for the Great Depression, not that far removed from Bernanke’s submediocre papers on the Great Depression.)
William H. Donaldson, former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman
(Nixon and Geo. W. Bush administrations, Skull & Bones – also, I believe Donaldson is a member of THE Donaldson family, which married into and became part of the ultra-rich DuPont family.)
Laura D'Andrea Tyson, former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton Administration
(Long-time position on Board of Directors of Morgan Stanley)
Martin Feldstein, former chief economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan,
(Feldstein was a director at HCA when they paid the largest out-of-court settlement for Medicare/Medicaid fraud, Feldstein was a director at Eli Lilly when they had to pay the largest criminal penalty in history for falsely marketing a drug which killed a number of people (over $1 billion penalty), and Feldstein was a director at AIG’s Financial Products group when they were involved in the largest insurance swindle in US history (selling $460 billion worth of credit default swaps without keeping the necessary capital on hand --- received over $333 billion in government bailouts, and still counting, had billions also written off from their losses by the US gov’t – you may have heard of them???)
Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF)
(Former partner with McKinsey & Company, member of the Group of Thirty, the international group of financiers, created by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1978, which pushed for the removal of “legal risk” in the widespread adoption of credit derivatives, i.e., the primary cause and platform for debt leveraging resulting in asset-price inflation, in other words, massive wealth transfer to the plutocracy. Majority of Group of Thirty members also belong to Peter G. Peterson’s Peterson Institute, also referred to as the International Institute for Economics.)
David F. Swensen, CIO at Yale University
(Former SVP at Lehman Brothers, specializing in swaps.)
The majority of these people also are familiar and socialize frequently with one another as they hold trustee positions at the same, and interlocking, organizations, as well as various BoD positions also at the same institutions.
All too true, Nomi -- and all the stuff of eventual rage. At least a few brave individuals (vous) remain willing to speak truth to oligarchic power --
apropos of interlocked relationships - the film Inside Job, should be seen by everyone at least a couple times.
Attention, Nomi Prins! This really has to do with your previous blog posting, but I'll put it here per your attention, if possible.
When talking about the S&P downgrades in Europe and America, it's time to run that wonderful timeline you did back in 2008 in Mother Jones (with the assistance of Sara and Mega, of course!), detailing how the states of Georgia and New Jersey (and probably others) passed anti-predatory lending laws, and then Standard & Poor refused to rate their mortgage securities, thus drying up the mortgage credit markets, and the laws were overturned!!!
And this tracks back to the (also-mentioned-on-your-timeline) passage ,during Newt Gingrich's Contract On America Congress, of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, making it more difficult to sue companies for securities fraud.
Here it be, Ms. Prins:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/07/where-credit-due-timeline-mortgage-crisis
Thanks SD - I should go back and re-read my own timeline.....from this fresh distance - shows everything we are dealing with now, was set-up ..
Nomi, how would you know if Ron Paul "knows" economics or not? It is my understanding that your education and experience is in statistical analysis. You are not a trained economist, or anything close. This makes your frequent commentary on economic issues surprising, though it does explain why you are so frequently misguided, and why you are so quick to label non-economic issues as "economic" ones.
And, no, Paul supporters, if the people have their vote - as they have had in all of the primaries and caucuses so far - Ron Paul will not come within nine galaxies of sniffing the Presidency.
@MM. With all due respect to Ms. Prins, perhaps other commentaries that support her views would be welcome. Jim Rogers seems to support them, and the following url will show that at least another "renowned" economist supports her views.
"Why Was the Fed Created?" with George Selgin -- Ron Paul Fed Lecture Series, Pt 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeIljifA8Ls&feature=player_embedded
I find it ludicrous and diistaeful that you make a comparative claim against Ms. Prins' abilities while not satisfying the grounds on which you make that claim; nor stating your own credentials in support of that.
Your post reeks with status quo bias and I am not surprised Ms. Prins did not answer it.