Global Economic Crisis

As I predicted in my book, “Global Economic Forecast 2010-2015: Recession Into Depression,”  President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package has been a conspicuous failure in positively impacting the staggeringly high rate of unemployment in the United States. As is well known, massive job losses occurred in rapid order after the financial calamities of mid and late 2008. I projected in my book that at a vast price in expanded public debt, at best the Obama administration would stabilize unemployment rates at an historically high level.

Now we have the drumbeat of the 2012 presidential campaign sounding louder. Barack Obama is an astute politician, and knows his chances of being reelected to a second term are dismal unless he can tackle, or seem to be tackling America’s jobs crisis. In that connection, Obama has announced he will make a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 7. The speculation is that he will propose  tax credits for companies that add workers to their payrolls, and stimulus spending on infrastructure. With the Republicans controlling the House of Representatives, there is no chance he will get any serious legislation passed involving additional spending. At best, the Obama speech that is pending is an electioneering gimmick, and will prove as effective as the administration’s  overall economic crisis policy.  In the meantime, while the president drafts his speech and the political establishment engages in its usual partisan games, a growing group of leading economists are forecasting a double dip recession in most advanced economies, including the United States. That increasingly likely development will have more impact on the jobs crisis than even one thousand presidential speeches.