Obama

Election is basically over according to Intrade

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If you haven’t heard of Intrade, you probably are outside leading a normal life.  For those of you that haven’t, it’s the popular betting site that concentrates on political events. According to the Washington Post ” The site’s collective wisdom tends to be more reliable than than the cadre of professional pundits when it comes to forecasting election results. (And, yes, we are including ourselves in the “professional pundit” category — for better and worse.) In 2008, bettors got only two states wrong — Indiana and Missouri. Bettors thought Indiana would go Republican and Missouri would go Democratic. Neither prediction was right. … Read more

Analysis: Obama presidency great for stocks. Will it help him? – Yahoo! Finance

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Reuters – Barack Obama often gets slammed for his stewardship of the U.S. economy, but for stock investors, hes been one of the best presidents since World War Two.At 1,400, the S&P 500 on Friday was closing in on a four-year high and was up 74 percent since January 20, 2009, the day Obama took office. Not since Dwight Eisenhowers first term has a president had such a strong run for their first term.That rally might be just enough to get Obama re-elected, making him the first sitting president in the post-war era to win a second term with a … Read more

Obama’s evolution: Behind the failed ‘grand bargain’ on the debt – The Washington Post

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Obama’s evolution: Behind the failed ‘grand bargain’ on the debt View Photo Gallery —  In the summer of 2011, the White House was embroiled in a battle with Republican leaders over legislation to increase the debt ceiling and avert the country from defaulting. By Peter Wallsten, Lori Montgomery and Scott Wilson, Published: March 17 President Obama had just arrived home, walking across Lafayette Square after attending Sunday services with his family at St. John’s Church. In the West Wing, Obama ducked into the spacious office of his chief of staff, where he found his negotiating team huddled with two leading Republicans … Read more

Nothing much wants to make this market go down but I guarantee you this one will

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Obama nears his nuclear moment By Edward Luce At the start of Barack Obama’s term, few moments better crystallised America’s change of face than his “New Day” video address to the Iranian people. Ending with a salutation in Farsi, Mr Obama offered Iran a new era of “co-operation”. It followed from the promise in his inaugural address to “extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist”. via Obama nears his nuclear moment – FT.com.

| The White House

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From: The White House “In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a Blueprint for an America Built to Last, calling for action to help responsible borrowers and support a housing market recovery. While the government cannot fix the housing market on its own, the President believes that responsible homeowners should not have to sit and wait for the market to hit bottom to get relief when there are measures at hand that can make a meaningful difference, including allowing these homeowners to save thousands of dollars by refinancing at today’s low interest rates. That’s why the President … Read more

The Roof Has Been Raised: $16.4 Trillion Debt Ceiling

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Well, it’s looking like  the Senate was unable to muster enough votes to reject the newest debt ceiling hike in a 52 to 44 vote.  Due to take effect this Friday, we will be looking at a new ceiling of $16.4 trillion with our current levels reaching the $15.4 trillion mark. From Zerohedge: “Since roughly $100 billion was plundered from Pension Funds in the past month, The US will have about $15.4 trillion in debt with the Monday DTS. The question then is how long will the $1 trillion in debt capacity last: at $125 billion/month it won’t be enough … Read more

‘s got it right CNN or WSJ?

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There are major implications for short-term trading here.  Natural gas E&P companies were the biggest gainers today while the drillers like BAS were some of the biggest losers on the idea that natural gas prices are bottoming since Chesapeake Energy announced major curbs on drilling due to collapsing natural gas prices.  If Obama sounds sympathetic to nat gas and promotes it in any kind of meaningful way, BAS and others could rocket. State of the Union to offer a blueprint for the economy By Jessica Yellin, CNN Chief White House Correspondentupdated 5:29 PM EST, Mon January 23, 2012 A source … Read more

‘s education

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There could be a short-term hiccup in markets when it becomes apparent there is no bi-partisan deal but its likely to be muted.  The $1.2 trillion on compulsory cuts they agreed to last summer will kick in until they agree to abrogate that.  That’s when the market will swoon.  Right now a compulsory deal seems far superior to a negotiated deal.  At least it starts whacking down the monstrous defense department budget without inflicting real suffering on people’s medicare and Medicaid programs just yet.  Even Conservative blowhard CNBC columnist, Larry Kudlow, (who I know from my Bear Stearns happy days. … Read more

Obama jobs speech venue part of election strategy

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(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s use of a rare joint session of Congress to deliver a jobs speech on Thursday reflects a political strategy to try to blame Republicans for an economy at risk of sliding back into recession. The choice of venue — the Republican-controlled House of Representatives — is aimed at sending a clear message to voters that if his plan to reduce high unemployment is blocked by Congress, it is Republicans and not the White House standing in the way of job growth. With unemployment stubbornly high and most Americans unhappy with his handling of the economy, Obama’s speech … Read more

Obama Cancels Ozone Rules After Lobbying Push From Business

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Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama quashed proposed rules on ozone from the Environmental Protection Agency, agreeing with Republicans and industry to withdraw the costliest regulation being considered by the administration. Obama said he is seeking to reduce regulatory burdens as the economy recovers, and said the EPA would weigh tighter standards on ozone, which causes smog, in two years. “Ultimately, I did not support asking state and local governments to begin implementing a new standard that will soon be reconsidered,” Obama said today in a statement. The EPA’s proposed regulations for ground-level ozone would have revised rules issued … Read more

Obama to Tap Krueger as Top Economist

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President Barack Obama on Monday plans to nominate Princeton University’s Alan Krueger to be chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, a White House official said. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Krueger, a labor economist, is likely to provide a voice inside the administration for more-aggressive government action to bring down unemployment and, particularly, to address long-term joblessness. Mr. Krueger, 50 years old, returned to Princeton a year ago after serving as assistant Treasury secretary for economic policy during the first two years of the Obama administration—which means he has recently cleared the sometimes treacherous Senate confirmation … Read more

Obama Talks to Buffett About Economy

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President Barack Obama, preparing for a post-Labor Day speech with plans for stimulating the economy, talked with billionaire Warren Buffett about how to boost job creation and spur growth. “The president and Mr. Buffett discussed the overall outlook on the economy and the reaction to the headwinds we’ve experienced over the last couple of months,” said Josh Earnest, an administration spokesman. “They talked a little bit about some possible measures that would spur investment and increase economic growth and they also talked about some measures that could address the long-term fiscal situation in this country.” Obama placed the call yesterday … Read more

Obama Says Strong Recovery Will Begin With Small Businesses

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Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama told an audience in rural Iowa that the U.S. economy will come back “stronger than before” after the worst recession in decades, driven by small businesses and entrepreneurs. “That comeback isn’t going to be driven by Washington, it is going to be driven by folks here in Iowa,” Obama said in opening a forum on the rural economy at Northeast Iowa Community College in Peosta. The federal government can help if lawmakers “put aside the politics of the short-term” and spend on programs such as education and expanded Internet access that will pay … Read more

Obama Under Pressure

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Stock market turbulence demands serious action on US deficit The Global market turbulence may force Washington’s politicians back into session to find real solutions to the Nation’s skyrocketing debt and deficit, according to an economics expert. C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the debt-ceiling legislation Congress passed last month was just a set of procedures aimed at reducing the deficit over time but did not actually take effect by itself. “That is not good enough,” Mr. Bergsten in an interview Tuesday. “The markets are responding in part to the failure of the legislation to … Read more

Obama has SEC Attack Standard & Poor’s

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Standard & Poor’s, whose unprecedented downgrade of US debt triggered a worldwide sell-off in equities is pushing against a US government proposal that would require credit raters to disclose “significant errors” in how they calculate their ratings. S&P, accused by the Obama administration of making an error in its calculations leading Friday’s downgrade, raised concern about the proposed new corrections policy and other issues in an 84-pg letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, dated August 8. The SEC is weighing sweeping new rules designed to improve the quality of ratings after their poor performance in the financial crisis. The … Read more

Obama Says Markets Don’t Doubt U.S. Ability to Pay Debts

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Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama, breaking his silence on the downgrade of federal debt, said that the U.S. “always will be a AAA country” and that he will release a new proposal to deal with the federal deficit in the coming weeks. The main obstacle facing the U.S. is the “lack of political will in Washington” to solve the country’s problems, Obama said at the White House in his first public comment since Standard & Poor’s lowered the credit rating on U.S. debt to AA+ from AAA on Aug. 5. The debt downgrade is “not so much because … Read more