The Mike Bertelsen Project

The U.S. economy could be put back into a recession if the "fiscal cliff" is not averted. What are Prsident Obama and Congress going to do? According to a CNBC article here are items to consider:

1. Obama and Boehner pick up talks where they left off.
2. A big drop in the stock market sends a message.
3. The government goes off the fiscal cliff.
4. No deal for at least six weeks.
5. Boehner calls a House vote on what President Obama wants.
6. A partial deal is struck.
7. Stock markets hang in there and President Obama and Congress think the fiscal cliff isn't so bad.

Obama has dropped his proposal to extend a temporary cut in Social Security payroll taxes paid by 163 million workers. Republicans want that tax to go back up.Obama is offering to reduce cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients. Republicans have been seeking this as a key to long-term deficit reduction. Obama continues to reject the Republican plan to raise the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67. Boehner now says raising the eligibility age is not essential. Obama and Boehner both propose raising taxes on dividends and capital gains from 15 percent to 20 percent.

 CNBC source story #2

If you would ask President Obama what percentage each income group should pay in taxes, most likely you wouldn't get an answer. He doesn't know the number. It doesn't matter since he sees taxes as ever increasing.

He sees tax dollars as government money on loan. The means of production, which gives us tax dollars, is not enough. Government wants to own the means of production. General Motors is the prime example. Let government own the means of production. The result, on paper anyway, is more revenue. Welcome to new socialism.

What is needed is accelerated growth in our economy. The debt ceiling could very well be imposed on us, or it has been imposed, but does or will it matter? Only the bond market knows for sure. Bond marketeers know that the U.S. debt is approaching levels past the point of no return. If lending stops, the debt ceiling doesn't matter.

Job creation is the priority.

This past week was full of peaks and speeches that were notable. Mitt Romney and Joe Biden at the NAACP Convention. President Obama at ...... uh.... Kirkland Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Yes, that great venue which seats.... well... uh .... I don't know. Mile High Stadium it is not.

The incumbent's appeal has shrunk like withered balloons. Certainly four years ago the balloons were inflated to the max. His campaign money was inflated too. Mitt Romney outpaced Obama in raising money in June. A tell-tale sign a candidate is in trouble at least in some areas of the country. Obama still has his base, but that too is showing signs of weariness.

The cool and collected campaigner has vanished. Obama's approval rating is in the low to upper 40's and can't budge with new ads that frankly attack Romney for being a ..... well, capitalist. Most know that capitalism isn't easy, especially in times like these. Tough business decisions have been the norm now for twenty years.... or more. Just ask the people who have had to make them. Small business owners tell us the difficulties and the achievements in what they do. Reforms within the internal framework of business are fast and tedious. Difficult to imagine, I know, but real.

Obama has a stalemate in Congress too. By his own doing. This "governing" style has painted a picture that goes all the way down to local government. The example seems to be set at the top. Solutions to problems are few, if existent at all. The focus is on issues that are petty and frivolous. This doesn't help.... it too is a stalemate.

End the stalemate. Vote for Romney.

I was watching Lawrence Kudlow's show on CNBC and he mentioned that the country needs a dose of Reaganism. I agree, and for the record Mr. Kudlow could be biased, he was President Reagan's senior domestic economic adviser for just over six years. So Mr. Kudlow served President Reagan, he was "in the room" when President Reagan made most of his important economic decisions. Mr. Reagan had a variety of business and market leaders at his disposal and called upon them to aid in his decision making. Even President Carter did this. Unfortunately, President Carter made decisions that were contrary to the advise he was getting. But I think you get the point.

Has President Obama brought in the best and the brightest to seek their advise and guidance in dealing with this economic crisis? Well, I'll let you answer that in your own way. But if he hasn't he needs to start. His decision that led to QE2, which basically printed trillions of dollars, but created no jobs, was not a good one. In the President's defense, he should have slowed the printing press down, but I have to wonder if he received the proper suggestions to do so. He still had the majority of the Democrats in the U.S. House and the Senate, when QE2 proposals were made. But QE2 failed as far as job creation goes. The Republicans got the House back and the President's cap and trade was unveiled by the Republicans as bad policy. The Republicans cut, cap and balance bill proposed in the House and passed, was not called for a vote in the Senate, much to the chagrin of "a few" Republican senators led by John McCain.

So that brings us to the point where we are now. No jobs bill, but the President has said one is coming after Labor Day during his recent bus tour. What the President needs now is a political miracle. He needs to call in the best and the brightest to help forge a jobs bill. He has just a small amount of time. President Reagan put a proactive plan together for America, not a reactive one. Now is the time, but I get the feeling that time is wasting away, as Lawrence Kudlow brought up.