- The United States stock market is now in correction territory having fallen more than ten percent with the 500+ point plunge on Friday and a much bigger drop on Monday. A drop of 20+% in the coming days or weeks is not beyond reason and would presage a bear market equivalent to 2008.
- Economies around the world seem to be in trouble ... Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, China, Greece, Canada, and many others are all teetering on panic's edge due to the recent precipitous drop in oil prices ... now hovering just below $40 per barrel. Even Saudi Arabia is rapidly running out of sovereign funds and needs to tap into the world debt markets.
- ISIS, Boko Haram and other radical "religion of peace" groups are raping, enslaving and beheading thousands of Christians throughout the Mideast with almost no response from the Free World.
- Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are escalating to a very dangerous degree with exchanges of artillery fire and propaganda-laden saber-rattling.
- Illegal immigration is surging from third countries into Europe and the United States in unprecedented numbers with very little real resistance from the authorities and few solutions proffered ... other than from Donald Trump.
- Iran is being given the gift of $150 billion dollars to spend on terrorism and a clear path to an atomic weapon by the U.S. Secretary of State, John "Christmas in Cambodia" Kerry and our Imperial President.
- Islamic radical terrorist attacks on civilian and military innocents are almost a daily occurrence throughout the free world.
- The oceans may still be rising and the climate may still be changing despite China's pledge to start reducing its horrendous air pollution by 2030.
- The United States Federal Reserve Bank is on the horns of a dilemma. Either it raises interest rate sometime this Fall or it has almost no tools to deal with a possible new recession.
All these serious problems are but distractions to the leader of the free world whose primary focus is on his golf handicap ... which he is assiduously working on while he vacations unconcerned on Martha's Vineyard. Perhaps this singular focus is a form of denial ... to keep him from fretting about these other distraction.
3 comments:
All true... but let's look at your list:
- Stock market swings esp globally. What could POTUS do?
- Oil countries 'teetering on panic's edge'. What could POTUS do?
- ISIS et al. With the entire mideast standing 4.4 million military personnel that do nothing about ISIS, why should we? Been there, done that.
- Korea ratlling around like it has been doing for 70 years. What could POTUS do?
- immigration... well there's an issue. One solution is to change the Constitution which must grate on the sensibilities of those that revere that document. POTUS could chat with Clinton over a round of golf.
- Iran: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. Note that China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany), and the European Union (who are closer to Iran) all signed in July. Potus could try to sell his position but I feel there is so much chatter out there that he should just stand on what has been said and published.
- Terrorist attacks globally. What could POTUS do?
- Climate change? Isn't that a myth? Besides US is pretty good and China is literally choking on their problem. What could POTUS do?
- The fed has a dillema. True. What could POTUS do?
In summation, three points:
1. Obama has taken far less vacation days than W or HW or Reagan.
2. Tech today makes it that being out of the White House is not like being on Campobello Island. I am sure that the house on the Vineyard has high speed secure internet. Daily briefings and video meetings are likely the case.
3. Vacations are good. You have to be working intensely to appreciate the sweetness of taking a break.
What could POTUS do? How about leading?
I believe that he often wins at golf so he often leads throughout the game.
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