Clintonomics

How Bill Clinton Reengineered the Reagan Revolution

by Jack Godwin, Ph.D.

First, I have to say that this book wasn't anything like what I expected. I was hoping for an analysis if how the Clinton administration took a $290 billion deficit and turned it into a $230 billion surplus -- sort of like an outsider's companion to Robert Rubin's, "In an Uncertain World". Nope. Not even close. Instead it's more of a look at Clinton's economic philosophy based on his speeches -- and a comparison with Reaganomics.

I don't know. But I just don't buy Godwin's premise that "Clinton and Reagan are fellow travelers separated more by party affiliation than political ideology." That "Clinton's goal to reinvent government is the logical corollary of Reagan's goal to renew federalism."

I mean they had totally different ideas about spending, for one thing. Reagan left us with -- at that time -- the largest federal deficit in history, whereas Clinton left us with a $230 billion surplus (which Bush Jr. promptly pissed away with tax cuts for Paris Hilton and an unnecessary war in Iraq).

I think it's easy to go through both President's speeches and cherry-pick passages to make them sound alike, but the fact is Reagan began systematically dismantling the middle class where Clinton strove to build it back up again. Their economic philosophy was as alike as night and day.

You wouldn't know it from listening to FOX "News" or conservative radio, but it looks like the economy has turned around -- much quicker than expected.

The Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday that its much-watched manufacturing index grew from July to August for the first time in 19 months, rising to 52.9, the highest level since August 2007. Anything above 50 signals that manufacturing is expanding.

The institute says the figure corresponds to an overall economy growing at an annual pace of 3.7%, about twice as fast as economists have been predicting.

Not only that, but it turns out all that TARP money that the nay-sayers predicted taxpayers would never see again is turning a profit for us.

Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation’s biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.

The profits, collected from eight of the biggest banks that have fully repaid their obligations to the government, come to about $4 billion, or the equivalent of about 15 percent annually, according to calculations compiled for The New York Times.

15 percent annually! Excellent job, Mr. Obama!

As Congress debated the bailout bill last September that would authorize the Treasury Department to spend up to $700 billion to stem the financial crisis, Representative Mac Thornberry, Republican of Texas, said: “Seven hundred billion dollars of taxpayer money should not be used as a hopeful experiment.”

So far, that experiment is more than paying off. The government has taken profits of about $1.4 billion on its investment in Goldman Sachs, $1.3 billion on Morgan Stanley and $414 million on American Express. The five other banks that repaid the government — Northern Trust, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, U.S. Bancorp and BB&T — each brought in $100 million to $334 million in profit.

Suck on that, "Party of NO"! Again, excellent job, Mr. Obama!

Well, I haven't posted in a while because everything was going pretty much the way I expected it to: The economy is getting better and we're pulling out of Iraq and building up in Afghanistan. But then I started hearing some of the crap that right wingers -- like Sara Palin and Newt Gingrich -- are spouting about healthcare reform. Usually I could ignore that, too, but they're really scaring some usually rational people.

There won't be any "death panels". There just won't. It's not even remotely suggested in any of the bills under consideration. And you'll be able to see a doctor of your choice. Hell, you don't even have to sign up for the government insurance if you don't want to. And -- unlike Republicans who gave a couple trillion in tax cuts to rich people and started an unnecessary war -- Democrats are actually trying to pay for this.

My cousin forwarded my Mom an email -- supposedly by a doctor who's read the bill -- outlining all the bad things in it. For a complete refutation of everything in the email, you can go to www.pleasecutthecrap.com and click on "The Complete Deconstructing the Right Wing Lies on the Health Insurance Bill" in the upper right hand corner. Or better yet, just read the bill yourself.

Investing In A Sustainable World

Why Green Is The New Color Of Money On Wall Street

 by Matthew J. Kiernan, Ph.D.

This book was a tough read for me. I'm not really a money guy, so a lot of what Kiernan was talking about went over my head. However, I found his premise fascinating:

"Companies capable of managing ES [Environmental and Social] challenges better than their competitors are quite likely to be better-managed companies."

That's something that makes sense on the face of it, for a change.

Now, you've probably heard about "socially responsible investing," but Kiernan makes it clear that's not the kind of investment he's talking about,

The differences between the two approaches are, in fact, quite stark and fundamental. Traditional SRI is primarily driven by values. Investors view companies through the prisms of their own personal values: for or against contraception, alcohol, genetically modified foods, pornography, animal testing, company involvement in Sudan or Myanmar, and so on. Historically, financial returns have been only a secondary consideration; expressing one's personal values through investment practices has been paramount ... Sustainability investing, on the other hand, is ... all about investment risk and return and simply uses the analysis of the performance and positioning of companies on ES and other "nontraditional" issues as proxies to help identify better-managed, more nimble companies.

The one thing I found really interesting was that several energy companies and mining companies were on Kiernan's good buy list, so he's not whistling Dixie when he says that ES investing is "all about investment risk and return."

So far, so good. But the one thing that really bugged me about the book was the fact that it seemed almost like an infomercial for Kiernan's company, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. It seemed like every chapter had an example drawn from Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. Did I mention that Kiernen is the founder and chief executive of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors?

That quibble aside, I found the premise plausible and Kiernan's arguments for ES-based investing were highly compelling. And the chart at the end of the book showing Innovest Strategic Value Advisors' picks of companies that are best managing ES issues is reason enough alone to by this book.

Although, it would be interesting to go through the list and find out how well those companies are dealing with the present financial crisis. I recommend this book for people who who are interested in investing and money matters -- which, unfortunately, is not me.

I've been wondering why Dick Cheney's been putting himself in the spotlight lately. Turns out that he's trying to shop his memoirs around for multi-millions of dollars. What better way to jack up the price than to be in the limelight all the time.

He's also trying to save his place in history -- and stave off criminal prosecution. It does seem odd, though, that he would actively antagonize the guy -- President Obama -- who can put him in jail. Cheney keeps calling for the Whitehouse to release torture memos. He'd better watch what he wishes for -- he just might get it.

The Republican Party narrowly shut down a resolution to rename the Democratic Party, the "Democrat Socialist Party." What a bunch of buffoons! Don't Republicans have anything better to do than call their opponent's names? Like, maybe, come up with a plan for reforming healthcare, or weaning the US from foreign oil, or regulating the financial sector, or improving education? Apparently not.

I guess when you've completely run out of ideas, the only thing left is name calling. And the Republican Party has obviously run out of ideas.

Let me state here and now that I am proud to belong the Democratic Party -- the party of ideas and solutions. I almost feel sorry for the 21 percent of Americans who still think of themselves as Republicans. Almost.

All five of California's budget proposals failed to pass yesterday. The only proposal that did pass was one that prevented politicians from voting themselves a pay raise during a financial crisis -- something that would never happen anyway.

So now -- because my fellow Californians didn't want to pay for them -- firefighters, police, and teachers are going to be cut. They'll probably fire state bureaucrats as well, which means even longer lines and even surlier representatives at the DMV [shudder].

Californians need to own up to the fact that they control the state's budget and vote accordingly. No more voting to "punish the politicians." It's not the politicians who will be punished by these punitive acts -- it's US. WE are the people being punished by larger classroom sizes, more crime, and more out of control wildfires.

I hope you guys are all ready to reap that which you have sown -- because it's going to be bad.

Dick Cheney is talking up a storm. Now he's saying that the torture memos released by the Obama administration only tell half the story. He's saying that there are other memos that show how much useful information was gleaned through the use of torture.

The problem is, it's already a well known fact that the torture of Abu Zubaydah didn't reveal anything -- and it's doubtful that the torture of other prisoners yielded any information of the significance to which Cheney alludes.

No, it's more likely that Cheney is throwing that out as a red herring to create a political debate over whether he should be tried for authorizing the illegal torture of prisoners. He's going to insist that there's evidence that will back him up, and I doubt that it will ever appear -- because I don't believe it exists.

This is all a way for Cheney to so politicize the torture hearing that are coming that we'll all throw up our hands and say, Forget it!