Obama plans to help a middle class 'under assault'

Our President finally “gets it”!  He sees that we are under economic assault – and he’s here to “help” us.  Wahoo!!!

Let’s see what “goodies” Mr. Obama has planned to “help us” survive this international banker caused economic downturn.

First off, we see that he is going to “help hurting families pay their bills, save for retirement and care for their kids and aging parents.”  Oh really?  He’s going to pay my bills?  That’s awfully nice of him – he’s such the generous type.  On top of that, he’s going to come shoulder to shoulder with me and help pay for retirement, child care, and aging parents!  Have I hit the lottery or what!!

“The initiatives amount to a package of tax credits, spending expansions and new mandates on employers to encourage retirement savings by workers.” Wait a minute….why does Mr. Obama just want to give me tax credits?  Why doesn’t the nice man just lower my tax RATE!? Then I see where he’s going to use “spending expansions” to accomplish all of this.  Where does the Federal government get its money to spend?  OH, THAT’S RIGHT!!! It all comes from government tentacles attaching themselves to the future labor of American citizens!  He’s going to “help” some of us by increasing the slave workload of the rest of us.  Hmmmm…..this is beginning to sound not so good.  Lastly, I see where he’s going to MANDATE that employers provide retirement savings opportunities to their employees.  Maybe he should try taking the bloody dagger out of the small business corpses that are already lying close to death instead of twisting the handle.

“Nearly doubling the tax credit that families making under $85,000 can receive for child care costs, with some help for families earning up to $115,000, too.”  This will be GREAT for all of those families where the mom wants to stay home and nurture the children.  Oh wait….I guess it won’t be.  They won’t get a thin dime of other people’s money based on other people’s labor.

“Capping the size of periodic federal college loan repayments at 10 percent of borrowers' discretionary income to make payments more affordable.”  This is fantastic!  He’s going to cap the repayment rate on a student loan that the bank created out of thin air as a credit on their balance sheet.  Then the people that got the “magic” loan get to pay interest and debt payments for decades.  This sure makes sense!  After all, we wouldn’t want to do something really stupid like promoting Apprenticeship, Mentorship, and Entrepreneurship in our society.

“Increasing by $1.6 billion the money pumped into a federal fund to help working parents pay for child care, covering an estimated 235,000 additional children.” I’m sure glad that we have a FEDERAL FUND to pay for people’s childcare expenses – aren’t you?  Our Founding Fathers sure were wise when they wrote that requirement into our US Constitution!

“Requiring employers who don't offer 401(k) retirement plans to offer direct-deposit IRAs for their employees, with exemptions for the smallest firms.” More red tape for small businesses.  What a concept!  How about his idea instead – if employers REALLY want to deposit money into an IRA then they can do like I did….take a check to the brokerage and open up a new IRA account.  If they already have one open then they could just do an electronic funds transfer.  An employer shouldn’t need to be involved in the least.

“Spending more than $100 million to help people care for their elderly parents and get support for themselves as well.” What a swell guy our President is – and I’m not just talking about his ego.  This $100 million will probably be for alcohol swabs so that we can prepare our parents for the life-ending shots that ObamaCare would love them to have.

Obama, whose poll numbers are off, is trying to sharpen his economic message in a way that shows people he is on their side. White House officials say they know people have been turned off by the long, messy fight for health insurance reform. Plus, there's a perception that families have gotten far less help than big banks. Could it be that Mr. Obama is a narcissist that is attempting to save his skin?

The plans Obama set forth came from the yearlong work of a task force, led by Vice President Joe Biden, that was charged with helping the middle class.

"We're talking about dignity. We're talking about security," Biden said. "We're talking about knowing your pension is safe, your health insurance is reliable, your elderly parents and your children are going to be cared for, your neighborhood is safe."

Obama's initiatives also include expanding and simplifying a tax credit that matches retirement savings, and making 401(k) rules easier to understand.

Folks, read the last three paragraphs REALLY carefully.  Read between the lines.  They’re talking about “security”.  They’re talking about “safe pensions”.  They’re talking about changing the “understandability” of 401(k)’s.

Watch for the Federal government to come after retirement funds if the Health Care bill collapses.  Health Care is not dead – not by a long shot.  The government needs the money, and they will do whatever is necessary to make that happen.
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Watch for these indexes to drop:

Chinese Shanghai Composite Index: 3,094.41 (change of 5.28% from July 20, 2009 base value of 3,266.92)
Shenzhen Stock Exchange Component Stock Index (SSE): 12,470.19 (change of 6.81% from July 20, 2009 base value of 13,381.22)
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Here are today’s numbers for the economic indicator:

1) Gold = $1,097.10
2) Silver = $17.12
3) Dollar Index = 78.19
4) Oil = $75.15
5) S&P 500 Index = 1,096.78
6) 3-month Treasury Bill yield = 0.04
7) 3-month OIS = 0.15

HEI = 28.85

(A value of under 100 indicates deflation, while over 100 indicates inflation – as referenced to Sept. 12, 2008…the day before Lehman Brothers collapsed)



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Here are the numbers for the day:

Dollar Index adjusted indexes:
Dow = (10,196.86) x (0.7819) = 7,972.92
S&P 500 = (1,096.78) x (0. 7819) = 857.57
Nasdaq = (2,210.80) x (0. 7819) = 1,728.62

3-month Treasury: 0.04

2-year Treasury: 0.80

10-year Treasury: 3.62

30-year Treasury: 4.55

2-yr vs. 10-yr Spread (Target > 273): 282 basis points – (Danger Zone)

2-yr vs. 30-yr Spread (Target > 369): 375 basis points – (Danger Zone)

3-month LIBOR: 0.25

3-month EURIBOR: 0.67

3-month OIS: 0.15

TED Spread: 21 basis points

LIBOR/OIS Spread: 10 basis points

Dollar Index: 78.19

Volatility Index: 25.41

JPY-EUR Exchange Rate (Target < 115): 127.7572

JPY-GBP Exchange Rate (Target < 145): 146.6183

JPY-USD Exchange Rate (Target < 90): 90.275

USD-EUR Exchange Rate (Target < 1.25): 1.4152

USD-CNY Exchange Rate (Target > 7.0): 6.8270

Warmly,

Brad

For more articles from Brad Hamill, please click on the Advanced Christian Economics link.