INSIGHTS
NOV
7
NOW WHAT?
Now that the costliest election in our country's history is finally over we can reflect on the past and try to look into the future.

The Obama Administration will be given a C-rating, by people that rate such things, for its first term. They can look to his handling of certain crises and applaud decisive leadership. They can look to his handling of the domestic economy and give him a thumbs down. They can look to how he has almost, but not totally, turned his back on Israel and bring him to task for it.

These people can do all these things and yet they rarely mention anything about his actual plan for reviving the economy and putting people back to work. They don't mention it because there isn't one.

This is actually frightening going into a second term.

Generally, you would have expected a clear path plotted out two years ago and it would have been a central rallying point for the administration going into the election. A path that clearly would have needed a second term to help it succeed.

There was no clear plan. There was no overriding reason to re-elect President Obama from an economic standpoint.

So, the American people have spoken and it is clear that our financial troubles are not our country’s primary concern! But what is?

Looking to the next four years is not an easy process. We see economic growth remaining anemic into the foreseeable future. The unemployment picture will remain week for at least 2013, maybe beyond. The turmoil around the World only seems to be getting worse. Not a pretty picture to be sure.

America will persevere and continue to be the most powerful, most influential, and most important nation on the planet.

Even when we have achieved a solid mediocrity we are still head and shoulders above every country.

Analysts have been saying for years we are losing our edge. Are they kidding?
Do they not look at past history? Years ago, Japan was considered a legitimate threat to our economic preeminence. Didn't happen. They aged, couldn't compete with cheaper competitors and moved dominant industries offshore.

China, clearly an impressive competitor with a strong focus has been showing cracks in their system as well. They need to sustain an unsustainable growth rate to keep building the super nation they feel they are. It won't happen. They are competitive only because the government controls the currency tightly. They have a rising middle class that will go through the same upheaval that ours did in the late 1800's. The Chinese will have to focus on serious domestic issues at the expense of that growth. They won't achieve that super dominance anytime soon.

The United States for all its domestic troubles is still a thriving society with its share of problems. Maybe a new administration would have been better able to handle those problems, but that wasn’t to be. Our hope rests with the leadership currently in place to work better with both parties to try and achieve the successes that eluded it the first time around.