Category Archives: Uncategorized

Offering a business perspective to a lean forward recap of the 2012 Republican National Convention with political journalist Bob Franken, liberal commentator Nancy Giles and Wake Forest Political Science Professor David Coates.

A slow recovery and economic inequities cause partisan politics to get unusually nasty this election cycle.  My recent conversation with Democratic Strategist  Tamara Holder, NY Post’s John Podhoretz on Fox News Fox and Friends.

The trends are up and down, but the overall story remains same… one of a flat lining economy.  Economic storm has passed but for years no wind in the sail of our recovery.  Retail sales seeing a little bounce in last month, may be due to stabilizing home prices – wealth affect that creates for consumer who feels a little more confidence to spend.   But it could also be a hot summer that has people fleeing to mall, drought that is causing everything from food prices to oil to jump.

Flush with cash, corporations are buying back shares, merging and acquiring – but not hiring.  That’s because a cloud of uncertainty makes them resistant to spend on new business, but focused on finding efficiencies to boost earnings. I discussed this one on one with Fox Business’ Elizabeth McDonald

SCOTUS verdict may actually be a windfall for Romney, by energizing republicans who now realize the only way to get rid of healthcare reform is through executive action.   In addition, voters who appreciate how this legislation will escalate business costs and disincentivize future hiring need no further evidence of this Presidents competency when it comes to creating new jobs and boosting the economy.

The fact that US Treasuries are in demand is a GOOD thing.  It means that the world has confidence in the greenback, at least for now.  It means that we as a country can live in denial just a little while longer, pretending that we don’t have a debt problem.

Having a large percentage of US debt held by foreigners actually starts to become more of a problem when those foreigners start changing their mind in droves and our access to cheap money dries up. That’s when we will suddenly find our back to the wall and realize that our situation is not all that dissimilar from what we are seeing in Spain and Greece.  I discussed this and more with Neil Cavuto and the Fox Business All Stars.