Great strategy requires a solid grip on the situation. Here are five situational facts Obama missed in today’s economic address at Knox College. Urgency is needed to prevent a second recession. China is slowing. Europe is imploding. Rising interest rates are slowing the housing recovery, with continued government cutbacks strengthening the headwinds against US private sector recovery. We risk a double dip recession like the US Great Depression or the triple dips being observed in Europe. Therefore infrastructure investments, retraining of workers, and revitalization of manufacturing and aging cities are a necessity, not an option. Overseas job creation is the new reality. With the middle class growing across the globe, US companies should be investing in jobs abroad. Therefore our economic strategy should be to maintain US headquarters and create new companies – not prevent overseas job expansion. Corporate tax reform and incentives…
Our growing class divide
The well-dressed traveler ran like a bull charging a red cape, entering an open area in front of the waiting lines at Amsterdam’s United International check-in. “Excuse me – there’s a queue,” I commented from the front of the line. “But I’m Global Services,” he proclaimed haughtily, shocked at my objection. Thankfully, a United Airlines agent asked the “gentleman” to step to the end of the preferred travelers line. It occurred to me then that international airline travel is a good analogy for what’s happening in the US economy as we shed middle class jobs. You’ve either been born to the right parents, secured a good career and are living the life of the preferred traveler or you are stuck in the very back rows – unable to afford any preferential treatment. The gap between the two life styles is growing with our…