Oil, war, and interest rates: Are we witnessing electioneering?

Posted Aug 8th 2008 6:05PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Rants and Raves, Presidential Elections, Oil, Headline News, Federal Reserve

Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting, John McCain is going to be all smiles as we approach the November election. If you are a conspiracy theorist, or just find it a curious irony as I do, you must be noting that, just this week, the Federal Reserve decided to leave the Fed loan rate at 2%, the Iraq and U.S. governments are negotiating a withdrawal timetable for our troops, and oil prices are falling fast.

All of these headline-worthy items will benefit the Republicans more than the Democrats. Furthermore, all of these improvements will help the folks on Wall Street and Main Street. The stock market is way up today, they say on dropping oil prices: Stocks jump as oil prices fall sharply.

This has the taint of political engineering or "electioneering," even if it is just coincidence. Maybe the world is just happy to see Dubya go into retirement ... who knows?

Earlier I posted Obama's $1000 giveaway is a take away! and now it's time to rant about Dear John. He is on record as claiming he can balance the federal budget by the end of his first term without raising taxes. I think we have heard that before. It's not going to happen. Why do politicians insist on uttering such nonsense?

This ridiculous campaign rhetoric comes with ZERO corresponding thought about what major programs could be cut to even come close to this worthy goal. The answer is none that I know of.

The only way that the federal government will balance the budget will be if officials simply take more expenditures off-budget and pretend to have accomplished something. If you ask the American people what things government does extremely well, you will find agreement that it 'pretends' excellently.

If John McCain's budget balancing act continues to be discussed, then he is truly the more experienced candidate, for he can pretend with the best of them.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

Tags: Federal deficit, federal reserve, Interest rates, Iraq War, John McCain, oil prices, Sheldon Liber, SheldonLiber

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-08-2008 @ 7:15PM

william lindblad said...

Sheldon, it's called rhetoric - AKA b.s. The use of rumor started with John Adams and smear tactics with Jefferson. Out of all that have held the highest office only two escaped unscathed. Washington and the 1st Harrison. George, because 3/4 of the country loved him and the 1/4 was not about to cross him. Harrison because he did not live long enough to get into any trouble. He does make history with the longest inaugural speech, in the rain to boot, and that's what killed him.
As to what the bog implies - actually, it benefits both sides. We really have to discount the Fed as it is supposed to be non-partisan and if the Dems smelled any interference from the White House we would already know. So that leaves the Treasury to take partisan credit. On the other side of the coin - Congress is controlled by the Dems and the willingness to back Fannie and Freddie comes from them. They can also claim the incentive package and the recently passed housing relief bill. Bottom line is that the actions taken really benefit CONGRESS and the McCain/Obama end is really secondary. One has to keep in mind that those running for president have an penchant for making statements that they believe the people want to hear. It is part of our process.
As to balancing the budget? Perhaps, stranger things have happened. A larger possibility will be some major tax hikes. The Democrats tried 20 times this year alone. Bills never got out of committee since they were hodge podge and did not even have enough party support. But it is a harbinger of things to come. The first Bush ran into Congress on this one - he lost.

8-09-2008 @ 6:57AM

bob said...

The beauty part is, repubs don't even have to bait the hook or put it in the water. I wish I could catch fish like the repubs catch demos, Lmao

8-09-2008 @ 11:05AM

W. B. Wilhite said...

Major stock moves will often occur in the Fall after everyone gets serious about their money; and again in January after businesses assess their post-holiday situations. October could be a nasty surprise for everyone. And after an extremely weak holiday season starting around Thanksgiving and ending mid-January, there will be another bloodbath. Or not. We shall see. Whichever it is, it won't matter who is in office. If a disaster befall us, the execrement will wash over everyone equally. And whoever is in office will have to contend with the details, including the accusations.