Forex Go!

For those who follow the Washington political scene, this week is a welcome respite before the first of the New Year fireworks begin early Monday morning.  The peace and quiet have been refreshing but if you are getting antsy for action, it is definitely coming.

President Obama caved in to the Republican’s insistence on the tax cut extensions and opened the doors for some last minute legislation that marks the 2010 Congress as one of the country’s most productive.  The last minute rush also showed the American taxpayer what can be accomplished when partisan politics take a back seat to the business of the people.

On January 1, 2011, 80 newcomers will be on the Congressional scene.  These new Congressional members ran on a familiar theme; change.  They are sure to be tested from day one.

The 2011 Congress should prove to be interesting if the newcomers stick to their platforms, which is quite simply change Washington as we know it today.  The Tea Party activists are supposedly aligned with the Republicans but they present an interesting dynamic in their own right.  In fact, the Tea Party is further right than most Republicans dare to go.

Meanwhile, there are the surviving Democrats who are hanging on by a thread to the Senate and who are not the warm and snuggly harmonious group that rallied behind their President.  These Democrats have issues and as usual, their top priority is to get re-elected in 2012.

In the middle of all these warring factions is a President who is immensely popular but whose on the job ratings contract more each month.  Once the champion of the left, Barrack Obama has had to move to the center to untangle the gridlock.  For two years, the Republicans slowed legislation and derailed programs before they could leave the floor. 

If the Democrats apply the same tactics in 2011, the American taxpayer will get no answers for some very critical issues.  Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell’s clearly stated goal is to prevent Obama from winning a second term.  How are the taxpayers supposed to interpret that agenda?  If you listen close enough, you can hear the sounds of a fourth grade recess in Washington.

New Majority Leader of the House, Representative John Boehner is the master of the obvious.  Recently he declared, “It’s pretty clear the American people want  smaller, less costly and more accountable government.”

Of course they do!  That is what every administration since WWII has promised.

The problem with the goals Boehner stated is that it takes political courage and political risk to enact change and reform.  While unemployment is the biggest battle to be fought, the ballooning national debt is just as important.

The Tea Party promised to do something about that.  Because they are new, they will have time to adjust, but by March, when the Federal Budget must be approved, they will have had their fifteen minutes.

Congress has received input from three commissions on how to reduce the country’s $13.7 trillion debt.  The Bowles-Simpson commission was the most stringent and publicized report.  As Simpson said, “We have harpooned every whale in the ocean and some of the minnows.”

Virtually every special interest group criticized the Simpson-Bowles report, but in light of Moody’s threat to downgrade the country’s bonds if changes are not in place in two years, there is no time to stall.  If the 2011 Congress insists on gridlock, the national language may quickly become Chinese.

Eugene Steuerle, a fellow at the Urban Institute and a former Treasury official, states that the government is spending an average of $30,000 per household and receiving an average of $20,000 per household.  If this was your business, you would close the doors and start over.

There is no doubt that the key components of the annual budget that need to be addresses are Social Security, Health Insurance and Defense.  Bowels-Simpson took dead aim at these high priority issues.  That is easier to do when you are not running for office.  These three topics, which the country cannot afford, are sacred cows in Washington.

The Tea Party success will be short-lived if it creates gridlock.  What Washington needs to know is that Americans want to reduce the deficit and pay their bills that have been imposed by Washington.  It is not like taxpayers are unused to biting the bullet. 

With any luck, enough Democrats will move to the center and enough Republicans under pressure from the Tea Party will join them there to form one of the unlikeliest coalitions ever seen in D.C.

Right now there is one lonely figure standing close to the middle and that Is Barrack Obama.  That is a start.

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