So, What Do We Do Now?

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3111#.UJ1veStQ1MQ.email

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"Most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than planning their lives." (Source Unknown - John C. Maxwell)
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While I'm not sure what the economy is doing (and, I don't think anybody else is either), it looks like "housing" is finally beginning to move up. For me, that's one of the two indicators I look at (the other is "employment").

So, what should President Obama push for over the next 4 years? Well, it's nice to have a Wharton faculty summary of what they think he ought to be doing. According to Franklin Allen, the first thing he needs to do is solve the "fiscal cliff" problem. That would appear to be what President Obama is doing. According to Allen, the second thing he needs to be doing is reform Medicare. I don't see lots of people clamoring for that one.

Another voice of the Wharton faculty argues that the top priority should be getting the economy going again - Robert P. Inman, professor of business economics and public policy. He favors another round of fiscal stimulus (probably because the first round wasn't enough): his method would be broad-based tax cuts.

There is a general consensus that if the fiscal cliff problem is not solved, the overall economy will go back into recession. That would be as opposed to what it's in now - something Nouriel Roubini calls "stall speed."

Another faculty member sees the fiscal cliff crisis as long term opportunity to reform the tax code and spend a little smarter. Not bad. The problem is, as I told somebody recently, we are becoming Italy: members of Congress can't agree on what time it is. Or, as one member of the Wharton faculty puts it: "You used to have grown ups in the Senate...The grown ups just aren't there anymore. It's becoming so fragmented."

Susan Wachter, a Wharton real estate professor, feels the fragile housing market could falter without a fiscal cliff solution. This, just as that housing market appears to be coming back! Wachter defines "weak" as construction starts at 600,000 which is well below the 1.6 million peak before the recession.

There are so many considerations but it's interesting to see what one faculty thinks about an immediate need to do "something!"