As of today the chances for the Republican Party to stage a comeback in the 2010 mid-term elections are slim at best. As a party they have presented no plan for the future and do not even have a true and identifiable leader. The Democrats are close to the 60 votes they need to shut down the Republican side of the aisle. If this comes to pass the House and the Senate will be owned and run by the Democratic Party. This type of consolidated power is good only for short periods of time. If the power stays one sided for too long the thinking will get stale and entrenched in political agenda. The resolution for the Republican Party is to work with the Democrats and be sure they get their honorable mention in the media of their home bases. That will cut their losses at the mid-term elections and give them additional time to identify and present their new leader to the public at large.

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As we look at the 100th day of the Obama Presidency there is still not a true economic plan from the Republican Party on the table. They came up with a republican budget but the still have not put flesh on the bones to the budget. There has been no definitive statement as to what programs should be first and the agendas for the specific programs are. Anyone or group can put out a budget but without a plan of substance to support the supposed budget there is nothing. At present there has been a lot of talk but there is no true semblance of a plan in place from the Republican side of the isle. With that being said, there is no credibility for any comments as to the progress the President has made toward his agenda or to the effectiveness of his actions for the last 100 days. Perhaps at the end of the next three months we will be able to make some honest assessments.

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In some corners of the world the current economic situation is considered to be the first in a series of events signaling the end of time. If this is the first step in the end of days most people do not believe it to be so. In America that is surely the case. There was fear to an unusual degree, though it still persists, the people believe that we will pull through this situation. There is even hope that the country will emerge stronger both economically and on the demanding domestic social issues. What may have been considered, in the back of some minds, a non-germ based pandemic a short time ago that thinking has changed in America. The present belief system sees the light at the end of the tunnel as just that, light, not an oncoming train.

What I have said up to now does not mean that the fear is gone or that all people believe the end of the recession is near. Actually if you ask around most people still do not know if we have hit bottom yet. There may still be a ways to go but there seems to be a toughening occurring in America. It is almost as if without uttering a sound the demeanor of people is indicating that each individual is saying to them self, "I have had
enough and now I am going to come out swinging". I can surely say that I am a bit surprised that it has happened this early in the game. I am not surprised that this has happened because we are viewing the American way. Although there are tough days ahead with this changing spirit in the street all I can say is it is good to be home.


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In the movie Wall Street the line "greed is good" became the warrior's cry on the street. The problem is that greed is not as good as advertised. Yet it seems very doubtful that there can be a Wall Street without greed. Every time the greedy and their schemes are discovered people say that will be the last time. It is then the government begins to change the laws of governance by restructure of the rules making the most recent episode of greed a thing of the past never to be seen again. The problem is the rules only help a little because greed finds a way. No matter what people say or think as soon as new rules are put in place the drive of greed seeks out a new and successful path.

The speed at witch greed moves and grows on Wall Street would be greatly hindered if there was less greed in the market participants. Look at the recent news clips of people who lost large sums of money with Bernie Madoff. They are crying because they invested in a sure thing which did not turn out to be so sure. It is the greed of the participants which provides the fuel for these pyramid schemes. It was the greed of the individual investors who thought they were beating out everyone else by putting all their money in one place only to find that an even greedier individual took advantage of them. Perhaps greed is good when it gets even.

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Several companies are in the process of announcing the return of the work they had placed off shore and the hiring of American workers to fill these newly created spots. There will be a big to do about these actions but when one looks under the covers we find these actions are less about patriotism, than the heralding proclaims, and have a lot more to do with a better bottom line. These companies have found out what they should have investigated and uncovered prior to off loading the work. Off shore work does not come cheap. Everything sounds good until the bills start to add up. When a company sends work off shore they pay for every little activity.

After a time the numbers start to mount. In addition, the quality of the service provided tends to degrade. In the manufacturing environment to achieve the best pricing the company must place large orders and there is also the timing issue. Orders must be placed at least three to four months prior to the date product is needed. In general the whole load is shipped in one shot and may be on the sea for up to twelve weeks. Transportation is expensive and the need to plan and place orders so far in advance has a cost of its own. In the long run the off shore approach is not as good a deal as the original sales pitch indicated.

The companies who are bringing their work back to the U.S. will find there are many programs available and in the wings to assist these companies by providing training money for the unemployed workers they will now hire. As they upgrade their equipment they will be able to take advantage of the new tax incentives available for their capital expenditures. In addition the hiring of the unemployed in the U.S. provides them with a work force that speaks the native language which is good for the telemarketing operations and the service call centers that are now coming back. I would say "who would have thought" except that work should never have left these shores in the first place.

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