Chris Tomaras / Straight Talk / November 8, 2008

This week we elected Barack Obama our 44th President of the United States. Our congratulations go out to President elect Obama for his victory and we wish him well in what will be an extremely difficult job at an extremely difficult time in our nation’s history.

This past Wednesday I needed to drive across the state on business and as I stopped along the way I overheard many people talking about the election results and especially afro Americans, both young and old, expressing their joy and excitement that Barack Obama was elected our first Afro-American President. As I observed the celebration and what appeared to be one of the proudest moments of their lives, it gave me pause to think of how far we have come as a nation regarding race.  My heart went out to them. It was an experience I will never forget. It was truly history in the making. As a white male Caucasian I cannot begin to relate to the bondage, the ridicule, the injustice and the suffering that this race has had to endure for all of these years yet suddenly a bright, articulate and gifted black gentleman and a true role model, especially for young black people, will be inaugurated as our new commander in chief. This is an event that goes far beyond politics in its relevance and significance.

And while all Americans did not vote for president elect Obama, all Americans have  experienced a historic event which has been viewed by many people all over the world with admiration and as a sign of hope and great expectation.

The loss of the presidency for John McCain and his supporters is part of the American electoral process. Had Barack Obama lost this election, it would have been absolutely devastating for an entire race of people whose time has finally come. Given the historic significance of this election, President Obama’s accountability and responsibility will extend far beyond politics and our country’s borders.

In preparing for today’s show, I don’t ever remember a time when it has been more difficult to comprehend and decipher so many critical issues all happening at the same time and what effect one has upon another. The reason for all of the consternation is that we are treading in unchartered waters without a life vest.

It’s also been a hay day for the press and as you might know, I am not a big fan of the press. Now that the election is over, they get to talk about the perilous state of the economy, the war, the financial crisis, the housing crisis and our nation’s first black president. They’re like kids in a candy store. Just imagine all the negativity they can muster up and how many people they can criticize with all these things going on. They have the ability to stir up a great deal of emotion in an effort to increase their viewership, but it also stirs up a lot of confusion as to what is hype, what is truth and what is significant.

It’s going to be a long road ahead for President elect Obama and the most critical issue facing our country is the solvency of our financial system and our economy and the growing ideology that throwing billions of dollars at the problem is going to solve it.

As everyone recalls, Treasury Secretary Paulsen, the administration and many congressional leaders frightened the nation that our financial system was about to collapse therefore needing $700B immediately to buy up bad mortgage loans in order to put banks back in the lending business and bolster consumer confidence. After passing the plan, Secretary Paulsen then decided it would be more advantageous to buy shares of stock of troubled banks rather than buying up bad loans. In that way those same banks would have money to lend for new mortgages, thereby stimulating the economy. The banks lined up, took the Governments money in return for shares of their stock but unfortunately they are not lending the money.

We are now looking at an additional stimulus package including a possible tax cut. The additional stimulus is to address the severe negative effects that the economic downturn has had on specific sectors and industries such as housing, automakers, infrastructure and travel according to a US chamber of Commerce memo issued during the week.

It will be interesting to see how the government is going to handle this issue.

Goldman Sachs this week is predicting the deepest recession since 1982. Remember……. that’s when Jimmy Carter was President and the prime rate hit 22%.

The bad news continues to mount with the auto industry on the verge of collapse, unemployment beginning to skyrocket, US cities running up large deficits and desperately in need of money and the US dollar again on the decline…… so where do we go from here? I wish the answer was as simple as electing a new president.
The irony of the whole thing is that, here we have a political party that has finally positioned themselves to where they could increase taxes and implement all sorts of social agendas. But guess what? Because of the financial crisis, if they increase taxes it will have a profound negative impact on an already sharply declining economy and with so much money needed to support the bailout and the credit crisis there’s no money to spend on left wing agendas. So how will President Obama be able to reach across the aisle and at the same time keep his own party members on the far left happy?

Well stay tuned as all eyes will be focused on our new President and Democratic controlled Congress and whether he is serious about fulfilling his campaign promises, especially the one pertaining to healing our country? I along with other patriotic Americans sincerely hope and pray that he succeeds.

And that’s this week’s Straight Talk!