Can Obama harness the forces that might spur new growth? This is the key question for the next two years.
What are those forces? Essentially, there are two. One is the power of the business cycle, the tidal force that throughout history has dictated when the economy expands and when it contracts. Economists struggle to analyze this, but they almost inevitably conclude that it cannot be rushed and almost resists political command. As the saying goes, the market will go where it is going to go.
In this regard, Obama has no advantage over any other pol. Even in analyzing the tidal force correctly, he cannot control it.
What else might affect the economy? The answer is obvious, but its implications are frightening. War and peace influence the economy.
Look back at FDR and the Great Depression. What finally resolved that economic crisis? World War II.
Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran's ambition to become a nuclear power, he can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve.
I am not suggesting, of course, that the president incite a war to get reelected. But the nation will rally around Obama because Iran is the greatest threat to the world in the young century. If he can confront this threat and contain Iran's nuclear ambitions, he will have made the world safer and may be regarded as one of the most successful presidents in history.
How Obama "contains" Iran as a threat to make the Republicans happy enough to go along with it beyond what we're doing right now without using military force, I have no idea. I guess it doesn't count as war if we bomb the crap out of them or something, because doing that to Iraq and Afghanistan has worked out so well economically for us.
At this point I have to honestly wonder if Broder's a couple fries short of a Happy Meal. Attacking Iran to improve our economy? Risking another world war? How awesome would that be for our GDP, especially if we reduce our population though war dead?
Jesus wept. This guy is a Halloween ghoul of the first order. Not even Bush was that insane.
[UPDATE] Yggy wins the Internets.
Invading Canada would be much better war stimulus than Broder's crazy Iran plan.
Plus, poutine and Tim Horton's. How can we lose?
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3 comments:
Oh I'm sorry! Last time I checked Muslims weren't trying to kill Americans with explosive packages or anything. We should be their friends. That will stop them.
I suppose we'll have to wait until they kill a couple thousand Americans again before Obama decides Iran is a threat.
That will do wonders for him in 2012.
I suppose we'll have to wait until they kill a couple thousand Americans again before Obama decides Iran is a threat.
That will do wonders for him in 2012.
um, it worked out fine for bush, didn't it?
I have yet to see a single fragment of credibility in the commenter or in Brody, who might well be one and the same.
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