The CEO Game

Time to withdraw; what was an absolute last week became mere signs and indicators today.

Still Got a Long Way

Only a couple of days after US administration publicly announced that the “recession is over“, Barak Obama seems to be lowering expectations and claims there are indicators of improvement but America still “got a long way to go”. On his speech today (Monday) at the White House Obama was joined by members of his Economic Recovery Advisory Board and by Paul Volcker, one of his chief financial advisers and former chairman of the Federal Reserve. Obama said that the US has came a long way since January, when he stepped into office, when at that time US was “losing 700,000 jobs per month” and “there was fear of another Great Depression”. “We have pulled the economy back from the brink” said Obama.

Obama referred to last week’s out of the blue announcement and said it was “good news” to hear about the US GDP growing once again. He also said that there are signs starting (and starting only) of “stabilization and, indeed, some improvement” in US and Global economy. Nevertheless, he carefully added that the administration is obligated to take on further steps to support the job market and decrease the national debt. “Actions that we took swiftly through the Recovery Act helped to stem what could have been a disastrous situation for the economy” he commented gladly and added that the actions have produced some positive improvement, all while comparing the situation today to what was at the time Bush closed up shop.

“But the reason we’re here today is because we just are not where we need to be yet” he then changed direction. “We are still seeing production levels that are significantly below peak levels and most distressing is the fact that job growth continues to lag” he added. Obama continued by saying there is no reason why the administration should not be able to create more workplaces as needed and even create the continuous economic growth everybody is expecting. Yet, probably again with the lessons of the sudden weird-like announcement last week by the Ministry of Commerce, he backed himself up by saying that many job losses are expected within the upcoming weeks and months.

In conclusion, President Obama put it best in his speech- “We’ve got a long way to go“. Given the severity of the job losses, more than 7 million jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007 and the unemployment rate which had risen to 9.8% last month, even with the 787 billion dollars worth financial bailout package, he is absolutely correct, and it’s going to require him to lead some innovative action to overcome this deficit and maybe finally prove his administration.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

According to the US administration, apparently the recession is now behind us.

Is The Recession Over?

“The recession in the United States had ended and it happened earlier that what was expected” announced the US Ministry of Commerce on Thursday. The announcement said that the US GDP number was up 3.5% in the third quarter (annual) and that this rise was possible due to the billions invested by president Obama in the economic bailout package that was intended to rescue the market and the financial institutes.

The message also claimed that the other reasons who led to the growth and the re-awakening of the market were the rise in consumption in the private sector, multiple chunky investments in real estate in general and in housing in particular. The ministry also claimed that the government’s continuing encouragement to buy and houses and cars was also an influencing factor.

Nevertheless, the many unemployed US citizens will still have to wait. The job seekers will have to hold their grudge for a little while longer, since the change will only come within a couple of months according to the commerce office. Currently, the unemployment rate is doing just the opposite of decreasing; in fact it hit its peak: 9.8% against 7.6% in January- the month when Bush relinquished command and Obama was sworn in and took on his position.

President Obama took charge when the American economy was in a crisis so big that many claimed it was the “worst crisis America has seen since the 30’s“. In short, if the growth will continue in 2010 and whether more workplaces will be created, it could be Obama’s biggest achievement (a one that he needs) since stepping into office and beginning his actions to improve the economy. Here is something to think about, if I had to rename the title I would call it “Goodbye Recession, Bonjour depression“, the reasons why will be discussed on the next time.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.