Despite Zero Percent Interest Rates, Obama’s Economy Ranks Worst Post WW2

Before you begin to mention the grandiose gains in the stock market since Obama took office, bear in mind a few things.

1. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to zero percent, making bonds and interest bearing accounts untenable for retirees, effectively forcing people into stocks. Also, the Fed’s balance sheet went from ~$750b to $4.5t over that time frame — rigging both equity, currency, and bond markets over Obama’s entire 8 year term.

2. Due to the financial crisis, drastic measures were taken to transfer the risk from the banks onto the national balance sheet. Moreso, in order to prevent the economy from slipping back into recession, the Obama administration underwent a methodical process of deficit spending that kept the economy artificially afloat. The side effect of this reckless spending was an additional $9t in debt added to America’s balance sheet.

Fun fact: Obama accumulated more debt in his 8 years as President than all previous President’s combined.

GDP growth, post WW2
Johnson (1964-68), 5.3 percent
Kennedy (1961-63), 4.3 percent
Clinton (1993-2000), 3.9 percent
Reagan (1981-88), 3.5 percent
Carter (1977-80), 3.3 percent
Eisenhower (1953-60), 3 percent
Nixon (1969-74), 2.8 percent
Ford (1975-76), 2.6 percent
G.H.W. Bush (1989-92), 2.3 percent
G.W. Bush (2001-08), 2.1 percent
Truman (1946-52), 1.7 percent
Obama (2009-16), 1.6 percent

Typically, coming off wretched economic growth, as we endured under Bush, the economy would snap back fiercely and register some impressive numbers. But that never happened under Obama, for a variety of reasons — namely because his administration opted for a Frankenstonian approach to economics that resuscitated and kept it artificially afloat, in order to progress an aggressive socialist agenda wrought with public entitlements and high taxes.

The net result, as the numbers show, was extreme failure — judged solely by ROI. As a nation, we stimulated the economy with more than $13 trillion in debt and Federal Reserve market interference, and yet the Obama years will forever be remembered as the only administration since Hoover to not grow the economy by more than 3% during his entire 8 year term.

Hey, at least we got an awesome healthcare plan out of it, yes?

Celebrating Michael Savage’s 75th birthday, Matt Drudge, founder of the largest news aggregator site in the world, DrudgeReport.com, paid him a surprise visit and guest hosted for a short while, fielding some calls and offering his opinion on the ongoing struggle between Trump versus the world.

Almost begrudgingly, Drudge declared that Trump, single-handedly, saved the main stream media from death spiraling amidst catastrophic ratings — thanks to public disinterest. Because of Trump, Drudge believes, the opposition has ‘consolidated’, ‘following every bouncing ball’, which has created a revitalization in the media not seen in years.

“I’m getting a little bit nervous about the media situation. Do you know, the media was near death. The New York Times was hanging on the short hairs. Do you know Vanity Fair was going under. CNN barely had a fraction,” Drudge said during an appearance on Michael Savage’s radio show.

Trump saved media

Drudge: 'Trump saved the media' pic.twitter.com/qWp2bL0CPv

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) April 1, 2017

Case in point, the share prices for all of the major media companies are sharply higher this year.

Being a provider of both financial and political news, I can tell you, first hand, our finance traffic pales in comparison to the political stuff. People are simply transfixed by this administration, because the man, Donald Trump, love him or hate him, is a lightening rod for controversy. We’re living through a reality show, the White House edition, and the media loves it.

Drudge also touched on Twitter, suggesting their audience is inflated and not that big. Largely, it’s an echo chamber for junkies.

Twitter’s audience isn’t that big. It’s for junkies.

Drudge: Twitter's audience isn't that big. It's feeding the junkies pic.twitter.com/4wevx1B7U7

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) April 1, 2017

Lastly, he cited recent Rasmussen poll numbers that showed Trump with a 44% approval rating. He said he trusted Rasmussen and that the bad polling data was ‘a danger’ for Trump and a consequence of having been dealt a bad hand, with everyone working in concert against the President. Drudge believes taking some time away from the limelight would do the President some good, judging the tree by the fruit it produces.

Drudge is worried about Trump’s poll numbers.

Drudge: Rasmussen approval ratings real danger for Trump. Thinks President should be more low key. pic.twitter.com/OY8QMFaGed

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) April 1, 2017

Here’s the full clip.

Comrades,

Mother Russia has updated their voicemail message so that anyone could speak to a Russian hacker about election interference.

I think, as pragamatic individuals, we should acknowledge that Russia is truly in charge of all elections now, presently capable of infiltrating the thoughts of billions of people by way of fake news bots and hackers that are literally able to appoint leaders in any country they want.

Western powers are defenseless against these high tech magicians and have made it clear that they can do nothing to fend off these vipers, other than to bitch and moan about how diabolically savvy they are.

Think about it. Russia is able to install entire regimes without firing a single shot. They’ve truly revolutionized the ancient concept of aggressive imperialism, done in a very genteel and modern non violent way that only the Russians are capable of pulling off. Such hipsters.

Behold, the Russian Embassy in the U.K. has revealed their new voice mail message.

“You have reached the Russian embassy, your call is very important to us. To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponent, press 1. To use the services of Russian hackers press 2. To request election interference, press 3 and wait until the next election campaign. Please note that all calls are recorded for quality improvement and training purposes.”

???????????? ??????????? ??? ?????? ??????????? ???????? ??????????? ????????????? ??? ?????????? ??????????????? ?????? ?? ??????? pic.twitter.com/eLl8Jgcgzt

— ??? ?????? ?? (@MID_RF) April 1, 2017

Last night while most of you losers were out vomiting on your dates, following a night of wanton drinking, I spent my time combing over the financial disclosures that were released by Trump’s staff. For the most part, it was garden variety money management shtick, vast portfolios spread out across numerous asset classes, real estate, and bank accounts.

I was surprised to learn that Sean Spicer was well off, with various real estate and stock holdings. Kellyanne Conway is worth anywhere between $10-40m and is a consultant for at least two dozen organizations.

The one that stood out most, which shouldn’t really come as a surprise considering he authored a book titled ‘Death by China’, was Trump’s top advisor on trade, Peter Navarro.

According to financial disclosures, Mr. Navarro was short China, via $FXP. Interestingly, he was also long China, via $FXI. Perhaps he was trying to arb or hedge a trade. It doesn’t make much sense to have both, certaintly not at the same time.

Additionally, he presently leveraged 2x short US treasuries, via $TBT. That’s sort of intriguing, our top trade advisor being short bonds, betting for rates to head higher.

He divested long bets on Germany, India, Taiwan and Europe. He’s long Canadian oil via $CNQ. And it looks like he booked a loss in piece of shit internet security stock, $FEYE. Who hasn’t?

Peter is a life long Democrat, a professor at the Univesity of California Irvine, who owns rental properties in the shithole known as Troy, Ny. Anyone who’s ever been there can attest to my opinion as being wholly accurate.

Lastly, Mr. Navarro received $10,500 for a keynote speech for the Casket and Funeral Supply Association. You really can’t make this shit up. The lad is so bearish even funeral directors want him to give speeches.

Disclosures below.