I voted by absentee ballot, as there are no polling places in my tiny, mountain community.  On election day, I was headed home from a quick trip to Seal Beach, CA.  In order to avoid traffic, my twelve hour drive home began at 4:30 am.  As I drove by McCain/Palin signs in Republican Orange County and the vast farm lands of I-5, I began to doubt an Obama victory. We listened to talk radio, from conservative to liberal stations on the satellite, before finally setting on the BBC.  Hearing callers from around the world share their excitement and hope that Obama would win, I was moved at how this man has reached out to the world with the same message of hope and change he has given the American people. 

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U.S. stocks advanced today in the biggest presidential Election Day rally in 24 years. This has been led by energy and banking shares, on higher commodity prices and speculation the Treasury will bail out more financial companies. (Bloomberg)

According to Philip Orlando, who helps manage $330 billion as chief equity strategist at Federated Investors Inc. in New York, “The elimination of the uncertainty of the campaign typically results in an end-of-year rally and you’re starting to see that today.”

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Economic Populism appears to be back in vogue. Given the fall of Lehman Brothers and the Wall Street machine, the economic banter clearly seems to be “the people” versus “the elites.

Economic populism involves an economic philosophy urging social and political system changes. In the current political and economic climate, the public concern over the inequity of wealth appears to be at a peak. There is a growing call by Senator Barack Obama and democrats to raise taxes on the wealthy to shrink the wealth gap. But is it true that the rich are getting richer? Or are the rich actually in danger of losing a significant portion of the nation’s wealth? Are the democrats worried about a problem that’s already being fixed by the markets?

Emmanuel Saez, the income-share expert and economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley told Robert Frank of the Wall Street Journal that during the Great Depression, the income and wealth of the top 1% of society fell drastically. (Read here for the full story). If history is to be believed then this will happen again especially if Obama becomes president.

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Everyone seems to be in agreement these days that green jobs are part of the key to solving the current financial crisis. Barack Obama outlined his ideas for how to accomplish this in yesterday’s speech. Here are some excerpts:

• “We’ll create 5 million new, high-wage jobs by investing in the renewable sources of energy that will eliminate the oil we currently import from the Middle East in 10 years, and we’ll create 2 million jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, schools, and bridges.”
• “It is time to protect the jobs we have and to create the jobs of tomorrow by unlocking the drive, and ingenuity, and innovation of the American people. And we should fast-track the loan guarantees we passed for our auto industry and provide more as needed so that they can build the energy-efficient cars America needs to end our dependence on foreign oil.”
• “I won’t pretend this will be easy or come without cost. We’ll have to set priorities as never before, and stick to them. That means pursuing investments in areas such as energy, education, and healthcare that bear directly on our economic future, while deferring other things we can afford to do without.”

John McCain is also interested in creating “green jobs” to help boost the economy.  How’s his plan different?  McCain’s talking about the nuclear sector, while Obama’s talking about the research and development of clean fuels and cars.

Read the transcript from Obama’s economic speech here.

Source:  nytimes
Photo:  Wikimedia Commons

Under the four-year proposal, the Liberals would offer homeowners $10,000 in financial support for investing in energy-saving measures such as insulation, weatherproofing and more efficient heating systems.

Up to $10,000 would also be available to homeowners as an interest-free “green mortgage loan” to help with up-front costs and major retrofits.

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