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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

U.S. Congress: Focus on Economy NOT Political Obstruction

Economic data released today on the Chicago PMI (Purchasing Manager's Index) shows how much the U.S. economy is urgently in need of fiscal stimulation.

With barely a whimper above the 50 expansion level, the health of its economy is set to drop into contraction territory soon (as it did in 2009 following the depressed signals forecast by similar low numbers produced in 2007/08), unless Congress begins to cooperate and focus on real issues that support its claims of being number one in the world arena when it comes to economic (and military) might, instead of playing economically dangerous political games in unnecessarily obstructing the advancement of the new Trump administration, cabinet confirmations, and economic and security agendas.

In other words, Congress is attempting to discredit their own claims of world importance by playing silly games -- at the expense of its citizens who elected them to serve them and their interests and safety (what would you do if someone you hired to work for you refused to show up for work?) -- and end up looking transparently foolish, lazy, self-serving, and lacking creative win-win conflict resolution abilities in the process.

Source: Forex Factory

Source: Forex Factory

As a reminder (and as an adjunct to what I've mentioned above regarding Congressional shenanigans), the United States has yet to regain its Standard & Poor's AAA credit rating, which was downgraded to AA+ on August 5, 2011, in spite of gains made in the stock market since then. That was the first time ever that the government was downgraded below AAA.

We'll see if that's ever upgraded in the future and how hard Congress would work toward that end.

* UPDATE Feb. 7th: However, from the look of today's tweet and re-tweet below, it appears that, right from the outset of this new administration's four-year cycle, Democrats aren't interested in such a cooperative effort. It doesn't take a genius to conclude that the economy and security of the U.S. (and its citizens) will suffer, as a result.

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Wikipedia