Monday, November 14, 2011

As agent for change, Obama is a disappointment

President Obama ran on the promise that he represents the agent for change and as president he would do things differently. So far he has delivered mostly more of same.

Banks that were too big to fail under the previous adminstration continues to be too big to fail.

Wars too costly to fight has lingered and America continues to bleed.

Most recently, Obama has joined the chorus that blamed the US economic woes on an undervalued Renminbi, as if a sudden valuation would solve his problems at home. Fact of the matter is that the US has been printing greenbacks faster than China could keep up with, even if they wanted to.






Last week a column written by a former military person in NYT proposed that Obama approach China with the offer to swap American disengagement of Taiwan for the American debt China is holding. The logic behind this piece is that if the US leaves the room, then the two parties across the Taiwan Strait would natually sit down and negotiate a peaceful settlement.

This is certainly a bold and provocative idea that stands no chance of getting Obama's attention. He has to date shown no inclination to make any bold and thus potentially risky moves.