The golden Obama years

[hardnox]

I'll continue to maintain that it was a marvelous can kicking exercise- certainly extended the game nicely for "agriculture" and other favored sectors.

One of the keys to the Obama expansion wasn't of his doing- the deregulation and flood of capital into the oil and gas sector that ocurred during the previous administration. Unfortunately it is all just an illusion as we create debt to, literally, get oil from stones.

Now we're engaged in some real retro action- pretending that we're going to resurrect the Age of Oil.

Some interesting stuff here.

https://ourfiniteworld.com/2016/11/17/the-energy-problem-behind-trumps-election/

[hardnox]

a little more down to earth= her predictions were pretty good last year.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/nomi-prins-my-political-financial-road-map-for-2017.html

[BA Deere]

$10 Trillion was spent over the last 8 yrs, more than the previous 43 presidential administrations combined, the fed funds rates was kept at zero to keep the deficit as low as possible, I really don`t know what`s "golden" about that.  If the unemployed quit looking for work after a couple quarters, they are no longer accounted as "unemployed", a $20/hr factory worker that`s downsized to clerking at Dollar General for $9/hr isn`t pro-rated in unemployment figures.

But the commodity boom 2008-2013 has my head scratching as much as anyone`s.  Supposedly there was "peak oil peak oil!" oil goes to $150, gold to $2,000, $8 corn and $16 beans ...I suppose on concerns that the QE spending of $1 Trillion/year would stimulate hyper-inflation?   But, it all went in the stock market and not a dime made it to mainstreet.  The workboot boys suffered and the "white shoe boys" never had it better even in their wildest dreams.

But grain prices rallying 08-13 was due to the inflation funds and some well placed global droughts.  It was Mother Nature`s "set aside" program for us, but that too ended.