Obama Speaks On 60 Minutes

I must say, I am for President Obama. I voted for him with a great deal of hope.
And I still expect good to come from this administration.

Regarding his remarks on 60 minutes there are two points I would like to make.

He said we should not settle for a new normal of higher unemployment. Looking back, unemployment was down around 5% when we got into trouble. Trying to get back down to that level is a mistake. That level is an overheated economy. I don't know what the right number is for full employment, but I estimate it to be around 8%. I expect that would not be acceptable to the administration, but I believe it would be healthy.

He also remarked about the expiring tax cuts. He gave me the impression that he values consumption more than investment. He is willing to raise taxes on high incomes because that would not hurt consumption spending as much.
I believe that investment spending is more important for a good economy than consumption spending. It seems the higher income people are more likely to invest than the lower income people. Cutting investment hurts the economy.

Also, our economy is healthier with business investment and not with housing investment. Houses are actually liabilities. They don't produce anything.

So we should get used to higher unemployment and make policy that accepts it. And we should stop promoting consumption and instead promote investment.