Impatient investors want to know the specifics of what Team Obama is cooking up

Wall Street: Devil is in the details
Impatient investors want to know the specifics of what Team Obama is cooking up to soften the blow of the recession. The week ahead brings several opportunities.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A lack of clear communication between the government and Wall Street last week left investors scratching their heads and dumping their stocks. The week ahead brings a chance for a rapprochement.
President Obama is expected to sign into law Monday the much debated $787 billion economic stimulus package. Obama and his team are also expected to outline specifically why the plan will help soften the blow of the recession when other government efforts over the last year have had little impact.
The plan combines tax relief, aid and spending, and was passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate last week with very little Republican support. (Full story)
Later in the week, Obama is expected to provide details on the administration's plan to modify home loans in a bid to limit foreclosures.
"We need specifics," said Joe Arnold, wealth manager at Dawson Wealth Management. "The market is back down near the November lows because we don't know specifically how and when these plans are going to have an impact."

Stimulus: What got cut

Stimulus: What got cut
Trimmed out of the Obama Stimulus Plan, funds for the Smithsonian, hybrid vehicles and polar icebreakers for the Coast Guard.

Items Cut: (Source CNN Money)

-- $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill was for $7 billion)

-- $75 million for Smithsonian (original bill was for $150 million)

-- $200 million for Superfund (original bill was for $800 million)

-- $100 million for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill was for $427 million)

-- $100 million for Law enforcement wireless (original bill was for $200 million)

-- $300 million for federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill was for $600 million)

-- $100 million for FBI construction (original bill was for $400 million)

Items Fully Eliminated:

-- $55 million for historic preservation

-- $122 million for new Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters

Obama Needs To Get Outside the Beltway.

(From MOJO Blog Mother Jones)
President Barack Obama needs to get outside the Beltway.
Not necessarily by hopping on Air Force One (which he has yet to use), but by reaching out to the millions of Americans who are rooting for him in order to obtain their active support for his economic stimulus plan. In the first fortnight of his presidency, Obama has mainly played an inside game, as he has tried to win congressional approval of an economic recovery package. When the nearly $900 billion measure was being considered in the House, Obama largely deferred to House Democrats, who shoved many long-yearned-for spending initiatives into the bill. Thus, a 647-page creature was born, which included provisions easy for Republicans and conservatives to deride and oppose.

...
In the past two weeks, Obama and his aides have encountered the typical difficulties of Washington. It's hard to find experienced influence-makers for high-level appointments who are not tainted by the town's K Street culture (Washington's K Street, a canyon of nondescript office buildings a few blocks north of the White House that is to influence-peddling what Wall Street is to finance.) It's tough to score bipartisan points by working with partisans. It's a bitch to ask Capitol Hill machers to change their ways (of appropriating and legislating). It's not easy to control the message when a cacophonous media focus (sometimes rightfully) on missteps and conflict.

Reform and Recovery

News Analysis
A Stimulus Plan With Dual Goals: Reform and Recovery (New York Times Permalink)
By DAVID E. SANGER Published: February 1, 2009
Can the government fashion a fast and efficient stimulus plan while also seizing the moment to remake America?

Wall Street bonuses under scrutiny

Wall Street bonuses under scrutiny
(02:02) Reuters Video Report

Jan 30. - As Obama attacks Wall Street bonuses, officials investigate executive pay and consider regulating compensation.
$18.4 billion in Wall Street bonuses were paid in 2008 despite mounting losses and government bailouts. Manoush Zomorodi reports from New York.

Do you want to know what Obama is focussing on?

Obama's green energy push spotlights Ohio biz
Obama's stimulus sales trip this week will feature Cardinal Fastener, a manufacturing company that has reinvented itself for the alternative-energy future.

(CNNMoney.com) -- Never mind Joe the Plumber; meet John the Manufacturer. That's what President-elect Barack Obama will be doing Friday, when he stops in Ohio to pitch his $825 billion economic recovery and job creation package.
While in Bedford Heights, Ohio, Obama will be touring the Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Company, a local manufacturing company that supplies steel screws, washers and bolts to industries such as construction and mining. The company is a carefully chosen poster child for Obama's stimulus plans: While so many manufacturers struggle with slowing sales, Cardinal Fastener is growing and adding staff, thanks to its focus on the green energy industry.
"People call it the next automotive industry for the United States," said John Grabner, 56, president and owner of Cardinal.

The small company is about to take the spotlight on a big stage - Grabner had to cut short an interview because a batch of Secret Service agents showed up at his door

Getting the money for the economic stimulus plan.

Getting the money for the economic stimulus plan.

With President-elect BarackObama's Inauguration Day less than 3 weeks away, Democratic lawmakers want to pass a far-reaching bill to save the economy. The largest Washington spending bill of all time, which is expected to reach the 1 Trillion Dollar will face some opposition from Republican Senate leaders and could easily be pushed forward in to February.
Democratic negotiators in the House and Senate are working on proposals that they will present to their chambers after the new Congress convenes on Jan. 6.
There is a chance a stimulus bill will be passed by Jan. 20, but it might be the first of two pieces of legislation.
"The first will be stimulus measures intended to get folks back to work and to help with housing. Then a broader measure will advance that will include more public works projects and related measures," said Jaret Seiberg, a financial services analyst at the Stanford Group, a Washington-based policy research firm.
With worsening economic conditions, the estimated cost of stimulating the economy shoots up.
Obama has said he wants to genarate or save 2.5 million jobs in the next two years. With the economic crisis spreading through allmost all levels of industry and the services sector being hit as well, unemployment rising, the retail sector suffering and consumer confidence at an all times low, this is a tremendous challenge. It is no more a matter of just throwing money at the problem but creating a fine-tuned stimulus package, which will need some time.
(Source CNN Money)
Road to stimulus: Speed bumps ahead

Zondag 2 November/ De Amerikaanse verkiezingen Obama - McCain

Wij gaan er van uit dat Barack Obama wint op 4 november a.s. Al sinds Juni 2007 beschouwen wij hem als de beste kandidaat en een potentiële winnaar in de race naar het Amerikaanse Presidentschap. Hij heeft charisma, visie en internationale allure, is heel intelligent en in staat om mensen te enthousiasmeren en hoop te geven. Kortom de perfecte kandidaat voor deze tijd en het begin van de 21ste eeuw.
Zijn erfenis na 8 jaar wanbeleid van George W. Bush c.s. zal niet gemakkelijk zijn, de krediet crisis, de beurskrach, een ernstige economische teruggang, het begin van een mogelijk diepe recessie, het Irak débacle, Afghanistan, en de klimaat crisis, zijn slechts enkele voorbeelden. Dan zijn er nog wat titanen klussen zoals, de ziektekosten, het onderwijs, het herstel onderhoud en vernieuwing van de infrastructuur in grote delen van de VS en het ontwikkelen van de sociale cohesie en structuur buiten de 'religious industry'.
Daarom is het van cruciaal belang of Barack Obama in staat zal zijn een excellent team om zich heen te verzamelen.
En hij zal beslist internationaal en op geopolitiek gebied getest worden zoals elke verse President van de U.S.A.

Op Finance.Yahoo kunt u een volledig overzicht vinden van het standpunt van beide kandidaten over de belangrijkste economische issues.
Via CNN Election Center kunt u het verloop van de verkiezingen volgen.

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