Obama Oversees Second US Credit Rating Drop

While chaos reigns in the middle east, particularly in countries where Obama supported the Arab Spring revolutions, there is news happening here at home. The United States credit rating has been cut for a second time in history. Obama holds the dubious distinction of being the first President under which the US credit rating has dropped, now he holds the distinction of being the first President under which the credit rating has been dropped twice. Our stellar AAA rating is now a less than stellar AA-. A lower credit rating means the government will pay more in interest on our $16 trillion debt. Of course this news has been widely buried, having come out late Friday afternoon.

If one is an apologist for President Obama you might blame Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s announcement of yet another round of Quantitative Easing (QE3). This could best be described as inflation as the Fed is going to print money and pump it into banks. The first two rounds of QE did little more than temporarily boost the financial sector before the economy returned to its normal state of stagnation. The first two rounds have been complete failures, so of course QE3 will work right? That Bernanke feels the need to inflate the currency in order to boost the economy suggests that the economy  is in a fragile state, it further suggests Obama’s policies haven’t worked.

Now, if Obama apologists want to blame Bernanke why isn’t the President calling on the Fed Chairman to resign? Obama must support this inflation, otherwise he would be stamping his feet blaming the credit rating drop on the Fed. Interestingly Mitt Romney opposes QE3 and has publicly said that he didn’t think the Fed should go through with it. So we have yet another distinction to make between the two candidates. Obama supports QE3, thus he supports inflation and the credit rating cut. Mitt Romney stands against all of this.

Inflating the currency again is going to be nothing but bad for the middle class. We in the middle class have already suffered greatly under Obama’s leadership. Average salaries are down nearly $4,000 in the last four years. In fact, median income is at its lowest since 1995. So not only are incomes down but inflation is going to drive prices higher. It will become even more expensive to feed and clothe a family, drive a car etc. To say nothing of new luxuries such as taking a vacation. Obama and Bernanke won’t take an immediate hit from inflation, it will take a good year for QE3 to fully inflate the currency. But when it happens, it will be on those two.

It’s time for a new President. Obama’s foreign policy is blowing up in the middle east. At home our credit rating has been cut for a second time. We haven’t gained back all of the jobs lost since Obama took office, to say nothing of the jobs lost when the recession began. This is the slowest economic recovery since WWII. Yet, Obama remains the odds on favorite to win. Romney has to do a better job of distinguishing himself from Obama. He needs to take bold stands concerning the middle east and he needs to do the same on the credit rating cut and QE3. The less he says the more he looks weak in the face of a piranha press. We need leadership and we’re not getting it from Obama. It’s Romney’s time to show some guts otherwise we surely will have four more years of Obama.