I think you and I, at the time, were both fairly optimistic. We talked about the stimulus, government spending, stepping in as a support for the economy. Things stabilized. We did start to see some improvement. Obviously, a tremendous rebound in the stock market. What does the 2010 outlook, in your view, look like? Fichera: Well I think, as I told you back then, I was cautious to pessimistic, a little bit, rather than optimistic. And, the caution, I think, is coming out, in the sense that we’ve had, as you say, nominal growth as a result of all the tear-down that we had, and then coming back. But, sustainable growth is still a challenge. And now, with the political system in such a disarray, and with the entire focus on the election, I’m not quite sure of how this will all play out in the coming weeks, as opposed to a sort of stagnation approach. We’re still focusing on the Federal Reserve this coming week [week of Jan. 25], parsing what their phraseology is going to be, in terms of sustained growth, whether that will come about. But, with the renewed focus and the need for jobs, and you have to do something in the political party, I’m trying to be more hopeful, now, that a second stimulus might be able to come about because people know they need to see that needle move on jobs. If it doesn’t move, there’s going to be a revolution in November. And, I think both parties realize that. Norman: Well, the first shot across the bow of the revolution has already occurred, we could say, probably, with the Senate race in Massachusetts, with the election of Scott Brown. But, you're talking about the need for a second stimulus. Yet, there’s a populist revolt; you used the word yourself – a revolution in this country going on right now, against any additional government support, government spending, big government, whatever you want to call it, as a prop or a support to the economy. How can we possibly … you mentioned the political environment. It seems like the president has used up a lot of political capital in, for example, trying to pass health reform, and is absolutely incapable, it seems right now, to push through any further stimulus. Fichera: Well, there’s a lot going on in your questions. Yes, obviously the president has focused on health care and not, in terms of the economy and financial services and reforms. I think that’s changed. The second part of a revolution is what the Supreme Court did in terms of campaign financing. That is a tsunami that’s going to take over this country. Norman: In what way? You're talking about, now, corporations. It eliminates the ban on political donations by corporations. Fichera: That’s right. So, that makes … Norman: So we go into the Corporate States of America? Is that what we should start calling ourselves? Fichera: Well, no. I mean, yes. But remember, it also empowers unions and other … it just means that the amount of money that will flow into this election, now, and from concerted special interest groups is going to be massive; that we haven't seen before. We’ve had a lot of special interest money before; it’s going to be even a factor of that, and, therefore, the division as to where we’re going to actually focus our time and get the stimulus, get the job creation. Here both parties know that’s the word: job creation. The American population, in the terms of the revolution – the Tea Party, according to Fox News – is against … the classic thing is against big government and big this, big that. But, they want to see some movement in their particular lives, and not to see the movement being in my industry getting back on its feet and making money, rehiring, but in other industries. And so, it’s the channeling of that anger into some specific programs, whether Obama can ever get, really, a leadership control of the Congress. Because I think that’s really what’s happened. He’s had to defer to various people. |
Loading data ...