2011 -Year in Revue

Biggest Winner:

Gold- the Arab street; the populist political tidal wave still resonating throughout the Middle East represents the most powerful transformative global social dynamic.

Silver- Occupy Wall Street for changing the national political dynamic and discourse

Bronze- Wall Street and the top 1% for keeping their money and not paying more taxes. The rich still pay 15% in taxes versus 30+% the rest of us pay. Wall Street, as of this week, averages 45% of compensation to revenue. Such obscene rates of compensation are defended as retention policies for the best and brightest. Since all the firms pay the same, what other business could they jump ship for that would enable them to make that amount of money? There was a time when all investment houses were private. People risked their own money, made huge profits and huge salaries. God bless them. Around forty years ago all the houses become public and now take HUGE risks with other people’s money and up to 60% of all revenue goes to the brokers, not the public investors or shareholders.

Honorable Mention: With an emphasis on the word honorable, the men of Seal Team 6 took out Osama. All in a days work for these unsung heroes defending our lazy asses.       

Biggest Loser:

Gold- The Middle Class; Like a California mudslide, the Middle Class continued to erode into poverty in a hemorrhage of job loss, home foreclosures, and lost health care. Numbers for 2011 indicated the highest levels of poverty in 52 years and rising. Formerly affluent suburbia is slipping into poverty (below $22k) at a 50% increase over 2010.

Silver- Obama Administration economic policies; These guys seem clueless in effectively stimulating the economy or at least taking the opportunity to fix what is broken, all the while adding $4.4 trillion to the National Debt while they test out various economic theories. Their approach has been diffuse and misaligned rather than leveraging fundamental systematic  structural reforms. Their initial anemic stimulus package failed to match the scale of the need and failed to incentivize stimulative practices. It did sustain business as usual for a year. After squandering remaining precious political capital on a very controversial health care bill, no reforms have been made on the foundational problems which caused the economic collapse. Investment practices still go on as before, bailout bait banks go on too big to jail, corporations are still getting fat and sassy doing brisk business offshore and the tax code is business as usual, only more complicated. A scholarly joint study by Stanford and UC Berkeley released last week indicated that 2 million jobs were not created due to regulatory uncertainty in the business community. Like most issues, the Bush Lite Obama boys seem to try to sustain business as usual while the situation goes to hell in a handbasket.

Bronze- John Corzine, symbolizing the worst aspects of our political and economic elite. It’s one thing to lose $1.2 billion in the market. It’s another thing to just lose $1.2 billion. Check your other pants, John.

Most Defining Political Moment:

Gold- Debt ceiling debacle; This spectacle of a squabbling gridlocked Congress led to the economic downgrade of the US credit rating and a single-digit approval rating by the American people. This exercise in discretionary brinkmanship alienated many Independents. This fiasco was followed by additional circus acts such as a totally failed “Supercommittee” and forced Sequester of discretionary and Defense spending. Best not look for solutions from these juvenile, intransigent, incompetent ideologues….or put another way… This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when a baby gets hold of a hammer – Will Rogers.

Silver- Obama’s rejection of his own bipartisan Bowles-Simpson economic plan. He now appears to have no way forward for economic stimulus.

Bronze- The US withdrawal from Iraq; Hardly seems worth the price tag of $1 trillion spent, nearly 1 million Iraqi civilians killed and 457,000 US casualties over nine years (I point out for contrast that more than a half million civilians were killed in Syria in the last nine months…invasion anyone?). The Council on Foreign Relations called the Iraq War the worst foreign policy blunder in US history. Don’t be shy, guys. Tell us how you really feel.

Best Photo Op: Best foreign photo op was the flawless fairy tale wedding of Kate and William; Best US photo op was the situation room anxiously waiting for the results of the Bin Laden raid.

Enough Already: Political exploition; Hopefully, less media time will be devoted to those looking for love in all the wrong places, such as Anthony Weiner, and those using politics as a springboard for personal enrichment, such as Herman Cain, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump.

Person of the Year: Steve Jobs, who even in death will influence future generations more than any fleeting contemporary politician. Jobs dared to dream the impossible and innovated an emerging age of interpersonal connectivity and democratization of global discourse. Jobs exemplified the unusual mix of entrepreneur and innovative visionary so needed for our future global competition.

Greatest Strides Forward: Women in business; In 2011, the pay gap between men and women was at a historic low, women formed the majority of college graduates, and women started twice as many businesses as men.