Why "We're on the Right Track" Isn't Enough, and What Obama's Plan Should Be for Boosting the Economy 19APR12

ROBERT Reich is spot on in this piece. mitt romney isn't offering anything but criticism but Pres Obama must do more to show the American electorate he, and a Democratic Congress can lead us out of the recession. I hope someone at the WH and the campaign HQ in Chicago is paying attention....
President Obama's electoral strategy can best be summed up as: "We're on the right track, my economic policies are working, we still have a long way to go but stick with me and you'll be fine."
That's not good enough. This recovery is too anemic, and the chance of an economic stall between now and Election Day far too high.
Even now, Mitt Romney's empty "I'll do it better" refrain is attracting as many voters as Obama's "we're on the right track." Each man is gathering 46 percent of voter support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS poll. Only 33 percent of the public thinks the economy is improving while 40 percent say they're still falling behind financially -- an 11 point increase from 2008. Nearly two-thirds are concerned about paying for housing, and one in five with mortgages say they're underwater.
If the economy stalls, Romney's empty promise will look even better. And I'd put the odds of a stall at 50-50. That puts the odds of a Romney presidency far too high for comfort. Need I remind you that Romney enthusiastically supports Paul Ryan's wildly regressive budget, and as president would be able to make at least one or possibly two Supreme Court appointments, and control the EPA and every other federal agency and department?
The Obama White House should face it: "We're on the right track" isn't sufficient. The president has to offer the nation a clear, bold strategy for boosting the economy. It should be the economic mandate for his second term.
It should consist of four points:
First, Obama should demand that the nation's banks modify mortgages of homeowners still struggling in the wake of Wall Street's housing bubble -- threatening that if the banks fail to do so he'll fight to resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act and break up Wall Street's biggest banks (as the Dallas Fed recently recommended).
Second, he should condemn oil speculators for keeping gas prices high -- demanding that the oil companies allow the Commodity Futures Trading Corporation to set limits on such speculation and instructing the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute oil price manipulation.
Third, he should stand ready to make further job-creating investments in the nation's crumbling infrastructure, and renew his call for an infrastructure bank. And while he understands the need to reduce the nation's long-term budget deficit, he won't allow austerity economics to take precedence over job creation. He'll veto budget cuts until unemployment is down to 5 percent.
Finally, he should make clear the underlying problem is widening inequality. With so much of the nation's disposable income and wealth going to the top, the vast middle class doesn't have the purchasing power it needs to fire up the economy. That's why the Buffett rule, setting a minimum tax rate for millionaires, is just a first step for ensuring that the gains from growth are widely shared.
The president can still say we're on the right track. But he should also say he's not content with the pace of the recovery and will do everything in his power to quicken it. And he should ask the American people for a mandate in his second term to make the economy work for everyone, not just those at the top.
Such a mandate can be put into effect only with a Congress that's committed to better jobs and wages for all Americans. He should remind voters that Congressional Republicans prevented him from doing all that was needed in the first term, and they must not be allowed to do so again.
Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at Berkeley and former
Secretary of Labor, is the author of "Beyond Outrage." His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/obama-romney-economy_b_1438652.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

PRES OBAMA: FIRE EDWARD DEMARCO AND HELP AMERICAN HOMEOWNERS 16FEB12

TENS of thousands of Americans are still in need of mortgage relief and assistance, and the vast majority only need to have their mortgages refinanced to be able to stay in their homes. edward demarco is one of the principle obstacles to mortgage relief and needs to be removed. Join Rebuild the Dream's campaign calling on Pres Obama to use his authority next week to fire demarco and appoint someone who will represent the best interest of American home owners and not the profit margins of tax-payer bailed out financial institutions, click the link or header...

Meet Edward DeMarco. As director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, his job is to do everything in his power to help Americans avoid foreclosure. But DeMarco seems to think his job is just the opposite. In fact, in our fight to get justice for homeowners across the country, Edward DeMarco might just be enemy number one.
DeMarco is a holdover from the Bush administration. He has a very powerful position: he oversees Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which hold half the mortgages in the country. DeMarco has used his position to repeatedly side with Wall Street, and he's blocked requests by Congress and the Obama administration to help struggling homeowners by reducing principals on loans. Principal reduction -- which means resetting underwater mortgages so they're closer to fair market value -- is an essential solution that millions of families need, but DeMarco is dead set against them.

Now here's the good news: Next week, during Congress's recess, President Obama has the opportunity to make a recess appointment and replace DeMarco immediately. Let's ask the President to do just that.

Tell President Obama to fire Edward DeMarco this week and appoint a new director that won't stand in the way of relief for homeowners.

DeMarco has come under harsh criticism from members of Congress, and for good reason. He is absolutely opposed to principal reductions on loans, a measure that's been touted by economists and U.S. government officials as the best way to help homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages.

But it doesn't end there.

A recent news investigation revealed that, under DeMarco, Freddie Mac invested billions of dollars in Wall Street securities that bet against homeowners' ability to refinance their loans, while at the same time raising fees that made it harder for homeowners to refinance.

Let's be clear: DeMarco isn't just doing a bad job. He is actively working against the interests of American homeowners and the government's efforts to help them. That's an outrage, and it's time for President Obama to fire him.
Sign the petition and demand DeMarco be fired and replaced immediately.
The President made a strong recess appointment when he installed Richard Cordray recently as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, selecting someone we could rely on to serve the interests of people over Wall Street. We need a similar leader at the helm of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Edward DeMarco isn't it.
With enough signatures, we can send a message to President Obama and remove a major obstacle in our mission to get justice for homeowners.

Thank you,
Natalie