Picking a President

Unless you have just emerged from under a rock without any internet or cable access, you know that we have big choices to make in 2012 which will shape our landscape for the next 4 years. It is our privilege and responsibility to select a President for our nation and I hope you will all exercise your right to vote.

Before doing so, I believe we are all obligated to do our due diligence to become as educated about the choices available, starting with primary elections, as possible. In the forefront this year will obviously be how each candidate plans to stimulate job growth to get our economy back in gear. Each one will undoubtedly promise to rectify everything that is currently going wrong but some will offer more detailed plans than others.

Whatever your political beliefs may be, I urge all of you (myself included) to look at past voting records, public interviews, professional backgrounds, etc. of each candidate and decide if he/she will be capable of producing the results you wish to see. Personally, I wish I could find someone who has a ton of very creative business building experience along with a large dose of humility and compassion. Remember, beauty is only skin deep and we need to figure out who is best suited to get the United States back on track.

Memories of FDR

The New York Times ran a very informative and interesting post about the Great Depression and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/great_depression_1930s/index.html?scp=3&sq=job%20market&st=cse

Mr. Roosevelt certainly made some bold promises during his campaign AND followed through on most of them even though there were some very painful measures involved. Desperate times (and yes I feel we are in such a state right now) call for gutsy leadership and decision making even if it involves stepping on toes and alienating certain constituencies like oil companies and insurance companies.

Certainly the WPA went a long way toward creating jobs and repairing our nation and we need something similar to pump some life into the economy. Of course the NY/NJ region had such a project until a very tenacious governor decided to end it and leave an unfinished rubble heap earlier this year. It was hard to get too upset with him, even though I believe such projects are much needed, because he could not find the funds needed to keep moving.

FDR was gutsy and really did not care if he won any popularity contests as long as he started repairing his nation step by step. We need new jobs established here, more manufacturing and commerce on U.S. soil, and support from all branches of government coupled with a commitment from our largest corporations to invest in our future and we need it now. Whoever has the guts to put some real protein into their platform will get my vote in 2012!