Fallout from Obama's slide on 'world's most powerful' list
President slips to 3rd spot on Forbes' list
DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
RUSSIA'S PUTIN AND GERMANY’S MERKEL TOP PRES OBAMA ON NEW FORBES POWER LIST
Carrie Sheffield: This metric, is just one of many other things we can tick through an entire list. When this president leaves office we’re going to have 20 trillion dollars in our national debt. We have Obamacare that’s going to expand our deficits. It’s ironic also that the president said we’re going to be pulling out of foreign entanglements like Afghanistan, etc. in order to strengthen things here at home, that hasn’t happened and investors are going to take note.
John Tamny: I think power when it comes to presidents is vastly overrated. There’s this belief out there that presidents create jobs and prosperity. The reality is that we’re the prosperity, we create the jobs. A president that sits back and does nothing tends to see a lot of economic growth simply because he’s getting out of the way.
Mike Ozanian: That’s something Ronald Reagan knew very well and I bet you he’d be number one on this list because largely our economy would have been growing a lot faster and it would have been much stronger. He also had the big defense buildup that made this country much safer.
Elizabeth MacDonald: The president is notably downbeat constantly when it comes to talking about America. He’s said “America is constantly dissatisfied with itself,” that it’s a “self-critical experiment.” Again this is a finger wagging, teacher’s faculty outlook that the president has had about America. This idea of America and exceptionalism is centered in his own personal life experiences. He’s had a disregard for the moral purpose of America. He’s had a distain for it. To legitimize Iran and try to make a terrorist rogue regime, as part of the new international world order and not speak up for Iranian students who were protesting against Iran and try to peacefully integrate Cuba who continues to attack the United States. His outlook has basically legitimized our enemies, and people are really bad for world peace and undercut the US’s moral efforts at peace.
Sabrina Schaeffer: I’m absolutely concerned to see someone like Putin at the top of this list, and it makes you worried for our security and global security, at the same time, we have to see how a list like this evolves over the next year or two. Part of what makes investors want to invest in the United States is not simply our president, it’s also the kind of enterprise we have here. Perhaps Uber should be at the top of a list like this, because that’s where we’re seeing real economic growth and change and that would be interesting to see.
Bruce Japsen: It said in this list that Putin is on top of this list because he does what he wants, and he gets away with it. He has 86 percent support of his people. In the President’s case, in the first couple years of his term when he passed the healthcare law and he put a bullet in Bin Laden’s eye, he had more support than Congress and he doesn’t have that now. Obama does not have a mandate like Putin does, and that goes to the power. But we are still the richest country in the world and we’re doing pretty well.
TRUMP ACCUSES FED CHIEF OF PLAYING POLITICS WITH RATES; FUELS DEBATE
Mike Ozanian: Trump is spot on with his comments about the Fed. The Fed’s policies by keeping interest rates so long, has enabled Obama to borrow an unprecedented amount of money. Allowed him to redistribute it with his entitlement programs and welfare programs, and it’s really hurt the economy. This is the worst recovery since the 1930s and we have the lowest percent of the labor force participating in the labor market that we’ve ever had.
Bruce Japsen: This ranks up there with Trump’s birth certificate quest of the president. This is ridiculous here. She’s not raising rates because the economy is softer than people would like, and inflation is low. But now with the jobs report out this week, I think that she’ll probably raise rates in December just a little bit. Trump will go back to whatever he’s questioning out there.
Sabrina Schaeffer: This is interesting because I have not been a huge Trump fan, but the more he starts hitting the nail on the head and I think what he’s getting at whether you like his style or not, is that when you manipulate the interest rates, we distort the investment marking and that’s something that’s concerning. So yes, maybe people aren’t saving as much, money is going to some of those nonviable entities or it’s going to government, that doesn’t help us either.
John Tamny: I think Trump’s heart is in the right place, but he’s predictably confused on this. The Fed could no more stimulate the economy with rate machinations than Congress could stimulate the economy with government spending. Congress has no resources. Neither does the Fed. They can only weaken the economy by trying to manipulate it, so the Fed being active is weakening the Obama economy, it’s not helping it.
Elizabeth MacDonald: Getting back to the issue of Janet Yellen being political, if she raises rates, then she could say, no I’m not political. They may raise rates in December a quarter point, not much. She has given speeches in the past about income inequality, right before the midterm elections of 2014. It should be noted that Janet Yellen was a chairperson of Clinton’s council of economic advisers from 1997-1999.
Carrie Sheffield: That’s true as EMac said, on the inequality issues, she does politicize things, but I disagree with Trump on the issue of zero interest rates, because these interest rates were in place during the Bush administration. This has to do with the soft economy. Mike pointed out, this is a weak recovery. We have an enormous jobs gap relative to other recoveries.
REPORT: CHINA BURNING MORE COAL THAN PREVIOUSLY DISCLOSED
Elizabeth MacDonald: China is joining these other nations saying essentially that we will not sign a climate change deal unless America and other developed countries pony up 100 billion each or whatever the number is. China’s carbon emissions have outstripped most of the developing world, over the last decade or so and they’re a smaller economy. China’s only promising by 2030 to basically start curtailing carbon emission levels, but at what level will they be at by then?
Bruce Japsen: They’re a big player, and we need to continue to engage them and be diplomatic about this. We cannot just walk away from them, and not talk to them. I think it’s important that we continue to engage them and go through diplomacy and continue to do that path.
Mike Ozanian: Look what’s happened in Antarctica. The Obama administrations for years was telling us the ice was melting, we’re all doomed. Now reports come out that there’s actually more ice in Antarctica than there has been in the past. Obama uses these scare tactics to increase regulation and increase taxes so he can funnel money to his friends who make solar panels, and punish the coal companies.
John Tamny: Don’t make the deals, but let’s cheer on China. Here’s this once desperately poor country, that increasingly embracing the profit motive and it’s people are using more and more of the world’s resources. This is a great thing, not a bad thing, why make deals to shrink resource usage?
Sabrina Schaeffer: We just talked about why our power is slipping in the world, this is why. It’s embarrassing and I’m sure the Chinese are laughing at us. The Clean Power Plan is requiring that the United States cut their emissions by 32 percent over the next 15 years at which point, they are supposed to start thinking about making changes and if they don’t we have absolutely no recourse. I think it’s embarrassing, it makes us look foolish, that’s exactly why we’re losing powerful footing.
Carrie Sheffield: All of China’s figures are questionable. Research from the American Enterprise Institute think-tank has shown this. Whether it’s their GDP figures, their emissions figures, they make ghost cities to make up that there are actually people living in places where they’re not. It’s highly questionable. The rule of law is not prevalent there so we really need to have a question mark over every deal.
STOCK PICKS
Elizabeth MacDonald: Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI)
Mike Ozanian: Vanguard (VSMGX)
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox