
American people have elected Barack Obama as their President with a great hope. He has triumphed over John McCain with an overwhelming majority. Common Americans think him as charismatic. They are seeing a savior within him. Now they want to see his charisma in bailing them out from the present economic crisis.
Economic crisis in America has hit like a hurricane. Consumer confidence is in a hopeless condition. Retail sales have shown a negative growth in the third quarter of the year. US housing is in its worst in recent years. Dow Jones, NASDAQ and S & P are in a plunge. Banks and financial institutions are collapsing. $ 700 B bailout plan of Bush administration could not improve the situation. Everything seems to have been demolished. Economists, fund managers, politicians and statesmen, CEOs of business houses and people at large are stunned. Even the administration, be it local, provincial or federal does not find a way to come out of the terrible situation.
Current American economic crisis also effected the global economical situation badly. Economy all over the world is now in a downtrend. Nikkei, KOSPI, Hangseng, Sanghai, FTSE, CAC, BSE and Nifty, each and every stock market is following the downtrend of US market. Obama mania is seen globally. He has an image of a global personality. Hence, the rest of the world is also looking at him.
President Obama is in the driving seat of the global economy. His decisions will not only effect the American economy but also the world.
He has declared his priorities at his first press conference. It is the economy as expected. He rightly mentioned his intention to fight the recession. Job loss in US is also in alarming state (6.5%, most since 1994) and throws a big challenge to the President elect. He knows the challenge well. He will take it as top priority when in office. Many people in America believe that outsourcing is a major cause of unemployment and job loss in America. Obama campaigned for a policy against outsourcing during the election. He likely has to come out with some regulations for the corporations to discourage outsourcing. He may provide tax benefits and subsidies to encourage generating local employment.
Obama has announced future tax cuts for corporates and common Americans. He is honestly talking of net tax cut. He has also indicated special benefits to the American middle class.
Obama, the President elect, however, has not gone into details how he will deal with the problems of economic crisis, recession and job loss. He, of course, has given some indications. He is working with his team to come out with a strategy.
He has also intended to take actions in the fields of environment, energy, clean energy, finance and healthcare. Policy change in these sectors will surely effect the economic system overall.
Possible strategies and suggestions:
The foremost task of the new administration is to provide jobs to common Americans. The country has to create new jobs as well as retain the old ones. How can Obama achieve it? This is the million dollar question.
It is very difficult to create new jobs when every thing in the economy and market is in downward trend. And For that one has to be very creative and innovative. Ban on outsourcing may prove counterproductive. European Union, Japan or some other developed nations may continue with out sourcing. This measure can help them in cutting cost in some sectors. It will improve their competitiveness against the US in the global market. It can further accelerate recession and job loss in America.
It is worthwhile if Obama and his economic advisors concentrate on some core sectors. Agriculture, largely neglected, is one of them. There is large agricultural land in the US unutilized or underutilized. Agriculture contributes negligible amount in the GDP of US. Therefore, economists and corporations ignore it but it has a tremendous potential of employing people. Large number of people can be engaged and employed in this core sector. Agriculture is not an efficient way of generating money but of employment. Those will be low paid jobs comparatively, but will keep wheels of economy moving.
Similarly, they can mobilize resources in mining sector. The US requires a lot of minerals and ores to feed its industries. Now it can concentrate on its huge underutilized mineral reserves. It is a good way for the Obama administration to motivate business houses to work in this sector paying subsidy, tax holydays or some other benefits.