A Crisis of Confidence

There's is a common belief that if people are confident in their government, businesses and neighbors, the economy will perform well. That is to say, that if people are more happy than mad, more confident than anxious about the financial markets and banks, things will run smoothly for everyone. However, now that we are in a recession caused by overconfident home buyers, investment bankers and speculators, we're just looking for the light of day.


America has at its helm a leader in President Barack Hussein Obama. According to myriad opinion polls, most of the country thinks he's doing a commendable job, considering the quagmire he's [been] elected to commandeer. What makes these arbitrary polls so important? Why do we poll people on the state of the economy, the progress and popularity of the President and the like? What is it that these polls reveal to us?

The answer is confidence.

In addition to managing the world's second largest economy*, President Obama must also become a cheerleader of sorts. If the President is pessimistic about the economy, how can we, his constituents, have hope in his actions to revive it? Inspiring confidence is central not only to the success of the President's economic agenda, but as we saw during the campaign, it's a key ingredient that is central to Obama's success as a person. The audacity to hope, the willingness to accept change and hard work are values that helped him gain the trust - and ultimately the votes - of the American public.

But when is it too much? The President's critics are already clamoring that he's just another tax-and-spend stuffed suit, looking to say and do whatever is necessary to retain his position as the world's latest and greatest political poster child. Others simply opine that he's pulling the wool over our eyes to dupe us into supporting his massive $787 billion stimulus package announced in February. All speculations aside, we believe it's a most prudent move to encourage and rally the masses who are feeling the direct effects of this recession. While many feel that spending is not the way out of the Recession, President Obama has taken great pains to explain his legislative and budgetary actions, most recently in front of a group of Georgetown University students and faculty on yesterday (read the transcript of his remarks here). Sports teams get pep talks before winning games and motivational speakers make a ton of money. While there is no harm in inspiring confidence, it is dually prudent for Americans not to be gullible, vulnerable as we are. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves on the issues and hold our administration accountable for its actions. After all, that's what any reasonable ECONtrepreneur would do.

How has Obama's first 12 weeks in office affected your confidence in the government's (mis)handling the economic crisis?

*The decline of the dollar has resulted in the European Union becoming the world's dominant economy, in terms of Gross Domestic Product.