FT.com:

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Yet this might just be where the president’s luck runs out. For precisely the power of his own party in Congress could prove to be a source of weakness rather than strength. On my most recent visit to Washington, I could not help being struck by the shift that has occurred from the imperial presidency of the Bush era to something like parliamentary government under Mr Obama. This president proposes; Congress disposes. It was Congress that wrote the stimulus bill and made sure it was stuffed full of political pork. It is Congress that will ensure the healthcare bill falls well short of being self-financing. Mr Obama recently snapped at an unnamed “Blue Dog” (conservative-leaning) House Democrat: “You’re going to destroy my presidency.” He could be right.

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Voters have good reason to disapprove. The deficit this year is likely to be $1,800bn (€1,270bn, £1,090bn). The gross federal debt is just about to bust the $12,100bn limit set by Congress. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s alternative fiscal scenario, public debt could rise from 44 per cent of GDP last year to 87 per cent by 2020. Spending on healthcare alone could rise from 16 to 22 per cent of GDP. The gap between spending and revenue in the latest House healthcare bill would be $65bn in just over a decade. The administration itself has no plan to balance the budget. Its own budget forecasts a trillion-dollar deficit as far ahead as 2019.

Mega-deficits as far as the eye can see are bad politics. They could be even worse economics. The nightmare scenario is that mounting fears over US creditworthiness push up long-term interest rates, thereby choking off the nascent recovery. After all, the great deleveraging still has a very long way to go. In relation to GDP, household net worth has slumped back to where it was 20 years ago. But household debt is still close to record highs at about 130 per cent of disposable income. Anyone expecting private consumption to bounce back is dreaming; real personal spending actually fell in June. Moreover, the property crisis is far from over. The number of prime borrowers behind on mortgage payments rose 13.8 per cent between March and June. The business default rate is already above 11 per cent and is heading towards 13 per cent. The contribution of the stimulus to growth (monthly spending as a proportion of GDP) has now passed its peak and by January 2010 will be zero. The public-private partnership to buy toxic bank assets has flopped. The official jobless rate conceals a surge in long-term unemployment to a postwar record.

My comment: This is a depression folks. I hope you have taken the opportunity to sell any remaining stocks (that are not special situations) during this recent runup. When the sugar high of government stimulus ends the next time down is going to blow a hole in the markets and the economy.

John Polomny
The Real Deal