Phil Grossfield's Blog

My Schedule…and A Little Extra:    I can fix this country…put me in charge!  Cut me a check for $500 million dollars and it’s done.  I don’t want to be President…that’s not what I mean.  Let me explain…I am not sure this election is good for the country or not.  That is, you could say this election is fantastic for our country because we have two intelligent candidates who are passionate about our problems and each has a plan to make things better.  This is good because it gets the American people talking intelligently about the issues and it brings us together on those issues, even if we have differing opinions on how to resolve.  On the other hand, I could argue (and so I will) this election is harmful to our country.  And to do so would require me to indict the entire electoral process and term limits (and so I will).  First, I think this country’s major issues is the result of terms that are too short…no President could resolve major issues like we have in less than three years.  I know Romney’s camp has to say that it should be fixed by now but they have to say that because they are trying to win the election.  And that’s kind of my point.  The President gets less than three years to fix the problems, unless of course he is reelected.  Three years you ask?  Yes, three years I say.  He only gets less than three years because the first 6 months of his term is a learning curve, and the last 12 months is dedicated to a reelection campaign.  It isn’t enough time and it isn’t enough focus.  An administration, regardless of which party, needs at least 6 years.  Second, the election process is ridiculous.  Each candidate should get a set amount of funds to use for his campaign and no more.  Equal funds.  A president shouldn’t be elected based on how much money they have…that’s absurd and its ruining this country. We’ve spent over $5 billion on this election alone.  $5 billion!  So here it is…to fix everything, simply increase the term to 6 years and give each candidate a set amount of money to spend on the campaign.  Done.  Fixed.  For this consultation and for executing the changes I will charge the American people a discount of only $500 million…this will save the country billions!  And I want cash.

My Market Watch:  Bonds are trading lower today and continue to slide.  However, since rates were published, we’re only down about 9bps so there is no need to panic at this time about a mid-day rate change.  If things continue to slide, I’ll try and let you know….   My Disclaimer

My Schedule: Available all morning and periodically this afternoon….