HOW TO REPAIR A DAMAGED ECONOMY LESSONS FROM OBAMA
Apr 27,
2019
-
font size
decrease font size
increase font size
When Barack Obama took office as America's 44th president, he was faced with an acute, three pronged economic challenges.
The American financial system was in crisis to a greater extent than at any time since 1933.
America's international imbalances was on a worsening downward slide, The economy was in a deep recession supercharged by falling consumer purchasing power, declining house values, and cascading business losses.
In addition to the above mentioned, he was faced with four chronic problems viz
A worsening thirty years trend of inequality and insecurity Energy crisis and climate change, Increasing cost of health care Decay of America's public spaces and facilities.
All of the above mentioned scenario sounds familiar? That was the situation in Almighty America barely up to 8 years ago And this is our story in Nigeria today Now you will agree with me the story has changed for America.
America is out of recession thanks to a brilliant, hardworking and tireless president
How was the feat achieved ?
He blamed the out gone republican government most especially the two George Bush for the Economic mess?
NO !
He clamped down on any discerning voice of opposition and threw them into jail with spurious, unfounded criminal and fraud charges?
NO
He restored confidence in the American economy not just with inspiring words /vague promises or as in the case with our Nigerian president by engaging in series of" blame it on Jonathan" propaganda, but by demonstrating that help was on the way. The American economy was vigorously restructured,
necessary stimuli were injected into the economy, the federal government embarked on a more robust housing and mortgage rescue program.
Let's learn from United States of America.
We can kick out recession, We can jump-start the Nigerian economy But we need to be aware of the cost of borrowing because Unnecessary borrowing may further kill our economy rather than revive it.
I advocate for a moderate deficit expenditure based budget. As at January 2015 our GDP stood at $574 billion making Nigeria the largest economy in Africa and about the 24th largest in the world.
What Nigeria needs therefore is not a large deficit budget but an ambitious tax hike to increase government income and an aggressive Industrialisation drive followed by massive increase in employment.
This is what is required to stimulate the economy and drive us out of recession.
Mr Itohoimo Udosen
Public/Political Affairs Analyst
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Opinions and Analysis
