38% Approval for President Obama - Gallup

Gallup: Reports on its daily tracking poll, today President Obama has a 38% Approval rating, while 53% of Average Americans Disapprove of the Obama record. My once piece advice to the Oval, stop digging the political hole your in, every time POTUS open his mouth his ratings go down. The US voter on a personal level like President Obama, but liking someone does not mean that they are getting the job done. If your in the Oval you can argue that Ronald Reagan had a similar approval rating and won big in 1984, 49 States, 59% of the vote and 525 electoral votes. The difference folks is that Reagan understood the US, this blog has argued that that Obama in his heart of hearts does not get the US, he gets liberal seminar rooms, he gets the New York and LA’s of the US, but there are 48 other States. In less Obama does something drastic he will be scary story for political geeks and operators, the man who had it all and blew it big time, a Greek tragedy in some respects, but POTUS is the creator of his own bad luck, he ran as a liberal Reagan but has turned it Carter/Mondale, and as any political geek knows that is a disaster.

Iowa Vote = January 3rd 2012

The Hill: Reports that the Iowa Caucus will be held on January 3rd 2012. Thus forcing NH to hold its vote on January 10th. This does not give much time for the winner of the caucus to build up political speed from the result folks, if Romney wins Iowa or comes close and takes as expected New Hampshire the race could be over, yes its months away, but with Perry fading, and only Romney being steady in the polls the race could be decided in Florida, the move of Florida to the end of January as forced the other States to have their votes a lot faster in 2012 than expected. A quick win would be good for Romney if not for the general public, you would have eight months, yes folks, months of an election cycle. You have to love US politics.

Italy and Spain DOWNGRADED - Eurozone Crisis

BBC News: Reports that Fitch the Credit Agency had downgraded the credit rating of Italy and Spain. At the end of the day folks its about debt, the European Central Bank is keeping Italy going, the Italian Government has had to meet the demands of the ECB as to keep the ECB buying Italian debt. The question is when is the EU master plan for Greece and the rest of the Eurozone crisis going to be agreed and published. In Spain the Left wing Government has hiked taxes for the rich in a time of recession, the focus of late has been on Greece and Italy, sooner or later Spain is going to be in the spotlight, it is also a debt basket case, if Spain goes down the toilet it will take the Euro and the EU with it, even the EU could not bailout out Spain and Italy. The more time the EU politicians take in developing a plan the more chance that the EU will go over an economic cliff, time is not a friend in this case folks.

Disunion with Labour Front Bench - Labour Shadow Cabinet

Guardian: Reports on the changes to the Labour Shadow Cabinet after the Labour Party Conference, the article states the perception within the Shadow Cabinet, “ ….expressed alarm at the frontbench names being floated…..seeking to fill it with Blairites who are not the people who supported him to become leader. ” After the disaster that was the Labour Party Conference the leader Ed Miliband had to something, his speech that stated that Labour once in power would say what was a good business and what was a bad business went down like a lead balloon. The Shadow Cabinet as a whole could not explain the policy, its allowed the centre right media to return to the view that Ed Miliband was “ Red ” Ed, the speech didn’t go down well on the street, of course Ed Miliband has another problem, most people still don’t know who he is, and when they do get it is a Miliband, they think its David Miliband the ex Foreign Secretary. This of course raises the fact that there is the perception that Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to get the Labour Leadership, something that is not going away folks. Then there is the problem that the Labour Party Conference booed the name of Tony Blair, the most successful Labour PM ever, and the very fact that Ed Miliband didn’t rebuke the Conference. If Labour is to win the next election it needs to return to New Labour or ditch its leader, one or the other folks.

Portugal Banks DOWNGRADED - Eurozone Crisis

Telegraph Live: Reports that 9 Banks in Portugal have had their credit rating downgraded by the credit agency Moody’s, the article states the following, “ ..But this should be taken seriously - the downgrade is a reaction to the banks' exposure to government debt and the country's weak growth prospects. ”. Thus after Greece it seems Portugal could be the next go, its getting a bailout from the EU/IMF, it cant borrow on the market, its busted in real terms, without the bailout Portugal would default on its debts. It can be argued in strategic terms that the EU as the whole needs a BIG plan, to bailouts out PIIGS in one go, but we are talking serious money here folks, 2-5 trillion euros, to wipe out all the debts of the EU. In this kind of the plan the UK would have to get its wallet out, it would mean in a odd way underwriting the Euro, the very thing that the Germans don’t want to do, but due to the fact that the UK can borrow, its bonds are low to sell it just might be possible. The only way you would get that through the Conservative Party is if the UK regained many of its domestic powers from the EU, also could veto any new directive from the EU at any level. Don’t hold your breath for that folks, there are few real world leaders around these days, that is why this blog always supported Lady Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, real leaders.

UK Banks DOWNGRADED - Eurozone Crisis

BBC News: Reports that Moody’s the Credit Agency has downgraded 12 UK Banks and Building Societies. The Credit Agency has stated that the downgraded is not to do with the state of the UK banks and building societies but because it thinks the UK Government would not support a failing financial institution. This makes this blog worried, the very same credit agency has recently downgraded Italy, why does this blog get the feeling that another shoe is about to drop in this economic crisis, this move by Moody’s smells over covering its back in the event of a future incident. Does the Agency know something that we don’t know, are German and French banks at greater risk, as UK banks are heavily linked to Europe are some UK banks again under threat should European Banks go under, lets recall the French/ Belgium Bank Dexia went under out of the blue, this was a direct result of the Greek crisis, that black hole at the centre of the Eurozone crisis, worrying developments folks.