The Leader appeared on 60 Minutes last night and apparently did it again. Claimed U.S. intelligence assessments of ISIS (L) had been incorrect, underestimating the group's size and scope. It took about 15 seconds for the intelligence community to react to that and by this afternoon, a good deal of D.C. was in full cry, essentially claiming the President had told another whopper to bail himself and his foreign policy advisors out of a self-inflicted mess.
I do not know nor do I have any way of knowing what's going on here but I do know this: when the team isn't sure as to what the head coach is telling them is the truth, they are probably not going to run the next play with conviction. The Leader has a big problem. He must restore faith and trust in himself or else the consequences will be dire. If he thinks his coalition is going to commit resources into what is increasing becoming our fight without being able to trust the CIC, he and we are dreaming. And it applies to all other things. As he admitted--finally--last night, the U.S. is the one, indispensable country. I'm sorry to say this to our non-American readers but we are. Time to lead, Mr. President. Time is a wasting.
Well, there is one thing in which we are certainly leading and that is currency appreciation. The dollar ticked down today but it's rise, or the collapse of everything else, has been simply stunning. The reasons are fairly simple: The U.S. economy is gaining traction despite poor job growth, our energy sector is stunning, labor costs are flat and interest rates are non-existent. Think of it; Natural gas at around $3.50 Over Here and $12.00 Over There (higher in Asia). Dear Lord, what an advantage! We have a glut that will last for at least two years or until export facilities can be put in place. Janet is going to hold interest rates down because of her fixation on the jobs number (political) but now everyone believes in the inevitable rise in the first quarter which will exacerbate the dollar's value and Europe is going no where fast, ditto Japan. As for China…well, you tell me. We stand at the cusp of something quite extraordinary in this country and there is only one thing that can mess that up. Guess what? More on that later in the week.
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