Market Neophyte Scolds The Street

On the one year anniversary of the collapse of famed Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers, Barack Obama traveled down to the caverns of Wall Street to 26 Wall Street at Federal Hall to scold a gathering of investors and investment bankers.

I am so glad we are fortunate enough to have such a keen mind to inform us on how things will be done going forward to save the union. In the end, it was nothing beyond a dog and pony show.

Obama lectured the street players that there is an urgent need for tighter regulation, which is laughable. There were numerous agencies and mechanisms to thwart such irresponsibility, and here are two examples. The SEC, under Bush appointee Christopher Cox, who by most accounts is a decent guy, was asleep at the switch at a minimum, failing to investigate Bernard Madoff after numerous warnings. Government was in charge of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, who are perhaps the top culprits in the housing crisis, which is the catalyst bringing the whole system to where we are now. As Investors Business Daily reports, so much for the regulation. Have you met Barney Frank?

While banks are still not lending in normal fashion, the government under Obama has already inserted itself into the marketplace. "It is neither right nor responsible after you've recovered with the help of your government to shirk your obligation to the goal of wider recovery, a more stable system, and a more broadly shared prosperity,"quipped the President.

Interestingly enough, many of the money center banks are prepared to return the borrowed monies, but have been prohibited by the administration from doing so. Meanwhile, Obama's potential creation of a more stable system with a more broadly shared responsibility goes against free market capitalism, where risk takers are rewarded or pay the price of failure. This is capitalism. Shared responsibility with shared reward resembles the failed policies of our eastern block neighbors.

If Obama really wanted to get at the heart of the financial crisis, and he does not since he is using the crisis to further his big government platform, he would do well to investigate the credit agencies, who time after time issued AAA rankings to the firms on the street with mortgage backed securities that imploded.

Speaking of our neighbors, Investors Business Daily reports Obama on Friday placed a 35% tariff on Chinese tires imported into the United States, instigating the protectionist efforts that in fact deepened The Great Depression. Investigating the move, it seems that there is little to be gained, and much to be lost, from raising this tariff other than appeasing the United Steelworkers Union. Is placing the economic trade status of the US worth rewarding campaign contributors? I think not.

We began the weekend with President Obama violating basic economic principles with respect to free trade and placing our economy at great risk given the amount of US treasuries the Chinese hold to a Monday morning lecture on how the inept government will implement new governance and regulation sure to impede risk and investment, therefore restraining economic growth.

Economic growth, not government interaction and regulation, is what will bring this economy back. Invest accordingly.

I AM A LONGTIME SHAREHOLDER OF GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO. (GT:NYSE)