Financial Freedom SG

I picked up a story about Robert Rubin being the mastermind behind the stunning economic performance of United States economy in the 1990s and balancing the budget plus clearing a huge deficit while reading a book in the library today.

So I went online and read the interview on the PBS site about Robert Rubin's term as the Treasury Secretary in Bill Clinton's adminstration.

After reading the interview, I was struck by how much achievements the Bill Clinton adminstration manage to attain and at the same time, I thought about what type of legacy George Bush Jr will leave behind. I am not sure what he did except for allowing the 911 to happen on his watch and his subsequent alienating 'With Us or Against US' speech to the whole world and the anti-terrorist campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan. Oh, there is the small matter of the sub-prime crisis too.

This against Clinton's record makes Clinton looks positively angelic (sans Lewinsky of course- Clinton's administration was mirred in scandals, maybe he stepped on a lot of toes raising taxes and cutting spending in a lot of states which is bound to make a lot of politicians angry). Balancing a stratospheric budget deficit in his term in office makes him a contender for the 3rd best president of the 20th century after Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reegan (who caused the deficit but at least pushed the Russians so far they abandoned their communists leanings).

Barack Obama's mantra of change has made him the frontrunner for the Democratic vote as candidate for the presidency. I believe that whoever wins the Democratic vote will become the President. However, I remember that Al Gore ran a close election against George Bush Jr and ultimately lost. Imagine if Al Gore had won. US would have signed the Kyoto treaty on Global Warming and we will be living in a much different world. Obama is a little short on specifics though on what he will do exactly in the 'change' that he is speaking of.

The little I have heard is that he will be more protectionist of the US economy versus Clinton's open economy which was practised by Bill Clinton and also Hilary's Health Care reform was hijacked by Obama who has made it part of his agenda too. So until he speaks more about what exactly he meant by change, I will keep my own counsel and preference for Hilary as the next president. After all, having a woman as the President of the most powerful country of the world is a pretty big change isn't it?