Talk is cheap: Observations from a going-out-of-business sale

On my way to the office this morning, I decided to make a quick stop at Borders in Methuen.

I’ve been getting the bookstore’s e-mails for weeks now, warning that they are going out of business, that their books are now up to 90% off the original price, and that they are “Going…Going…GONE.”

Although good deals make me happy, I felt anything but as a Borders employee unlocked the doors at 9 a.m.

“I’m so sad you guys are closing,” I told her, which was probably a dumb and insensitive thing to say to someone working all day to close their own place of employment.

“So am I,” she said. “The discounts are going up another 10 percent today, just so you know.”

More than half the store was empty bookshelves. The magazines were gone and so were most of the new releases and latest bestsellers. Biographies, Politics and Government, and Business and Management still had a pretty good selection.

Books filled with observations about how to fix our country and its politics penned by Newt Gingrich, Dick Morris, George W. Bush, David Plouffe, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Jimmy Carter, Keith Olbermann, Thomas Friedman and even Meghan McCain still lined the shelves and Borders was practically giving them away at 90 percent off.

As I stood there in the cavernous store full of “going out of business” signs, employees disassembling fixtures, and fellow customers grumbling about the poor economy, three words came to me: “Talk is cheap.”

Last night, the Republican presidential candidates spent two hours talking about how they would tackle the poor economy and turn things around for struggling, out-of-work Americans.

Tonight, when President Obama delivers his jobs speech, we will witness his best attempt to convince those who once supported him that he can get us out of this mess if given another four years in the Oval Office.

Americans are watching and listening, but they are tired of the rhetoric, the semantics and the assurances. They want action. They want their jobs back. They want their businesses to work. They want leaders they can put their faith in to pull this off.

Before my Borders experience this morning, I ran into a neighbor as I was getting into my car. From previous conversations, I know he owns a small software consulting business in Lawrence.

This morning, he was carrying a brand new computer to his car.

“How’s business?” I asked.

“Actually, pretty good. I just hired a new employee,” he answered.

This guy did what our government and its leaders couldn’t last month. He actually created a job. Our leaders should take a lesson from him and give us what we really need right now: a little less talk, and a lot more action.

Worried about your wallet? Why this week is important for you.

Imagine you are a single person, out living on your own. Your annual salary is $44,000. Yet, all told, you spend about $74,000 a year, putting the $30,000 difference on a credit card. You've been spending money like this for a long time, and over the years, you've racked up about $294,000 in personal debt. You keep telling your skeptical creditors you're trying to cut back... but you recently negotiated a deal whereby your debt is projected to rise to about $400,000 over the next ten years.

Now, imagine yourself as one of ten people who live in a small apartment building. You're still working, but the guy down the hall lost his job and is struggling to make ends meet as he looks for work. Another person is fortunate enough to have a job after having been laid off, but they're making less than a few years ago because they're "underemployed."

If you all met in the hallway to discuss politics, seven out of ten of you would say the country is on the wrong track. Looking back at the past year, four of you would likely say that things have gotten worse for you economically over the past year, and five of you would say things are no better or worse; only one of you would say your lot has improved. And seven of you would say we still have a ways to go before we hit the bottom of the current recession; half of you think there will be another recession over the next few months.

Does all this sound too imaginary to be true, or does it seem like just another set of meaningless statistics? Well, it's very real. The numbers in the first paragraph are proportionately accurate representations of America's financial position given how much we spend each year as a nation and where our national debt stands. The second paragraph is based on current national unemployment figures. And, the statistics in the third paragraph are based on a recent MSNBC/Wall Street Journal national poll (click here for poll).

This is the context in which the GOP candidates will speak tonight as they vie to replace President Obama and seek to fix these problems. And, it's the same context in which President Obama will give his jobs speech to a joint session of Congress tomorrow night.

The question on the mind of many Americans will be which side has the most credibility to solve the problems we face. After all, one thing is for sure -- whether it's the Democrats or the Republicans or someone else, American needs someone to do something for fix things, fast. Because, if things don't turn around, America itself is in danger of being just another statistic.

Van Magness talks presidential politics on NECN

Fred Van Magness was a guest on The Morning Show on NECN this morning to discuss presidential politics.

In particular, Van Magness discussed declining poll numbers for President Obama and what it all means for Republican candidates in 2012.

You can view the full video here or by clicking on the image below.

Zip? Zilch? Nada?

We were expecting today's report on unemployment during the month of August to be sluggish. It doesn't take an economist to know that America is still deep in the grip of an economic crisis and that people all across the country still need jobs.

But we were surprised when we saw that there was no change in employment numbers in August.

None. None at all.

And, according to FoxNews, that's the first time that's happened in any month since February, 1945.

We wonder what the political fallout will be.

Ironically, we actually think this is the perfect news for President Obama as he awaits to unveil his new jobs plan to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday -- oops, strike that -- next Thursday. A report of no net job change is the best evidence the President could use to base his case that federal action is needed to kick-start job creation and to convince employers to add workers to their payrolls.

Well... almost perfect, that is. Because, at the same time that news of stagnant unemployment helps the President to make his case for a jobs plan, it also highlights the obvious fact that he has been in charge of the economy during these bleak times. In fact, things actually got worse while he was President. (Unemployment was at only 7.8 percent when Obama took office -- it's now 9.1 percent.) No matter how much the President wants to blame prior inhabitants of the Oval Office, or Congress, or greedy corporate executives for the economy, he is still the one and only President here and now. That gives the President a huge credibility problem heading into his speech next week. And, while the fact that there was no increase in unemployment is a good thing, the lack of an increase in jobs means that 14 million Americans are still standing in the unemployment line - truly depressing news for job seekers all over.

The political question is: to what extent can the President's Republican opponents convert this into an opportunity to expose the President's poor performance and credibility gap on job growth? (After all, unemployment is hardly a recent phenomenon, but President Obama is just now announcing a jobs plan, almost three full years into his presidency...) To succeed, Republicans need to make a convincing case why the President's purported action on jobs is too expensive and too late -- and, if the President really knew how to create jobs, wouldn't he have tried to do it already? Indeed, they need to do an even better job at this than they did at exposing the President's lack of credibility in wanting to cut the national debt after increasing it by several trillion dollars over the first portion of his term. Republicans also need to come up with a plan of their own for improving the economy. Even if Republicans disagree with what the President says next Thursday, they need to match his specific proposals with specific actions of their own, whatever those might be.

Because, at the end of the day, it all boils down to simple facts: Americans want -- and need -- their jobs back. They're tired of business-as-usual in Washington, D.C. They're tired of a stagnant economy.

Or, to paraphrase the President, Americans want change they can really believe in.