The Leader's Ledger

State Of Play: President Obama Continues To Push For Tax Increases On Already Struggling Small Businesses and Working Families

President Obama Continues To Outsource His Responsibility To Lead. The President's failure to show clear, strong leadership has led to a downgrade not only of the nation's credit rating, but also of his stature as America's agenda-setting voice. With the exception of wanting a "balanced" approach to attacking the deficit, Obama's prescriptions are a blank. When last heard from, he offered, "I intend to present my own recommendations over the coming weeks on how we should proceed." Not his call to arms. Not his order of battle. ... Yesterday in Michigan, he dumped the responsibility on lawmakers, saying, "There are some in Congress right now who would rather see their opponents lose than see America win. And that has to stop. It's got to stop. We're supposed to all be on the same team. Especially when we're going through tough times." Someday, very soon, he must stop outsourcing, rise above politics and take presidential ownership of charting the country's course. One wishes. New York Daily News

• Political Grand Standing: President Obama Promises New Proposals To Create Jobs “Week By Week” – Fails To Provide Details. The president has said he will send those recommendations in the coming weeks to a congressional supercommittee tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in savings. He also said on Thursday that he'd be offering new proposals "week by week" to create jobs, though he provided no details. The Associated Press

The President Should Explain How Higher Taxes and Increased Regulations Will Create Jobs and Spur Economic Growth. The office of the House majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, put out this statement: “While the goal of promoting more fuel-efficient vehicles is laudable, such costly new regulations will only create more obstacles to growth and make it harder for working families and small businesses. With 10.5 percent unemployment in the Great Lakes State, the president should explain to people of Michigan how his calls for tax increases and new regulations will create jobs or spur economic growth.” The New York Times

• In Reality, President Obama’s Call For Higher Taxes Will Lead To Lower Growth and Higher Unemployment. 'What is tax reform?" That's the Jeopardy-like question matching the answer: "The best step the government could take now to promote growth and employment." The Obama administration has been responding with "What are higher marginal tax rates and more stimulus?" But fundamental tax reform offers three key benefits. First, reducing marginal tax rates on saving and investment and on work and entrepreneurship will increase capital formation and productivity, raising wages and output. Broadening the tax base and sharply lowering marginal tax rates can raise gross-domestic-product growth by a half to a full percentage point per year over a decade ... Tax reform, by reducing or eliminating the double taxation of corporate equity and offering incentives for new business investment, will accelerate the economy's needed turn to investment. ... Third, tax reform is a necessary precondition for any serious national discussion of long-term deficit reduction. President Obama's repeated calls to raise marginal tax rates on upper-income Americans call to mind the image of a dog chasing a car, then stopping to wonder what to do with it when he catches it. The near-term price of a presidential victory here would be lower growth and employment. The Wall Street Journal

The Obama Economy: Economists Continue To Slash The Nation’s Growth Outlook ... Still No Plan For Growth From The President

Forecasters Cut U.S. Growth Outlook (Again) The world’s largest economy will expand at an average 2.3 percent annual rate in the second half of the year, about a percentage point less than projected last month, according to the median forecast of 53 economists polled from Aug. 2 to Aug. 10. Gross domestic product will grow 2.4 percent next year and 2.8 percent in 2013, also less than previously estimated. ... “We’re on a path that looks like persistent growth, but growth that is inadequate to solving our short-run problems,” said Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse in New York. “Markets are signaling to businesses and households the future is less certain. ... The risk of a recession has risen to 30 percent from 14 percent in July, according to the median of the 39 economists who responded. Bloomberg

Economists Say Risk Of A Double Dip Recession Growing. The risk of a double dip recession has climbed sharply as the economy endures the double whammy of slowing growth and wild swings in global markets, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal over the past week. ... The 46 economists in the survey—not all of whom answer every question—put the odds that the U.S. is already in another recession at 13%, while they peg the chances of going that way in the next year at 29%—up from 17% only a month ago. The Wall Street Journal

• Roubini Pegs Chance Of A Recession At Greater Than 50%. But the bigger picture is of an economy where growth has slowed so markedly that it wouldn't take much to push it into an outright contraction. A recession—according to the National Bureau of Economic Research's Business Cycle Dating Committee, the nonprofit group considered the official arbiter of recessions—is "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months." ... "The economy has already been hit by a series of shocks earlier this year, so I think we need just one more modest shock to tip the economy back into recession," said Bank of America economist Michelle Meyer. ... In an interview Thursday, economist Nouriel Roubini—who doesn't participate in the Journal's survey—said the world had more than a 50% chance of falling into recession ... The world is operating "in the fog of uncertainty," he added. The Wall Street Journal

Off The Beaten Path

REMINDER: Lions Fans - When The Season Starts Up Make Sure To Hit Up The Lions’ Den At Cap Lounge

... Ex-Inmate Captured Breaking Back Into Prison KSBW

Old and Busted: Planking New Hotness: Horsemaning – The Daily Mail