As the year 2009 edges to a close, it looks like the U.S. capital markets will end the year on a much happier note than when the year began. As measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 2009 will end up at a level of about 10,500, or around 40% higher than the March low. Part of the “last-minute” increase in investor confidence can be attributed to better than expected retail sales; however, most of the meteoric increase in market value over the last six months can be attributed to the Obama Administration’s deft handling of the American economy. It was, after-all, only a year ago that the new President was handed an American economy on the brink of collapse. The major financial institutions were collapsing like dominoes, the country’s largest insurance company was bankrupt, the U.S. auto industry was gasping it’s last breath, and the stock market was in a free fall. It was only through enlightened and decisive leadership and actions that the American economy was saved from sure disaster. The Obama-sponsored stimulus package, together with bailout packages for the auto and financial services industries not only saved millions of American jobs, but saved the country from another “great depression”.
As the new year dawns, most economists admit that 2010 will most likely be a year of slow economic recovery in the United States. During this year, the country will begin to digest the ramifications of the health care reform package, and many employers will position themselves to take advantage of the newly defined “health care landscape”. With the cost of employee-provided health care now clearly defined, many employers will begin the process of re-hiring former laid-off workers. As the economy slowly rebounds from the dark days of the recession, hiring will pick up at an ever-increasing pace as both consumers and investors regain confidence in the Obama Administration’s ability to manage the economy.
It is likely that future generations of Americans will look back to the year of 2009 with admiration for a President who had the guts and tenacity to take on an entrenched conservative minority, hell-bent on standing in the way of the progressive reforms needed to propel America into the twenty-first century.

—Rich