maybe not. just because the stock market has improved so much since obama took over doesn't mean much. it's all a result of quantative easing, loans to wallstreet at almost zero interest & other fed shenanigans. as you pointed out in one of your blogs yesterday, new entrepreneurs fail at a very high rate, proving that tax breaks for startups often are a huge waste of money. so what really creates jobs? simple, people with lots of money to spend. ordinary, working & lower middle class people, because they spend, they won't or can't save. now how do you get to this wonderful situation whereby everyone's working & businesses are hiring because business is so good? you don't. there has just been too much taken away from ordinary americans in long periods of unemployment, foreclosed homes, homes underwater, massive credit card, student loan, car loans that just can't be fixed anymore. you'd have to nationalize just about every major industry in america to change anything. so all the hoopla about the grand bargain & the fiscal cliff is just much ado about a relatively small factor in the problem. china will be the big winner in the coming decades with their russian, japanese & indian alliances, all resulting from our short-sighted stupidity.