• Job creation
• Energy policy
• Cap & trade
• General Motors bankruptcy
• Mortgage crisis
• Union labor leadership
• Impact of Health Care Reform
• Leveraged buy-outs
• Problems with swaps and derivatives
• Continuing problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• The need to better regulate the financial markets

This series consisting of nine eight-minute segments can be viewed on fulldisclosure.net by clicking on the segment links below:

Segment #1
New Energy For America: Can wind and solar power mandates and one million hybrid cars produce sufficient energy and jobs or will the results produce inefficiency and economic ruin for Americans? Corporate turn-around executive H. Andrew Thornburg compares the results of similar policies in other countries and examines the logic of such proposals.

Segment #2
Cap & Trade legislation: Is seen as a “Tax, Penalize and Cut-back” strategy proposed to reverse the over-reliance of coal fired power which ironically resulted by the failure to produce the clean nuclear power plants that were abundant but were subsequently out of public favor over the past thirty years. Thornburg compares energy sources of the 70% diesel, 90% nuclear powered France to the U.S.’s 1% diesel and 20% nuclear power.

Segment #3
General Motors, Banking Regulators & Labor Unions: What happens when private lenders are forced to take less (cram down) when banks taking TARP funds must capitulate to government regulators? Citibank and Bank of America are more beholden to government dictates in bank policy results in shareholder losses. Thornburg describes why he believes that General Motors will fail within ten years due to labor union and government interference.

Segment #4
Restructuring General Motors: Will the Obama health plan to exempt retirement and health care benefits for GM workers but tax insurance companies instead impact the cost of new cars? Foreign car manufacturers in “right to work” states will compete with domestic cars higher prices covering additional costs. Will management policies made by labor and government bureaucrats become political decisions? Thornburg shares his views on the survival chances of General Motors under these circumstances.

Segment #5
Corporate Ethics & Strategies: The corporate raiders who buy up healthy companies to “flip” for a fast profit and short term gains has brought attention to generous executive salaries and bonuses, leveraged flipping in search of instant gratification. Thornburg discusses the negative impact when government and labor assume what once was the corporate role of responsibility for employee welfare, benefits and job security.

Segment #6
How will TARP Impact Our Economic Future? What was accomplished with the TARP (bail out program) and was the $700 billion U S Treasury program successful? $18 trillion in U S corporate debt overshadowed the $63 trillion in credit swap defaults. What does this all mean? A discussion of Lehman Brothers failure, the practice of stripping interest from principle and other issues, provide insight to the loss of confidence that must be addressed.

Segment #7
Threat to Safeguards of Economic System: Traditional economic levers for correction in a troubled economy are corporate bankruptcy and real estate foreclosures. Government policies that encouraged home loans to unqualified buyers resulted in reduced consumer buying power, then retail layoffs and eventually lead to a commercial real estate collapse. Consequences of reduced job growth cannot be solved with political solutions of the late 70’s such as wage and price controls.

Segment #8
Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs: Proved unsuccessful in the first 9 months. Sustaining salaries and unemployment benefits with stimulus funds generated demand for a second stimulus plan. Opportunities such as nuclear power plant construction, Anwar oil drilling that could create jobs and energy independence are ignored along with the use of “incentives” as a means to stimulate recovery.

Segment #9
Federal Reserve and Civil Unrest; Debasing of U S Currency: Will Americans resort to bartering and begging for food? Fed policies of low interest rates are compared to the 1982 interest rates of 21% that were unsustainable. Sweden’s experiment with socialism led to an eventual economic restructuring away from wealth transfer. Hyper inflation in the US in the 70’s is not expected but civil unrest could result if the lower end of the economic ladder is forced to live off subsidies as education fails and to prepare them to care for themselves.