The North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, was an important point in Obama's Presidential Campaign platform. However, he seems to be backing away from his promise to renegotiate the agreement. In a meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in April, Obama said that any NAFTA renegotiation would need to wait until after the economic crisis passes. Any disruption to NAFTA trade could further slow the economy.

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In May, the amount of Americans' credit card debt dropped 3.7%, after plummeting more than 11% in each of the previous three months. Even with the drop-off, consumers still owe $928 billion, or $7,931 per household. (Source: Federal Reserve, G.19 Release, July 8, 2009)

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The Federal Government is now looking at increasing its regulation of commodities markets, including oil prices. Most analysts feel it will keep oil prices from skyrocketing when commodities traders start speculating, which many experts believe happened last summer. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced it will start hearings this summer. While increased oversight is needed, regulation of U.S. commodities markets alone don't go far enough to solve the problem.

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GM's bankruptcy, filed June 1, was approved by the court yesterday. Unfortunately, this is what it took to get the 100 year old American institution to become competitive. The Federal government now owns 60% of GM, paying $50 billion to keep it afloat.  In return, GM will:

• Close 40% of its 6,000 dealerships.
• Shut down 11 factories.
• Reduce health benefits for 650,000 retirees.

(Source:  CNN ; Washington Post)

These are all painful emergency measures that should have been made gradually over the last 20 years. Instead, GM offeredshort-term solutions to boost sales, such as zero-percent financing. Read more...