The economy depends heavily on policies set forth by whatever administration is in office and who controls Congress. Real estate values follow the economy and what policies the administration sets out. Things like EPA and the Labor Department and the Fed can make business work well or, as we see now, be severely constrained by added costs with onerous regulations. EPA can make development easy or extremely difficult and costly. Rules about affordable housing, ADA, ozone, and you name it can add unbearable costs to development by adding hard costs or a lot of time.

In the end it all comes down to leadership. Something that is virtually absent in this president. Here is a guy who never worked for a living. He never ran anything. Never had employees even as a manager, and never made a payroll. He never risked his own money on a deal or a development. He never worked in finance, never made a mortgage, never negotiated a busted mortgage with a homeowner, and never had to fire anyone. He is totally inexperienced at anything to do with the economy, banking, real estate or business. Yet he is the president setting all sorts of policies, priorities, guidance for his cabinet secretaries, military generals, and setting the agenda for where government spends its money like Selindra. Or using stimulus money to pay back the teachers union instead of in support of small businesses who actually hire people. He never earned a big income, until he ran for president, so far as we know, so he has no idea that if you earn a lot, then you invest in new ventures, or you buy stocks and bonds which provide the capital for business to grow and hire.

Al Checchi was chairman of Northwest Airlines during its toughest days. He invested his money and brain power to create jobs and value for shareholders. He had to have tough negotiations with the staff and unions. He was a very senior executive at Marriott and Disney where he had to undertake very creative and complex deal structuring to build those companies. He became a very effective leader by working his way up in corporate America from nowhere, and then by being responsible for building companies. He is the exact counterpoint to Obama in every way.