Are we there yet?� Have we rebounded from the downed economy of two years ago?� Our dear President tells us that we�ve made leaps and bounds from where we were.� We gained 100,000 new jobs last month, we had the foreclosure rate go down - down 26% from the year before. Driven by investigations by the Fed, the FDIC and states banks' robo-signer foreclosure process, Obama appears to be on the right track.

Now, Obama has the answer: hire in two (or more) corporate heads to help him jump start the economy�people who helped drive our country�s economy into the ground, while their corporations made out like bandits.� President Obama has done a 180-degree turn�into a conservative.

Last week, Obama named Jeffrey Immelt, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric, to head a new White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. "We think GE has something to teach businesses all across America," said Obama.��

What?� Is that because GE is about to open an advanced battery manufacturing plant that will employ 350 people?� Is it because GE located its renewable energy headquarters at the GE campus, which employs more than 650 people?� I surely hope not.� These facts don�t outweigh the fact that GE has laid off over 21,000 workers last year, closed 20 U.S. plants and currently has 53% of its workforce outside the United States!� How does that help us here at home?�

We don�t need Immelt or those of his ilk in advisory, policy-making or legislation-creating positions!� That old adage of �running government like a business is bull!� That doesn�t help us here at home�Government is for people�real, live people�not for getting rich; that�s the role of corporations.

Obama thinks that being corporation-friendly will win over the Right.� He�s sadly mistaken.� It�s been proven that whenever corporation heads flood government, the economy (the people) get raped.� Revolving-door politics rarely leaves the country in a stronger position, just a more bent over one.

Obama has also replaced Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel with William Daley.� Daley is a senior executive VP with JP Morgan. He was Emanuel�s mentor, and President Clinton�s Secretary of Commerce. And yes, he is a scion of the Daley family�the famed family of Chicago politics.

Then there�s Sperling�Obama is replacing his Chief Economic Adviser � Larry Summers � with Gene Sperling.� Sperling is currently a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and is now being appointed as Obama�s chief economic adviser. He served as a consultant to Goldman Sachs, and in 2008 harvested sums reaching seven-figures for his work there and in delivering speeches to the highest ranks of the financial services realm.

Economist Dean Baker and the liberal pundit Robert Kuttner wrote that a key item on Sperling�s resume is the nearly $900,000 he earned as a consultant for Goldman Sachs�at the very time the bank was playing a leading role in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

A group of House Republicans, last Thursday, introduced a proposal to cut spending from more than 100 federal programs and cut back spending levels by $2.5 trillion over the next decade.� The bill would hold 2011. non-security discretionary spending to 2008 levels, freeze non-defense discretionary spending to 2006 levels for 10 years and cut the federal workforce by 15 percent, according to the Republican Study Committee, a group made up of conservative lawmakers.

While Republican leaders like House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor offered kind words for the Study Committee�s recommendations, they stopped short of endorsing them. That�s like ethanol:� It was supposed to make gas cheaper, but we ended up paying double the price!

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama told us that it�s all good.� The pep talk will get his ratings up for a quick second.� But no matter what he says, the Republicans are going to say otherwise.� Who do you trust?� What I know is, as a black person, it never mattered what the economy was doing!� I�ve always struggled�

The economy is not doing well, and hiring corporate raiders and cutting essential services to poor people won�t make it better.� What I know is, the president�s policies are looking more and more Republican.� It might get his poll numbers up, but it won�t bode well come re-election time.� I can�t see a reason to vote for someone who allows mechanisms to stay in place that keep me poor.� We�re losing at home and our options are few. What are you going to do?�

BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator Perry Redd is the former Executive Director of the workers rights advocacy, Sincere Seven, and author of the on-line commentary, �The Other Side of the Tracks�. He is host of the internet-based talk radio show, Socially Speaking in Washington, DC. Click here to contact Mr. Redd.