Himes Forecasts Economic Gloom, Some Political Rays of Hope

Nearly 60 members of the Greenwich business community listened to a rather gloomy outlook on the nation's economy explained by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes.

During the half-hour discussion Himes presented to the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich, the two-term Democrat from Cos Cob, said the nation's housing bubble is years from rebounding. (Please see video.)

(Himes, a banker at Goldman Sachs for 12 years before he left it in 2002 to join a nonprofit organization, is among a dwindling number of elected Democrats in Congress with strong ties to the hedge fund industry, as pointed out.)

He also said some fellow Democrats "boxed me around the ears" for supporting $2.5 trillion in budget cuts and arguing that even more cuts will need to be made if an economic recovery and a balanced budget are to be achieved. He said believes the road to economic recovery can be paved if corporate tax loopholes are filled, forcing corporations to pay their share of what he called "the second highest corporate tax in the world."

But before any of that can happen, Himes said that the political atmosphere in Washington needs to be toned down. "This is the most political atmosphere in my experience," Himes said. "There is real anger out there. There's a very angry right wing, populist group and it's called the Tea Party."

"Sixty of these people were elected by the US citizenry but it has lead to the gridlock that we have," Himes said. But he said this is democracy in action, including discussions that don't always lead to compromise. "If there wasn't discussion, you might have seen a coup. If there wasn't discussion you might have a fascist government."

And Himes said he was optimistic that the Congressional committee created to develop a budget compromise will do so. "They are protecting their (legislative) legacy and will try to do something big [...] and we're going to hate it," Himes predicted.

(Himes appeared to be on the politics of deficit reduction in June, when he spoke in Norwalk.)