Obama and the Economy: Is Hope All He's Got?

Everyone has to face the facts. Pres.Obama does nothing but TALK, TALK, TALK, THAT IS IT. HE IS A GREAT SPEAKER THAT WILL SAY ANYTHING. Now as for doing anything, WRONG! HE IS DEAD IN THE WATER! What a bad president we have, but not for long. Next election he is GONE. I don't know if the Democrats will even put him in the election seat, he has caused them too much pain and embarrassment.

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was told "deficits don't matter" when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.
O'Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush's economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from "the corporate crowd," a key constituency.

O'Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter," he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: "We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due." A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.

The vice president's office had no immediate comment, but John Snow, who replaced O'Neill, insisted that deficits "do matter" to the administration.

Source: [X-ref O'Neill] Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News Jan 11, 2004

I can't wait until the Republicans are in the White House again. They have an agenda that started with Reagan that needs to be finished so that we can start all over again and blame our problems on the Democrats.

I didn't vote for Bush, either time, but everyone keeps saying he spent money. I guess that was to help with the clean up of the trade towers, the pentagon, beefing up the airports, 335 embassies and consulates around the world, military bases here and around the world, government buildings throughout the US; nuclear power plants, navy yards, new offices abroad that scrub manifests in cargo and airplanes, new offices in the US to scrub manifests from here. He went after Saddam who was buying nuclear triggers from us in 1990 and was lobbing scuds at his neighbors, took 700 tanks into Kuwait seizing $40 billion in military hardware including 150 surface to air missiles on his way to Saudi Arabia and burnt oil fields on his way out; gassed 65,000 Kurds and then tried to go after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Yes, he spent money but at least I could see where the money went. Where did the stimulus go? 20,000 criminals in prison were able to get money for first home buying, an IRS center in Andover, MA got $92 million to expand their center with an amphitheater, pond and art gallery, etc. I've worked in the gov since Johnson to Bush Jr. but this guy, I try hard but I just can't support a man who does not listen to anyone. Heaven help those people in the Gulf.

What is true and will remain true is inexperience and bluster never carries the water..
it will always be it's undoing...if, AND THAT MAY BE A BIG IF we can make it thru this administration without a major event that causes a meltdown financially, then the mistakes made will be corrected. The public once exposed to the truth will always(usually) make the right decisions....we are in a period of Carter on steroids
This will subside because too many people WANT AND ARE SEEKING THE TRUE STORY,
NOT THE PALAVER FED TO THEM on the nightly news or Oprah.... If we make it thru the mess ...this experience might just be the best thing that could have happened,
The public will be wary to fast talk and grand sweeping platitudes with no details...all hat and no cattle will not make the grade anymore.

Lets stipulate that both TARP and the Stimulus bill were warrented. There is an argument to be made that panic could have engulfed the credit markets and "revulsion" an economic term for the suspension of belief in credit instruments could have ensued. Now I do not agree with this assertion, but it is a cogent perspective. What I have not seen from any pro-government liberal is the real life corrolary to this, which is that this type of intervention distorts the marketplace and its pricing mechanism. The current markets in assets ARE TOO HIGH IN PRICE and the government is not allowing the clearing transactions to occur to reliquify the system. FDR did the same thing as did the Japanese in the 1990's. What occured was 10 years of stagnation while mispriced assets languished on balance sheets freezing the capital required for recovery. The Credit markets KNOW this and if growth prospects look dim the ability of sovereign nations to make the interest payments on debt levels near 100% of GDP{ see Greece} are problematic. Keynesian "pump priming" is inoperable, first because his theory called for countercyclical policies throughout the business cycle{ie. running surpluses during recoveries} and increasing debt with little prospect of a true recovery may cause "revulsion" of US Treasuries.

When one adds it all up, there is no question but that it is George W's fault, certainly not Obama's.

The economists that say the stimulus has 'saved or created 2,000,000 jobs are not to be trusted. Unemployment was at 6.9% when stimulus was passed and now it is at 9.9%. At 1,500,000 jobs per percentage point that equals 4,500,000 jobs lost since stimulus passed. Math so simple an economist can do it even Paul Krugman (maybe).

I have heard people use the phrase "Recovery Summer" at barbecues, but only as the punchline to a joke. The only tool Obama ever needed was to get out of the way of the private sector and let it recover on its own like it always does. Instead, he has over-regulated, threatened, and impeded any progress that might have been made. Companies are NOT going to hire people with the threat of higher taxes, Obamacare costs, and Cap and Trade hanging over their head. Obama cannot create private sector jobs, but he can create an environment that is friendly to job growth. Instead, he has done everything possible to demonize business owners and put stumbling blocks in their path. He couldn't have made things harder for the private sector if he was trying. At this point, I have to either believe he is trying to make things worse or he is the most incompetent leader we have ever had. You choose.

Well, let's HOPE he still has some, because the American people are losing theirs, along with a great deal more.