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Economy
In reply to the discussion: Weekend Economists and the Accidental President December 13-15, 2013 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)21. Obama and the harsh reality check Mark Morford
http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2013/12/10/obama-and-the-harsh-reality-check/
You want the good news, or the wincingly bleak news that makes you shudder and sigh and wish you didnt have such sad dreams? You want a bit of both? You should probably hear a bit of both...Because heres the thing: He did more or less what he said he was going to do so far, anyway which was to end Bushs devastatingly stupid war(s), re-establish America as a respectable force in world affairs, orate in complete sentences so as not embarrass the nation on the international stage at every turn, shift the race discussion to the next level, enact at least some modest education reform, protect womens rights, defend the middle class, slap back the GOPs toxic plot to rule American politics for the next 75 years, and usher in an impossibly variegated, increasingly messy era of barely controlled, women-empowered, multicultural chaos in which old, fear-soaked white men no longer control every election, industry, media, cultural discussion, power source and hunk of propaganda in the nation.
And what of Obamas signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act? So horribly mismanaged, watered down, blocked, lied about and spit upon that its almost impossible to tell that its a pretty good law overall, one that will reverberate for years and benefit millions, despite the raging lies and laughable rhetoric of the right...Oh, yes one more thing: When Obama took office, the Dow was a desolate, gut-wrenching 8000 points and plummeting like a suicidal eagle. Every pundit from the Wall Street Journal to the Economist declared that Americas unprecedented combination of a failed war, brutal housing crisis, recession, auto industry collapse and manufacturing exodus was a perfect storm of economic cataclysm that would take at least 20 years to fix, if that. Obama said hed do most of it in four. Maybe five. Behold! Both the Dow and S&P 500 reached record highs just last week. In just five short years, the economy, while maybe not exactly booming, has more than fully recovered in nearly every category. The auto industry is flourishing anew. Theres also 1.5 million new jobs, and unemployment has steadily dropped to a slightly more reasonable 7% (jobs always lag behind growth).
In short, the guy accomplished the unimaginable. We are now is as stable and strong as can be for a fractured, deeply corrupt, post-9/11 nation on the verge of perpetual economic and environmental apocalypse. Miraculous? Damn straight. Of course, that doesnt tell quite the whole story, does it? For lo, the woes and problems, snags and disappointments are plethoric, ugly and barbed like everyday hate speech on Fox News. Oh, the missed opportunities, the failings, the ugly choices that make you despise politics all over again, and realize its all just an insidious shell game, and youre not even rich enough to be the pea.
Radical overhaul of Wall Street corruption and runaway greed when Obama had the chance? Didnt happen, wont happen. Cartoonish CEOs still gorging on salary bloat, many making as much as 1,000 times the pay rate of their average employee? No end in sight. We now live in a country where wealth inequality is so violently lopsided as to be laughable, if it werent so disgusting. The kicker? The ratios are probably a lot worse than you think. Despite all the good Obama has done, from housing reform, defending gay rights, killing DADT/DOMA and enacting college loan reform, et al, the dominant system is more brutally rigged for the over-class than ever, and Obama is more enmeshed in that framework than even the most moderate Democrats imagined. He has also repeatedly upheld the Patriot Act, increased military spending, increased domestic oil production, championed drone warfare, and done almost nothing to curtail the NSA or Americas rabid gun fetishism. Benghazi? Iran? Guantanamo? What else you got? I will never be so naive or cynical to say it doesnt matter which party is in office (God forbid we were in a McCain or Romney presidency right now), but step back far enough and its more of a frothy sea of inbred powerbrokers than ever, and Obama, despite all hopes to the contrary, stands right at the helm of the ship. Not that he necessarily wants to be there....
AND IF YOU BELIEVE THAT, I HEAR THERE'S AN HISTORIC BRIDGE IN BROOKLYN GOING CHEAP...
NOSTALGIA FOLLOWS...SEE LINK
You want the good news, or the wincingly bleak news that makes you shudder and sigh and wish you didnt have such sad dreams? You want a bit of both? You should probably hear a bit of both...Because heres the thing: He did more or less what he said he was going to do so far, anyway which was to end Bushs devastatingly stupid war(s), re-establish America as a respectable force in world affairs, orate in complete sentences so as not embarrass the nation on the international stage at every turn, shift the race discussion to the next level, enact at least some modest education reform, protect womens rights, defend the middle class, slap back the GOPs toxic plot to rule American politics for the next 75 years, and usher in an impossibly variegated, increasingly messy era of barely controlled, women-empowered, multicultural chaos in which old, fear-soaked white men no longer control every election, industry, media, cultural discussion, power source and hunk of propaganda in the nation.
And what of Obamas signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act? So horribly mismanaged, watered down, blocked, lied about and spit upon that its almost impossible to tell that its a pretty good law overall, one that will reverberate for years and benefit millions, despite the raging lies and laughable rhetoric of the right...Oh, yes one more thing: When Obama took office, the Dow was a desolate, gut-wrenching 8000 points and plummeting like a suicidal eagle. Every pundit from the Wall Street Journal to the Economist declared that Americas unprecedented combination of a failed war, brutal housing crisis, recession, auto industry collapse and manufacturing exodus was a perfect storm of economic cataclysm that would take at least 20 years to fix, if that. Obama said hed do most of it in four. Maybe five. Behold! Both the Dow and S&P 500 reached record highs just last week. In just five short years, the economy, while maybe not exactly booming, has more than fully recovered in nearly every category. The auto industry is flourishing anew. Theres also 1.5 million new jobs, and unemployment has steadily dropped to a slightly more reasonable 7% (jobs always lag behind growth).
In short, the guy accomplished the unimaginable. We are now is as stable and strong as can be for a fractured, deeply corrupt, post-9/11 nation on the verge of perpetual economic and environmental apocalypse. Miraculous? Damn straight. Of course, that doesnt tell quite the whole story, does it? For lo, the woes and problems, snags and disappointments are plethoric, ugly and barbed like everyday hate speech on Fox News. Oh, the missed opportunities, the failings, the ugly choices that make you despise politics all over again, and realize its all just an insidious shell game, and youre not even rich enough to be the pea.
Radical overhaul of Wall Street corruption and runaway greed when Obama had the chance? Didnt happen, wont happen. Cartoonish CEOs still gorging on salary bloat, many making as much as 1,000 times the pay rate of their average employee? No end in sight. We now live in a country where wealth inequality is so violently lopsided as to be laughable, if it werent so disgusting. The kicker? The ratios are probably a lot worse than you think. Despite all the good Obama has done, from housing reform, defending gay rights, killing DADT/DOMA and enacting college loan reform, et al, the dominant system is more brutally rigged for the over-class than ever, and Obama is more enmeshed in that framework than even the most moderate Democrats imagined. He has also repeatedly upheld the Patriot Act, increased military spending, increased domestic oil production, championed drone warfare, and done almost nothing to curtail the NSA or Americas rabid gun fetishism. Benghazi? Iran? Guantanamo? What else you got? I will never be so naive or cynical to say it doesnt matter which party is in office (God forbid we were in a McCain or Romney presidency right now), but step back far enough and its more of a frothy sea of inbred powerbrokers than ever, and Obama, despite all hopes to the contrary, stands right at the helm of the ship. Not that he necessarily wants to be there....
AND IF YOU BELIEVE THAT, I HEAR THERE'S AN HISTORIC BRIDGE IN BROOKLYN GOING CHEAP...
NOSTALGIA FOLLOWS...SEE LINK
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