The Great Stimulus Debate of '09: "Crybabies need not apply"

[Crewleader]

Weekend Edition
November 20-22, 2009

The Great Stimulus Debate of '09:
"Crybabies need not apply"

By MIKE WHITNEY

Barack Obama has decided to push the economy back into recession, and no one can figure out why. Perhaps the impressionable Obama has come under the spell of the deficit hawks and crystal gazers who see Armageddon around every corner. Or maybe he's thrown-in with the snappish Marc Faber whose dire predictions of hyperinflation are about as cheery as Hieronymus Bosch's vision of Hell. Whatever the reason, the President has done a hasty volte-face and decided that trimming the deficits in the middle of a severe economic downturn is the way to go. Here's what Obama said just days ago on his Asia tour:

"I think it is important to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession."

Obama is either getting some very bad advice or he's simply determined to drive a stake into the flickering economy. All plans for deficit-pruning should be postponed until the economy steadies itself and the jobs picture improves. Raising taxes or slashing spending while the economy is still contracting is crazy. It shows that Obama is being influenced by the Gain through Pain school who think that mass liquidation and years of bitter retrenchment are the best medicine. They're wrong. Sensible people look for solutions that don't involve hair shirts, moving to underground bunkers or living off root-crops for the next millennia.

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney11202009.html

[Joanne98]

1. Yep!

[unblock]

2. oh please. that was a good thing TO SAY TO CHINA

given that they hold a a significant portion of our debt and our fiscal restraint is a high priority issue FOR THEM.

so it was wise for obama to communicate that we're aware of the problem and to give appropriate reassurances.


whether or not he's really going to ACT on what he said to china prior to addressing the concerns of his actual constituents (american voters) is another question entirely.

it's called diplomacy.