Barack Obama is way too optimistic.

[kentuck]

The economy is in much worse shape than he ever imagined. It is in much worse shape than Tim Geithner told him. Sure, the unemployment rate might go to 8%?? Jobs will start to pick up in the spring. It is always a lagging indicator. No need to worry.

Perhaps we should take $200 billion dollars of that leftover TARP money and pay down the debt? It will help us in the next election. That's the ticket!

The shit is about to hit the fan. My advice would be to not stand in front of it. The people are getting restless and it's not just the Republicans. Democrats and Republicans have voiced their disapproval with Timmy Geithner. The are beginning to see the scam perpetrated with the big banks and they don't like it. A Democrat, Allen Grayson, has gone in with Ron Paul and got a bill passed to audit the Fed. Audit the Fed! Are they crazy?!

It is time to get serious. Things are not going to fix themselves. We need plans on the table to create jobs and to regulate these criminals that got us into this mess. We don't have more time. We need action now.

[Mari333]

1. Those huge multinational corporations that sent all our manufacturing base

to China and India and god knows where for the last 30 yrs are also the ones who own the politicians.

I doubt we will see anything happen until the whores in DC are off that payroll.

Obama, I think, lives in a bubble like most of DC and has no idea how tough it is in the real world.

[phantom power]

2. Obama could be the FDR of the 21st century

and yet he seems to be flirting with becoming Hoover.

Very frustrating. And frightening.

[Moondog]

22. We'll know that happened

when the press start calling homeless encampments "Obamavilles", and roadkill meat as "Obama Hogs."

Personally, I don't see him turning into another Hoover. At least I hope not.

But Geitner has got to go.

[dysfunctional press]

42. woulda, coulda, shoulda...

and some of us even had the audacity to hope for it.

[C_Lawyer09]

3. Did it ever occur to you

That regulatory agencies are not doing there job? Do we need regulators to regulate them? Hate to break it to you, but a constituent responsive govt. under our current two party system is not making a re-appearance. Why not audit the fed? In addition make 100% of the DOD and CIA budget public. Why should the Fed avoid scrutiny?

[kentuck]

5. "Why not audit the fed?"

I agree. I was being facetious.

[C_Lawyer09]

7. My bad, my spider senses must be off today

I often make fun of those that miss sarcasm or facetiousness... Guess the laughs on me!!

[Echo In Light]

4. Politicians stick to the strategies of the scripts their handlers provide them with

[pnwmom]

6. Paying down the debt will do nothing to alleviate unemployment.

We should be spending the money on long term infrastructure work that will stimulate the economy.

[kentuck]

8. Does it scare you that the WH is even thinking such a thought?

It's another world up there.

[pnwmom]

11. I didn't know the WH was. That would be very troubling. n/t

[BeFree]

24. Pay down debt message?

It is for the audience that is holding our debt.

It is a good idea.
Nearly impossible to do, but still is a good idea.

[pnwmom]

43. According to Paul Krugman, it is the exact wrong time we should be thinking

about that, if we want to keep our economy on the mend. The reason the Depression lasted for so many years is that we became concerned about the deficits and acted to reduce them, when instead we should have been stimulating the economy.

(Krugman is the Princeton University economist who won the Nobel Prize last year.)

[laughingliberal]

13. Yeah, this is nuts!

The economy is barely starting to recover and jobs are not recovering at all so it's time to strangle it in its crib.

I know! Let's focus on deficit reduction. Perhaps we can wrangle a true depression out of this mess, after all!

[Winterblues]

17. It isn't even really paying down the debt, it is only about a third of the interest on the debt.

Imagine what would happen to the USA if for some reason Interest rates starting climbing...

[EmeraldCityGrl]

9. I need to hear a state of the union address.

There's a lot of uncertainty right now, rumors flying about the collapse of the dollar, unemployment rising, foreclosures and delinquencies up.

I'm nor asking for him to blow smoke up our asses, but some hand holding is definitely needed right now.

[jpak]

10. Yes- a presidential pronouncement of DOOM and GLOOM is in order - that'll fix the economy!

yup!

[kentuck]

14. A little honesty would be in order.

This crap is not going to fix itself. The Big Banks are not going to surrender control on their own. You can continue to wear your rainbow sunglasses, if you wish.

[jpak]

15. Yes - DOM and GLOOM is just what the doctor ordered for worried consumers and businesses

All we have to fear is fear and more fear and more better fear!!!11111

That's the smart thing to do.

yup

[kentuck]

16. Let's pretend...

OK? Everything is just fine and nothing needs to be done.

[jpak]

18. I'm not pretending - if Obama talks down our fragile economy, he kills the recovery

That is reality

[kentuck]

19. What recovery?

What reality? The Wall Street reality?

He doesn't have to tell us that the real unemployment rate is about 17%. We already know it. Does he know it, is the question? If he does, why isn't he doing anything about it?

[jpak]

21. Look at GDP - when Obama was sworn-in it was tanking at -6.4% (1st quarter 2009)

After the Stimulus Money started to flow - the 2nd Quarter GDP dropped only -0.7%

Third quarter 2009 GDP ***ROSE*** +3.4% - the economy has started to grow again.

Obama stabilized the housing and financial markets.

The stock indexes are WAY off their lows earlier this year.

Obama saved us from a Great Depression - and the recovery has started.

Doomers can whine all they want but the recovery is underway.

Oh Yeah - when Obama was sworn-in, the US economy was losing 650,000+ jobs a month - monthly jobs losses are less than half that now and continue to decline.

The econ stats do not proclaim DOOM and GLOOM.

[kentuck]

26. I understand what you are saying but...

The President and all his advisors are saying this is the worst economy since the Great Depression. If that is true and they actually believe it, should they not be doing more for Main Street and less for Wall Street?

As for job creation, the economy has to create about 150,000 jobs per month just to break even. Should they not be asking business and Wall St to sacrifice also? Billion dollar bonuses do not sit very well with people that are struggling to make it from day to day. Stockholders and businesses should have to suffer like everyone else.

The recovery is not underway. Simply because Wall Street is no longer slumping means little to the rest of America. Granted, your 401K has stopped losing money but that does not comprise a "recovery".

We are not "saved" from the Great Depression - we are still falling into it.

[jpak]

27. Yes - a 3rd Quarter GDP growth of +3.4% is proof-positive that the economy is crashing

The bleeding has to stop before the healing can begin.

The bleeding has stopped.

People who expect Obama to change things overnight are really naive and overoptimistic.

just sayin'

[HughBeaumont]

31. Yarp.

"Suck It Up" only applies to the "Little People".

[galileoreloaded]

35. Wall Street IS still slumping.

and it will rear it's ugly head quite soon enough. The trading being done right now is mostly algorithm based stuff, plus a few big pension funds trying to make their yearly redemption needs, so they get a little more risky. The gains to date are "hot money" flows, not investments made on structural fundamentals. Price to earnings is WAY out of whack.

The economy is contracting, drastically.

[jpak]

36. Yes- this spring the DOW was ~6500, today it is >10,000: proof-positive of a stock market collapse

yup!

:rofl:

[galileoreloaded]

38. Ok smarty pants, spread that into pre-equity pullback dollars.

Say, 2007. Rut-roh Scooby.

;-)

[jpak]

40. All the US stock indices have increased by double-digit percentages post-Obama Stimulus

How anyone can interpret that as a "stock market collapse" is beyond stupid.

Spread that on your word salad.

:rofl:

[galileoreloaded]

34. Frustrating post.

The quickest way to boost GDP (poor indicator that it is) would be to pump massive profits into 40% of the economy. The 40% where you could have an instant impact. Banks. (for the purposes of this post "banks" mean financial institutions courtesy of Graham-Leach-Bliley.

So the administration and the FED took a path of least resistance to boosting GDP, ergo TARP/TARP 2, billions in junk MBS purchases, and an unprecedented expansion of their balance sheet through Quantitative Easing, or QE. The banks are still broke, the FED and Treasury just absorbed the risk and recapitalized them to prop them up.

The collapse will still come, the economy wasn't saved at all. They are just trying to keep the Credit Card open. No depression has been averted, just cost shifted and blown into a bubble 3 times the size and 3 times worse, when it pops. Who will backstop the FED and the UST??

The stats DO portend gloom and doom, its just that some people have a hard time coming to peace with eventualities, as they are quite uncomfortable.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

[jpak]

37. stupid post

TARP stabilized the financial system

Obama's Stimulus boosted GDP

sorry to burst YOUR bubble

:rofl:

[galileoreloaded]

39. A massive release of dollars into its native habitat stabilized

a debt tsunami, attempting to close the output gap (which is back wide open). That money was then used to generate trading revenues, which then increased profits in an equity market, our Wall Street. This in turn led to insane profits from financial institutions (40% of the economy) which buoyed GDP growth. (well this and screwing existing customers with the tacit approval of the FED, Congress, and the Treasury)

You don't have to agree with me, but I have no interest in reveling in ignorance.

[jpak]

41. Yet another stupid post

and no, I do not agree with your ignorant statements

sorry!

[kerrywins]

12. Statistic Methods Have Changed For the Worse

Food and Energy are no longer included in inflation numbers as they once were.

[HughMoran]

20. I think he's very serious about this

...just because he puts on an optimistic face (I'm glad he does), doesn't meant that he's unaware of what he's facing (he sees the data before we do.)

[WI_DEM]

23. Obama just got done saying we could be in for a double dip recession, how is that optimistic?

[bigtree]

25. hmm

Are all Democrats really as dissatisfied as the progressive-minded among us? I get the sense that the president still has most folks in the party. After all, he already has an impressive list of accomplishments or deeds (despite the shape of the economy and his lingering occupations).

I think the optimism he's projecting isn't necessarily an indicator of how earnest he is behind the scenes.

[kentuck]

28. Tim Geithner has shown little interest in creating jobs..

He has been focused on saving Goldman Sachs and the Big Banks. They will start loaning and get the economy going again. No they won't. They are like vultures. They are buying up everything in sight with the money "borrowed" from the taxpayers. The system does not work and needs radical change.

I realize that the President is only one man and Congress will not automatically follow his suggestions. However, we need to see more serious discussion, other than just saving the banks.

[jpak]

30. Yes - it would have been better for the financial system to completely collapse

Then we all could sing 'Happy Days Are Here Again'

yup

[OHdem10]

29. They were all informed in 2006 that the Globalization Crisis had

started. There would be 40 MILLION job dislocations including
all levels of employment, even Professionals.

Banking Committee Meeting--Senator Shumer.
AT this meeting none other than Larry SOMMERS, Bob RUBIN, AlanBLINDER
and a Professor from U.of Chicago.--were the witnesses and bearers
of bad news. Trade Policies had not worked out as they had thought
they would and advances in Technology are the problem. In other words
deals like NAFTA failed.

This is contributing to all the lay offs.

This hearing was never discussed on Network or Cable TV, nor was
it empahasized in Press.

They Leaders in DC have chosen to pretend all the problems are
result of Financial Meltdown.

Typical Washington--wait for a crisis before acting.

I do not buy this playing ignorant.Please check out who broke the
news.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

32. FDR was way too courageous.

The only thing to fear is fear itself?

Well what about spiders? And giant robots? And child molestationers?

That's a stunning lack of imagination for a president. We don't have more time. We need cowardice now.

[DU GrovelBot]

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