Obama Makes Sense

It just so happened that I caught part of Barack Obama's comments on TV yesterday after the Business Roundtable in Washington and then, when the he showed up again on the evening news, his words were transcribed.

On the subject of the "illusion of prosperity", these thoughts were offered:

We cannot go back to endless cycles of bubble and bust. We can't continue to base our economy on reckless speculation and spending beyond our means.

I did not come here to pass our problems on to the next president or to the next generation.

I'm here to solve them.

These are the most sensible words I've heard from any politician about the U.S. economy in quite a long time - he almost sounds like Ron Paul.

Bloomberg has more here.

Comments

[fireball:]

tim
having read some of your articles i would guess this is a bit of humor?

Mar 15 11:04 AM

[Mafeking:]

Obama is a Pinocchio politician. He has figured out that few verify what he says - so he says one thing and does another.

Tim, I'd be more impressed with your article if it made judgments on Obama's deeds rather than his words. Tim you may be gullible!

By the way Tim I have a no fail investment to sell you. If you send me $10,000 I guarantee that you will be provided with a sure fire investment that returns 431% in two (2) weeks. (You must hurry. The offer won't last.)

Mar 15 12:10 PM

[Paul H. M.:]

Sounds like a lot of GOP supports are still having trouble swallowing the bitter pill of defeats.

It's okay guys. If we survived the last eight years under a mental retard, we should only flourish under Obama, a man who is both very bright with a much higher level of education than most past presidents.

Let's show some patriotism (GOP supporters used to be all about that, what happened?) and give our president a couple of years before we judge him.

Mar 15 01:29 PM

[john1940:]

Hey: lostark98

Please provide data showing how the masses have been carrying the top 1%. Also define the masses.

I can deal with data. Emotion and tired political rhetoric should be written on toilet paper just prior to use.

Obama is a politician. He will promise anything and screw them later. That's what politicians do.

Mar 15 02:56 PM

[mac.barron:]

Yeah, politicians say a lot of things. If Honest Obama is such a straight arrow and such a great leader why did he select an incompetent TAX CHEAT to head the Treasury?

What he says: A bunch of empty platitudes and pablum for the masses.

What he does: Things that do immense damage to the economy through:

* reckless abuse of the money supply

* inexcusable handouts to business people who have proven their total lack of competence/trustworthi...

* creation of entitlement programs for the stupid and the indolent that will corrupt society and bankrupt the people who play by the rules and pay the bulk of taxes

I don't give a shit what he says. He needs to:

* fire Geithner then have him sent to prison for his willful tax evasion

* Stop throwing money into the banks; it won't save us, it will only make the pain worse down the road

* Stop propping up the businesses of business people who were too dumb or greedy to survive without government intervention; we reward greed and incompetence

* Stop bankrupting the tax payer with entitlement programs that waste money and have no return on investment; roll it all back--we can't afford it.

Mar 15 03:43 PM

[mediapro:]

SO.

What were you paying attention to as your were watching the budget deficit rise from a surplus to a record deficit in eight short years?

It amazes me that there are still apologists for supply side hypotheses.

Let's compare these undefined and unproven effective policies (after a whopping eight weeks of implmentation) against the backdrop of some very well-defined, proved ineffective policies of the past thirty years, apparently with which the poster is perfectly comfortable.

The introduction, ascendency and idolatry of Milton Friedman's brand of shock economics has done more to destroy the world's economy than any econmic hypothesis in our lifetime. This is not just Reaganomics /Bushanomics, but the pitting of haves/have nots in a global play orchestrated through Milton's disciples within the IMF, World Bank, and governing neo-conservative world view since at least 1975.

Cutting taxes on the wealthy and re-distributing middle class income up to those captains of industry combined with wholesale deregulation and nary a veto over the past six years of spending bills full of Republican pork projects, and conveniently leaving the $1 Trillion dollars of Iraq war spending off the books while the national debt ballooned from around $5 Trillion to $10.6 Trillion at last peek is an ingenious spin on what constitutes supply side stimulus, if not outright delusion.

Count the change left in your pockets, unless of course you are one of the few who benefitted from this latest episode of Shock Economics so popular with necons. I'll just ask you the same question Reagan used to ask: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

If you're in the same boat as the rest of us, our "staying the course" has undeniably run the lot of us aground. If you have benefitted, then you're one of the lucky 2% that control 80% of America's wealth, completely comfortable that you'll ride out the storm until the next lunatic can covince most of the people all of the time into something completely counter to their own self interest.


On Mar 13 12:58 PM Paul in Texas wrote:

> The national debt he is helping to create can only be passed on to
> his successors and to the next generation and maybe even to the one
> after that, unless he bankrupts the country. I agree with Steve
> in Greenboro: "Pay attention to what he does, not what he says".

Mar 15 05:42 PM

[mediapro:]

Friend.

Stay on this site long enough, and you will discover the Land of the Lost. Lost their minds to Friedmandomics. Lost their money to supply-side malarkey. Lost their ability to make a cogent argument beyond the communists are coming and the problems with gub'ment. And lost the last two elections but have yet to figure that our either.


On Mar 14 02:43 PM Dakota Kid wrote:

> Wow! Talk about a bunch of naysayers - count yourself and the rest
> of America lucky that you have a president of courage and vision
> who is willing to tackle the big problems. Wish him well, for if
> he does not succeed we will all be facing much more serious times
> ahead. We simply can't continue to "kick the can down the road"
> on medicare, social security and energy. The time to invest in America
> is now! Administration spending represents short term pain for long
> term gain.

Mar 15 05:50 PM

[growser7:]

I agree with the first three posters. What can be said of a man who with a straight face tells the country that he did not come to office to pass on problems to the next generation weeks after pushing through spending bills that will indenture the next generations to the tune of trillions of dollars? And the crisis of the moment does not reach to a height which justifies crushing the hopes and potentials of the children of this land who will have to struggle to pay for our recklessness. As Jefferson said, "No generation should have the right to impose its burdens on the next."

What hubris! "I am here to solve (our problems)." That is arrogance of Biblical proportion. Who brought water from the rock? This has all been said before.


As Alan Abelson said in Barron's Obama hasn't shown he is qualified to run anything other than water. His calm assurance is unnerving---he should be crapping his pants right now and the fact that he isn't convinces me he doesn't know what the devil he is doing or what he is up against.

The current crisis is a Trojan Horse that Obama is using to foist his social agenda on a frightened country. The push to sign it without careful review smacks of a hustle; undoubtedly it was loaded with the quid pro quos that he promised to get elected.

The continual counter-argument of "hey, look at the Republicans" goes nowhere. Yeah look at them. They have been spendthrift failures as well. There is shame enough to go around. Both parties should be sacked---and if they don't start acting as responsible stewards of this country and its FUTURE they may well be. Unsustainable systems tend to stop working. The Romanovs thought they had things pretty well sewn up in perpetuity in Russia too--If only they had been more responsible stewards.

Mar 15 06:22 PM

[anarchist:]

I agree Paul, and comments like " I HOPE HIS ECONOMIC POLICIES AND HIS SOCIAL POLICIES FAIL LIKE A BIG DOG!!!" are not helpful matter of fact I remember when even logical but uncomplimentary things were said about Bush-2 they were marginalized with shouts of "oh, he is just a Bush hater"-yeah, right!


On Mar 15 01:29 PM Paul H. M. wrote:

> Sounds like a lot of GOP supports are still having trouble swallowing
> the bitter pill of defeats.
>
> It's okay guys. If we survived the last eight years under a mental
> retard, we should only flourish under Obama, a man who is both very
> bright with a much higher level of education than most past presidents.
>
>
> Let's show some patriotism (GOP supporters used to be all about that,
> what happened?) and give our president a couple of years before we
> judge him.

Mar 15 08:09 PM

[anarchist:]

Very good comment mediapro. Obama inherited an almost impossible task of solving a financial crises he is not responsible for having created. I think he made a mistake bringing in the Bush holdovers Geithner and Summers but we need to watch, listen and see what happens in the next year. Is all this vitreolic rhetoric in the comments here part of the American thing of needing immediate gratification like a two year old?

Mar 15 08:22 PM

[Paul in Texas:]

Media pro said:
<Sounds like a lot of GOP supports are still having <trouble swallowing the bitter pill of defeats.

<It's okay guys. If we survived the last eight years <under a mental retard, we should only flourish under <Obama, a man who is both very bright with a much <higher level of education than most past presidents.

<Let's show some patriotism (GOP supporters used to be <all about that, what happened?) and give our president <a couple of years before we judge him.

Actually you missed the point. I also think the last eight years under Bush were as bad as Obama's first two months. Both are creating a debt load we will strugle with for decades.

Mar 15 10:23 PM

[Buy and Hol...:]

Geez, I wonder what people who call Obama a socialist for wanting to raise the top tax rate to 39.6 percent by letting the Bush tax cuts expire would say about politicians who had top tax rates at 50 percent. Or 70 percent. Or 91 percent.

I'm sure that terms like communist, Stalinist, and Marxist would be applied to them.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Comrade Reagan, Marxist Nixon, and Stalinist Eisenhower.

Mar 15 11:48 PM

[User 372317:]

I'm as skeptical about Obama's economic plans as the next guy, but I don't think it's entirely fair to say his campaign promises are "up in smoke". If anything he is following through on the campaign agenda with a little TOO much zeal.


On Mar 13 01:07 PM Mmarrkk wrote:

> Tim: Are you really that gullible? Do you believe ANYTHING this
> man says? Everything he said on the campaign trail is up in smoke,
> so why should we believe anything he says now?? He said EVERY bill
> would be posted for the public review at least 4 days prior to passing;
> he has yet to do that at all! He said an end to pork and earmarks
> and then we get a Pork-u-lous bill and his first spending bill chocked
> full of pork, earmarks and everything else. He said he would have
> the most ethical administration...then he lost 2 of his appointees
> to tax issues and his Sec. of Treasury is a FREAKING TAX CHEAT!!!!
>
>
> Oh, I'm sorry, there is something he said that he's following up
> on: "You know, spread it around" as it regards wealth. Yes, like
> the marxists and socialists before him, he is aiming to "spread around"
> our money to those who don't contribute!
>
> He's a liar and a fraud and dangerous to this economy and country.
> I HOPE HIS ECONOMIC POLICIES AND HIS SOCIAL POLICIES FAIL LIKE A
> BIG DOG!!!

Mar 16 02:23 AM

[jjaunter:]

Well isnt he fulfilling one of his campaign statements: This is the greatest country in the world help me to change it. Yup that is what he is doing, unfortunately in the wrong direction.

Mar 16 09:42 AM

[robert.b.fe...:]

First I wouldn't attempt to artificially redistribute the wealth. Second the top 1% have been supporting the masses not the other way around. Third you can't make the poor rich by making the rich poor. fourth the only thing that this Marxist socialist philosophy has ever accomplished is ensuring universal misery sooner or later you run out of other peoples money. Get real.


On Mar 14 09:14 AM lostark98 wrote:

> What make this different than the last 30 years (and more?) The masses
> have been paying for the top 1% in ever increasing percentages for
> decades. Do you actually think Obama is going to reverse that in
> a couple of months or years? You guys need to get real!
>
> To try and work around the systems that have evolved for over 200
> years means you have to pick your battles very carefully. There are
> very powerful interests (on "both sides of the aisle") who are not
> very interested in changing the way things are done.
>
> An exercise: Put your own personal interests aside and think about
> how you would do things. See if you could get it accomplished in
> a decade given the entrenched bureaucracies and powerful institutions
> (and individuals) that would need to be part of your plan. Let me
> know how you do!

Mar 16 10:38 AM

[Chris B:]

Where were all these deficit hawks when the Bush administration was tripling the national debt, doubling the federal payroll, and passing the bucks for his wars of choice to the next generation, financed by China?

It seems they were curiously quiet, except for, as the author alludes to, a handful of Ron Paul supporters.

Mar 16 01:37 PM

[robert.b.fe...:]

Obamanomics is kicking the can farther and faster than any one else in history. In fact in less than sixty days he has authorized more expenditure of resources than all of the previous administrations combined. Sadly not very much in the way of private sector stimulous. Most of the stimulous is for those who got him elected. Go freinds of Barak.


On Mar 15 05:50 PM mediapro wrote:

> Friend.
>
> Stay on this site long enough, and you will discover the Land of
> the Lost. Lost their minds to Friedmandomics. Lost their money to
> supply-side malarkey. Lost their ability to make a cogent argument
> beyond the communists are coming and the problems with gub'ment.
> And lost the last two elections but have yet to figure that our either.
>

Mar 16 02:16 PM

[mediapro:]

Why not artificially re-distribute wealth?

The supply-side fanatics have been turning the screw on the average Joe for at least the past thirty years, redistributing middle class income up to the Captains of America. If you believe that the top 1% support the masses, then join with me to eliminate the artificial props that support the ruling elite. That way we'll all be on your hoped-for level, free-market playing filed.

Just four examples:

1. Our effective cost per gallon of gas is ~$10.00 when one factors in the roughly $30 billion dollars in tax subsidies ANNUALLY provided to the oil and gas industry. This is the most egregious, downscale tax imaginable. Moreover, the oil and gas companies simply need to bid and secure future leases and INTENT to drill for the largess we reap upon them every year. This ponzi scheme against the American taxpayer is one of our dirtiest tax secrets.

2. Add to that tax subsidy the protectionist import rules on sugar, milk, etc. Removing sugar tariffs alone and replacing this supply with a much more efficient cane sugar ethanol source could end the corn producer/fertilizer manufacturers stranglehold on the taxpayer's neck. If one wants to make the small farmer argument, then set resdiency, gross receipts and size requirements on farm subsidies. This reward for planting inefficient crop supply and for NOT PLANTING crops drawfs even the oil subsidies.

3. For people who don't count the payroll, FICA, SUI, etc. automatic worker payroll contributions while conveniently ignoring the offshore accounts, shell businesses, and other manipulative uses of the tax code by those who can afford tax attorneys, don't be so quick to condemn the extra pittance through earned income tax credits, adjusted rate schedules for wage earners and such put into the pockets of those who actually contribute a day's labor for a fair wage vs. the incredible sums paid to those who move money through the system. Look where that system of rewards has put us.

4. Finally, would someone please explain to me why there is a ~$100 K cap on wage contributions to Social Security?




On Mar 16 10:38 AM robert.b.ferguson wrote:

> First I wouldn't attempt to artificially redistribute the wealth.
> Second the top 1% have been supporting the masses not the other way
> around. Third you can't make the poor rich by making the rich poor.
> fourth the only thing that this Marxist socialist philosophy has
> ever accomplished is ensuring universal misery sooner or later you
> run out of other peoples money. Get real.

Mar 16 02:24 PM

[mediapro:]

Thanks for the complement Paul in Texas, but those comments you attributed to me were from another poster.

Actually, I would have more sympathy for your worries about Obama if I knew how you voted in 2000 and 2004. Your concern seems to be crying about a glass of potentially spilled milk when the previous herd of cows just kicked all of our (financial) milk cans over and down the road long ago.

Hold off on your six shooter, pard'ner until the buckaroo has at least had time to try and fix this mess.

And you misunderstood me in your comments if you read mine. I contend that this crisis wasn't created eight years ago. Though Bush and his wackos may have put the penultimate frosting on the supply-side cake, the batter has been cooking for at least the past thirty years when Milton "The Magician" Friedman postulated that if we just re-distribute wealth up to those who have it and control the engines of capitalism, de-regulate capital markets and get out of the way, then the magic of the free markets would take over.

Well, The Magician got his wish, and just like the Emporer, he has no clothes.


On Mar 15 10:23 PM Paul in Texas wrote:

> Media pro said:
> <Sounds like a lot of GOP supports are still having <trouble swallowing
> the bitter pill of defeats.
>
> <It's okay guys. If we survived the last eight years <under a mental
> retard, we should only flourish under <Obama, a man who is both very
> bright with a much <higher level of education than most past presidents.
>
>
> <Let's show some patriotism (GOP supporters used to be <all about
> that, what happened?) and give our president <a couple of years before
> we judge him.
>
> Actually you missed the point. I also think the last eight years
> under Bush were as bad as Obama's first two months. Both are creating
> a debt load we will strugle with for decades.

Mar 16 02:35 PM

[PainfullyAware:]

Those that follow blindly will be sacrificed by their own ignorance.

The two party paradigm is an illusion. They are one in action.

Anyone willing to let someone initiate flawed policy based upon wishful thinking or fear undermines us all.

On Mar 15 01:29 PM Paul H. M. wrote:

> Sounds like a lot of GOP supports are still having trouble swallowing
> the bitter pill of defeats.
>
> It's okay guys. If we survived the last eight years under a mental
> retard, we should only flourish under Obama, a man who is both very
> bright with a much higher level of education than most past presidents.
>
>
> Let's show some patriotism (GOP supporters used to be all about that,
> what happened?) and give our president a couple of years before we
> judge him.

Mar 17 06:29 PM