What do you think about President Obama’s claim to have already saved or created 150,000 jobs? He even said it with a straight face. I guess he just inherited the 1,314,000 jobs lost since February 1.
Observations from a conservative in a blue state. With a little help from my friends!
Yeah, he says it with a straight face and the media doesn’t call him on it. I guess I should send him a thank you note since I still have my job.
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I’m not an economist so I may be mistaken, but Obama’s claim sounds believable. Unremarkable actually. By spending money, the government can save jobs (if only because it hires people; as a teacher I work for the government for example). Actually, to me, 150,000 jobs is believable because it is pathetically small. The economy is in free fall, and in the context of loosing 500,000 jobs every month, 150,000 is certainly better than nothing, but it’s not something to cheer about either. If I were going to attack Obama, that’s the direction I’d take. Though that opens the response that the stimulus was far too small, which is what most of the economists I’ve been following have been saying.
Now I’d like to address a larger point. I’m fairly liberal, and I was very disappointed when George Bush won back in 2000. But even so, 100 days after he was elected, it would never have occurred to me to blame the economic slow down from the bursting of the tech bubble on him. That bubble grew and burst under Clinton after all, and it would have been ridiculous to shout and point, see how awful Bush has made things? And yet when I come over here, it’s like Obama is a huge failure because the economy is nose diving.
You guys do remember what’s been happening over the last year or two, don’t you? Huge investment firms, banks, insurance companies going under, or coming to the government begging for funds. Paulson under the Bush administration telling congress give me hundreds of billions of dollars now to use as I see fit, or the economy is going under? All under the previous Republican administration? I like and admire President Obama, but no, he is not so incredibly awesome that within a hundred days he can single-handedly reverse an world-wide economic catastrophe, one economists are calling the worst since the great depression. I was very happy when Obama one the elections of course, but I knew we were going to be feeling a lot of pain for a while no matter who was elected; everyone has.
It’s strange when I read conservative sites, there’s hardly ever any mention of the context or how we got here. I’ve been here only a brief time so I may have missed it, but while I’ve seen grumbling about all those deadbeats in blue states living off taxpayer’s funds, I haven’t seen a word about the hundreds of billions of dollars going out to huge banks to keep them from going under. Of course I’m not surprised you feel the strategy Obama is following is deluded or even destructive; this is a tremendously complex crises and there’s plenty of room for debate, and even I’m not happy with everything he’s done. But when I read sites like this, there’s hardly any mention of the context for how we got here, or where we are.
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How long until it is “Officially” our fault?
…”Swine Flu May Have Originated in California”…
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518572,00.html
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THE PRESIDENCY
Those who wish to be President
Must practice what they teach.
For their people need inspiring
To believe what they preach.
Take heed therefore, unto yourselves
You overseers of the flock
Or the voters shall cast you out
For your futures are not of rock.
Life may place you in deep waters
Though it doesn’t wish you to drown.
It’s your past record that lets us know
Who you are as you smile or frown.
If you wish to be remembered
From the truth you must never part.
Power corrupts the best of us
When we stop listening to our heart.
STRESS
We’re a nation of frazzled families
With little time for personal affection.
As the treadmills of tension keep us hostage
We’re losing our perspective of direction.
Racing to get the kids off to school,
Navigating the madness of bottleneck traffic.
Fearful of our own job-loss and income,
While the newscasts get more hopeless and graphic.
Helping our children with their home work
Scrambling to prepare their dinner.
Having family spats with loved ones
And being told on Sunday, we’re a sinner.
Worrying about crime, taxes, cancer and terrorism
Infectious disease and paying next months bills.
Saving for college and our own retirement
It’s no wonder we drink, smoke, pray and pop pills.
POLITICIANS
Most of the time as a politician stands up
Along with the truth, their brain sits down.
Promising anything and everything to anyone
While posing to the public, to be on common ground.
The higher the office the greater the corruption
As candidates compete for those dead presidents of green.
While we’re taxed to death to fund their pork
Our cost for everything has become obscene.
Thank God there are some better than most
Not squeaky clean, but more honest than others.
Regardless of party, they deserve our vote
For they share our thoughts like sisters and brothers.
Politicians who wish to be revered by history
Must earn their fame by living the truth.
Any who continue to mislead and deceive
Must be shunned by the voter at the booth.
By Conservative Poet
Tom Zart
Most Published Poet
On The Web
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Well Ricky “fairly liberal dude” we got here by way of fanny mae, freddie mac, and a shitload of other liberal programs foisted off on us by a few pushy liberal assholes and a spineless republican house and congress.
What you fail to understand in your fairly liberal fuzz, is conservatives and libertarians (farther right than conservatives) have been un-represented for a good long time, don’t make the mistake of equating republican with conservative, the aren’t the same.
Pull your head back through your sphincter, study the history of the liberalization of our government, what it has done to our economy, how our liberties have been eroded in the guise of safety and security, how you people can’t just leave us the hell alone, and try to understand that your attempts to enlighten us are bullshit.
If coming over here offends your fairly liberal little candyass sensibilities, don’t come, I wont miss you.
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I think LC has gone fairly easy on the republicans, but I’ve been reading this for a while and I know she has clearly mentioned their spinelessness and big spending. But she also covered Fannie and Freddie like Angry said…..so Rick may have missed it. Republicans have absolutely no power and democrats controlled congress since 2006. Barack Obama was in the senate that whole time, so to see he inherited the mess is a bit disingenous.
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Another thing that Libs forget is the great Clinton Economy only became great beginning in 1995, after the GOP was elected to majorities in the House and Senate. Bush’s economy began going south after the Dems were elected to majorities in 2007. Bush inherited the dot-com bubble, the Enron and other scandals, and the 9/11 (what is the new word for terrorist attack?). But we didn’t hear Bush whining about what he “inherited” from the previous administration every time he opened his mouth. This new president is a plastic banana. He is a French post card whose dream is to wreck this country and our way of life.
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Rick sez: “I like and admire President Obama” I am puzzled how any one could have this opinion. As an Illinois political hack he did NOTHING. As Resident he has done nothing but continue the failed economic policies of the previous administration on a MUCH larger scale. He apologizes to other countries for his ties to the evil empire of the United States. I would admire him a bit if he would just come out of the closet and admit “I HATE AMERICA AND WHEN THE RAPTURE OCCURS NONE OF YOU M***** ******* ARE GOING TO BE INCLUDED.”
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Rick said:
If there were no bailouts there would be no “we”. Poor decisions should have consequences – not for “we” but for those making them.
There were perverse incentives for companies to make very poor investment decisions. What do you think those were?
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Rick, you also said:
Who, besides Krugman, have you been following? On the basis of what logic do you agree with them? Here is a small list of distinguished detractors. There are hundreds more. I can provide a short reading list of articles if you wish.
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Zorro:
I agree with you some of what you said, there’s plenty of blame to go around. The Clinton administration was when we repealed Glass Seagelman. I’m also uncomfortable that some of the people who pushed for deregulation under Clinton like Larry Summers are in positions of power in the Obama administration now. I would still give the Bush administration most of the blame, because they were in power coming up to the crises. When you’re in power, you get the credit for things that go well and blame for things that go badly; now that Democrats have control of all three branches, they’re in the hot seat. It’s true Democrats took congress in 2007, but I think control of the executive and the fed was more important.
Lead Pencil:
I read your list. That wasn’t referring to the stimulus which I was discussing, but to Tarp and the bailout. I am queasy about Tarp and the bailout of the financial institutions myself, especially our determination to make good on the CDS’s of companies like AIG.
Angrywhiteman:
This is not a case of the world economy being brought down because poor innocent banks being forced by evil liberals to make bad loans. A few years ago, my nephew and his fiancee were shopping for a house. They got approval for a loan (I asked my brother, they’re not getting an adjustable rate mortgage are they? And he assured me it was not). But what was remarkable was the lender said they could have each gotten approval for a loan separately. My brother knew right away that wasn’t right at al; they were doing ok, enough to responsibly purchase house, but not two! Later he told me he should have seen this as a sign at how lax lone standards were getting. The point is, by and large, the banks weren’t being forced into making shaky loans, they were making them and turning a blind eye to peoples’ ability to handle them because the were making tons of money on mortgages by reselling them.
But even more than that, the crashing housing market precipitated the crises,but it’s not the main cause. A popping housing bubble shouldn’t bring on the worst financial crises since the great depression. The trouble was the exotic financial instruments financial institutions made to transfer risk. You had a company like AIG literally promising hundreds of billions of dollars it did not have to guarantee these securities. The government did not force them to do that; they did it because they were making shit loads of money, and they were short sided enough not to consider what would happen if the housing market fell. And when the market collapsed, it was deemed to risky to allow them to fail, and so you and I are currently picking up their tab. None of this had a thing to do with Freddie and Fannie; the roll they played was at best minor. By the way, if there’s one thing I’m unhappy with this administration about, it’s been our determination to take on the promises companies like AIG made, with very little oversight or questioning. We the taxpayers are making good on the reckless promises of these institutions, and I’m surprised how little outcry there’s been about that.
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JOBS:
I submit to the forum that jobs “Saved” or “Created” don’t count if they are government jobs.
Government does not produce revenue as measured by the GDP…it takes it in the form of taxes and redistributes those funds in the form of entitlements and salaries.
Those who subcontract with gov’t entities and need these funds to stay in business are living on borrowed time as they are at the whims of the budget. I call these “Nanny State Jobs.”
True producers are private sector businesses that sell or provide provide services to the privat sector. It’s NOT the government’s job to provide employment for it’s citizens.
I’ll NOT address valid constitutional spending as libs and the MSM give two hoots about this….beside it’s like talking to a wall when you say spending for education isn’t enumerated in the constitution.
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Rick,
You mean this stimulus? There are even more names that oppose this effort than my previous link – including Nobel winners.
More to follow…
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Rick,
So many assertions require much time to refute. Lets stick with one – explore it thoroughly – and move on. Agreed?
Lets focus on this. Why were loan standards getting lax? I agree with you they were. Take a look at this tidbit from Arnold Kling. He explains why – soaring housing prices creating perverse incentives.
My above link offers a reason why it should. The bubble was huge. Euphoria was high. Speculation was rampant. What sort of systemic mechanism would be necessary to create such perverse incentives – and perpetuate a euphoria that created even more extreme perverse incentives?
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Bad link. I’ll try again.
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I am sure he has created that many jobs in the GOVERNMENT! Only jobs he has saved or created were NOT in the private sector. Cessna is laying off another 2,300 people cutting its workforce by 45%. That hits home for me living in Wichita Kansas and working for Spirit Aerosystems. That means the columbus program is on hold. All this has cut out profits for our company by 14% in the first quarter and thats even after being paid for all the plains we made during the Boeing strike this last quarter. We are being warned by our CEO that this could mean job cuts in the near future. For every job he has created or saved 20 more have been lost. If Obama wins another 4 years I would hate to see what he leaves behind.
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more important is that little saying: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I see us going the way of the Romans and others that grew a huge government and attacked itself from the inside out like a cancer. This administration is our cancer and we as a country will die out as a result of it.
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I’ve enjoyed reading the great debate going on here. You know where I stand. Let’s hope we all don’t end up working for the government. If so, where will the government get their money?
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