Obama's Options.

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

He just got elected and the nation's economy is going to hell. He has lotsa ideas to improve the quality of life but the economy is going to hell. And money isnt plentiful.

He can save General Motors and Ford OR save healthcare for kids. But not both.
He can salvage the credit markets (mortgages, car loans, credit cards) or do something about housing, food, and transportation for the poor. But not both.

If he fucks up the Democrats will lose Congress in 2010. The stock market dropped 700 points after his election and is still falling.

Youre his closest advisor. What advice do you give him?

 

[tickledkitty]

Baby steps.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

TK

Baby steps? Yesterday Pelosi reminded Obama that the piggy bank is empty.

Paralyzed is closer to the reality.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The stock market is going to hell, I suspect because most people expected Obama to be ready to roll by now. I think they figured he'd have his players suited up, ready to go, instead of acting like Diogenes searching for a competent Democrat.

 

[Lady_Guenivere]

How does one eat an elephant???

...one small bite at a time.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My thats original! You have a copy of IT TAKES A VILLAGE?

 

[Lady_Guenivere]

Oh look it's a talking dick...what a neat trick.

 

[DeeZire]

TK

Baby steps? Yesterday Pelosi reminded Obama that the piggy bank is empty.

Paralyzed is closer to the reality.

I heard an economist on the radio today, talking about deficit spending. He said after WW2, the deficit was something like 140 % of GDP. At the moment, it's about 40% of GDP, so he thinks we could easily go to 60% without sinking the ship. His idea is to put the money into infrastructure, and wait a year before tackling healthcare. He also thought it might be prudent to 'professionalize' the health services industry - train home health workers and daycare workers and pay them a living wage. That sounds reasonable to me. A living wage would go a long way towards redistributing wealth in an equitable manner.

I don't anticipate Obama getting more than one term, but at least he'll be able to salvage the Supreme Court, and we won't have to worry about this website getting shutdown by the American Taliban.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DEE ZIRE

The outcome depends on what you spend the money on.

After WWII we spent the money for the GI BILL, the Interstate system, and many other projects that increased productivity and quality of life. The deficits fueled the means to create great wealth and prosperity. Going into debt for a gold mine is always a good move.

But bailing out banks so they can use the money to pay huge executive bonuses and buy their competitors isnt investing in a gold mine.

 

[Somme]

The stock market is going to hell, I suspect because most people expected Obama to be ready to roll by now. I think they figured he'd have his players suited up, ready to go, instead of acting like Diogenes searching for a competent Democrat.

That the stock market is heading down the sewer has nothing to do with the new president elect - rather the incompetance, crookery and idiocy of the current administration. He still has to wait before taking office - and what the current apes will do to further wreck things is anyone's guess. Competance most certainly does not belong to one particular party, that's for sure.

 

[trysail]

A cogent synopsis and a well-written review. "Those who ignore the lessons of history..."
______________________


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aXygLArCCD1o&refer=home
(Fair Use Excerpt)
Tip for Obama: Learn From 1970s Inflation, Shun `Thousand Cuts'
Review by James Pressley

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Before Barack Obama takes the oath, he should read ``The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath,'' Robert J. Samuelson's timely history of how good political intentions stoked an inflationary hell in the 1970s -- and how only bold, painful action smothered the flames.

The Great Inflation refers to the period when U.S. inflation rose from negligible levels in the mid-1960s to double digits in the early 1980s. Though the episode scarred a generation, our memory of the fire has fadedInstead of stimulating the economy, Obama may even be forced to do what Ronald Reagan did: Take unpopular measures today in the hopes of building prosperity tomorrow...

***​

...It took Paul Volcker to stop the party. Shielded by Reagan's political support, the Fed chairman ``took a sledgehammer to inflationary expectations,'' Samuelson writes. ``He raised interest rates, tightened credit and triggered the most punishing economic slump since the 1930s.''

As unemployment surged to 10.8 percent, Congress howled. Senator Howard Baker urged the Fed to ``get its boot off the neck of the economy.'' Volcker stood fast and Reagan kept quiet. Inflation eventually subsided...

***​

...The harsh recession of 1981-1982 laid a foundation for two decades of prosperity that have reordered financial markets, fed globalization and exposed workers to more competition...

***​

...We may be entering an era of ``affluent deprivation,'' Samuelson says -- a period of slower growth that will never satisfy the demands of U.S. voters. The pressure will only increase as Americans slog through financial crisis, a mountain of personal debt and what Samuelson calls an overcommitted welfare state.

Come what may, the U.S. must control inflation, stem the rising costs of the welfare state and come to grips with globalization, Samuelson says. (It's not the source of every economic problem and it's not going away, he says.)

We should, in short, learn from the Great Inflation.

``A central lesson was that ambitious efforts to remedy obvious economic shortcomings can actually make matters worse -- that happened then, and it could happen now,'' he concludes. ``The law of unintended consequences went into overdrive and might again.''

This is a bleak yet needed reminder. Obama would do well to seek out Samuelson's counsel.

``The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence'' is from Random House (309 pages, $26).

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

SOMME

Youre a Bolshevik fool.

Of course the market collapsed because of Bush et al, it recovered a little, then plunged back into the toilet after Obama won. Smarter people than you are on record saying Obama's team and plan is a big fucking mystery to everyone.

He has no team because Pelosi made it clear to him who the real boss is. She hasnt decided who she wants.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

TRYSAIL

Obama should listen to Trump. The Donald was on tv the other day, he suggested that everyone do some reading about 1929.

 

[Somme]

TRYSAIL

Obama should listen to Trump. The Donald was on tv the other day, he suggested that everyone do some reading about 1929.

Exactly - which is why it has nothing to do with him being elected.