What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[4est_4est_Gump]

Geithner Goes Over the Edge
By Larry Kudlow, NRO
April 27, 2012 4:00 P.M.

Is Tim Geithner the most politically partisan treasury secretary in history? Certainly sounds like it these days. As the government’s chief financial officer, he’s spending a lot of time firing campaign barbs at various Republicans and their policies.

Geithner has blasted Mitt Romney by name on several occasions. He frequently attacks Representative Paul Ryan and the GOP budget. And he recently fired a broadside at top-Romney economist Glenn Hubbard, who is presently dean of the Columbia Business School.

Responding to a Hubbard op-ed in the Wall Street Journal — which calculated that the president’s spending plans would require an 11 percent tax increase on people earning less than $200,000 a year — Geithner said, “That’s a completely made-up, remarkably hackish observation for an economist.”

Hubbard a hack?

Besides running a highly respected Ivy League business school, he was the chairman of President George W. Bush’s council of economic advisors. He also earned his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.

But Hubbard is advising Romney, and before that he counseled Bush, so the very political Mr. Geithner blasted him as a hack.

...

So, the guy who got duped by TurboTax™ and promised 4% growth in the last quarter thanks to the stimulus spending is calling everyone else hacks...

That's some fucking hubris...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

See you in November.

Ready to place your bet yet Cap'n?

I'm voting for Obama.

I want you to have full measure of "centrist" economics; a full and complete Lost Decade.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

But to go back to Tim Geithner, he’s going to have to negotiate another debt-ceiling bill at the end of the year, and he’s going to need Republican support to get it done. The same is true for the coming tax cliff, where all the Bush-era tax cuts expire. Geithner will need Republican support there, too.

And on matters like the IMF, the World Bank, the dollar, and other international financial issues, there may be policy differences, but treasury secretaries are supposed to work with both sides of the aisle.

You could think back to Republican treasury man Hank Paulson during the financial meltdown. He desperately sought bipartisan support. You can even go way back to Republican James Baker, who was a tough political fighter as Ronald Reagan’s first-term chief of staff. But when Baker became treasury secretary, he took his political hat off and negotiated a bipartisan tax-reform bill. And I don’t recall Clinton treasury secretary Robert Rubin blasting Republicans by name.

The point is, my friend Tim Geithner has gone over the edge, and he oughta pull back . Let President Obama and his campaign team handle the politics. That’s the way it works. The Treasury Department is not supposed to be a campaign arm. The U.S. has enormous financial vulnerabilities. And it seems to me that Mr. Geithner could use all the help he can get, even while he pushes the administration’s policy agenda.

Name-calling and direct insults won’t do it.

Meanwhile, on the economy, a little humility is in order. The latest GDP report came in at a disappointing 2.2 percent, about a half-point below expectations and weaker than the 3 percent fourth-quarter number. There may be an economic stall that will also stall President Obama’s reelection.

Weekly jobless claims in April are running 20,000 ahead of March. That might mean next week’s employment report will be another disappointment. And over the eleven quarters of the Obama recovery, real GDP has averaged only 2.4 percent. Compare that to the postwar average of 4.5 percent, and the tax-cutting Reagan recovery of 6.1 percent.

So when Mitt Romney says, “It’s still about the economy, and we’re not stupid,” he’s got a powerful point. But it’s a point that needs to be answered by President Obama, not his treasury man.

Larry Kudlow, NRO

The guy I posted about months ago telling the Republicans to brace for an economic improvement.

It was a blip about the size of the "I shot bin Laden" bump...

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

I'm voting for Obama.

I want you to have full measure of "centrist" economics; a full and complete Lost Decade.

At least you have a consistent lack of conviction in your beliefs.

Newsflash, our lost decade was the GWB years, we lost our ass thanks to conservative economic principles. we've spent the last three dragging ourselves out of the hole we were left in despite the foot dragging of the right.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

At least you have a consistent lack of conviction in your beliefs.

Newsflash, our lost decade was the GWB years, we lost our ass thanks to conservative economic principles. we've spent the last three dragging ourselves out of the hole we were left in despite the foot dragging of the right.

In 2006 you began winning that argument and implementing your beliefs.



~ta da~


You're getting what you voted for. Who am I to get in the way of your dreams?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Just a reminder of the walking contradiction you voted for.

Since the 1970s, it has been the quest of the United States to achieve energy-independence. To that end, President Jimmy Carter established the Department of Energy so that the federal government could write checks to companies like Solyndra -- companies that generate not power, but rather questions. More recently, the grail quest has inspired the EPA and the Department of Transportation (DoT) to wave a magic wand and mandate corporate average fuel economy standards (CAFÉ standards) for vehicles at 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 -- a mileage standard that not even a Harley-Davison motorcycle can achieve.

The plan as unveiled by the EPA and DoT is to have 11 million electric cars on the road by 2025. The thought is that with 11 million "zero emission" cars on the road, the average efficiency will rise. It probably comes as no surprise that there are major problems with this government pie-in-the-sky plan.

Let's start with the facts. Recently the EPA was caught trying to suppress a report that the U.S. power grid might not be able to withstand the new "pollution" standards without triggering rolling blackouts. What the report does not mention is that adding a major demand of 11 million new electrical appliances, called electric cars, will very likely collapse the grid. But not to worry: no one wants to buy the "premier" electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt, since it is prone to spontaneous combustion. But even before the disturbing fire hazard was discovered, the New York Times accurately guessed that "the Volt will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term[.]"

So in response to this failure the Obama administration has decided not to back away from the 2025 fleet average of 54.5 MPG. This sort of centralized economic planning does not have a successful track record.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/the_search_for_the_100-mpg_car.html#ixzz1tL5J6pOS

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

You might want to read Krugman from yesterday, he was in full celebratory mood as France and Denmark are about to reject austerity and go for Keynesian spending.

So to will Spain:

It is likely that Europe will heed the calls for "growth" from the Keynesians and spend trillions more that they don't have, thus aggravating deficits and the debt. "In for a penny, in for a trillion" appears to be the mantra being pushed to counter the enormous pain that budget cuts are causing much of Europe.

Any growth that occurs will be fleeting, since the worsening debt of countries that go the growth route will eventually come back to bite them and even more draconian cuts will be needed to get the budget in balance and begin to bring down the massive indebtedness of the Euro zone.

One government - the Netherlands - has already fallen. Others are likely to follow as the people rebel against having their cradle to grave security taken away from them. What the euro zone will look like a year or two from now is unknown, but it won't be pretty.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/04/spain_in_crisis_after_debt_downgrade.html#ixzz1tL7H2aFV

This will not end well, Germany will not pick up the tab and we are so weak that they will pull us down with them. Right now, they are trying to protect themselves in American markets, but I wold have to say the handwriting is on the wall for Europe.

Inflation.

Death.

War.

 

[fair_warning]

..... the handwriting is on the wall for Europe.

Inflation.

Death.

War.

Yea...boom times are a coming!!

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Oh my, someone at the "American Thinker" disagrees with something that the President approves of.


Color me surprised..

Such diverse sources of information you have Cap'n.. Right, Far right, and whacked out fucking dipshit right..

Quick, post something from NRO too.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Yea...boom times are a coming!!

Oh, I rather think that Germany will ACHTUNG Baybee and cut up the credit cards...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Oh my, someone at the "American Thinker" disagrees with something that the President approves of.


Color me surprised..

Such diverse sources of information you have tehre Cap'n.. Right, Far right, and whacked out fucking dipshit right..

Quick, post something from NRO too.

Reuters:

Spain's sickly economy faces a "crisis of huge proportions", a minister said on Friday, as unemployment hit its highest level in two decades and Standard and Poor's weighed in with a two-notch downgrade of the government's debt.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/04/spain_in_crisis_after_debt_downgrade.html#ixzz1tL9H0wrj

You look stupid when you just knee-jerk bash.

At least I read Krugman.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Dreams of my Father

(sung to the tune of California Dreaming)


How Big Government Is Killing California
When you've lost the entrepreneurs, free-spirits, and dreamers, you've lost the Golden State.

Steven Greenhut | April 27, 2012 | Reason.com (Libertarian)

The new USC study pointing to a much-slower population growth rate in California has been greeted by demographers and urban planners as good news, in that it supposedly gives our state’s leaders a little breathing room to plan better for the future. The rate of growth has slowed to about 1 percent a year, the result of fewer immigrants coming here and so many Californians heading to other states.

“The cooling pace means the state, city and county governments and other entities will have more time to prepare for a bigger population than they did in years past, allowing for more effective planning,” according to the Los Angeles Times, paraphrasing the study’s authors. “That could ensure that new roads and parks, for example, are put in areas where they are most needed and where growth is likely to be sustained, they said.”

That’s an absurdly optimistic spin. California’s elected officials have been doing as little planning as possible, unless one counts planning to spend tens of billions of dollars the state doesn’t have on a high-speed rail line that will partially replicate what the airlines already do now. Our leaders are battling new water-storage facilities and punishing farmers with absurd water restrictions. They impose roadblocks toward building new highway systems and land-use regulations make it nearly impossible to build the homes and businesses necessary to meet the needs of a growing population. One can hardly call that planning.

The state is still growing, but this decline in the rate of growth is symbolic news: The California Dream is over. People don’t want to come here even though this is, with little question, the most beautiful state in the union. Americans -- even those who like to mock our state -- ought to think about what this means.

California has always been a magnet -- a land that has called people from across the country and the world. It’s a place that was known for its entrepreneurial spirit and open culture. But it has been turned into a regulatory and tax nightmare, a place where those who already have their money can live in their coastal palaces and enjoy the splendor of the landscapes, but where it’s unnecessarily difficult to move one’s way up the economic ladder. The USC study doesn’t reveal anything new as much as it confirms trends already apparent.

Four million more people have left California for other states than have come here from other states in the past two decades, according to demographer Joel Kotkin. The population growth has been coming mainly from immigrants and births from people already living here, but now the USC study shows that immigrants are going elsewhere. A cynic might say that California’s liberal elites have ended the state’s contentious battles over illegal immigration by destroying opportunities here.

Kotkin, an old-time liberal, sees troubling trends. “Basically, if you don’t own a piece of Facebook or Google and you haven’t robbed a bank and don't have rich parents, then your chances of being able to buy a house or raise a family in the Bay Area or in most of coastal California is pretty weak,” he said in a recent Wall Street Journal interview. “The new regime wants to destroy the essential reason why people move to California in order to protect their own lifestyles.” He says the state is run for the benefit of the very rich, the very poor, and public employees.

This is not a healthy society. And the demographic changes point to an aging population. Far from reducing the burdens on the state government, this will increase them. State officials are not building to meet future needs, but they have been squandering future dollars on excessive pay and pension packages for public employees. Look for a coming battle between services for lower-income Californians and retirement benefits for the most powerful special interest group in the state, public employees.

There’s no chance the state’s most serious fiscal issues will be solved or even addressed soon. Earlier this month, Democratic Assembly leaders announced that they have no time to deal with the governor’s modest pension reform plan. They do have time to deal with hundreds of other bills, most of which range from the silly to the crazy. What’s the chance they will handle any of the other issues restricting California’s economy?

 

[NeverEndingMe]

did the criminal Geithner ever file his taxes? this guy has failed at ever job in his freaking life yet there he is a obama czar

long live the regime of obama mental fucktards

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

did the criminal Geithner ever file his taxes? this guy has failed at ever job in his freaking life yet there he is a obama czar

long live the regime of obama mental fucktards

Thank you for the brief comedic interlude...

 

[richard_daily]

At least you have a consistent lack of conviction in your beliefs.

Newsflash, our lost decade was the GWB years, we lost our ass thanks to conservative economic principles. we've spent the last three dragging ourselves out of the hole we were left in despite the foot dragging of the right.

According to AJ the dunce, that was all due to the democratic senate from 2006 on... Although, I'm not exactly sure what laws they passed that caused the housing market to collapse.

Perhaps he can fill us in on that?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

According to AJ the dunce, that was all due to the democratic senate from 2006 on... Although, I'm not exactly sure what laws they passed that caused the housing market to collapse.

Perhaps he can fill us in on that?

No, obviously, it was all Bush.

Democrats have certainly proved that in the last three years.



This quarter past was a sterling example of Keynesian quality.

:nods:

 

[NeverEndingMe]

Thank you for the brief comedic interlude...

some times one has to shock the system, to get others to think.

the obama regime is destroying America just like the AFL-CIO destroyed American manufacturing; just like government workers are fucking over American tax payers

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

some times one has to shock the system, to get others to think.

the obama regime is destroying America just like the AFL-CIO destroyed American manufacturing; just like government workers are fucking over American tax payers

busybody you are not.


You aren't shocking the system but you are doing a great job of making those you oppose appear sane and reasoned...

At least to the level you claim to have lowered yourself to.

Which I doubt is true.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

"... the French electorate has turned to the hard left. Voters have decided to bury their collective heads in the sand. Their hope is that Mr. Hollande can postpone the country’s collision with reality. He promises to increase public spending, expand outreach to France’s swelling 5 million Muslims, and soak the rich with a 75 percent tax rate on millionaires. He also pledges to tackle the country’s crippling debt through the great thief of the working and middle classes: inflation. Mr. Hollande vows to pressure the pliant European Central Bank to print a lot more euros, hoping this will dilute the severity of France’s debt crisis. This is a recipe for economic disaster — creeping inflation, the impoverishment of French consumers and the flight of private capital. It is Obamaism on steroids."

http://www.worldnewstribune.com/2012/04/27/twilight-for-two-once-great-civilizations/

 

[koalabear]

Everyone has a right to own a home, job or not, We can sell the debt to the rest of the world to finance it. Nothing can possibly go wrong.

 

[mercury14]

No, obviously, it was all Bush.

Democrats have certainly proved that in the last three years.



This quarter past was a sterling example of Keynesian quality.

:nods:

What laws did the Democrats pass that caused the housing collapse?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Dreams of my Father

Part II

Wisconsin Dreaming

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently offered a stark assessment of the threat to his state's future that is posed by mounting pension and retiree health-care bills for government workers. Unless Illinois enacts reform quickly, he said, the costs of these programs will force taxes so high that, "You won't recruit a business, you won't recruit a family to live here."

We're likely to hear more such worries in coming years. That's because state and local governments across the country have accumulated several trillion dollars in unfunded retirement promises to public-sector workers, the costs of which will increasingly force taxes higher and crowd out other spending. Already businesses and residents are slowly starting to sit up and notice.

"Companies don't want to buy shares in a phenomenal tax burden that will unfold over the decades," the Chicago Tribune observed after Mr. Emanuel issued his warning on April 4. And neither will citizens.

Government retiree costs are likely to play an increasing role in the competition among states for business and people, because these liabilities are not evenly distributed. Some states have enormous retiree obligations that they will somehow have to pay; others have enacted significant reforms, or never made lofty promises to their workers in the first place.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...7361891800868180.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

What laws did the Democrats pass that caused the housing collapse?

The better question might be, which whistle-blowers did they shout down and which Bush reforms did they defeat...




I know, I know, it was BUSH!

Democrats are never, ever, ever to blame for anything, the CRA was a Heritage idea straight out of the CATO institute penned by Murray Rothbard himself!

:nods:
__________________
Barry Says: You have that one nailed A_J!
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/files/2011/04/obama-wide-grin80.jpg

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Sideshow Barry Barker 2012 Says: "It's NOT the economy, Stupid!" It's the Birthers! The Tea Party! SARAH PALIN!
Bush!
BAD LUCK!!
RACISM!!!
ATMs, KIOSKs & CORPORATE JETS!!!
TSUNAMIS, TORNADOS, & the ARAB SPRING!!!
EARTHQUAKES & HURRICANES!!!!!
EUROPE’s €PIIGS!!!!!!!!
OBSTRUCTION!!!
Americans have grown “Soft!”
MY LIMP STAFF
Greece is the word!
Roman Noodles!
Iran and the Jews!
You're all LAZY!
Come on WORK WITH ME HERE!
I killed a lot of people people!
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/files/2011/04/obama-wide-grin80.jpg
”’Shovel-ready’ was not as shovel-ready as we expected.” (Laughter)





... telephone operators...,


... the Internet...


Bush...

That wasn't me that gave drone technology to Iran!

Those Inscrutable Chinese!

 

[mercury14]

No, obviously, it was all Bush.

Democrats have certainly proved that in the last three years.



This quarter past was a sterling example of Keynesian quality.

:nods:

Remember when I spent three days asking you to show one supply side economy in the world that's successful? And your answer was three days of non-sequiturs?

Good times.