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The Obama Watch

This Recession Is Not Like the Others

By on 8.12.10 @ 6:10AM

What is standing in the way of recovery?

As they used to say on Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things is not the same.” The current recession “is not like the others.” At 33 months it is already more than three times longer than the average length of the other ten recessions we’ve had since WWII. There are no clear signs it will be ending anytime soon. Glimmers of a recovery appear from time to time, but most indicators remain depressed and many are worsening. On balance, the outlook is more negative than positive. Not since the Great Depression have we had two consecutive years of unemployment in excess of nine percent. What we’re seeing is economic stagnation.

Something else about the current situation that “is not like the others” is the defeatism of those in charge. President Obama’s economic advisors, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers specifically, have been warning that unemployment could remain painfully high for years to come. Vice President Biden has declared that we may never regain the eight million jobs lost over the past two years. I don’t think an administration’s spokesmen have ever before been so pessimistic, especially for the long term.

Mr. Obama and his advisors are not draftees. They asked for this job. They asked to be put in charge. They wanted us to believe that they were “the ones we’ve been waiting for.” In no uncertain terms they convinced voters that they would do a vastly superior job than that dufus cowboy George Bush. Now they have been reduced to pleading, “No one told us it was going to be hard!”

This raises a crucial question — why is the current recession so long and deep? A frequent focus of scientific research and analysis is the attempt to explain and account for differences or anomalies. This recession is “not like the others.” A new name has been invented — the Great Recession. It’s being said that 10 percent unemployment is “the new norm.” Why, exactly? What’s changed?

Past recessions have been largely self-correcting. Furthermore, they have self-corrected in a matter of a few months. Why is it taking so long for that to happen this time around? What’s standing in the way of the self-correcting mechanism?

Geithner, Summers, Biden and Obama are all saying “this time it’s different.” They can say that, of course, but they need to elaborate. They are making assertions that cry out for explanations. If you’re going to make a dramatic, unprecedented proclamation, you really ought to provide details and support. If you make a bold statement, you must have some idea as to why it’s so.

The answer is relatively obvious to anyone with open eyes. The overarching factor that is making this recession different is that the Obama agenda is qualitatively and quantitatively different from any previous president’s agenda. The anomaly of the current recession is the anomaly of Barak Obama’s political philosophy and worldview.

A fundamental conclusion of financial economics is that there are two main dimensions to investing — risk and return. What space and time are to physics, risk and return are to investing. When evaluating an investment opportunity, return is the good, risk is the bad. Another basic conclusion is that risk and uncertainty are just two ways to looking at the same thing. Risk is uncertainty in work clothes.

The Obama administration’s reckless and unprecedented restructuring of the economy has greatly increased the level of uncertainty for anyone thinking about investing, starting a new enterprise, or making consumption expenditures. Mr. Obama has turbo-charged the amount of uncertainty in the minds of decision makers. This is an administration with no brakes, and the ride is frightening.

The massive and rapidly growing federal debt overhanging the economy portends future tax increases. Those probable tax increases reduce the expected return of investments. The lapse of the Bush tax cuts is little more than four months away. The bad news is relatively certain, the good news is highly doubtful.

Mr. Obama and his spokesmen need to explain what’s going on with the economy, and how exactly their policies will cure our serious economic difficulties. If they can’t explain the nature of our problems, what are they doing? Are their policies based on nothing more than a hope and a prayer? Why should anyone have confidence in your corrective action if you don’t show that you understand the nature of the problem?

Mr. Obama and his advisors act as though they themselves are hapless victims of the Great Recession. They imply things have gotten so bad we’re just going to have to get used to it. This is pathetic. Rather than rising to the occasion and dealing with the challenge, they whine and blame the previous administration. They need to be rethinking their strategies and analyzing why their previous solutions have not worked. Unfortunately, because of their doctrinaire attitudes, that is extremely unlikely. They will never admit that the fundamental problem is them.

The president is losing the support of even his most ardent supporters. Arianna Huffington, for example, said recently, “The president put all his trust in the wrong economic team — an economic team that didn’t understand what was happening.”

The injuries done by the Obama administration are painful but not fatal. The U.S. economy has fundamental strengths that will allow it to recover eventually in spite of the damage done by the Obama administration.

More and more, voters are recognizing that electing Barak Obama president was a terrible mistake. In November they will have opportunities to begin reversing that mistake and start undoing the damage. As Sarah Palin said recently, “From my house I can see November.”

About the Author

Ron Ross Ph.D. is an economist who lives in Arcata, California. He is the author of The Unbeatable Market. Reach him at rossecon@gmail.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (144) |

Robbins Mitchell| 8.12.10 @ 6:39AM

What's standing in the way of recovery?...no brainer....Barokeydoke Hubris Obozo....intentionally so

Ken (Old Texican)| 8.12.10 @ 11:56AM

Mr. Ross,
My answer to your question is quite simply that the feds, have exceeded their "enumerated powers" to such a degree that they have choked off any hope or trust or optimism among the people in the private sector.
There are exceptions of course. GE comes to mind instantly, but there are many other companies like them, sucking the government teat.

I am presently writing a novel...a cautionary tale ...WHOLLY FICTION of course. The only problem I am having writing it is that the actual reality we are living in is so unbelievable... I think my novel might be too..... Pedestrian?

In any event, I hope to have it published by October first. You won't enjoy it.

pugsley| 8.12.10 @ 4:53PM

Ken-I have a book for you, out of print but it can be found on E-Bay. 'The Unseen Hand' , written in the sixties and it lays out the blueprint for what is happening today! It will make your hair stand on end. I read it the first time in the 90's and said oh please! Then as things unfolded reread it and boy did I get cold chills. The upshot is, the progressives know they can not take over this country by force, too many armed citizens. Answer to problem...break the middle class with a bone crushing depression...and right on cue, there you go. We are not nearly to the bottom of this mess, and it is going to get very ugly before it gets better. Progressive desire number one, bring the people of America down to the level of the rest of the world, ie. 5-7 dollar an hour jobs, very small houses or Soviet style concrete block apartments, and just keep that nose to the grind stone and do what you are told. Very depressing.

Jim Crichton| 8.16.10 @ 12:29PM

Likewise "Atlas Shrugged."
JC

Alan Brooks| 8.12.10 @ 5:15PM

"You won't enjoy it."

Because we wont read it.

Alan Brooks| 8.12.10 @ 5:17PM

"I hope to have it published by October first."

Take your time. No need to rush; why, there is all the time in the world. Why be so hasty?

JimE| 8.12.10 @ 6:14PM

Of course Brooks won't read it, all he needs is koran, any other inforamtion he will get from his controllers.

Anon | 8.13.10 @ 4:11PM

Ken:

I do agree that I never thought I'd live in an America with things like the Patriot Act, people trying to overturn Roe v Wade, people protesting the building of religious buildings, an economy where with regards to GDP, Capital Investment and Consumer Spending are at their lowest levels in decades yet the government is hamstrung to increase spending, and the opposition party's plan is to cut taxes on the richest people even more.

I never imagined an America stupid enough to believe in a second round of trickle down economics.

RacerJim| 8.16.10 @ 1:08PM

That's your brain on kool-aid.

travelah| 8.12.10 @ 12:57PM

After the Nov elections, it will be time for pitchforks. After 2012, the chainsaws come out.

DatsunMark| 8.12.10 @ 4:42PM

Travelah,
I have only one question: Do we show up with our torches lit or bring matches?

pugsley| 8.12.10 @ 4:55PM

Rope, bring lots of rope. And have a map of all the lamp posts in each and every city where politicians are found.

anon | 8.13.10 @ 4:18PM

The rope I'm assuming for the politicians advocating reducing taxes on people making over 250k a year and increasing the relative tax burden on the rest of us?

During Bush Jr's Presidency we saw the 'death tax' exclusion amount (the amount the estate is worth that won't be taxed) go from $1mil to $3.5mil.

But I think you guys are talking about lynching some other folks.

BackToBasics| 8.12.10 @ 6:07PM

Yes, Ken, Old Texican, "intentionally so." Even good conservatives keep asking why Obam and co. aren't speaking about specifics and what they plan to do.

The answer is" do anything to remake America in a socialist / communist, state-controled economy. If that means letting our current economy must collapse and social disorder reign for awhile, then so be it.

There's no need to ask questions, but there is more need to get the message out. Even Limbaugh is beginning to sound this alarm for which I am glad to see.

BackToBasics| 8.12.10 @ 6:10PM

a little rewrite - The answer is, "do anything to remake America into a socialist / communist, state-controlled economy. If that means letting our current economy collapse and even social disorder be allowed to reign for awhile, then so be it. We want total control!!!"

Jack Kinch(1uncle)| 8.13.10 @ 2:25PM

Nomo' and the demos are in the way.
'Create a crisis so people will scream for the government to do something about it'

Deborah D | 8.12.10 @ 6:40AM

I can see November from my house too. Let's hope we can weather the rest of the summer and the early fall. We need an earthquake election this year. Please -- get to the polls and take your neighbor with you. When you put academics in charge of the country, this is what you get: A big mess. When you put Marxists in charge of the country, this is what you get: Government bleeding the private sector and spending your grandchildren's paycheck. For once, Republicans' battle cry should be: "Do it for the children."

Appleby| 8.12.10 @ 6:55AM

Even my hippie sister who has not voted since she discovered what hippie beliefs meant to Laos and Cambodia, has no vowed to go to the polls and vote against everybody who is currently in office. If lots of people like her actually get off their butts and vote, the earthquake will be profound.

ShortNSweet| 8.12.10 @ 1:21PM

My 42 year old husband, has just recently registered to vote for the first time in his life. Many people who have be content with whatever "the people" have said are getting to business about being a part of "the people". Halleluja! I can see November from my house too!

Old Oak Tree| 8.12.10 @ 3:51PM

I've been researching eligibility for absentee ballot, and the time frame, i.e. how soon can we pick up our ballots and fill them out and turn them in. My spouse and I are eligible, and we will be voting on the earliest possible day, on the off chance we could become incapacitated prior to November 2. I urge all fiscal conservatives who are eligible for absentee ballots to vote on the earliest day allowed, to be 100% sure that NOTHING prevents you from voting.

Scott | 8.12.10 @ 5:51PM

PLEASE do not vote absentee unless you absolutely have to. Why? Because your vote will not get counted unless it is a very close election requiring a runoff.

Bohred| 8.12.10 @ 7:12PM

With my work schedule it isn't possible for me to vote any other way. In '92 I was 15 minutes late to the poles, I like to think that everything after was my fault.

S. Ruger| 8.13.10 @ 10:23AM

Yes, lots of voter fraud with absentee ballots. Even in modern, well-to-do communities. This happened to my mom, whose absentee ballot, along with many others, was stored away, uncounted, until it was too late.

Pat Spooner| 8.12.10 @ 12:34PM

From my office at my home in New Hampshire I can see November as well - unfortunately many of my private sector clients will not hrie for all the reasons stated in the article and by commenters and they know that the democarts have ample opportunity to enact additional economy destroying legislation like cap and tax.

Jocon307| 8.12.10 @ 1:25PM

"We need an earthquake election this year. Please -- get to the polls and take your neighbor with you. "

Deborah, you are so right!

We need to smack these Democrats down so hard their great-great grandparents feel it.

I long to see stupefaction on the big fat talking heads of the MSM come Nov. 3rd. I hope Katie Couric, et al. need take to their sick beds for a week.

And then we need to promise one another that we'll never sit back and rest on our laurels and trust our elected reps again.

We've got to keep close watch on them all and demand accountability for the things they do.

No more Mr. Nice Guy, no more Mr. Next-in-line. We need SERIOUS, TRUTHFUL, HARDWORKING people in there.

The margin for error is gone, we do need finally to think about the future, not just ourselves.

Dave | 8.13.10 @ 10:44AM

Were most of you asleep during the Bush years when "deficits don't matter" was the mantra? Both Republicans and Democrats need to work together and not move to the extreme. I am very worried given the rant I heard on Mark's program yesterday. We all need to compromise if we want to save our country and "Do it for our children." Refusing to compromise is refusing to act and we all can agree that we need to change course both parties put us on and do it quickly avoid going off the cliff. Just say NO is not the answer.

Jimi Drama| 8.13.10 @ 2:25PM

Wrong Dave... There is no such thing as compromise with Progressives. They take and take and take until there is nothing left. Repubs have been compromising for years and now it's time to turn back the clock. As far as I am concerned, it's time for political war...and I mean that in the most serious terms. It is time for a major conservative uprising that will take back EVERY sector of our society that Progressives have trod on for the last 50 years. Most important in my opinion is something I don't hear many people, including Mark Levin, talk about and that is EDUCATION. Our public schools are DEEPLY entrenched with Socialist, Progressive ideology. We must start with education and then take back the rest as well...Energy, Banking, Manufacturing, THE UNIONS, etc., etc. If you are a Progressive, you are my enemy, and I mean that literally.

Dave| 8.13.10 @ 5:23PM

It's a lot more exciting to claim everything is going 100% the wrong direction and that this is a war with enemies but that is not the way to get things done within any organization or our country. Focus on the areas of agreement and build on them and don't focus on the areas of disagreement. I find this works much better. I am reminded of the story of the two kids fighting over an orange. The mother decided to cut the orange in half and each child given 1/2 of the orange. Neither child was happy since one wanted to use the peals for a cake and the other to eat the inside. Learn (don't assume) he real motivation of your adversary to find a workable solution. Ripping our country apart is not the way to fix it.

bw17| 8.17.10 @ 12:34AM

The progressives have been ripping this country apart since the turn of the century.

They led us down this path, and there'll be no reconciliation, and no compromise.

Conservatives have had enough. When we retake the House and Senate, we will not only work to undo everything that has been passed the last 19 months, but an entire century of government entitlement programs.

In 1913, the progressives scored their biggest victories: the creation of the income tax (to raise money when times were good, so they could spend it on entitlements), and the creation of the Fed (to print money when times were bad, so they could spend it on entitlements). Without the federal income tax, and the federal reserve, there'd be no progressivism.

Robert Friedman| 8.15.10 @ 4:27PM

I agree with Jimi Drama. Assuming we can take back the government from the socialists, the most important thing to do next is to take back our educational system. That means, especially Tea Party people, get elected to school boards, as Mark Levin did when he was younger. We MUST get working majorities on school boards across the country, so we can influence teacher hiring, curriculum, books and the general atmosphere that has made so many schools utter failures. Can you imagine a country in which 55% graduation rate is considered normal? Well that is us that is the U.S. educational system. And we are educating young people that hate and are ashamed of America. I recently subbed a class in "Middle College," which is for highly motivated high school students. I asked the question about American greatness, and not ONE, not ONE single student could say anything good about The United States of America! Folks, that has got to stop.
There is a very old saying, " The hand that rocks the cradle rules the World." We Conservatives need to start rocking some cradles, so we can raise up Americans that cherish freedom, and liberty over socialists servitude and chains, and are proud of our heritage.

Tami Kilmarx | 8.12.10 @ 6:43AM

They are not hapless victims. This has been their plan all along...to destroy capitalism and replace with socialism.

gypsy| 8.12.10 @ 10:16AM

Spot on Tami! Folks, there's no big mystery here: liberalism is was and always will be a massive assault against the middle class. The ObamaNazis managed to flim flam enough independents to seize power, and having done so,they've done EVERYTHING except to fix the economy. The reason November is going to be such an earthquake is that MILLIONS of people are echoing what my registered Democrat wife has been saying for months: "I didn't vote for bailouts, I didnt vote for amnesty, I didnt vote for union kickbacks, I didnt vote to f*ck up my employer sponsored healthcare, I didn't vote for unelected judges to smack down voters who want to protect their state from illegals or the fraud of same sex 'marriage'. I voted to fix the damned economy. And they haven't done that, they've made it worse!"

The only question I have is, when do we prosecute these Kool Aid swigging scum? After the swearing in next January, or right after the elections? Because I'll be damned if these traitors and tax cheats get to flip us off one last time in a lame duck session, then come slithering back as lobbyists next April

buckeyeman| 8.12.10 @ 12:14PM

And they elected a transparent Marxist to "fix the economy"? WTF? This guy was obvious from the start and THAT's what they voted for. That and a bailout of THEIR favorite charity, like Social Security or whatever. These people are like criminals who claim they are sorry for their crime but we all know they are just sorry they got caught. In fact, these Obama voters are not "like" criminal, they ARE criminals.

Jimi Drama| 8.13.10 @ 2:30PM

Buckeye, the answer to your WTF is education. The problem is that it's not 'obvious' to many of the current voters. Many of the 'new voters' are idiots and the ignorant and our public education system is the culprit.

Achilles Toejam| 8.12.10 @ 7:26PM

Gypsy, you say your wife is a registered Democrat, has she even read their party platform? The Democrats have been on this radical progressive road for a long time. From your post I take it your wife voted for Obama and now she's surprised at the way things have turned out? There was plenty of warning out there from a lot of people but and most damning was chiefly out these socialists own mouths but people just couldn't bring themselves to believe it, do they believe it now!
I hope you've got your wife to reregister as an independent, people are leaving the Democratic Party but not fast enough for my liking because there's always the dyed in the wool Kool-Aid drinkers. Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. I'm glad your wife has seen the light so you won't have to lock her in the basement come November.

podbaydoors| 8.12.10 @ 1:54PM

Fools, you have no understanding.
Its already dead and gone.
For its just an empty shell that you see standing.
And the blind will see the cracks before too long.

Bohred| 8.12.10 @ 7:18PM

Instead of the whining and crying
Which sounds like squeals of the hogs
I shall place my bet
with America yet
And beat those lib running dogs.

Man up cowboy, no one wants to see you sob.

S. Ruger| 8.13.10 @ 10:25AM

I think podbaydoors meant that the elections will be rigged.

Nice to have local election officials in charge.

Robert Pinkerton| 8.12.10 @ 6:44AM

As far back as the 1950s, science fiction authors were predicting our current mess: The two that come most readily to mind are Robert A. Heinlein and Robert Silverberg.

Heinlein projected a timeline of "future history," that called the particular period of today, the "crazy years." His outcome was pessimistic: The crazy years give way to a religious dictatorship.

Similarly, in his novel, Hawksbill Station, Robert Silverberg predicted that the turn of the 21st Century would usher in a "...never-ending depression...," that would in turn lead to the overthrow of the Constitution of 1787 and replacement with an overt oligarchic camarilla.

RDN in Houston| 8.12.10 @ 1:03PM

What is the religion that will impose a dictatorship? Christianity is declining in growth. Other cultist religions are insignificant in number with flat to declining growth rates except for the Muzzies. Are you positing a Muslim dictatorship? Otherwise, Silverberg's predictions make no sense.

Robert Pinkerton| 8.12.10 @ 3:10PM

For his villain of a religious dictatorship, Heinlein postulated an ill-favored cross between Catholicism(!) and Mormonism(!!), purveying its supposed "miracles" through trick television and other tech. The cycle of stories featuring that religion ultimately ends up-beat, with the masons as agency of deliverance.

Silverberg's novel, on the other hand, is secular political economy, postulating the collapse of Constututional government and its replacement by a "... Chancellor and Council of Syndics..."

We could look at much of our current social craziness as premature arrival of Philip Jose Farner's Riders of the Purple Wage. In this novelette we have the government far enough out of reach of the governed to be indifferent to their consent or lack thereof, government subsidies of the "arts," government as parsimonious provider to the people, widespread obesity, sexual chaos, significantly diminished law enforcement -- and at the end of it, the last tax-evading millionaire triumphantly succeds in humiliating the last IRS agent.

However, for predictions focussed upon our present time from back when, look at the pessimistic novels of the Englishman John Brunner. These are Stand on Zanzibar, The Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up, and The Wrong End of Time. In all of these, the President is a comedy stock-figure called, simply, "Prexy." He predicted a fizzling but interminable low-intensity conflict elsewhere as a sidebar of American life; he was off by predicting it in the southwest Pacific rather than the Near East. He also predicted reinstitution of conscription, and the anxieties that caused among those vulnerable to it; that has not yet come to pass, but we hear proposals. Likewise, another prediction not yet come to pass, is a legal climate making long hair on a male prima facie evidence of vagrancy, in particular of not enough money to pay a barber.

Though I am hardly a trained literary critic, while I can see some auctorial bias, it is equally apparent that the methodology of all authors I have cited above, is conservative extrapolation from present trends at the times and places when and where they observed, then integrating those extrapolations.

The result is dystopia, you say? Utopia can be construed as either OUtopos, meaning NO place, or as EUtopos, meaning GOOD place. Does this mean that, to a Utopist, no place is a good place? I do not know about you, but I think that is accurate; it has also been the attitude of rebels against the human condition from the Gnostics on.

The only way to reach Utopia is to smoke opia. (OK, so that fell flat. Who says I have a sense of humor?) Doing so, however, when it is successful at all, seldom, results in a short-stay visa with an enforced return ticket. On the other hand, attaining dystopia (bad place) is easy: Just set in motion, with political support, a scheme for "perfection of mankind," which is the highest stupidity to which intellectuals can attain.

My contention is that the SF writers told us so, years before.

BackToBasics| 8.12.10 @ 6:21PM

Of course the autocratic religious regime would have a Christian-bent to it according to Heinlein. He may have had some insight but his bias still shows.

Truth be told, most of what we see happening now in the political and economic and socail affars of this country have their basis in a hatred for Christianity. The death of Christianity IS WHAT THEY REALLY WANT.

Tampa Bri | 8.13.10 @ 12:11AM

I don't know why so many people put faith in "old books of fiction". Sure, go ahead and read and evaluate. But that doesn't mean that these writers were prophets or future-sighted. Start using your own brains, and stop the candy-ass 'this has been fortold' bullpuckey. Forget these guys - that was then, this is now. DO something about it!

Leo| 8.13.10 @ 10:21AM

Being a SF writer grants no insight into the future.
Other writers, or other stories by the same writers, predict other outcomes. Heinlein's moon colonies, or Orson Scott Card's post-bugger empire come immediately to mind.
I suspect the authors just extrapolate from an idea. If they seem prescient at some point, it's coincidental.

JOHN DELASAUX| 8.12.10 @ 3:56PM

Check out the birth rate of the UK, France, Germany, and then the US.

Compare those with the birth rate of the Muslims.

We will be overrun with Shariah-loving Muslims before 2040. Get ready to kill you daughter when she doesn't follow orders to the letter.

FTM| 8.13.10 @ 2:34AM

How about the Enviro-mental movement as a candidate religion? The current Global Warming/Climate Change alarmism has very little behind it other than cooked books and shrill advocates.

As a matter of fact, if the country were to devolve into a religious dictatorship I can easily see advocacy in all the forms in which it presents itself as the prime mover. In advocacy you need nothing in the way of proof of your position other than to make a claim that "if this program helps one person..." or "it's for the children" or some other such tripe.

Lastly, advocates are fanitical in their advocacy. The run-o-the-mill advocate can't be persuaded by facts and figures or the evidence presented. Their mind is made up, the science is settled and anyone that disagrees is some kind of misanthrope. Case in point, at the church that I attend we have a husband and wife team of enviro-mental nuts that insist on the elimination of plastics from society. Never mind that a large, large portion of the world's economy depends on plastics. Try to get some surgery done at a hospital without plastics just for example. Now, the truth is obvious to anyone that wants to consider the question in a truthful fashion, somehow or another apparently plastics degrade in the enviroment. I read that the Low Density Poly-Propolene six pack binder lasts about six months in the ocean. Now, if what the enviro-mentalist were telling us about the persistence of plastics in the enviroment were correct you'd be able to walk on a fifty foot thick mat of discarded plastic products from New York to London.

I can see advocacy becoming a post-modern religion quite easily.

Scribonius Curio| 8.12.10 @ 7:01AM

Our corporate masters have determined that we are no longer needed. Machines and slave labor are more than sufficient for their purposes. We are wasteful overhead which must be eliminated.

gypsy| 8.12.10 @ 10:20AM

"corporate"??? The masters you refer to have never been anywhere near a corporation, except to shake it down for "reparations" or "voluntary campaign contributions". They're CAREER POLITICIANS! That's the reason the economy sucks so bad: we've got the ivory tower desk piloting apple polishing soulless bureaucrat mentality in charge

go have another hit off the bong, you kool aid swiller

go have another

Scribonius Curio| 8.12.10 @ 11:41AM

Many thanks for your ingenious suggestion to use Kool-Aid in the bong. It's curiously refreshing on a hot day, though I would not normally think to ingest bong water. Perhaps we can share a drink the next time I visit your planet.

sestamibi| 8.12.10 @ 12:55PM

Reading gypsy's response, I don't see where he suggested you use Kool Aid in your bong pipe. On what planet are YOU living?

Scribonius Curio| 8.12.10 @ 4:22PM

I'm not at liberty to say.

RND in Houston| 8.12.10 @ 1:09PM

Gypsy is referring to a central planning as in a command and control economy which describes Zero's dream for the U.S. of A. Corporations don't have the power to destroy your life...governments do. Read Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" and turn your lights on.

Dixie Pixie| 8.12.10 @ 12:52PM

I hate to break it to you Curio and Gypsy.
In the Ruling Class there is no difference between the people of Big Business, Big Government, Academia and the Main Stream Media. They are all the same people who periodically exchange job titles.

People like Robert Reich, Larry Summers, Dick Cheney and Henry Paulson jump from corporate to government to academic jobs without breaking a sweat. The Ruling Class takes care of its own by making sure the difference between high level jobs is purely semantics.

So both of your arguments are both true and false. You are both talking about the same people under different lables.

Jim O'Brien| 8.12.10 @ 7:43AM

There is no recovery because the federal government is sucking up too much capital from free enterprise.

PaulD| 8.12.10 @ 7:45AM

There's no one as dangerous as one who thinks he has all the answers. Obama is such a one. With no experience in the real world of earning a living, he cannot fathom that his solutions are not solutions but are fueling the flames. Need to stimulate the economy? Borrow money and spend it on pork projects. Need to save jobs? Borrow more money and give it to the unions. Need to create jobs? Foster a climate so unstable that every business owner is reluctant to hire new employees. "A little learning is a dangerous thing," and when it comes to the realities of Everyman, who must pay his mortgage and put food on the table, Obama has very little learning indeed! Most of us must climb the stairs; Obama has been on the escalator all his life.

Jim O'Brien| 8.12.10 @ 7:54AM

Obama is like a robot with no ability to think. He just follows the fatally flawed socialist program, oblivious to the consequences for this country. Like all Demo-Socialists, he has learned nothing from the history of socialist failures. Like an insane man, he keeps doing the same thing with the same horrible results. The village idiot Carter is beginning to look semi-intelligent compared to Obama.

gypsy| 8.12.10 @ 10:22AM

and just like a robot, he has no heart,no soul, no empathy and zero capacity to recognize his mistakes. In his warped little turd of a brain, if things aren't working, its the fault of "we the people"....surely HE couldn't ever be wrong.

f*cking dumbass

FTM| 8.13.10 @ 2:48AM

If I may, President Obama is a lot like a spiffy, brand spanking new Lieutenant Junior Grade ossifers that we used to run into from time to time in the Navy, fresh out of some university NROTC program and had somehow or another managed to slip the leash of a Chief Petty Officer that had been assigned as wet nurse. These guys were typically really charged up about proving that they were leadership grade and so assured of their obvious superiority that they had pretty much tunnel-visioned themselves to all the eye-rolling and sighing that went on around them.

In the submarine Navy everybody, especially the JGs start out with their hands in their pockets. The guy that I reported to told me to put my hands in my pockets and keep them there untill he told me to take them out of my pockets. If you have your hands in your pockets you can't touch anything. The new ossifers had a really, really hard time keeping their hands in their pockets because in school they were told ....

That's the Obama administration to me, a bunch of academics with little or no real world experience that have tried the one trick that they were told about in school and when it blew up in their faces thay haven't got a clue as to what to do next.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 8.12.10 @ 7:47AM

Is Obama that different from previous Presidents, except to the degree?

Bill Clinton and Robert Rubin laid the seed for massive central economic planning with the CRA which ultimately destroyed many banks. In fact, the practice is still going on and banks are still failing. Contrary to popular thinking the government is still encouraging low cost loans to minorities around the nation. Ironically many banks are failing in Chicago, Illinois, Obama's hometown.

Many public housing apartments built in Chicago have slid off the liberal cliff of good intentions. Many of these are in Obma's former state senate district.

Obama is simply a poster child for big government spending. However, there were many big government spenders before including George W. Bush, and now we are reaping the whirlwind of all previous spending combined with Obama's out of control big government.

But it's not simply Obama's fault.

There is a growing sense of entitlement out in the public who believe they deserve free health care. That same public is too stupid to realize that free won't be free. It will mean rationing and long lines and perhaps your death as you wait patiently for what you can get in a reasonable time now.

The inside the beltway elitists have created a Frankenstein nirvana and those who are honest about the costs and the consequences are rarely heard. Anyone who talks about the sacred social security system in reference to meaningful reform is routinely chewed up and spit out.

In essence, Obama is simply the king of fools but there are many fools and many fools in both parties. The party ended at midnight (2000) yet the revelers go on and it's 6 AM and the government subsidized milk is being delivered by truck drivers who drive a truck licensed by the federal DOT, the state DOT and any local governments who want to jump on the gravy train of licensing fees.

The solutions are obvious but the king of fools leads a ship of fools but unlike the Titanic you can hear someone shout, "Hey, let's back up and ram that iceberg one more time. We'll show it who's boss."

Aquanomics| 8.12.10 @ 10:18AM

....er, CRA was a monster created in the late 1970s. Clinton merely gave it a new set of dentures. The idiocracy we suffer today has its roots at least as far back as Wilson.

gypsy| 8.12.10 @ 10:24AM

guys,lets not argue over which pile of "progressive" shit stinks the worst. They all need to be buried and paved over with a new commitment to the principles of the Founders

John II| 8.12.10 @ 11:04PM

"There is a growing sense of entitlement out in the public who believe they deserve free health care. That same public is too stupid to realize that free won't be free. "

Aye, therein lies the rub. It may turn out that the survival of America depends on a race between the dissolution of the Left (through their own fierce promotion of a contraceptive culture) and the collapse of the worthless and corrupt entitlement mentality. If the latter outlives the former, we (or rather, our children and grandchildren) are in deep doo-doo.

dave| 8.13.10 @ 10:27PM

I thought most people have now realized that the CRA had nothing to do with the financial collapse. You need to do some research on the real cause but if every loan driven from the CRA went bad, it would be a few billion dollars. The banks collapsed due to TRILLION dollar bets that went bad, namely derivatives. There are many elements to the collapse, but the CRA is not one of them.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 8.16.10 @ 8:19PM

To Dave: You're delusional. It is estimated the amount of bad mortgages is over two trillion. In effect, the number you're bringing up. The CRA greased the skids for the insurance ploys manifested by the derivatives. Some companies played both ends against middle. In the midst of this recklessness the government step in with over a trillion in bail outs with more to follow. In fact, one of Obama's advisers and close friends Penny Pritzker is a billionaire but the bank she and her family managed went bust due to sub-prime loans thanks to the CRA. Idiots like you who claim the CRA had nothing to do with it need to learn to use Google. You'd be amazed what you can find out. Google Penny Pritzker and Superior Bank. By the way, people who had money deposited in the bank lost over 40 million while Ms. Pritzker walked away with hundreds of millions.
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/12/12/175754/77

Was it the retirees who deposited their life-savings in Superior Bank, and lost everything beyond the $100,000 limit of FDIC insurance?

Was it the Superior Bank's creditors, who got stiffed when Superior Bank went bankrupt?

Or was it Penny Pritzker and her partners, the same mob that diddled away Superiors assets on worthless sub-prime repackaging while paying themselves $200 million in dividends on phony priofits?

Yes indeedy! The FDIC promised to pay Penny Pritzker and her pals $500 million out of their settlement with Ernst & Young!

"In the event that the FDIC recovered two billion dollars, the Pritzkers and the Dwormans would have been entitled to a payment of approximately $500 million under their settlement agreement with the FDIC."

Flush your depositors money down the sub-prime toilet, pay yourself quadruple what you paid for the bank in dividends on phony profits, and then...

Buy your way out of jail and collect $500 million!

Some elderly depositors with their life savings at Superior lost more than half their retirement nest-eggs in Penny Pritzker sub-prime wheeling and dealing, and how much did the FDIC offer them out of the Ernst & Young bonanza?

Nothing.

blackknights1802| 8.12.10 @ 7:58AM

In the industrial world, it is bad enough for an inexperienced Harvard graduate engineer to make a mistake on the factory floor. Typically his or her misguided decisions could result in a simple, short term, monetary loss for the company.

However, an inexperienced politician, operating on the world stage, could be responsible for the death of a nation. In my humble opinion, this President is well on his way to killing the United States both financially and militarily.

Obama is a progressive socialist. In his own mind he really believes in what he is doing is the correct solution. After all his Marxist mentality began in his childhood. And he has surrounded himself with aids, economists, professors and other like-minded individuals.

saleboter| 8.12.10 @ 8:25AM

Capitalism is the unequal sharing of prosperity.
Socialism is the equal sharing of misery.

I have absolutely no faith in the pubbies to do the right thing and get the gooberment out of the private sector's way and let loose the engine of the greatest econmoy in the world.

Curly Smith| 8.12.10 @ 8:47AM

Why is the current recession so long and deep?

Contrary to what Washington may want us to believe, there are no actions that Congress, or the President, can take that will improve the economic outlook in the short-term. There are, however, actions that they can take that will destroy the economic outlook in both the short and long term --- and they've taken them.

The principle flaw in Keynesian economics is the belief that politicians know how to invest money more efficiently and more effectively than the people who earned the money. Socialist societies don't create wealth; at best, they merely move the existing pile of wealth around, at worst they destroy all wealth.

Look at the difference between Mexico and the Southwest US. Mexico has been operating under a socialistic system since the early 1900's while capitalism was the operative system in the US. The differences could not be more stark. Not to worry, though, soon it will all be equalized.

gypsy| 8.12.10 @ 10:29AM

actually,the government does have a role:
A) protect our citizens from the alien trash of the hemisphere coming in, stealing jobs and artificially depressing wages
B) protect us from the criminal gangs running wild in our cities,not just the Crips and Bloods, but the shakedown artists like Farrakhan, Jackson and Sharpton
C) make sure the safety net doesnt become a hammock

I do agree with you in the sense that mostly, I just want them to leave me the hell alone. Kind of like at my teaching job: give me a classroom, give me my computers, back me up when a kid acts like an asshole, and other than that, BUTT OUT!!

pugsley| 8.12.10 @ 5:17PM

Gypsey, you have just hit on the main tenant of this standoff. Just leave me alone. The pols want us to just leave them alone so they can finish the job their progressive ilk has been working at for the last 100 years, just for a bit longer and they will finish the job. Unfortunately for all of us we can no longer afford to leave them alone, we are going to have to get our hands dirty in this mess. We are going to have to get after their asses and clean up this mess or we will not have a country we can recognize in another 6-8 years. Do we have the stomach for it? Don't know, time will tell but time is the one thing we don't have much of.

Mimi| 8.12.10 @ 8:59AM

Blackknghts 1802....What you have wrote this morning is ..PROFOUND!! " this President is well on his way to ...killing the United States both financially and militarily."
The question we all must have answered : Is this on purpose? And why? And if it is purposeful, Who will investigate and prosecute?
" We the people" have been crying out since April 15 , 2009......Where are the COPS?

gypsy| 8.12.10 @ 10:30AM

the cops have all been laid off to preserve the jobs of union leaders and local officials. We need to man up, arm up, join together and start realizing that WE are the cops, that we must protect our own destiny

Doug| 8.12.10 @ 8:43PM

You're defending that which you are decrying, gypsy. The cops are also highly unionized. They, too, are part of the problem. Which group of public employees do our fearless thug government leaders always pull out to defend their endless spending? 1) teachers, 2) firemen, 3) police.

So no, the unionized police haven't been laid off. They continue to draw their outrageous public salaries and retire with $100k/yr retirement packages (plus truly "free healthcare" until death).

And sad to say, given your teaching position, I bet you are covered under this unionized safety shield umbrella, aren't you?

Or as Flip Wilson used to say "when the revolution come, some of us gotta go, too!"

RWinks| 8.12.10 @ 2:44PM

We know they are not doing these things to the country by accident. If they were just making mistakes, once in awhile they would make one in our favor.

Louis Jenkins| 8.12.10 @ 9:11AM

We run hither and yon looking for the answer. It's as plain as the nose on your face. An entire administration. An administration not bound by normal political dogma, rather an administration that is firmly enschonced in the socialist doctrine of Marx, Linen, Joe Stalin, Saul Alinsky, and others. Woe to you the USA. A nation of doers and thinkers, now a nation of receiptients from the largess of the government. Look at the crowd in Atlanta yesterday. Federal Housing maggots looking for a totally free ride! And this administration will see to it that they receive the full benefit of the handouts. This nation is being bled dry from within and without. It cannot hold much longer.

ncatty| 8.12.10 @ 9:15AM

The next step is to blame us for "malaise."

SkylarkVA| 8.12.10 @ 9:15AM

Team Obama: a pitiful bunch of hapless victims.... much like the leaches they created with all their government bailouts.... funded on the backs of hard working Americans. Beyond shameful.

B.HAMM| 8.12.10 @ 9:53AM

We've got the drug cartel on our borders and the tax cartel in Washington--"November" is our battle cry. May God help America!

Clinton nee Publius | 8.12.10 @ 9:55AM

If deficit spending would have been a solution for the Great Recession it would have worked by now. The truth is that deficit spending has only made the Great Recession worse for everyone but the ruling class.

This tells us some important lessons: (i) stimulating consumption is the least efficient means of creating growth and employment; and (ii) government spending cannot help the economy, it only harms it; and (iii) unemployment insurance creates a bias in favor of more unemployment; and (iv) government control and increased regulatory burdens offer no solace to the economy.

Time for a reality check.

Petronius| 8.12.10 @ 10:00AM

liberal economic policy is grounded in the quicksand of childish sentiment and thirst for vengeance. Any political leader who believes that the economic deck can be stacked so that only his supporters prosper and no others is not qualified to run a fever. Obama's methods only make sense combined with the goal of turning what was the greatest nation on earth into a perpetual kindergarten. This is right out of the pages of that weenie bible, The Nation: "Americans must learn to lose." Well the losers are conning our ship of state onto the rocks at flank speed and their spiteful satisfaction with themselves has their fellow travelers jumping overboard. That life boat won't make it to Berkeley. And the watch on the bridge will keep on their disastrous course. They would never admit that their sandbox economics is wrong, and order the helmsman to put about.
The emotional investment animating Demoncrats
is total reversal of fortune. Their belief that the winners must lose so that they can win will lead to ruin for all. They care not, so long as their enemies, (us), go down first.

John II| 8.12.10 @ 12:02PM

Damn. You sustained that metaphor perfectly, Petrie, and I was holding my breath in anticipation of a slip, in the order of "the ship of state has sprung a leak and crash-landed." I'd probably have changed "sandbox economics" to "shuffleboard economics" just to play it safe, but there's a point beyond which style can become a distraction.

You realize, of course, that the maintenance of a complex metaphor is a reflection of clear thinking, and you're exactly right. The playground denizens of the Obamanation are not honestly mistaken; they're giving vent to a deliberately destructive tantrum.

dcd| 8.12.10 @ 10:16AM

This recession may be "different" but it is not distinct from others. Face it, this recession has been a long time coming and would have struck with Obama or without. Ongoing deficits and rapidly growing debts under both parties. Even when the economy was booming there was no serious attempt to pay off the debts. The fed has been too generous with outlays and states have activily competed to draw as much federal lucre as possible.
Yes Obama's policies have been poor, but this administration is just the tip of the iceburg of fault for today's economy.

MoeBellini| 8.12.10 @ 10:16AM

There's a very simple answer to our problems. Its Obama's "real" agenda. No one will admit it because we have to be politically correct. But when you pull back the covers you see the answer. REPARATIONS. Obama has talked about this before. Why don't people get it. Look at the huge bills, health care, the financial bill and the stimulus package. All are filled with mandates and quotas to support special interest groups. This article talks about risk and return. Well take a look, look at where our tax money is going. Its going to specific groups and agencies where there is no return, not one dollar coming back. None of it is to help small business or the private industry in any way. That's why there are trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines. People won't invest, won't hire and won't spend because you don't know what this moron will do next. The whole financial meltdown was caused by a form of reparations, giving homes to people who couldn't afford them. When are people going to wakeup. Congress has a lower approval rating than Obama. Can someone explain to me how. The democrats in congress are only following Obama's agenda. Obama, Reid and Pelosi, what a trifecta that is. What a complete joke.

JP| 8.12.10 @ 10:17AM

The author skirted around the problem. But he left out some important factors. Of course, the ballooning federal defecit threatens everything. Until spending is corrected (this means entitlements) everything else is secondary.

But the ballooning defecit would have occured no matter who sits in the White House. Yes, Obama is making thing worse -he's actually accelerating our crisis; but, the combined Medicare/Social Security spend alone will be $2 trillion in 5 years. Add in Medicaid (another trillion), and you have the bulk of out spending (right behind Medicaid is the interest we pay on our debt). Combined (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) these entitlements will equal $3 trillion or more by 2015. Therein lies our problem. Demographics. Too many elderly and not enough young workers who can earn the incomes necessary to pay for these generous benefits.

And, sorry to rain on the Supply Siders parade, but there is no way we can "grow" our way out of this problem -not in the short run, anyway. There just are not enough skilled, educated workers in the pipeline to sustain the kind of growth we need. That is what 40 years of abortion, family planning, and artificial birth control has wrought. Our current fertility rate is 1.87 children per female (and yes, that takes into account the more fecund illegal and legal immigrants).

Yes, the correct thing to do right now is freeze all federal spending including benefits. A reduction in the federal work force must also take place (early retirements, rifts, etc...). Means testing for Social Security, as well as the repeal of Obama Care are also low hanging fruit. All of the savings must then be returned to the tax payers via the elminiation of the Corporate Tax, the restoration of the Bush Tax Cuts, etc...

But the real difficult job will be the reformation of Social Security and Medicare. Younger people will more than likely have to carry some of the burden for thier aging parents. The reforms will have to be grandfathered of course. Eldery who are over 75 should keep thier benefits. But younger retirees will see some pain. There is no way around it.

John II| 8.12.10 @ 12:32PM

"That is what 40 years of abortion, family planning, and artificial birth control has wrought. Our current fertility rate is 1.87 children per female . . ."

Thanks for including that point, JP. And the moral/cultural condition you describe may trump all otherwise sensible techie efforts to recover the American dream.

Silver lining: The most frantic proponents of the contraceptive culture, the fauna of the Obamanation, are breeding themselves out of existence. There will be no chubby little Elena Kagans scampering around for my grandchildren to deal with. The reckoning is nigh. I reckon.

And now back to the 1938 SF classic "Things to Come."

wodiej| 8.12.10 @ 3:58PM

SS should be abolished. Anyone 50+, can choose to collect SS at retirement or opt for what they have paid into it thus far moved to a retirement account of their choice. All those under 50, automatically get their accumulated contributions moved to a retirement account where it is frozen until retirement age. They should also make it mandatory that these SS contributions continue and go into the private account. There are always going to be morons who will not save and then will be old and not have a pot to piss in. This will take it completely out of federal hands. And all those people with their hand out and not contributing-you pay nothing, you get nothing. Watch and see how productive they become.

ujijin| 8.12.10 @ 11:45PM

JP's right on the money, so to speak. The recent headline showing Federal pay/benefits doubling that of the private sector is a case in point. Federal employee unions say this is so because of the incredible education and training necessary for Federal careers. As if private sector schlubbery uses Kaypros and drives horseless carriages and works on two-month productivity cycles. All of this money must come from somewhere, as many comment. What I see is an emerging consensus of the citizenry from both "left and right", with a tsunami from the "center", demanding change but this frightens me. I wonder if the establishment will be able to handle it. 'Baby Bam' may not.

Pete| 8.12.10 @ 10:19AM

Can't wait until the Mocha Messiah gives some sort of bizarro world "pull yourselves up by the bootstraps" teleprompter speech from a 5 star resort while on vacation. It's going to happen.

Stan Redmond| 8.12.10 @ 10:19AM

Obama's core believe destroying the economy will usher in a new utopia where he is Il Duce. Obama is the "Pol Pot" of economies. He will destroy everything in his path all the while claiming it's for the common good.

"It's Bush's Fault" will still get 45% of the hopelessly uninformed vote and never misunderestimate RINOs' ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory... And once the dead, illegals, felons, children, domesticated animals, trees, dolphins, great-apes, and spotted owls get the default vote for democrats the Obama [pbuh] just might win yet again. It will be revolutionary but I see it possible.

Bill| 8.12.10 @ 10:23AM

I know I'm about to say what will be characterized as a chauvinistic and idiotic notion, but I feel compelled to propose that, since we have tried government involvment in business, taxpayer money used to "stimulate" the economy, to no avail, perhaps it might be a good time for the government to stand back and let the free market begin to operate once again.

I know that's subversive and re-Bushing the society, but why not try it?

hoads| 8.12.10 @ 10:23AM

Ross actually gives Obama and his minions too much credit for suggesting that they want the economy to improve but are hand tied by ideology. While it is hard for most people to swallow, our declining economy is by design.

We are in "managed decline". The globalists have their claws in us and they don't intend to let up. It is "you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet" mentality. The US must be lassoed in order for global social and economic justice to come to fruition. Our standard of living is too far above the rest of the world. Our citizens are too wealthy, too nationalistic, too proud to get in line with the rest of the global citizens. An equal sharing of misery must be instituted for that is the basis of egalitarianism. Our standards of living must be sacrificed for the greater good in preparation for the global utopia the international ruling class will bring to fruition and will do so by taking our wealth and redistributing it to the rest of the world.

George S| 8.12.10 @ 10:25AM

If you want to explain this so a four year-old (or Timmy Geithner) understands:

The Economy is a bank.

When people make a deposit, it is Growth.

When people do not make a deposit, it is a Recession.

When people make withdrawals, it is a Depression.

What is happening now is that people went to the bank to make a deposit, feeling good about the 2008 elections. When they looked through the front door, they saw a bank robber stealing the deposits of customers such as AIG, GM, and Chrysler. The bank robber was screaming that he will start emptying the vault after he finished stealing all the depositors' money.

Would you walk though the front door? No, you would wait for the robber to leave -- and be sure he won't return before you venture inside.

That robber is Obama.

John II| 8.12.10 @ 10:54AM

Perhaps the psyche of Professor Obama is entering into a new phase where his apparent hatred for his vagrant daddy is overtaking his obvious contempt for his lefty momma and gramma.

Yea, the Professor may be plunging into deeper psychic waters after a lifetime of splashing in the shallows. The great test presented by Providence to America through the Obama phenomenon will, I hope, be recollected by shrew historians as a test of American resilience.

Let us hope that America is a lot stronger than any of us have supposed thus far.

And now back to my John Wayne collection.

Oldefarte| 8.12.10 @ 11:06AM

Obama and his administration are simply a group of COMMUNITY ORGINIZERS WITH HARVARD DEGREES. If acedemia types were to lose their teaching jobs, they would all join the unemployment ranks [since in private industry, such persons are looked upon with eyes crossed and ultimately dismissed as COLLEGE EGGHEADS]. They have never run any business successfully/profitably and couldn't do so if they wanted to [or had the chance to]. Government, though different financially, is a business of sorts; and none of these boneheads currently leading our country off the cliff's edge have a clue as to solutions to the economic problems. Their collective ides are simply to TAX & SPEND the taxpayers' money], which is as worthless as a SCREEN DOOR IN A SUBMARINE. The solutions for America is simply to get these morons out of there beginning in November and 2012 and replace them with any/all candidates that have the professional [experience]/practical knowledge to effect solutions!!!!!

Ned| 8.12.10 @ 11:10AM

I'm hopeful (but no more than "hopeful") that this bunch of ass-clowns will be shown the door starting in November.

But keep in mind that the Dim-tards have been practicing vote fraud for this election since long before 2000 - e.g. ACORN's core mission, Washington State's gubernatorial "election", that pinhead "Senator Al", and the scam they pulled on Stevens in Alaska. And as was said above, the 45% of the population loafing around with their hands out see no reason why they shouldn't have a big fat drumstick off of that golden goose, and would vote for the devil (again) if he promised them more and greater handouts (again). But, hey, if Pres. Barry Bullsh*t with his Hah-vard education doesn't understand the damage he's doing, how could they?

More of Ned| 8.12.10 @ 12:21PM

I failed to mention, that most embarassingly, I have voted for Dim-O-wits in the murky past. Out here on the Left Coast it's difficult not to now and again. How-some-ever, based upon the behavior of the current crew, I shall never, ever, E-V-E-R vote for another one...

Are ya listening Patty? Maria? Chris?

C D Rossini Jr| 8.12.10 @ 11:23AM

Obama, the over-man of the modernist faith, has made a rational decision. He has decided to trade regulated, federalist capitalism in for a statist, command economy. If everyone but the elites must suffer a decline in freedom and standards of living, that is result of living in utopia.

Redstateboy| 8.12.10 @ 11:39AM

You want to know how Hussien and his Slave Party are doing all what they're doing....????? THEY'RE PRINTING MONEY!!!! You know what happens when you keep printing money???

Redstateboy| 8.12.10 @ 11:41AM

Obama IS: The Manchurian Candidate.

Publius| 8.12.10 @ 11:48AM

gypsy,

Your wife now says:

"I didn't vote for bailouts, I didnt vote for amnesty, I didnt vote for union kickbacks, I didnt vote to f*ck up my employer sponsored healthcare, I didn't vote for unelected judges to smack down voters who want to protect their state from illegals or the fraud of same sex 'marriage'. I voted to fix the damned economy. And they haven't done that, they've made it worse!"

Frankly, I'm getting sick of enlightened Democrats. What exactly did she think she was voting for? This guy has never espoused or implemented a free market solution in his life, and that, as always, is what it is going to take.

Not to mention the fact that she expects someone to "fix the damned economy." The only way to fix it is get government out of the way. Government is the problem, not the solution. Yet here she sits, waiting to be rescued after causing the problem by voting for this Marxist.

Now we conservatives are going to have to clean up this mess and your wife will undoubtedly vote Democratic again after we do.

Geez.

Jiggle the Handle| 8.12.10 @ 12:28PM

Obama has never intentionally heard from any pro-free enterprise people in his adult life. The solutions that he is proposing are the only ones that he knows. The fundamental strengh of free enterprise, that people individually have more knowledge of a tiny part of the economy and can act to optomize their tiny part, is replaced by a really smart committee can more optomally make those decisions. Obama's committe is having a really tough time getting the billions of decisions made.
Look to the creation of cartels as FDR did in the thirties. This will lead to decreased compitition, saving the dying dinosaurs of mainstream news ect.
Remember the Great Depression was Hoover's fault, the Great Ression if Bush's fault

John II| 8.12.10 @ 12:58PM

Good points, but what has been "adult" in the life of the Professor so far?

My favorite trick in the Smug One's rhetorical bag is his use of the term "reputable" to dismiss ideas he's never studied about conditions he has no interest in, as in "No reputable economist believes that [fill-in-the-blank with any observation from the disreputable likes of Smith, Hayek, von Mises, or Friedman]."

I'm waiting for the Professor's patent-medicine show to get old enough for some bored but moderately enterprising journalist to peek behind the curtain and let the rest of us know, for example, what those school records look like.

Jerry C| 8.12.10 @ 12:48PM

It took corporate greed and the republican party 30 years to build the house of cards that fell apart in 2008. We are not going to recover over night. It will take years. But we can't go back to doing what we were doing under the shrub. That is what got us here.

Ken (Old Texican)| 8.12.10 @ 12:59PM

Jerry C
You are either an unrepentant communist...or stuck on stupid.

Oldefarte| 8.12.10 @ 2:33PM

The 'house of cards' [private industry] was WHAT economically built this nation, MORON! Ever heard of the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION or the TECHNOLOGICAL BOOM [of course not....that would be too intelligent]? My God, A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!!!!!!!!

wodiej| 8.12.10 @ 3:49PM

Like millions of other ignorant people, you know little about finance- capitalism has it's faults but overall, it is what has made this country great for 200+ years.

Entitlements, people sucking up tax dollars from welfare, earned income credits on tax returns, not working, having illegitimate kids-basically, lazy, immoral, irresponsible behavior is the main cause.

Businesses don't pay taxes-we do. Businesses provide jobs, they take the risks, they bear the majority of cost for health care for it's employees, set up matching 401k's for retirement, have the highest corporate tax in the world, managers work endless hours. Geez, how dare they make a profit!

Ken (Old Texican)| 8.12.10 @ 12:56PM

(This is a copy paste from above.)

Mr. Ross,
My answer to your question is quite simply that the feds, have exceeded their "enumerated powers" to such a degree that they have choked off any hope or trust or optimism among the people in the private sector.
There are exceptions of course. GE comes to mind instantly, but there are many other companies like them, sucking the government teat.

I am presently writing a novel...a cautionary tale ...WHOLLY FICTION of course. The only problem I am having writing it is that the actual reality we are living in is so unbelievable... I think my novel might be too..... Pedestrian?

In any event, I hope to have it published by October first. You won't enjoy it.

Mojo Risin| 8.12.10 @ 12:57PM

Remove Obama from the White House, remove the IDIOT!!! He's destroying this country and with no let-up in sight. If need be, forcibly march his sorry tuckus to an idling car, then be driven to McGuire for a waiting flight, with a long layover in Chicago, be gone you Schmuck!!!

poor richard| 8.12.10 @ 1:09PM

The economic collapse is happening on purpose. Any hand wringing by the regime is just window dressing. The goal is state ownership of everything and everybody. This Depression is by careful design.

ShortNSweet| 8.12.10 @ 2:19PM

Absolutely right! The econimic collapse is by careful design, and we are all just along for the ride. The scary thing is waiting for November could be too long. Would love to see the sight Mojo Risin described - the escorting out of his communist butt.

Dixie Pixie| 8.12.10 @ 1:26PM

I will say it once again.

Depression Era Policies produce Depression Era Results.

When the New Dealers left government a lot of them ended up in Academia. There they taught the glories of big government, Keynesian economics and the worship of Liberalism as God's replacement to the Baby Boomers.

Those Baby Boomers have grown up and taken their place in the Ruling Class. Now they are implementing the policies they were taught would create Utopia in American. Not surprisingly the same policies that FDR used then are now causing another Great Depression.

It was no joke when Obama was compared favorably to FDR in the MSM. Obama policies are FDR policies redux.

The only question is do we want a 2, 4, or 8 year Great Depression before Obama's / FDR policies are reversed.

Pete | 8.12.10 @ 2:17PM

The team of Geitner and Summers? When the regime keeps rewarding absolutely breathtaking incompetence, it can only expect things to get worse. Good thing that Obama and his minions are making the sacrifices they expect the rest of us to make to get through this horrible mess which is largely of their making.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.12.10 @ 3:03PM

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings; however, as none of the comments above have, though it’s possible I missed it, pointed out that the manure has just splattered all over the Death Warrant of the United States of America. helicopter beanie and his gangsters have apparently decided that now is the time for his virtual money supply to begin buying gum’mint issued securities. Heck, if the Asians won’t buy them, nor the Europeans, nor the Australians, nor the Africans, nor any Americans, not even Antarctic penguins are willing. So somebody has to do it, or else all the money needed to pay off the huge bills being run up every moment by the
Weimarocrats will not be there and Moody’s just might, just might mind you, downgrade the credit rating of the USA from AAA to AAA-. Wouldn’t be prudent. So since burnbackie is otherwise clueless, he has apparently decided that his cash stolen from taxpayers will now be used to purchase cash stolen from taxpayers by tax-cheat timmie. The legality of this is totally irrelevant, since nobody in any legislature or court will raise so much as a whimper. Besides there is evidence that this is only formalizing a policy that may have been in practice as far back as the Reagan era.

According to Chuck Butler, editor of Currency Capitalist, Reagan issued an executive order in 1988 to create what was called “The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets”, later dubbed by the Washington Post “the Plunge Protection Team” “Reagan created this team after the financial crisis of 1987. He wanted to ensure that no market crisis could happen like that again.” In practice, the PPT simply intervenes in the stock market by buying large amounts of long-dated call options on a few well-chosen stocks. This magically reverses the trend. So whenever the market trends down but sharply trends up by a significant amount then suspect the PPT is at work. Such activity took place on Tuesday when the market was relatively flat with a slight down slope until just after 2 PM when the slope of the graph made an almost 90 degree change up. This certainly does not prove the PPT at work, but should raise at least some suspicion. I really think that it is a bad idea for the gum’mint to be using OUR money to play the market. This gives them the power to pick the winners and losers without allowing free-market principals to work. This is why I opposed allowing the gum’mint’s buying common stock with Social Security funds. I was all in favor of allowing Americans to use their Social Security contributions for this purpose, but gum’mint has clearly proven it can not be trusted with OUR money since to them the only purpose of cash is to buy the next election.

Additionally, as illustrated by Charles Payne on Glenn Beck, there is strong evidence that the whirlybird wizard has been buying gum’mint bonds with virtual money since last fall. Even though this is clearly illegal, he gets away with it. I’d ask why, but we all know that answer. All he is doing now is admitting he’s doing what he’s been doing.

Historically, the only time a country’s buying up its own debt has worked are those times when the plan was to put a hitler-type in power. As I think that this is the objective of the present regime, I will concede that they know what they are doing.

This is not robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s robbing Saul to pay Paul.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Acts 9 3 & 4
Only 892 days to go

wodiej| 8.12.10 @ 3:42PM

Obama bamboozled millions...gave them the old okee doke...what a moron. He can have as extreme a views as he wants. But he cannot transfer them and remake America with them. He surrounded himself with people who either think like him, are corrupt and unethical, have a juvenile worldview where they follow what's cool or are just plain stupid.

Paul from SA| 8.12.10 @ 3:54PM

How many jobs were created or saved (temporarily) by the gov't spending $86 billion?

How many jobs were destroyed or prevented from being created when the gov't removes $862 billion from the private economy?

Once Lefty| 8.12.10 @ 4:20PM

Left, Right, Center we all know Obama pooped in our punchbowl deliberately and maliciously and now sits there smiling and smirking as we’re forced to drink this foul brew while he and Moochelle jet about and swill thousand dollar a bottle Champaign and hundred dollar a pound Kobe beef on our children and grand children’s tab!

BizOwner| 8.12.10 @ 4:50PM

There is no recovery due to Wall Street's affection for BIG corporations. All the mergers resulted in less competition and less opportunities. Fewer corporations resulting in fewer suppliers and therefore fewer jobs. Therein lies the reason for the expansion of government jobs. Yes, Obama's policies are misguided but the price for the era of BIG globalization on Wall Street is being paid on Main Street today. There will be no recovery unless this course is reversed. Good luck with that!

Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.12.10 @ 6:21PM

Even if your somewhat misinformed opinion is true, I really doubt the solution is found in driving the big corporations out of business, as you seem to favor.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“Blessed are the young, for they will inherit the national debt.” - Herbert Hoover
Only 892 days to go.

ogee| 8.12.10 @ 5:06PM

"ObamaNazis managed to flim flam enough independents to seize power"

It should read flim flam enough independents AND REBUBLICANS to seize power.

However, do not use the voting machines. Ask for a paper ballot and tell your friends.

ogee| 8.12.10 @ 5:17PM

The latest floating around:

1. The Obama presidency is out of touch with the American people

Mr Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien Régime, extravagant, decaying and out of touch with ordinary Americans. The First Lady’s ill-conceived trip to Spain at a time of widespread economic hardship was symbolic of a White House that barely gives a second thought to public opinion on many issues, and frequently projects a distinctly elitist image. The “let them eat cake” approach didn’t play well over two centuries ago, and it won’t succeed today.

2. Most Americans don’t have confidence in the president’s leadership

This deficit of trust in Obama’s leadership is central to his decline. According to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, “nearly six in ten voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country”, and two thirds “say they are disillusioned with or angry about the way the federal government is working.” The poll showed that a staggering 58 per cent of Americans say they do not have confidence in the president’s decision-making, with just 42 per cent saying they do.

3. Obama fails to inspire

In contrast to the soaring rhetoric of his 2006 Convention speech in Chicago which succeeded in impressing millions of television viewers at the time, America is no longer inspired by Barack Obama’s flat, monotonous and often dull presidential speeches and statements delivered via teleprompter. From his extraordinarily uninspiring Afghanistan speech at West Point to his flat State of the Union address, Mr. Obama has failed to touch the heart of America. Even Jimmy Carter was more moving.

4. The United States is drowning in debt

The Congressional Budget Office Long-Term Budget Outlook offers a frightening picture of the scale of America’s national debt. Under its alternative fiscal scenario, the CBO projects that US debt could rise to 87 percent of GDP by 2020, 109 percent by 2025, and 185 percent in 2035. While much of Europe, led by Britain and Germany, are aggressively cutting their deficits, the Obama administration is actively growing America’s debt, and has no plan in place to avert a looming Greek-style financial crisis.

5. Obama’s Big Government message is falling flat

The relentless emphasis on bailouts and stimulus spending has done little to spur economic growth or create jobs, but has greatly advanced the power of the federal government in America. This is not an approach that is proving popular with the American public, and even most European governments have long ditched this tax and spend approach to saving their own economies.

6. Obama’s support for socialised health care is a huge political mistake

In an extraordinary act of political Harakiri, Mr. Obama leant his full support to the hugely controversial, unpopular and divisive health care reform bill, with a monstrous price tag of $940 billion, whose repeal is now supported by 55 per cent of likely US voters. As I wrote at the time of its passing, the legislation is “a great leap forward by the United States towards a European-style vision of universal health care, which will only lead to soaring costs, higher taxes, and a surge in red tape for small businesses. This reckless legislation dramatically expands the power of the state over the lives of individuals, and could not be further from the vision of America’s founding fathers.”

7. Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill has been weak-kneed and indecisive

While much of the spilled oil in the Gulf has now been thankfully cleared up, the political damage for the White House will be long-lasting. Instead of showing real leadership on the matter by acing decisively and drawing upon offers of international support, the Obama administration settled on a more convenient strategy of relentlessly bashing an Anglo-American company while largely sitting on its hands. Significantly, a poll of Louisiana voters gave George W. Bush higher marks for his handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with 62 percent disapproving of Obama’s performance on the Gulf oil spill.

8. US foreign policy is an embarrassing mess under the Obama administration

It is hard to think of a single foreign policy success for the Obama administration, but there have been plenty of missteps which have weakened American global power as well as the standing of the United States. The surrender to Moscow on Third Site missile defence, the failure to aggressively stand up to Iran’s nuclear programme, the decision to side with ousted Marxists in Honduras, the slap in the face for Great Britain over the Falklands, have all contributed to the image of a US administration completely out of its depth in international affairs. The Obama administration’s high risk strategy of appeasing America’s enemies while kicking traditional US allies has only succeeded in weakening the United States while strengthening her adversaries.

9. Mr. Obama is muddled and confused on national security

From the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the War on Terror, Mr. Obama’s leadership has often been muddled and confused. On Afghanistan he rightly sent tens of thousands of additional troops to the battlefield. At the same time however he bizarrely announced a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces beginning in July 2011, handing the initiative to the Taliban. On Iraq he has announced an end to combat operations and the withdrawal of all but 50,000 troops despite a recent upsurge in terrorist violence and political instability, and without the Iraqi military and police ready to take over. In addition he has ditched the concept of a War on Terror, replacing it with an Overseas Contingency Operation, hardly the right message to send in the midst of a long-war against Al-Qaeda.

10. Obama doesn’t believe in American greatness

Barack Obama has made it clear that he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism, and has made apologising for his country into an art form. In a speech to the United Nations last September he stated that “no one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold.” It is difficult to see how a US president who holds these views and does not even accept America’s greatness in history can actually lead the world’s only superpower with force and conviction.

There is a distinctly Titanic-like feel to the Obama presidency and it’s not hard to see why. The most left-wing president in modern American history has tried to force a highly interventionist, government-driven agenda that runs counter to the principles of free enterprise, individual freedom, and limited government that have made the United States the greatest power in the world, and the freest nation on earth.

This, combined with weak leadership both at home and abroad against the backdrop of tremendous economic uncertainty in an increasingly dangerous world, has contributed to a spectacular political collapse for a president once thought to be invincible. America at its core remains a deeply conservative nation, which cherishes its traditions and founding principles. Mr. Obama is increasingly out of step with the American people, by advancing policies that undermine the United States as a global power, while undercutting America’s deep-seated love for freedom.

Dennis| 8.12.10 @ 5:27PM

A comment on one thing in the article, which, otherwise, is very good. The writer says about Obama and his merry men: "They need to be rethinking their strategies and analyzing why their previous solutions have not worked." The problem is that, to them, their policies HAVE worked. Read what Pugsley wrote near the top of these comments. This is, indeed, a recession unlike any other in our history. But the primary reason is that this is a recession that the President WANTS. And he wants it to get worse, much worse. It took a lot of people tpo wake up and realize that Obama is a terrible President. It took many a lot longer to realize that he is a socialist. I pray it will not take so long for most people to realize that his intention is to destroy our economy and our country. This is a hardcore Marxist communist, born and bred one. Both parents were communists. His mentors throughout his life have been communists. His pastor for 20 years was a Marxist. His policies smell of communism. His idols are communists. And he is doing what a communist does, what the old Soviets said a long time ago they would do, which is to bring America down from within. In November, please vote out anyone who has supported him in any way. More importantly, realize that we can expect something devastating to take place prior to the election, if Obama thinks he will lose his power base by losing either house of Congress. Would a Soviet dictator sit idly by and allow that? No way. We will have a terrible terrorist attack on our soil, or a total collapse of our economy, or some other BIG event, that will cause peopel to rally around him and his party or will allow him to take complete control over our country. I will be surprised if he does not pull something like that.

Garry Owen| 8.12.10 @ 5:30PM

We were given fair warning before the November 2008 election. Hope and Change was the name of the game. Hope and Change turned into Smoke and Mirrors!

Donaldo| 8.12.10 @ 6:10PM

The answer to that question is painfully obvious. When you vote someone into the presidency without the experience of a Dairy Queen manager, you get sub- Dairy Queen results.

MICHAELNOC| 8.12.10 @ 6:47PM

"What's standing in the way of the self-correcting mechanism?"

Not "what" but "who?"

Answer: President O'Buffoon, Speaker Pelousy & Senate Majority Leader Harry Ridiculous.

But come 11/2, Americans are going to remove two of these "Three Stooges" from their leadership.

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until 11/2012 to remove the final member of the Marxist Trifecta and Host of "Amateur Hour" in the Oval Office, President B. Hussein O'Buffoon!

What the Socialist-Democrats have failed to understand for the past 65 years is that "if" Americans had wanted to live under Socialism our ancestors would have never left countries under Communism, Nazism, Fascism, Monarchies & Dictatorships and emigrate to the United States of America.

Margaret Thatcher said it best, Socialism only works until you run out of OPM(Other Peoples' Money).

Remember in November

DUMP THE DEMS IN NOVEM

"Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P.J.O'Rourke

Gill O’Teen ✝✡$| 8.12.10 @ 8:12PM

No doubt that drink is mixed with vodka.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡$
Don’t Tread on Me.
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
“Vodka is tasteless going down, but it is memorable coming up” - Garrison Keillor.”
Only 892 days to go.

Chuck Somerville | 8.12.10 @ 7:27PM

It's on purpose. It's not bumbling mistakes.

Look up 'Cloward and Piven'.

Read Saul Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals'

Go to the Communist Party of the USA's web site and compare their agenda to what's happening.
__________________________

Chuck in Dayton
- - - - - - -
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of 'Liberalism', they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." ... "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform." - 1944 speech, Norman Mattoon Thomas

RalphSchmalph| 8.12.10 @ 8:59PM

I think Obonzo is doing an excellent job with the economy. His goals are in sight: Everyone will either be employed by the government; dependent on the government or supplying the government with office supplies.

Osamas Pajamas| 8.12.10 @ 9:28PM

Funny how the Administration's thugs sound just like the thugs in Ayn Rand's 1957 novel, "Atlas Shrugged." Little wonder, too, that OhBummer despises her books and has said so, publicly.

KevinMN| 8.12.10 @ 11:01PM

November 2, 2010: The day the planet stops gagging and the oceans stop belching Great Balls of Oil.

November 2012: The day the country stops bleeding money and starts breathing a Huge sigh of relief.

Yosemeti Sam| 8.13.10 @ 1:21AM

Folks, there's one thing about TIME, it is - inexorable!

A certain November - at one time - was 730 days away.

That certain November now is but 80 days hence.

Dennis Bergendorf| 8.13.10 @ 9:40AM

You probably cannot find an economist who would agree with me, but I am convinced that automation is playing a role in our economic woes.
The conventional wisdom is that employing robots or computers to do the heavy lifting actually frees up the labor force to do other things. Well... just what things?
I am retired, and working semi-full time driving a passenger van to Chicago's O'Hare airport. When I fuel up, I use a credit card. 25 years ago, I would have paid a clerk. Chicago's toll plazas one time had dozens of workers, but now we roll through using "I-Pass." (Even drivers without I-Pass toss coins into a hopper, never handing them to an attendant.) At O'Hare there are electric people-mover trains that run between terminals and parking lots--sans engineer. Closer to home, Norfolk Southern freight trains two miles long rumble through my town. 30 years ago, these trains would have had a crew of four. Now there's just one, the engineer, and "greedy" railroad companies are trying to implement fully automated trains. Boeing and Airbus talk openly about a day in the not-too-distant future when airliners will no longer employ pilots.
I recently toured the GM metal stamping plant in Indianapolis, and saw all manner of robots moving sheet metal, stamping it, and stacking the finished doors and body panels neatly--with only one or two employees standing watch.
Why this is important to the current economic crisis is that at one time, an influx of funds meant an uptick in employment--you needed other people to get things done. Nowadays, computers and robots handle the (slightly) increased demand for products and even many services.

Concerned in CA| 8.14.10 @ 2:39PM

You are spot on my friend. I talk about this in my comments further down in the thread.

Nobody wants to talk about this but it's one of the big factors we face today. How you undo this is a matter for great debate but technology is killing the job market here.

People have tried to argue this point with my by saying, "well even if that's true, somebody has to build the robots." They are 100% correct and 100% of those workers are in China, Taiwan or India. Virtually NONE of them are here in America. That's what's changed from previous recessions and/or tech booms.

Palladin| 8.13.10 @ 9:45AM

There will be no recovery because there are no jobs, there will be no jobs unless we repeal NAFTA.

Sarbo| 8.13.10 @ 10:26AM

I spent five years of my youth, denying all the pleasures of youth, slogging my way through Marx, Smith, the neo-classicals, the math guys like Leontiev, the welfare guys like Pareto. I did all this because I was a true believer. I thought Economics was a science. I forgot that the subject was originally called Political Economy. So, after my Master's I did not pursue a PhD.

What is standing in the way of a recovery? It's deflationary worries. Even Krugman, writing in the NYT, calls deflation a clear and present danger. And, as his political ranting, he calls for more deficits.

When there is so much money in the system, thanks to zero interest rates and huge federal spending ... and there is no inflation? Well, deflation looms. And, throughout history, people have hoarded money in the expectation of falling prices. Add the expectation that Obama will soon be gone, go to the mattresses with your hard-earned family wealth..

psutopgun| 8.13.10 @ 2:39PM

The Obama administration is the single biggest road block to economic recovery. They are intentionally destroying the economy. Their policies are lethal to our capitalistic system and they know it. It does not matter that millions are suffering because of their political agenda.

Dr Yoyo| 8.13.10 @ 10:17PM

It's a depression, but unlike '29. This time jobs are outsourced. Who's wants to put up with regulation if they don't have to. In '29 there wasn't anything like the regulation today.

Concerned in CA| 8.14.10 @ 2:29PM

While I agree that Obama team sounds pessimistic, they have every reason to be. Mind you, I am no supporter of them and did not vote for him but stop and think about this for a second.

I believe we are caught up in a perfect storm of sorts. Look at all the things that have come together at the same time. Some of them have been festering for a while, some were triggered by others, some are the fault of bad governing and some by irresponsible individuals.

The housing bubble was completely forseeable but nobody wanted to deal with that.

Job losses are part of a recession but this time it's different for a couple reasons that have never been faced in the past. First, this administrations policies are so counter productive that nobody wants to expand and hire, myself included. Secondly, technology has to a great extent replaced workers in MANY fields, those jobs are NEVER, EVER coming back. I have shared this thought with people and they scoff but stop and think about it for a while. Let's take publishing to start. Digital book sales now account for more annual sales than real books. That trend will continue until digital accounts for 90% of the market. Jobs at paper mills are gone, book binding plants, the truck drivers to deliver the books, the clerks at book stores to sell the books and on and on and on. It probably takes one sixth as many people to sell a digital book as it does a real one. You can move through every sector of the economy and demonstrate the same forces at work. Technology allows us to do more with less people, period. This recession has accelerated that tremendously.

Higher taxes are coming, any thinking person can see that. This is putting a damper on any kind of recovery also.

Endless jobless benefits is having an effect too. There are jobs out there, there really are if you look. People are not motivated to look for them in many cases as they are taking a 99 week vacation courtesy of the Federal Government. If you pay people not to work, guess what, they won't work, I promise you that! This endless cycle needs to end and quick. As soon as the government teet is shut off, people will head back out looking for a job......they won't starve themselves to death...they WILL work.

Our economy is almost completely based on consumption. People are not consuming and are not likely to do that at the levels we once did.....EVER again. Attitudes have changed in America forever or at lease for the next 50 years. We need to get back to a manufacturing based economy.

I could go on and on but you get the picture. We need to get this bunch out of control, replace them with NON-Professional politicians and get to the hard work of righting this sinking ship.

Tough times are in store for us but we can fix this!

Answers1| 8.14.10 @ 3:05PM

This is a credit-based depression built on decades of uneconomic real estate investments. Most other recessions are commodity-shock or inventory overbuild affairs that are simple by comparison.

Answers1| 8.14.10 @ 3:12PM

Note to gypsy 8.12.10 @ 10:16AM:

WHAT in Obama's background convinced you that he was an economic genius, able to fix the economy? YOU are the idiot for voting for him. Obama is just another lying politician and, in my view, is virtually blameless.

Tenn Slim| 8.15.10 @ 6:58AM

Been saying this chorus since early 2006. The OBNA tribe is bent on the Demise of the GNP of the USA. Once successful, the New Left will impose the Stringent Necessary Regs to "Save the Nation", IE: Wage, Price, EPA, FTC, FCC, Educ, controls of already laid out agendas. Then, this site, like so many others, can smugly say, I told you so, just before the lights go out.
end
Semper Fi
We MAY prevail, but the issue is in doubt.
Aug 14, 1942 Guadacanal Anniversary USMC HOO RAH.
end

Liveaboard| 8.15.10 @ 3:04PM

What's standing in the way of recovery?
DEBT!
The country is borrowing heavily to give money to those who fully intend to use it to party and squander and have no intention of paying it back...

a.c.d| 8.16.10 @ 5:10AM

There are so many things wrong with what is being said here it is actually troubling. For starters, this depression IS like no other because there is nothing to get it out of it. I am not sure if you all know anything about the economic structures of other countries other than the US, but what allows one to make money is when someone actually produces something. The US doesnt produce anything anyone wants. It is all pretty much done abroad. And regarding Obama's plans to restructure the economy, well duh that is what needs to happen. Why do you think that the the BRIC countries are doing so well economically? Because their governments took money from the people and used it to build an export led economy. You need to actually export things to bring in money and lower debt. If you just try to lower debt without building some kind of product that poeple want to buy then it is not going to happen. All you will have are austerity measures which will strangle the middle and lower classes.
The green economy is America's only hope towards having a better export led economy. Currently the import led economy has to use if people dont have money to buy things (which before they didnt either, they just borrowed...thank you credit cards, and now they have to pay the bill). So to reiterate. America is not doing well because banks will not invest in a country which has bad returns. Which is why all the money is going to the BRIC countries. Now unless America does what all the other countries in the world have done, which is create a plan for the economy (not a centrally planned economy, but rather give it direction) then there is not going to be any kind of growth what so ever. This is econ 101. It doesnt make sense for a country to make shoes and bananas if another country is better at making shoes. But unless you tell your economy to stop making shoes and increase bananas, they are going to keep trying to make shoes until the bitter end (economic lag time, or a corrective period). So, while lots of people may not like the idea of having to manage the country, it is something that needs to happen if you actually have any hopes of becoming an economy which actually produces goods rather than merely consuming them.

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