Biden: ‘We misread how bad the economy was’

[Xenophon]

Okay. In January 2007 the newly elected democrats took office and gave democrats a majority in both houses of Congress. Our present economuc situtation began in the December 2007. What sweeping policy did the democratic congress enact that resulted in economic meltdown within an 11 month period? What would republicans have done differently?

you mean they didnt do anything for 11 months?

No. I mean what specific policies enacted by the democrats "fucked up" the so called "strong economy" that they inherited in January 2007.

Are the housing bubble bursting, which started before the democrats took office, and the credit crisis really products of a democratic congress?

I'd be more interested in solutions then trying to fix blame, since in my opinion they all cause it.

It is crystal clear Obama and his admin have been making things worse.

What will be done about it?

 

[Bill O'Olberman]

I'd be more interested in solutions then trying to fix blame, since in my opinion they all cause it.

It is crystal clear Obama and his admin have been making things worse.

What will be done about it?

While I dont agree with alot of what his administration has done, such as the US owning 60 percent of GM, I can hardly believe that it is crystal clear assesment that he is making things worse. What is the Obama administration supposed to do that will cause financial institutions to start lending money, stimulate the economy, decrease unemployment, and keep inflation at a desirable level. From a monetary policy standpoint all we can do is raise interest rates which is not going to help in the midst of a recession.

 

[Oddball]

While I dont agree with alot of what his administration has done, such as the US owning 60 percent of GM, I can hardly believe that it is crystal clear assesment that he is making things worse. What is the Obama administration supposed to do that will cause financial institutions to start lending money, stimulate the economy, decrease unemployment, and keep inflation at a desirable level. From a monetary policy standpoint all we can do is raise interest rates which is not going to help in the midst of a recession.

Easy money got us into this mess, how is free money supposed to make it better??

 

[Bill O'Olberman]

While I dont agree with alot of what his administration has done, such as the US owning 60 percent of GM, I can hardly believe that it is crystal clear assesment that he is making things worse. What is the Obama administration supposed to do that will cause financial institutions to start lending money, stimulate the economy, decrease unemployment, and keep inflation at a desirable level. From a monetary policy standpoint all we can do is raise interest rates which is not going to help in the midst of a recession.

Easy money got us into this mess, how is free money supposed to make it better??

Well, deficit spending during times of economic hardship may not be a horrible idea as long as during times of relative economic prosperity the government pays it back. Of course our government has long established itself to be fiscally retarded and mal-adaptive. Running about a $1.8 trillion dollar deficit is outrageous but it wouldnt be much different had McCain won last November.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Okay. In January 2007 the newly elected democrats took office and gave democrats a majority in both houses of Congress. Our present economuc situtation began in the December 2007. What sweeping policy did the democratic congress enact that resulted in economic meltdown within an 11 month period? What would republicans have done differently?

you mean they didnt do anything for 11 months?

No. I mean what specific policies enacted by the democrats "fucked up" the so called "strong economy" that they inherited in January 2007.

Are the housing bubble bursting, which started before the democrats took office, and the credit crisis really products of a democratic congress?

No, they're products of the policies by the Federal Reserve.

 

[toomuchtime_]

I'd be more interested in solutions then trying to fix blame, since in my opinion they all cause it.

It is crystal clear Obama and his admin have been making things worse.

What will be done about it?

While I dont agree with alot of what his administration has done, such as the US owning 60 percent of GM, I can hardly believe that it is crystal clear assesment that he is making things worse. What is the Obama administration supposed to do that will cause financial institutions to start lending money, stimulate the economy, decrease unemployment, and keep inflation at a desirable level. From a monetary policy standpoint all we can do is raise interest rates which is not going to help in the midst of a recession.

The answer is simple. Instead of buying that nearly $800 billion barrel of pork, Obama could have put the stimulus money and some of the TARP money out for loans to businesses and consumers, contracting banks and other lending institutions to dispense the loans according to rules and parameters set out by the Treasury. This would have immediately saved or created millions of private sector jobs which would have provided increased state and local government revenues, saving public sector jobs and programs; perhaps it would have created enough new car sales to have allowed GM and Chrysler to survive without going through bankruptcy or asking for government bailouts.

Since this money would have been loaned at interest, in the long run it would have cost taxpayers nothing, and as the banks accumulated more capital, partly through fees earned for services provided under this plan, the government money could be withdrawn to retire the debt that created this fund. In the first hours after this program was announced, it would have saved or created more jobs than the stimulus will over the next two years.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

I'd be more interested in solutions then trying to fix blame, since in my opinion they all cause it.

It is crystal clear Obama and his admin have been making things worse.

What will be done about it?

While I dont agree with alot of what his administration has done, such as the US owning 60 percent of GM, I can hardly believe that it is crystal clear assesment that he is making things worse. What is the Obama administration supposed to do that will cause financial institutions to start lending money, stimulate the economy, decrease unemployment, and keep inflation at a desirable level. From a monetary policy standpoint all we can do is raise interest rates which is not going to help in the midst of a recession.

We need the market to set interest rates, and during a recession they're going to be high.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

In fairness to Joe, nobody was ready for what happened last fall. And no one expected the train wreck to get this bad.

I had a bad feeling about TARP, but that was on a constitutional basis, rather than the total smash that has happened since then.

Much as I disliked 0bama, I didn't believe him to be this venial. Does anything think 0bama planned this disaster?

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

In fairness to Joe, nobody was ready for what happened last fall. And no one expected the train wreck to get this bad.

I had a bad feeling about TARP, but that was on a constitutional basis, rather than the total smash that has happened since then.

Much as I disliked 0bama, I didn't believe him to be this venial. Does anything think 0bama planned this disaster?

Not true. Many people saw this crisis coming, people simply laughed at them or called them kooks.

 

[DiveCon]

In fairness to Joe, nobody was ready for what happened last fall. And no one expected the train wreck to get this bad.

I had a bad feeling about TARP, but that was on a constitutional basis, rather than the total smash that has happened since then.

Much as I disliked 0bama, I didn't believe him to be this venial. Does anything think 0bama planned this disaster?

Not true. Many people saw this crisis coming, people simply laughed at them or called them kooks.

exactly
many said it was a huge mistake and wouldnt fix anything

 

[Baruch Menachem]

In fairness to Joe, nobody was ready for what happened last fall. And no one expected the train wreck to get this bad.

I had a bad feeling about TARP, but that was on a constitutional basis, rather than the total smash that has happened since then.

Much as I disliked 0bama, I didn't believe him to be this venial. Does anything think 0bama planned this disaster?

Not true. Many people saw this crisis coming, people simply laughed at them or called them kooks.

exactly
many said it was a huge mistake and wouldnt fix anything

So to paraphrase that great french quote, not only was it criminal, it was also stupid

 

[Justin Case]

Joe still tried to deflect and lay the blame elsewhere when he said that they had misread the economy, "but everybody else did too." Really? Too bad "everybody else" has no responsibility or ability to bring things under control and get things moving again. This may be a fun couple of days as the Obama machine tries to "fix" what Joe said! Lol.

 

[Ravi]

Its nice to throw out that this guy is #2 in the nation, since the board right now is on its latest Sarah frenzy.

Its like watching Rome burn while they fiddle, they ignore how bad the current admin has been fucking up and spend endless amounts of time worrying about what some governor is doing.

Fucked up would have been letting the banks collapse one by one.

It is probably true the stimulus package wasn't big enough.

 

[Annie]

While the 'stimulus' hasn't 'had time' yet, the government keeps regulating the ability for businesses, especially small, to move ahead:

Maybe We'd See Some "Green Shoots" if the Government Would Stop Stomping on Them - AIP Blog - American Issues Project

Maybe We'd See Some "Green Shoots" if the Government Would Stop Stomping on Them

The June unemployment numbers came out Thursday and -- good news everybody! -- we've managed to slow the massive economic arterial bleed to a little trickle. The unemployment rate crept up 0.1 percent to 9.5 percent. though, as James Pethokoukis notes, if you take into account all the people who simply stopped looking for work last month, we're looking at a 10 percent rate.

The "glass half-full" folks, are sure to hang their hats on the relatively small rate of increase. The rest of us will note that our unemployment rate is the highest since 1983, when I was a junior in high school, and will be frantically scrabbling around on our hands and knees looking for "green shoots". I'm no economist; in fact, I'm generally lousy at math, but I don't expect that we'll be seeing any real growth in our economy for several months. The pessimist (and news-reader) in me says that we may not start seeing solid signs of recovery for at least a year.

Last week, I wrote about the vital role small businesses play in our economy and how they are the key to any economic recovery. Well, small businesses are hurting right now and our Federal government is inflicting the wounds. Listen to what this New York Times blogger, who also owns a small business, says about what the Stimulus Plan is doing to his company.

Here’s an example:

Recently, there have been changes to the Cobra laws that grew out of the stimulus package. The government site that explains the program is 22 pages long, hard to follow, and didn’t answer all of my questions, but it was the best I could find.

As I understand it, there are two basic changes: First, employees who initially turned down Cobra have another chance to say yes (if they became eligible for it after Sept. 8). Second, business owners who have more than 20 employees and offer health insurance are now required to lay out 65 percent of any Cobra payments for employees who qualify for the benefits (this, too, applies to employees who took Cobra after Sept. 8). In addition, employers also must collect the 35 percent that employees still have to pay.

This represents a significant new burden to small businesses. Yes, the government will eventually reimburse employers for these Cobra payments through payroll tax credits. But that can take months.

Let’s think about what’s happening here. There is an assumption that an employee who is laid off is going to need help making those Cobra payments, and that may well be the case. But what about the employer? If a company is laying off people, there’s a pretty good chance it’s losing money. Possibly a lot of money. In some cases, it may be fighting desperately just to stay in business.​

In reality, the government is forcing small businesses to float the government a zero-interest loan to cover the insurance payment. The situation gets far, far worse when it comes to unemployment. As those of you who own a business know, when one of your employees files for unemployment, your insurance premiums go up. So what happens to those premiums now that unemployment insurance has been extended an extra 20 weeks? The government isn't picking up that slack. That money is coming straight from the businesses. So, says the blogger, he's far more hesitant to hire new employees, even if he could use a few new bodies, because the cost to hire, retain, and lose them is far too high....

Links at site.

 

[ba1614]

In fairness to Joe, nobody was ready for what happened last fall. And no one expected the train wreck to get this bad.

I had a bad feeling about TARP, but that was on a constitutional basis, rather than the total smash that has happened since then.

Much as I disliked 0bama, I didn't believe him to be this venial. Does anything think 0bama planned this disaster?

Not true. Many people saw this crisis coming, people simply laughed at them or called them kooks.

exactly
many said it was a huge mistake and wouldnt fix anything

That's just it! There were many people that advised them how bad it was going to get, but they were ridiculed and accused of fear mongering.
People do seem to be waking up however, and are starting to see what this administration is all about.

 

[DamnYankee]

No shit sherlock.

The rest of his comments are also amusing, I really liked the one about ignoring North Korea in the hopes they will go away.

Another fun was he wants to send the Army back to iraq as needed.

Biden: ‘We misread how bad the economy was’ - White House- msnbc.com

The old saying about people getting the gov they deserve seems to be in overdrive now.

Is that anything like "We got bad intelligence"??

 

[Jon]

#1 Barack Ofumbler.
#2 Joe Gaffetastic Biiden
#3 The crypt Keeper

Geez. I just realized that like 4 people would have to die before a decent Democrat would come into office. How sad.

 

[editec]

While I dont agree with alot of what his administration has done, such as the US owning 60 percent of GM, I can hardly believe that it is crystal clear assesment that he is making things worse. What is the Obama administration supposed to do that will cause financial institutions to start lending money, stimulate the economy, decrease unemployment, and keep inflation at a desirable level. From a monetary policy standpoint all we can do is raise interest rates which is not going to help in the midst of a recession.

Easy money got us into this mess, how is free money supposed to make it better??

Easy money going to the retail real estate market was but a small part of this mess, I think

Derivatives were apparently the real threat to the banking system.

While I have long disagreed with the so called "solution" to this economic system, I have also long disagreed with those of you who insist that the whole problem facing us is merely the RE crises.

I believe it's way worse than merely the RE crises.

I believe that the steadily eroding purchasing power of the working classes, coupled with the casino mentality of the banking community combined with the bubble bursting in the real estate market are the problem.

And since I see very little that will really solve the problem of the steady decline in incomes in this nation, I presume that this soluton will ultimately fail because it does not really address the infection in the economy that we've allowed to fester for the last thirty years.

 

[DamnYankee]

Its nice to throw out that this guy is #2 in the nation, since the board right now is on its latest Sarah frenzy.

Its like watching Rome burn while they fiddle, they ignore how bad the current admin has been fucking up and spend endless amounts of time worrying about what some governor is doing.

Fucked up would have been letting the banks collapse one by one.

It is probably true the stimulus package wasn't big enough.

Ummm.... That would be the description of a dick, NOT dollars....

 

[Dr Grump]

I'd be more interested in solutions then trying to fix blame, since in my opinion they all cause it.

It is crystal clear Obama and his admin have been making things worse.

What will be done about it?

1) what has the admin made worse?
2) How has it been made worse?
3) What stats do you have to back up your POV?
4) what would you have done differently?
5) what is the solution to Obama's so called Fuck ups?