What Would You Do?

[Flopper]

There must have been a thousand messages on this board stating everything Obama should not have done to pull the nation out of recession and restore economic growth. How about putting yourself in the oval office and sharing with us what you would have done. The situation is:
You have just assumed the office of the President in 2008.
The country is officially in a recession.
George Bush has just signed into law TARP, a 300 billion dollar financial bailout.
The deficit is about 700 billion
The stock market has lost 20% of it's value in 3 months
Unemployment has increase 45% in last 12 months
The fed has driven interest rates down from 4.5% to 1%
Economist are predicting unemployment will reach 10% within 6 mos.
Income Tax rates have been lowered to lowest point in 80 years.

What would you do?

 

[uscitizen]

Reregulate the finiancial industry to prevent another finiancial meltdown.
Hold the finiancial industry accountable for their actions.
Not bail them out. Support FDIC guaranteed deposits and that is it on the banks.
Not just throw money at the economy but take a well thought out stimulus that actually built something we need.
Promote job training programs, Unemployed? take training to keep benefits.
Promote hiring by tax breaks for companies hiring.
Do away with tax breaks for companies offshoring jobs and create a tax penalty for those who do.
Pull right out of Afganistan and Iraq.
Close about 25% of overseas military bases.
create real penalties for defrauding medicare/medicaid. ie a 200% penalty for all fraudulent gains. Lets make it so it is not just a cost of doing business to defraud our government.
Do away with the bush tax cuts.

Overall look at the real causes of this recession and develop plans to build back up.

 

[bucs90]

Well, it's hard to say for sure because we don't know all the facts. Did the bailout really work or not? We aren't privy to all the behind-closed-doors info the president is. The military and CIA intell he gets. We can all say what we "woulda" done, but without all the info, we can't know for sure.

However, that doesn't mean we can't say what we would have liked him to do. I would've liked him to aggressively preach to American citizens that they MUST find a way to become more independent. That while government handouts are available, and probably will be for years to come, they aren't guaranteed, and thus, all people must depend on themselves first, their family second, their neighbors third (as in community, church, etc), and at last resort the government. But it seems we are dependent on those 4 in reverse order: 1st Gov't, 2nd Community, 3rd Family, and finally, last resort we depend on ourselves only.

For one of the few things I agree with the Obama's have done is Michelle's push to get our people to stop being disgusting fat asses. Now, put that same energy into getting our people to be more independent of government.

But a politician saying "Hey, folks, I and my fellow gov't officials can't help you forever, you gotta do it on your own" aren't re-elected often. They get re-elected by promising shit, promising to make life easier for people off the gov't dime.

 

[Mr. H.]

I would have let the tax cuts expire.
Then I'd smoke a big doobie.

 

[uscitizen]

No company in America should be too big to let fail. If it is then who really runs america?

 

[westwall]

No company in America should be too big to let fail. If it is then who really runs america?

Wow, you and I agree on something. Your first post I think was pretty well thought out too.

 

[Contumacious]

There must have been a thousand messages on this board stating everything Obama should not have done to pull the nation out of recession and restore economic growth.

Repudiating the National Debt

Murray Newton Rothbard

Repudiating the National Debt - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily

.

 

[uscitizen]

I am actually more of a true conservative than many on here who think themselves conservatives.
With a touch of libertarian thrown in.

 

[shintao]

There must have been a thousand messages on this board stating everything Obama should not have done to pull the nation out of recession and restore economic growth. How about putting yourself in the oval office and sharing with us what you would have done. The situation is:
You have just assumed the office of the President in 2008.
The country is officially in a recession.
George Bush has just signed into law TARP, a 300 billion dollar financial bailout.
The deficit is about 700 billion
The stock market has lost 20% of it's value in 3 months
Unemployment has increase 45% in last 12 months
The fed has driven interest rates down from 4.5% to 1%
Economist are predicting unemployment will reach 10% within 6 mos.
Income Tax rates have been lowered to lowest point in 80 years.

What would you do?

I would take a trillion & divide it among Americans to spend locally within one year, and only on US products. I would bring all the troops home, and close the Pentagon doors down to a minimum. I would cut the corporate cord & stop taxing business. Establish a fair tax with no deductions.

The 300 billion bailout or any other bailout would not have happened.

 

[xsited1]

...

What would you do?

Just do the opposite of what Obama has done. Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode:

"It became very clear to me sitting out there today that every decision I've made in my entire life has been wrong. My life is the complete opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every aspect of life, be it something to wear, something to eat - it's all been wrong."
George Costanza

 

[candycorn]

There must have been a thousand messages on this board stating everything Obama should not have done to pull the nation out of recession and restore economic growth. How about putting yourself in the oval office and sharing with us what you would have done. The situation is:
You have just assumed the office of the President in 2008.
The country is officially in a recession.
George Bush has just signed into law TARP, a 300 billion dollar financial bailout.
The deficit is about 700 billion
The stock market has lost 20% of it's value in 3 months
Unemployment has increase 45% in last 12 months
The fed has driven interest rates down from 4.5% to 1%
Economist are predicting unemployment will reach 10% within 6 mos.
Income Tax rates have been lowered to lowest point in 80 years.

What would you do?

I don't recognize the $700B deficit.

I am pretty sure TARP was $700B alone.

One thing I would have done differently than Mr. Obama was that I would have moved very quickly to issue as much TARP money as possible directly to the American People to relieve personal debt, let people stay in their homes, and get people solvent once more. Money is a lot of things; freedom, peace of mind, and above all else, security. Many people won't leave their jobs because they are scared to take the chance of losing the proverbial bird in the hand. You right their financial ship and you see people leaving their jobs to start their own businesses, take the money directly and start their own firms, or simply pay off debt. And guess what, the financial fat cats who Mr. Obama bailed out would end up getting the money anyway except it would be to pay off credit cards, cars, loans, etc...; not a gift from Uncle Sam.

I believe Obama should have held off on Health Care in lieu of a second CCC type of program. I'm happy he got it passed--not happy that it's 1/2 a loaf and I am sure it will get overturned because it sounds blatantly unconstitutional--making people buy health insurance. It, too could have been better and much more fair at a much reduced cost. Start with total health care for any American Citizen under 20 and over 60. If you fall into the 40 years in between, the stipulations that PECs can't be held against you is fantastic but the rest of the program should be overhauled. These are human's productive years and if you don't want health insurance, you shouldn't have to buy it.

I would have targeted federal higher education aid to steer more people into healthcare, mathematics and science fields. If you're going to school on a GSL or applying for a Pell Grant, and your field of study is law, drama, fashion design, music, etc...; sorry, your funding is cut. If you're going to a publicly funded Nursing School, you're only on the hook for 10% of your total bill.

Eventually, these programs, the CCC and targeting grants and GSLs to professions that are needed and necessary will stamp down the unemployment.

I'd cut needless defense spending such as the F22 and the Virginia class subs; freeze all other spending except for automatic 10-25% pay raises for all military personnel depending on if you served in theater. I'd hire approximately 5,000 workers to do nothing but keep up the bases which have suffered somewhat due to deployments.

I would have adopted a great amount of the Pickens Plan as my national energy strategy but enhanced it with twenty nuclear power plants across the nation.

 

[Charles_Main]

There must have been a thousand messages on this board stating everything Obama should not have done to pull the nation out of recession and restore economic growth. How about putting yourself in the oval office and sharing with us what you would have done. The situation is:
You have just assumed the office of the President in 2008.
The country is officially in a recession.
George Bush has just signed into law TARP, a 300 billion dollar financial bailout.
The deficit is about 700 billion
The stock market has lost 20% of it's value in 3 months
Unemployment has increase 45% in last 12 months
The fed has driven interest rates down from 4.5% to 1%
Economist are predicting unemployment will reach 10% within 6 mos.
Income Tax rates have been lowered to lowest point in 80 years.

What would you do?

Never claimed to have all the answers my self.

However I did have enough brains to know spending 850 Billion on Mostly Bailing out State Budgets, and some Temporary Construction Projects, Was not the answer.

 

[Flopper]

There must have been a thousand messages on this board stating everything Obama should not have done to pull the nation out of recession and restore economic growth. How about putting yourself in the oval office and sharing with us what you would have done. The situation is:
You have just assumed the office of the President in 2008.
The country is officially in a recession.
George Bush has just signed into law TARP, a 300 billion dollar financial bailout.
The deficit is about 700 billion
The stock market has lost 20% of it's value in 3 months
Unemployment has increase 45% in last 12 months
The fed has driven interest rates down from 4.5% to 1%
Economist are predicting unemployment will reach 10% within 6 mos.
Income Tax rates have been lowered to lowest point in 80 years.

What would you do?

I don't recognize the $700B deficit.

I am pretty sure TARP was $700B alone.

One thing I would have done differently than Mr. Obama was that I would have moved very quickly to issue as much TARP money as possible directly to the American People to relieve personal debt, let people stay in their homes, and get people solvent once more. Money is a lot of things; freedom, peace of mind, and above all else, security. Many people won't leave their jobs because they are scared to take the chance of losing the proverbial bird in the hand. You right their financial ship and you see people leaving their jobs to start their own businesses, take the money directly and start their own firms, or simply pay off debt. And guess what, the financial fat cats who Mr. Obama bailed out would end up getting the money anyway except it would be to pay off credit cards, cars, loans, etc...; not a gift from Uncle Sam.

I believe Obama should have held off on Health Care in lieu of a second CCC type of program. I'm happy he got it passed--not happy that it's 1/2 a loaf and I am sure it will get overturned because it sounds blatantly unconstitutional--making people buy health insurance. It, too could have been better and much more fair at a much reduced cost. Start with total health care for any American Citizen under 20 and over 60. If you fall into the 40 years in between, the stipulations that PECs can't be held against you is fantastic but the rest of the program should be overhauled. These are human's productive years and if you don't want health insurance, you shouldn't have to buy it.

I would have targeted federal higher education aid to steer more people into healthcare, mathematics and science fields. If you're going to school on a GSL or applying for a Pell Grant, and your field of study is law, drama, fashion design, music, etc...; sorry, your funding is cut. If you're going to a publicly funded Nursing School, you're only on the hook for 10% of your total bill.

Eventually, these programs, the CCC and targeting grants and GSLs to professions that are needed and necessary will stamp down the unemployment.

I'd cut needless defense spending such as the F22 and the Virginia class subs; freeze all other spending except for automatic 10-25% pay raises for all military personnel depending on if you served in theater. I'd hire approximately 5,000 workers to do nothing but keep up the bases which have suffered somewhat due to deployments.

I would have adopted a great amount of the Pickens Plan as my national energy strategy but enhanced it with twenty nuclear power plants across the nation.

The TARP was the first bailout. It was 300 billion. TARP II probably raised it to 700 billion but that was over year later.

Troubled Asset Relief Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[sparky]

What would you do?

most likely get myself impeached, set up by the various black ops via one of their fat broad operatives, or worse pointing out the oilgarhy's manipulative methods of controlling the ofal office

 

[Flopper]

Having perfect hindsight, I would have structured the job program a little differently and followed my economic advisers recommendations and made the program over a trillion. I would have repealed the Bush tax cuts starting in 2013. However, having no crystal ball, I would have probably done exactly what the president did.

Government can provide the economic carrot, but if business and the consumer doesn't bite, the economy is going nowhere. Most of our economy expansion is cyclic; that is it's just part of the business cycle. Economic contractions that normally occur in the business cycle due to over expansion and other excesses seem to respond well to government stimulus but not when the contraction is tied to problems in our economic infrastructure.

When our economic problems are rooted in the infrastructure such as educational level of our workforce, the size and structure of national debt, trade agreements, tax structure, and government regulations, the economy is much less likely to bite on the economic carrots offered by government. It takes time for government to correct these problems and even longer for the economy to respond.

The government has about emptied it's bag of carrots and still the economy is weak. The only thing left is to change our economic infrastructure which means cutting government spending, restructuring taxes to encourage economic expansion and raise revenues, review all government regulations, invest in educational programs with a proven track record of success.

 

[Anachronism]

Assuming I had a Congress that would rubber stamp my policies.....

I would have brought ALL US soldiers home from abroad.
I would have closed all US Embasies and brought those people home.
I would have reduced taxes
I would have implemented means and value testing for ALL social programs (MediCare, MedicAid, Social Security, Welfare, etc....)
I would phase out SS, Medicare, Medicaid over 5 years.