Give it Some Time, Obama Says in Defending the Recovery Act

I am one of those people who said doing nothing was the answer to the fiscal crisis, and I think we would have had unemployment at the same level it is now, but at least we would not have run up deficits that make the previous admins. deficits pale in comparison. I think the result of all this spending and printing of money will be stagflation like we saw in the 70′s. The stimulus may have done some good however in torpedoing cap and trade and universal health care, both of which really would have killed our economy.

I imagine “stimulus” projects will magically appear, which much fanfare, in September and October of 2010.

Less than 100 billion has been spent this year. This year’s entire spending was originally supposed to be $107 billion. Go look it up at WaPo.

Jason,
You seem sure both will fail to pass.

After more thought I would like to add another point. In my 55 years of life, and 30 years in business I have never heard one person, or representative of a business, complain about high taxes. Could this be a talking point in the hope of securing votes by the Republican nut-jobs? Do birds fly and pigs roll in the mud. If the Republicans were capable of Governing then high taxes would be a mute point.

“In my 55 years of life, and 30 years in business I have never heard one person, or representative of a business, complain about high taxes.”
Where have you been living? A cave??

democrats rely on people needing them.Thats why they are spending all our money my grandchildren will feel the effect of obama and the dems. plus they just weakened our country and made every american in history look bad with his antics over seas. he is jimmy carter all over agian. be prepaird for cap and tax, then be ready to buy carbon credits for yourself and your family even your dog or cat cause they want to regulate the air you breath next
one thing to remember we are free they can not give us any freedom or rights unless they already took them from us.

President, Obama intends to run the country’s finances just like he ran his household finances. He’s got a book of blank checks. I plan to make a lot of money, I am going to sell Green ink to the Treasury, They already have lots of red ink.

The stimulus is funded with borrowed money. If it doesn’t work, we the tax payers, have to pay it back. Even if it works, guess what, we the tax payers still have to pay it back.

Obama’s “stimulus” is a train-wreck- these jobs figures are far worse than the ones the White House warned us about if we DIDN’T pass the bill- so it was passed, and then unemployment soars anyway? He said it would top-out at 8%, we give him a trillion dollars, and he and Joey Pluggs now tell us they “underestimated” as it pushes 10%?
-oh please
Instead of creating jobs, interest rates were bumped up, the dollar slid… and it didn’t help anybody get any work. Much of this is due to the fact that Obama’s agenda has mortified almost every machine of job-and-growth creation in the country.
The One couldn’t deliver the type of “temporary, targeted, and timely” bill that he promised repeatedly, and regardless of his image in the press, Obama simply lacks the the political stature to control Pelosi and Reid… who hit the trough hard, while bickering like siblings.
And the lack of GOP co-conspirators exposed Obama politically… this legislation now looks to be a HUGE gamble. And when all this pork-n-welfare fails to generate any real economic gains, the Democrats will face a bloodbath in 2010.
One could even make the argument that Obama knows his legacy will be in tatters by 2012… so is just ramming-through as much of his far-left agenda as he can before the day comes when people cringe at the mere mention of his name… sure seems like it.

If the stimulus bill isn’t supposed to work immediately then why is it called a stimulus bill and why was it passed in a hurry without anybody reading it.
Exactly.
Why did poor Sherrod Brown have to be flown in from his mother’s funeral to sign it if it wasn’t something intended to work immediately? Congress surely could have waited to vote on something that was supposed to work 2 years out.
And why did President Obama fly out to Ohio to say the stimulus was already working to save some police recruits’ jobs, and to Caterpillar to say they wouldn’t have to lay people off?
Call me crazy, but I’m beginning to mistrust the now-or-never deadlines this administration likes to set.

To be blunt, both Republicans and Democrats are going to be same, they will direct funds to their friends as payment for favors.
Republicans tend to give most of the monies to rich and trickle some to us in the middle. But the taxes hammer the middle, so we end up getting slammed, anyway. They giveth and taketh away; probably net, net, taketh away. The idea is to dangle sufficient carrots to make the exploitee think they’ll get rich but really it’s same exploitation.
Democrats tend to give most of the monies to social programs. Social programs are run by bureaucrats. I don’t think I would consider bureaucrats super rich; so they’ll likely spend the money allowing it to circulate. They say they want to take the money from rich for their social programs but nah, I don’t buy it, the middle gets squeezed too. Democrats ideal world is to have equality, it doesn’t work because it destroys the motivation of those that work hard to get ahead.
No matter which way you go, the middle gets the short end of the deal. So, which way would you rather error?!
Your choice, that’s what we call Freedom baby!

Give it time ….
I would like too but the the company I have worked for over thirty years anounced yesterday that we were closing the doors. At 59 I am not ready to retire (in part because all of my investments went in the toliet last year). I would like to give it time but time has run out.

meab – You are right but you’ll never get a Dem to admit it. Bush is gone..his policies are gone…this is ALL O’Bama and the dems doing and it is a biggie! And CHOICE – You make absolutely no sense. You are only ranting and raving at the Reps because you are embarassed at what your party has done to this country. Want to help?? Vote these nuts out and QUICK!!!

And did you hear that Wall street no longer needs to report program trading details. Now that more Washington transparency. Change you can count on.

Give it enough time & the recession will end on its own – so why are we spending trillions of dollars on something that would happen anyway?

I agree with Larry. Stop the tax increases and give us our money back.
NOW

obama always says “they complain but they don’t have an alternative plan to the stimulus” which is outright LIE. the alternative was a government living within its means and cutting taxes – yet he continues to be allowed to walk around unchecked(yesterday) with his stupid straw man arguments. there is an alternative to this and many republicans, independents and even some democrats suggested it. he needs to be held reposnsible for this immoral and outrageous choice.

“I realize that when we passed this Recovery Act, there were those who felt that doing nothing was somehow an answer” — Obama
Mr. President, name one. Tell us who these “some” are.
He using standard deceitful Obama rhetoric. It’s part of every speech: Claim that the opposition has no position other than “do nothing,” rather than debating what people actually propose.
Folks, we’re being played by our own president.

PD – you are correct and you aid it better than i did. at least people are on to his game of deceit now. he uses the same standard three or four tricks – the straw man argument, the talk out of both sides of the mouth so people hear what they want to hear as they are hypnotically mesmerized by his smile and good looks, blaming bush for everything that has ever happened on the planet. none of them signs of a leader if you ask me.

Amazing that a rational people could delude into thinking that 1) Obama has any clue as to what he is doing, well other than “getting even” with the evil people who have been “responsible citizens”; 2) Is anything more than a Marxist demagogue; and 3) gives a twit about anything other than his own glorification.
This is a repulsive chapter in American history, and one we will not likely survive in tact. There are still plenty of dillusional leftist liberals who support this disaster, including the mainstream media minions.

Anyone yet see any abatement in the media’s mindless promulgation of Obama distortions. Takes little intelligence or gravitas to see through the charade that is unfolding. Perhaps history will record this as the age of willing dillusion.

Vote Palin-Romney 2012 for their rightwing conservatisim.
In 2012 we must vote for Governor Sarah Palin to become our President and Governor Mitt Romney to become our Vice President starting on January 20, 2013 , because of Governor Sarah Palin’s and Governor Mitt Romney’s superior right wing conservative philosophy. Governor Sarah Palin’s and Governor Mitt Romney’s superior right wing philosophy is shown in that they are pro God and Christianity, pro life, pro marriage; pro guns-second amendment, pro low taxes, pro low government spending; pro small government, pro unintrusive government, pro traditional and Judeo Christian values; pro Bible reading and prayer in our public schools, pro Christians schools and private education , pro private and free enterprise; pro military spending, anti arms agreements with Russia, pro creation; pro nuclear, pro conservative supreme court judges, pro American sovereignty; pro capitalism, anti communist, anti socialist; conservative on immigration, and pro constitution. John Warren

Obama is sounding like a free market proponent. give it time and it will work itself out.
His polciy along with unfunded Federal mandates and new taxes being debated are creating lots of uncertainity among those who make busienss investment decisions and consumers making decisions on their financial house.
what we all know as individuals and businesses, is that we must live within our means. We cannot borrow against the future indefinitly. its the unprecendent debt that caused Bush and the GOP problems and Obama and the Democrats are now compounding it many times over.
Before we get new spending, get the current house in order. Fix the unfunded Social Security and Medicare trillions. The Chinese will not lend to us forever.

Bush was baaaaaaaaaddd but Obama is even worse!!!

A reasonable statement from a reasonable man.
Governments around the world have introduced stimulus plans to do exactly what President Obama described, “provide a boost to stop the free fall.”
These monies are shoring up relief programs for those who are losing their jobs, and shoring up state and local budgets to prevent as many layoffs of police, firefighters, teachers and health care workers as possible.
Infrastructure programs coming on stream during the next year and a half should employ numbers of people.
At the end of the Bush administration financial institutions, banks, automotive companies and many others were in collapse. Hundreds of thousand were losing their jobs as the unemployment rate began steadily climbing beginning in March 2008. This continued on an upward trajectory through the end of the Bush administration and into the Obama presidency.
And this trend was seen on a global level.
President Obama has said from the beginning there are no magic fixes, that the economic crisis would take time to fix, and might get worse before it gets better.
He has said the program wasn’t designed to work in 4 months, but in 2 years and would accelerate toward that.
For the sake of people all around the world, we must hope this economic crisis/major recession begins to heal itself and that the stimulus monies do their job in shoring up and slowing the free fall.
For people around the world it means their lives and their livelihood.

I’m wondering where to submit the alternative proposals ? would that be to the Dem controlled Congress ? I would be willing to stimulate the economy with a check in my pocket instead of a highway crossing for turtles !

On another note … I am a small business owner. Obama’s new taxes and policies are just forcing me to liquidate some things to pay his tax increases. I am not the only one in the same position – doing the same thing. If you want to go after the “rich” you should get your definition of rich straight. All he is doing is turning the upper middle class and small business into collateral
damage.
All of this is forcing people like myself to close things down, liquidate them, and get rid of employees in the process. For the past 30 years businesses in this country have been largely set up as “pass-through” entities where profits are taxes as the income of its owners. Mostly the large companies have a traditional corporate structure. In California, for example, 50% of workers are employed by small businesses.
It therefore doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens if you put taxes on people owning this type of entity. Now our risk of return is even more precarious. In many cases there is a total lack of incentive to even stay in business and take further risks if you are promised only pennies on the dollar if you succeed. Its all downside risk and very little upside risk. Its best to liquidate now, keep the cash on the side until someone votes this clown out. Only then will we ever see relief to this recession.
I guess he thinks that his stimulus is all that is needed! Boy is he delusional!

Jon F …
$288 BILLION of the $784 Recovery and Reinvestment plan is in TAX RELIEF.
That’s ONE THIRD of the Recover Plan is in tax benefits.

Danita: You can repeat yourself all you want, but a good half of that money is being used to pay off debt or to go into savings accounts. This does absolutely nothing for the economy.
Beside, the notion that giving people money to spend would jump start the economy was put into practice twice under George Bush (before the big crash). And we all know that if it didn’t work for Bush.

Jon F . ..
What exact increases in taxes are you talking about? How much is your income, what percentage of tax raise did you recieve and when did it take effect?

the more he seeds the idea of taxing for health benefits, raising taxes on the rich, having to have your home pass some government green mandate before you sell it, the more suspicion he is going to raise on what is really going to happen next. which means no one is going to invest, those with the brains and gumption to start a business are going to not take the risk. it’s not just his policies – it’s his attitude and the message he is sending – unknowingly. again – no sign of a leader – but the sign of someone who has an axe to grind.

I said from the very beginning when Paulson and Bush started this crap that the government needed to appear to be doing something, anything, to look like they were pro-active. It was a better alternative than being viewed as doing nothing. At least then, no matter how bad it gets, the governemnt can always say, “think of how bad it could have gotten”.

I love it, the media is in a frenzy because Obama’s policies simply aren’t working. Polls show the democratic controlled congress is at a 30% approval rating and falling fast, and now the newest poll numbers show republicans trumping democrats in 8 out of 10 pivotal issues including the economy. Story after story the liberal Obama loving media puts out stories like; “Where’s the republican leadership?” or “Will Palin resigning hurt the republicans?” The simple truth is, the democrats wanted it all and they got it, along with the public’s anger that things are getting worse. All the republicans have to do is sit back and watch the bloodbath while the media stamps its feet because its precious democrats wagon wheels are falling off. The media is so use to blaming the republicans that now they just don’t know what to do. Lets bring up Bushes wiretapping, lets bring up Palin, lets do something before the public catches on that the country is spiraling down the toilet. Too late, polling shows the public already knows and they’re blaming the democrats! Ha, ha, hahaha…..

Danita: It is clear by now that they banks are so badly in trouble that if some people payed down their card debt, it wouldn’t change their lending habits. The banks have been given cash and they still won’t change. People are waiting for the other shoe to drop and therefore are not spending at all – so we’d better get used to it. Its probably a good thing too in the long run.
My income (within the limits of what is your business to ask) is “over $250K”. In 2010, my marginal rate will go up by about 5% – and it is likely that the states will also raise taxes as well. And I pay tax in more than one state. What you need to understand is that when you have business income it isn’t a simple profit of loss taxation. I get taxed quite often on money earned by a company and then reinvested back into the company (improvements, etc.). It does not always follow that it all gets deducted if you reinvest it. So on top of everything else, I pay tax on far more money than I ever receive in my grubby little hands. Most people do not understand that this can and does happen often. So and extra 5% tax increase can effectively be an 8% increase or even more.
On top of that, I suspect that Obama will keep levying taxes on the “over $250K” crowd – and it will creep to even the “over $100K crowd”. In 10 years we will have less of a middle class than China. Obama has to keep raising taxes to support his agenda initiatives. He doesn’t talk about it when he introduces them – but someone will eventually have to pay for them – and it isn’t going to be Santa.
With profitability being down, there is far less margin these days – and it is fast becoming not worth the cost of doing business anymore.
Whether Obama saved jobs in the long run by buying GM is unclear. Many analysts give GM a very bleak future. Sometimes its best to let the course of things run out rather than artificially control it. Buying GM could very well cost “America” far more than it ever saves. Why prolong the inevitable? The only sure thing that buying GM did was to preserve the labor union’s interests – not the people who had invested in it with their retirement funds, etc.
The interesting thing between you and I is that we are both looking for the same kind of things for this country. We both want things to thrive and for this recession to stop people’s pain.
The main difference between the two of us is that I do not think Barack Obama is up to the job of fixing America, whereas you do. I may have voted for him, but have been nothing but disappointed by his dilettante behavior jumping into everything and finishing nothing. By trying to do everything at once he is going nowhere – a clear sign of inexperience. I am also shocked by his concept of what this country can afford to spend. While I am older and will probably not live long enough to see the country go belly up from our enormous deficit spending in 25 years – I do care. So it won’t affect me, but I care. There are lots of people who it will seriously affect and they are not told how this excessive deficit spending could impact them.

I don’t understand the harsh criticism. This wasn’t designed to happen overnight. Take comfort that isn’t happening fast, the faster it goes the faster it breaks.

Jon F – well said – i am much like you and have many similar experiences – i also don’t believe this president has any idea about economics – but i’m concerned he may be much more sinister – and using taxation and legislation for punitive reasons against a group of people he doesn’t see eye to eye with. i just don’t trust him at all.

“Some people didn’t pay attention. Most of the stimulus spending wouldn’t take place till 4th quarter 2009. We won’t know if the stimulus works till this time next year. This was reported when the stimulus was passed. Why all of a sudden is this a surprise?”
Yes, we were paying attention and those things were not a surprise. What you’re leaving out is that the stimulus was also sold on the basis of “we need this NOW” so that it could begin to have an effect immediately. Hence the rush to get the thing passed before it could be properly examined.
So it’s perfectly valid to point out that things are worse with the stimulus than they were projected to be without it. When you consider the *entire* basis on which the stimulus was sold, including the purported immediate effect, and you observe the actual immediate effect (things worse than ever), it’s reasonable to point out that the remainder of the stimulus is a boondoggle as well.
However, I’ll give you this: There are at least a couple of bright spots: We have pretty “This project funded by the Recovery Act” signs along the highway, and an increase in the number of government hirings. At least those are bright spots if appearances are more important than substance, and hiring in the public sector rather than the private sector are good things.

“Whether Obama saved jobs in the long run by buying GM is unclear. Many analysts give GM a very bleak future.”
I think the main point was to prop up as many jobs as possible IMMEDIATELY so that the economy didn’t completely crash. There were a lot of jobs that would have been lost and the cumulative effect could have been catastrophic.
It was an effort to solidify things for the short term, and hopefully give GM a chance to redesign and flourish long term.

“Give it Some Time, Obama Says in Defending the Recovery Act”
I fail to understand why someone should be given time to drive the bus over the cliff.

Danita…but LIBS don’t believe tax cuts work. They ripped Bush on this throughout the campaign even though government receipts from personal income taxes grew like crazy after the Bush tax cuts. (Yes, spending was the issue, but that doesn’t negate the reality of tax cuts increasing revenue). Check the IRS data if you don’t believe me.

i rented a chrysler last week that had 13,000 miles on it – and the door – on the inside – was made out of plastic that was painted. the paint was so bad – it was already completely scratched – and you could pick it off with your fingernail without even trying. it was made a like cheap toy you;d buy from japan post world war II. the cars are horrible – the craftsmanship is horrible – and companies that build bad products need to evolve, or go out of business. not be propped up with our money. that is not a way to stimulate anything – except laziness, shoddiness, and entitlements.

And another great thing about GM vehicle profitability and having the government involved with policy making: The vehicles that lose money are the small widowmakers — that is, the vehicles that the government wants you to buy. The vehicles that make money are the trucks and SUVs — that is, the vehicles that the government wants you not to buy.
So if the government has its way in influencing our buying decisions, what kind of financial outlook do you forecast for GM?
Yes, I know that Obama says “the last thing” he wants is to be running the car companies. But let’s just look at the evidence of his actions so far and draw the obvious conclusion: More profoundly deceitful rhetoric. Watch his actions, not his lips.

Large trucks and SUV’s are finished – even in the market place. There are car lots FULL of unpurchased SUV’s and there have been for several years – the market disappeared once people caught on that SUV’s didn’t really represent “freedom to go anywhere” – they just represented high gas bills while you were stalled in commuter traffic.

There’s no need to defend it. He made the right choice although he should spend 3 times as much. The republican clowns are quick to criticize this president even though they are responsible for the mess. If the republican clowns really believe that federal dollars don’t create jobs they should be the first to step up and refuse their paychecks. 18 more republican senate seats on the ballot. Sad we have to wait until Nov 2010 to send them packing.

I think people got tricked into thinking this would be a short process by the media saying that experts are seeing ‘greenshoots’, and Obama going from off his message of the economy being in dire straits. It took nearly 2 years for the economy to implode. It will take nearly that long for us to get out of this mess.

“It took nearly 2 years for the economy to implode.”
I see that you’ve identified the two years following the Democrats taking control of Congress. Would that others would make this connection, too.

You know we have a clown in the White House and the suckers are just believing everything he says.He is good speaking lies no doubt perhaps better than Clinton but nevertheless lies and more lies.

i know if my taxes were cut – instead of being threatened to be raised – i would spend more money. and i wouldn’t spend it by investing in failed automotive companies – or making signs about how i’m spending it. and best of all – i wouldn’t wait 2 years before i started spending the extra income – and putting it back into the economy. that was the alternative plan that others put forward that obama now claims were never proposed.

larry . . .
You and your children are going to have to figure that out for yourselves. And the next generation, and the next.
Do you have any idea how much food North America throws out and wastes every day? Worse than pigs. Pigs wouldn’t waste it. Unconscious and grotesque.
What? You think there’s no room for some drastic improvement in our consumption and waste habits?

i don’t think calling ourselves “pigs” is helpful ( and by the way – also name-calling) do you have any idea how much food the US gives away – and how much we supply the rest of the world? do you think the government should mandate how much you should have of anything? i don’t. we don’t work for the government – they work for us. and we are not “pigs.”

I was brought up ‘waste not – want not”. A good, old-fashioned value, and how many of us live by that anymore?
p.s. – I do not mean to insult pigs by describing the huge, grotesque daily waste of food that takes place in North America

“Give it time” How would you like it if the doctor diagnosed you with cancer and then when asked about the treatment he said “give it time”.
The economy and the country has cancer and Obama is accelerating the growth.
I’m afraid giving it time while he borrows more money and spends it on social programs is a death sentence.

“Waste not – want not” was a major code of my parents’ generation, just a few short years ago – it stood the test of time through generations.
Hard to see a society that says ‘we love to waste and its our right’ is going to last for much longer.

then you should contact your president and ask him to stop flying around the country to go on a date – and your house speaker to stop flying in a big plane to go home to california – and al gore to get rid of his private plane. my point is only i don’t want the government to tell me how i should live my life. and i don’t think we all be so readily tricked into falling into the self-loathing that the liberals use to trick society into taking more from them – and controlling them.

“Lets take a bridge project for example. In order to build a bridge you need steel. Looks like the steel mills will be busy. Now contractors will be needed to assemble the bridge. Is the picture getting bigger? How about some road signs? Somebody has to make them. Going to be lots of hungry construction workers. Restaurants are going to need food. I know this is hard for some of you to understand. These things represent real economics.”
There is more to the picture. All of those things need to be paid for. And they’re paid for using our money. That’s money you and I don’t have to spend, going to those same restaurants, for example. That’s money that business owners don’t have to pay workers and create jobs.
Your scenario creates jobs out of thin air but forgets the part about how to pay for them, and the consequences of paying for them. Your scenario also does not include the extra cost of government bureaucracy to administer Recovery Act programs, which looks to me like money down the drain. I’m not seeing the net positive.

“All of those things need to be paid for. And they’re paid for using our money”
Yes, that’s the way it works. If we all kept our money no bridges would get built, the commuter highways would fall into disrepair, the energy grid would remain old, obsolete and wasteful, police and fireman would not be available and so on . ..
That’s the way it works.

Time to vote in fiscally conservatives in 2010. The liberal spending of OUR tax dollars by the libs needs to stop!!!!

“That’s the way it works.”
What I am objecting to is the notion that tax dollars spent on “stimulus” magically results in a net gain of jobs. It might be that tax dollars poured into public works are being usefully employed. But it remains true that those are dollars not available to the taxpayers to pour into the economy on their terms.
Tell me how the stimulus is a job-creating program. I know about Obama traveling to Columbus to tout the “saving” of 25 (wow!) police officer jobs. But that’s very small potatoes. If he’s reduced to flakking such “gains” as evidence of the triumph of stimulus spending, it’s entirely unconvincing. And the stimulus money for the program runs out after a year or two, so the jobs end at that point, anyway.

” It might be that tax dollars poured into public works are being usefully employed”
That is generally the idea. The Recovery and Reinvestment plan has $288 BILLION in tax relief – that is money going into your hands.
It also began with programs to shore up programs to help people currently losing their jobs by the tens of thousands, and programs to shore up state and local budgets to prevent as many job layoffs as possible of police, firefighters, teachers and health care workers. Local and state budgets were massacred by the economic crash.
The next phases include large amounts of public works projects which are detailed on the White House web site.
And some of the money is targeted at creating jobs in, and stoking, the new energy industries and the much-needed upgraded national energy grid.
That’s my basic understanding of how it works.

As the previous poster points out, I wouldn’t trust any republican politicians if they asked me to loan them a dime!
Under a Republican White House and pretty much a majority republican congress from 2001 to 2007, the so-called “conservatives” increased the National Debt from $5.7 TRILLION (what Clinton left) to $8.7 TRILLION in 2007. By the time Bush/Cheney left office in 2009, the National Debt was over $10 TRILLION.
For Everyone’s information… the American taxpayer paid $451 Billion in Interest payments on the nation’s national debt in fiscal year 2008 alone. To give you some perspective on that, the Department of Defense budget each year (the largest portion of our nation’s budget) is ~$500 Billion. We could have built a second Department of Defense just on the FY08 interest payment on the national debt.
“Pop”…. vote republican?? (LOL)… For what? They claim to be “conservative” and for “smaller government”, but their record between 2001 and 2009 proved that they are anything but “conservative”.
I would reccomend that anyone who wants to know how much the Republicans wracked up the national debt during the past 8 years of Bush/Cheney, go look at the U.S. “Treasury Direct” web page.

It’s funny…. the current recession we’re in officially started in December 2007 (while G.W. Bush was in office), as per the National Bureau of Economic Research.
… and in September 08…. the republican candidate for President was saying what? “The fundamentals of the economy are strong” (LOL).
… now, some “ningkamputs” are ignorant enough to believe that this recession that began in December 2007, and was still going on a year later in 2008 when the Republican presidential candidate made his famous “fundamentals of the economy are strong” speech (LOL)… they now also believe that President Obama should be able to turn this economic mess that Bush left him with “on a dime.”
Well, that’s proof enough for me that Republicans…. They are “clueless” and ignorant about what it takes to turn an economic mess around…. I suggest that you all go take some economics courses at your local community college (LOL).

6 of the 11 states that are “in the red” have Republican governors: (California, Arizona, Nevada, Alaska, Vermont, and Connecticut)… 6 of 11… that’s over 50% with Republican governors…. :-).

X-Republican Because of Bush ======California has the largest budget deficit and is repub.Number 2 is Illinois and is democratic,followed by New Jersey and Massachusetts which are also both democratic. Florida is number 5 and is repub. Number 6 is Pennsylvania and is democratic. Number 7 is georgia and is repub. Number 8 is North Carolina and is democratic. Connecticut is number 9 and is repub. New York is number 10 and is democratic. So 6 out of the top 10 with the largest budget deficits are democratic with them also having 3 out of the top 4. Alaska isn’t even in the top 10.Data provided by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Wall Street Journal.

danita +++We’re still trying to struggle our way out of that economic disaster – which the Republicans had 6 full years to prepare for, anticipate or prevent – and we may be struggling for a while yet. ++++I dont recall Pelosi, Reid or Franks let alone Obama, granted he was wet nosed newbie, that stood up and said anything about what the future held for our economy.

Boxcar . ..
The Republicans had control of the White House and Congress for basically 6 full years to prepare for, anticipate or prevent any upcoming economic crisis.
That they didn’t see it coming or prepare for it cannot be blamed on anyone else.

danita said “. If we all kept our money no bridges would get built, the commuter highways would fall into disrepair” That is incorrect. The Dulles Greenway is a privately built & operated highway. So it can be done without tax money.

Oh please spare me. Franks, Reid and along with Pelosi were sitting in the drivers seat of the banking/finanical bus for two years. Not once did they even tap the brakes. They just drove the bus right over the cliff. In the end everyone up there on both sides are responsible for this mess and if you think otherwise you are just delusional.
I’m out of here.

Boxcar . ..
I stick by what I said . .
The Republicans had control of the White House and Congress for basically 6 full years to prepare for, anticipate or prevent any upcoming economic crisis.
That they didn’t see it coming or prepare for it cannot be blamed on anyone else.
Seriously, that the Republicans didn’t see the economic crisis coming, nor prepare for it can’t be blamed on anyone else.

Face it Boxcar…. the republican party no longer holds the White House or the Congress, because people like me (who use to fall for their b-s line, “the party of smaller government”) that voted for them.
Until I found out that that whole line that they throw out there about being “fically CONSERVATIVE”…. it isn’t really true when they put the nation $5 TRILLION in debt in a matter of 8 years.
It’s funny though…. some people like you… they still fall for that “line”.
I’d rather have the Democrats who at least tell me upfront, “well we may have to raise taxes if we’re going to put the country in a war that has two fronts (Iraq and Afghanistan)…. then, the Republicans who “claim” they are fiscally conservative when they really aren’t.
You don’t pay your bills at home by building debt, neither should the republicans have done the same to our government.

X-Republican because of Bush. Whatever. Nobody believes it.

X-Republican, Obama claimed he was going to use a surgical knoife and begin cutting the debt. There is no way you went from fiscally conservative, to backing a guy who is going to run a record deficit this year. Also, did you take a poll of economists on what caused this recession? First cause I found when I looked it up was that the Fed kept interest rates too low for too long causing the housing bubble to occur in 2004 through 2006. When the bubble burst, people with interest-only loans and people “flipping” houses were caught in the middle. The foreclosures then began to mount.

Obama just does not get it. ABC just does not get it. Pelosi does not get it.
Obama is taking this country down. We are going into the gutter. This man has no conception on how a government works or runs nor does he have any concept on proper etiquette of a President.
I have to laugh when I see the fools he has surrounded him self with. Nancy Pelosi, she is so far from the average person and so self-righteous she has no clue on real life. Look at her failed state of California wich she helped to get into the debt it is in with all the rest of the extreme leftist california tree hugging liberals.
Moving on Mr. Dodd from Ct. Hey it must be nice that you had a special rate on your mortgage for your family Mr. Dodd, are you special and above the rest of us.
What about Mr. Barney Franks from Taxachusetts. This man is a disgrace, his boyfriend was on the board of Freddie Mac he had special interest that the mortgages would go out to anyone regardless if they qualifed for a mortgage or not.
These elitist are taking us down a path of no return. They believe they know what is best for us because they went to Yale or Harvard yet many have barely worked a real day of their lives. I am sick and tired of people worshipping these pompous as#es. They are no good for the people nor this country.
Like the rest of us hard working Americans when are income goes down we have to cut back our spending. Well Obama and the left need to do the same they have lost 34% of their income tax base which represents 70% of the governments money. They to need to stop the spending and start cutting their own budgets. They need to do what many Americans have and have their pay cut like the rest of us. They also need to stop shoving a national medical plan down our throats which will cost trillions from who they call the “rich” people. Well guess what the “rich” is every taxpaying person in this country. They won’t tell you that, they have put up the words of the rich vs. the poor as a scare mongering tactic. Open up your eyes these people are no good. I do not care if they are Democrat or Republican if they voted for the Stimulus, Cap n Tax, health Care, we need to vote them out of office.
We need to take our country back. We do not need some big Fat Fed telling us how to spend our money and how to live our every aspect of our lives. What the heck do they know many of them have never worked a real job in their lives, come on community organizer gimme a break. We need experienced people in DC, we need honest hard-working people in DC. Take back this country!

Da Nita,
Wow,
Do yourself a favor and do some research from some reliable sources before you post. How long ago did the housing bubble start. Who had control of what branch of government? What special interest group pushed for mortgages without proof of income….hmmmm ACORN……who did acorn support for office? Which head of the Fed also pushed for Easy Mortgages? What role did Barney the clown Franks play in all of this, what was he chair of? What about Mr. Dodd from Ct. do you know his role? Open your eyes Da Nita your lies won’t get pass many on this board

Da Nita,
Under Mr. Bush it went over half billion one time in 8yrs. Mr. Obama has us on paper for up to 5 Trillion of spending lined up!!!! That is the most in history. If You look at Mr. Bush his numbers were actually very much the norm historically. Get your facts right!

The Republicans basically controlled the Presidency and Congress for 6 straight years. That the Republicans didn’t see the economic crisis coming, nor prepare for it, can’t be blamed on anyone else – and it can’t be denied.
Did anyone else see it coming, who knows but they had not been in the position of power the Republicans held.
It’s is very tough when things happen on your watch, but in this case they did.
It was the same with 9/11 – 9/11 happened on the Bush administration watch. Is it the Bush administration’s fault? Their primary duty was to keep America safe – after 9 months in office they failed. Historians will perhaps have more to say on this.
Can everything be blamed on the Republicans? Probably not. Were they in positions of power when these events were gathering and perhaps could have been prevented – yes they were.

“You try to take a tragic event 911 and make it out to be the Republicans fault.”
Of course 9/11 was a tragic event, we all know that and no need to restate it to attempt to own it for a sympathetic effect.
I did very clearly state this event happened 9 months into the Bush administration, and if a primary duty of the administration was to protect America, this was a failure.
President Bush claimed he would find Bin Laden and ‘smoke him out’ – again, this MUST be considered a failure since Bin Laden has not been found. The all-out effort in Afghanistan was backed off in favor of an attack on Iraq – and we know Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.
I’m not saying any of these things are easy – but the tasks a President faces are not expected to be easy.
Could someone else, or a different administration have done any better? We will never know – it is the Bush administration that was in place when these things happened on THEIR watch.

“Give it some time”…….Well Mister President, the “I want it now generation” that had to have everything now and is partially to blame for some of this economic malaise, now doesn’t have the patience to wait for the recovery either.

Obama’s “solutions” for solving the economic crisis always involve the federal government. Want an example of how the federal government works? In 1966 LBJ and the Dems introduced Medicare with a budget of around $3 billion. They projected it to grow to around $12 billion by 1990. In 1990 the Medicare budget was about $109 billion. Now, 20 years later the Medicare budget is over $400 billion. That is like so many poorly run, poorly administered, corrupt federal programs. HUD, Veterans Admin, Indian Affairs, Education Dept. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, SEC the list of US government disasters is endless. The bloated, corrupt Federal bureaucracy is like a giant mirror image of corrupt, bloated state governments like NY, California and Illinois where the public sector has gone rabidly insane and greedy.

Sate and local governemnts are in trouble because of the current recession we’re in as a direct result of the Bush administration horrendous mismanagement,corruption, and unjust war. State governments rely on a good economy and government funding.The states hardest hit are those that rely heavily on manufacturing jobs to sustain their local and state economy. If the national economy was good, say like during the Clinton years, a state in trouble would be a direct result of mismanaged state funds. Both parties may have been privy to the meltdown, but there is no doubt where it began and where it will end. And now we wait for the turn around, that with time, will come again.

You’ve never seen anyone as fiscally irresponsible? Are you kidding? Ummm, the previous eight years ring a bell? So quick to jump on the bashing ban wagon. How about giving the changes a chance to actually work.Do you really think the economy and the mess we are in can be turned around in less than a year? How long did it take Clinton to fix the mess he inherrited?

“Even as we make progress on these challenges abroad, my thoughts are on the state of our economy at home.” This is a statement you NEVER would have heard from Bush.

It would show a little regard for all the American population, if the first family would show a little more compassion for everyone who can not afford extras.
Here is the family with granny and auntie in tow travelling around the world, visiting poor Africa, where you could see those unsmiling, malnourished children. How many families would Ghana’s government have been able to feed if they had used the money for the motorcade! This whole trip to Africa showed me absolutely nothing, no feeling, just a big ” Look at us! Here we come!

The country is hemmoraging 500,000 jobs a month. We are in “The Great Recession”. Companies are scared to death of hiring anyone because of the threat of ‘cap and trade’ (thanks Obama) and that they will be taxed and forced to pay for all employees health care (again thanks a lot Obama). Having been a consultant for 10 years I know this is supposed to be the ‘busy time’ when companies hire (before letting everyone go at Christmas laying them off). Well guess what they arent hiring and there will still be a huge Christmas layoff. When no one is buying stuff (real estate, cars, retail products in general) in January February 2010…what do you think will happen to the stock market? Unemployed people will max out the credit card to give junior & sis a decent christmas. Then what? When April 2010 comes and we are at 15% unemployment what do you think Uncle Sam will do to recoup his missing income tax revenue. All I can say is save every dime you have and be very thrifty we are in for a heck of a downturn, massive tax increases and inflation by then.