Obama: Some Have “Selective Amnesia” on the Economy, Says Recovery Plan is Working

Some of us have selective amnesia? Some people in Washington are experiencing cognitive dissonance. Hate to tell you this, Mr. President, but it’s still really bad out here in the real world. Really bad. I know it’s fun to claim you’ve saved 100 million jobs or so this month (why not, how do you measure a saved job?) but in the real world it’s never been worse. And to claim the Recovery Act is working is laughable. Where’s the proof?
I’m guessing the home crowd might have worked the President into a froth and he got the old campaign mojo going again, but the real world economic numbers are dreadful. Nice try, though.

With ALL factors considered the unemployment rate is 16.4%
enjoy that with your steak tonight Obama

Check out what Nobel winning economist James Buccanan has to say about Obama’s economic policies and actions to date:
“Barack Obama is committing the same mistakes made by policymakers during the Great Depression, according to a new study endorsed by Nobel laureate James Buchanan.”
”
History repeating itself? President Obama has been accused by some economists of making the same mistakes policymakers in the US made in the Great Depression, which followed the Wall Street crash of 1929, pictured Photo: AP
His policies even have the potential to consign the US to a similar fate as Argentina, which suffered a painful and humiliating slide from first to Third World status last century, the paper says.
There are “troubling similarities” between the US President’s actions since taking office and those which in the 1930s sent the US and much of the world spiralling into the worst economic collapse in recorded history..”
From the UK Telegraph today issue.
We currently have in EXCESS of $448k in debt per househould in this country when the total national debt is divided up.
Think about that. Almost a half million dollars of public obligations for every single household in America.

POTUS seems to have selective memory of his own or did he just miss that August 25 report from Romer and Orszag where, among other non-green shoots, they raised the 10 year deficit projection from 7 to 9 trillion.

Obama got elected by saying the same things over and over again – and eventually people believed him. He thinks that it will work with the economy – the only problem is that the numbers are not in his favor.
You can’t change the rules of mathematics, no matter how hard you talk, talk, talk.
He wants everyone to believe that the economy is improving so that he can spend more money and – eventually – raise everyone’s taxes to pay for all this stuff.
George Bush may have been dreadful – but he did not treat the American people as if they were total idiots. He just did what he wanted to do despite public opinion. Obama is always trying to re-define reality — as if he is so smart that he has the power to do that.

That crowd would have believed and cheered for anything Obama said.
They probably weren’t even really listening to the technical stuff about how Obama saved the economy.
It was a pep rally for a struggling president.
Blame Bush and he is a huge hit.
Obama looked desperate.

If the stimulus bill has worked so well why is the release of most funds to be at mid-term election time NEXT year??? Are we being coned??
Maybe the economy is recovering because of the ingenuity of the American People not government!! That what is looks like to me as there is o accounting of what or how money that has been spend has been used it just fell into a black hole!

And how are we going to pay down the $9,000,000,000,000 in debt. Or is that Deficit?
Silly me I forget. I guess I am not as good at numbers than our leader President Obama.
Oh wait he is a lawyer/politician? Oh maby he needs some advise?
Any Marxists willing to help?
I can assure you Mr President you will not be forgotten sir. The first president to appoint a non repentant communist/Marxist anarchist adviser will not be soon forgotten.

Now the plan going forward from the government FOOD POLICE..if you or your child is considered OBESE..you will be fined..you must opt out of medicaid, medicare, etc..you have to pay for your own health care OUT OF POCKET! They are saying that you should eat a mostly vegetarian diet, drink a lot of water and exercise!!! Is this another way another of Obama’s CZARS who wants animals have the right to sue YOU if you harm or kill them? Another of Obama’s CZARS wanting to put sterilizarion in the drinking water to control population…….what the hell will be next..another CZAR telling you that you have too much money and you need to give that up too?????? Or you have to job share your position at work to an underachiever so that he/she can get some of your money….and they say there is no death panel in HR3200..or that illegals and abortions won’t be covered…illegals WILL be covered because Obama will give amnesty to the illegals BEFORE a health care plan is in effect..and abortion is covered under the “WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES” IN HR3200! THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT LOOKING OUT FOR YOU…C’MON, JAKE TAPPER…AND EVERYONE ELSE..RESEARCH THESE PEOPLE BY YOURSELVES AND SEND YOUR INFOR INTO ALL MEDIA!!

And how are we going to pay down the $9,000,000,000,000 in debt. Or is that Deficit? Posted by: David from WI | Sep 7, 2009 4:43:56 PM
____________________________________
Same way Bush planned to pay for his doubling of the national debt during the economic good times.
Lower taxes and laugh at the mess you’ve left for the next guy.

Who on this Earth is capable of viewing a deficit as an “investment?” In what kind of schools are such inanities taught?
I have no amnesia at all, selective or otherwise. I remember clearly when unemployment was under 7% instead of 9.7%, and when the deficit was $456 billion instead of $1.56 trillion. That is, I remember the day Obama took office.
And I also remember when the taxpayers were not made unwilling investors in failed American auto and insurance companies. And I remember when we weren’t losing 40+ men per month in Afghanistan.

“I remember clearly when unemployment was under 7% instead of 9.7%”
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Yeah sure, and you remember when the economy was in complete freefall all the way through the last year of the Bush administration – that would be when Bush said the economy was going through ‘a rough patch’ and everything was okay.

Who on this Earth is capable of viewing a deficit as an “investment?”
Posted by: Fascist Hyena |
I’d start with Rep. Pete Stark who said, “The more debt we owe, the wealthier we are”.

The President is right,I can see light at the end of the tunnel
Posted by: justsaying |
How do you know that’s not a freight train?

The truth is that the ‘stimulus’ is not working. Countries like France and Germany, who refused Obama’s suggestions to ‘stimulate’ with deficit spending, are already out of the recession and their economies are growing. Even Canada is out of the recession and has actually added rather than lost jobs in the last quarter.

We will have one more chance to kick Mr. Obama out of office, something we couldn’t do with Mr. Bush.

A few more years of Republican rule would have put us all in a soup line,while we are fight world war three.

This give new meaning to the word “asinine.” Unemployment, derived from those seeking unemployment, is just under 10% and if those who are unemployed but not getting unemployment payments are considered it is likely upwards of 15%. Unimaginable debt and deficits are being run up. Obama is claiming that the stimulus has worked and less than 10% of it has been spent, and there are numerous goofball programs that are included. The emperor truly has no clothes. He is one of the most incompetent individuals to hold high public office yet must truly believe that what he is doing is working. The troubling part is that the main stream media is joined with him at the hip. If main stream journalism had any respectablilty left, which it does not, they would be reporting an accurate analysis of what the facts are. Instead, they are going around “aroused” at this buffoon and attempting to drive public opinion in between their hot flashes. Thank goodness the general public has started to catch on to this clown.

So what am I missing. If Bush was the worst President in history, why would dems EVER compare the current administration to the last? Why even mention the two in the same context? Do you really want Obamas claim to fame to become, “I compare favorably to the worst President in history”??
When Brad Childress (Minn Vikings Coach) was interviewing to keep his job in the offseason, do you think he ever used, “well we were better than Detroit” (0-16 worst season in NFL history) as his selling point??
Comments like, “Some people have already forgotten how bad it was just seven months ago. You noticed that, They have selective amnesia” help bring our country closer to bipartisanship exactly how?

The reason the advanced industrial countries launched short term government spending – mostly aid to states – and tax reduction programs during the depths of the recession is because history has shown that it helps.
While the jury is still out on Obama’s tax cuts, even the Wall St. Journal’s news pages (though of course not their editorials and opinions) agree that Obama’s spending programs have benefited the economy.
The problem now is thinking that this is enough. Recessions bottom out when inventories are used up, and then jobs begin to be added againas new inventory is needed.
We are at the point where jobs have been pared down to low levels, but the question is do people have enough to start buying again?
The aisles of K-Mart are lined with bags full of school supplies being purchased on layaway.
The population is too poor to afford school supplies without credit!
It is unimaginable what the economy today would look like if the states and localities had to shed jobs in the millions – thats what would have happened without the stimulus.

Just wait until B.O. pushes through cap and trade along with healthcare AND lets the Bush tax cuts expire. Double Dip Recession here we come, he’ll probably blame that on Bush, too. Or he’ll blame it on racism, that’s the latest cowardly tact. When in doubt, just scream racism at the top of your lungs. 3 more years of this clown.

Theo…
Just like a Dem Zero supporter to read half a sentence. The relevant portion of Mike S’s comment was “who refused Obama’s suggestions to ‘stimulate’ with deficit spending”.
Zero is quite good at altering others words to his liking. His ability to conjure straw-men is second to none, as is yours.
Read farther into how Germany and France stimulated their economies. It bears no resemblance to the hand-outs your Messiah gave to his union buddies and other major supporters.
The French and Germans targeted their stimulus with much greater precision, and generally rejected the notion of ballooning their deficits with the same vigor as Obama. Your big fat Zero seems to have his heart set on destroying our economy with his reckless over-spending.
I don’t know if you have children or grand-children, but it must be fun for you to watch as the Dems and Obama work to destroy any possibility for prosperity in their lives. Does it make you proud?

January unemployment rate was 7.6% and Obama said that passing the $787 billion stimulus would prevent it from going above 8%. The unemployment rate now is 9.6% with no “shovel-ready jobs” in sight.
Obama also said that he had no desire for the government to own GM but right now 90% is owned by the government.
Obama also said that “healthcare reform” won’t add to the deficit but no economic expert can vouch for this claim.
Get it folks? You’ve been punked!

“During those 5 years, Bush lowered taxes and overspent and sent the country spiralling into a massive national debt, and then the economy collapsed on his watch.”
- So if I can replace ’5 years, Bush’ with ’7 months, Obama’ does that really not worry you?

It does worry me, yes, but whose fault is that? It’s largely the fault of reckless, financially “liberal” Republican policies.

“So if I can replace ’5 years, Bush’ with ’7 months, Obama’ does that really not worry you?|
_____________________________________
Kyle, get real. Every western industrialized country has gone into deficit spending in order to stave off a complete economic collapse, and put stimulus programs into place.
In America, both Bush and Obama hold responsibility for the TARP and the Recovery funding.
Obama is not to blame for the crumbling of the economy that began in early 2008 and then became a free-fall collapse as the year progressed.

What?? Someone actually said that our deficit as a percentage of GDP isn’t that bad. It’s the worst it’s been since WWII and back then we were building ships, tanks, planes, etc for a war. Our deficit spending is a complete nightmare right now as a percentage of GDP.
Wake up!

And if Clinton had taken care of Al Queda like he was supposed to, we wouldn’t have to “waste” that money by defending this country and going after them.
That’s right Theo, not once, not twice, not thrice, but at LEAST 4 times Clinton had Bin Laden in the cross hairs and he wouldn’t let our forces pull the trigger.
So as you complain about the “waste” that the GOP has had to go through (and yes, much of it was waste), perhaps if you guy wasn’t using a 21 year old’s box as a cigar humidor and taking care of terrorism, that money wouldn’t have to be spent.

Kyle, get real. Every western industrialized country has gone into deficit spending in order to stave off a complete economic collapse, and put stimulus programs into place……Obama is not to blame for the crumbling of the economy that began in early 2008 and then became a free-fall collapse as the year progressed”
- Julie, I never blamed Obama for the economys current plight (though I do blame him for its future plight). Bush sucked and there is no debate, but a man smarter than me once said, “the key to success is never making the same mistake twice”
So my question is, if tax cuts, and overspending where Bush’s downfall, why are they ok as Obamas SOLUTION??

Jim- Respectfully, 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch, as did the financial collapse. Oh, I forgot: not your fault. No ones fault ‘cept them damn libruls.

No jobs = No recovery

Well played PD

“Posted by: Jim | Sep 7, 2009 6:51:20 PM
“I’m sorry, but why exactly did we go into debt? Because, again, of Republican waste. ”
Hmm.. Democrat majority in senate that approved everything… weird..

Theo,
The deficit at the end of January 2009 was $569 billion. The deficit for the year is expected to hit $1.64 trillion. That means Obama will have spent 3 times what Bush spent.
Besides the fact Obama won’t be president in 5 years, how is Obama going to cut the deficit in half within 5 years while spending an additional $500 billion a year on “healthcare reform” and “cap and trade”?
How is Obama going to cut $500 billion from Medicare and not cut services from Medicare?
How is doing away with Medicare Advantage not cutting Medicare services?

This is like me saying that I am out of financial trouble because I took out a huge loan to pay off all my debt. Problem is, I now owe more than I did before. Stupid. Rob Peter to pay Paul. In the end we are no better off.

“Both he and McCain voted for it, but it was put together by the Bush administration.”
______________________________________
Absolutely! They all share responsibility for the TARP funds as far as I can see, but the money was put in place on Bush’s watch.

Blah, blah, blah, and the democrats, liberals, and their ilk have a bad case of ‘selective idealism’ with their political agenda. Political rhetoric is not cute nor convincing.

Democrats run every here and Chicago is the NUMBER STRESSED OUT CITY
Crowding, poor air quality, a high 11% unemployment rate and free-falling home values have created a cocktail of constant worry affecting many in the Windy City.
WOW OBAMA Should be proud of everything he did for IL. LOL.. What morons.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

“Besides the fact Obama won’t be president in 5 years…”
I hope that is so, but that is speculation, not fact.

Yes, he said that and bunch of other lies… the best (actually the worst) of which was that they passed the Unprecedented Recovery Act without all the pork and earmarks. Common, this guy has just no sense of honesty. The truth is that they passed the unprecedented Recovery Act. To say that it was sans pork and earmarks is plain dishonest; and a slap on the intelligence of Americans. The way he sometime laughed to his own jokes, seemed like Emperor Nero.

“we would have recovered regardless whether Obama or Bush spent money they didn’t have.”
____________________________________
Oh okay, I get it now. You’re opposed to any spending having taken place to attempt to stave off the complete economic collapse that was taking place – regardless of who put it in place.
You might be right – a lot of economists, pretty much all of them would disagree I think . ..
Not sure what would have taken place if all those banks, financial institutions and automotive companies were just allowed to collapse.
Way more people unemployed than there are now – that’s for sure.

Again.Everything about the presidency so far has been terrible.From the socialistic behaviour to the stupid Cap and Trade idea which will raise your utilities and cost thousands of jobs evntualy,to propagnda on greenhouse gas myth which is a relatively small percentage,to the medical coverage,all the way down to him offering to have a beer with the cops that he called stupid!!I think half originaly bought into the Time for Change idea but smooth talking speakers will say anything to win public opinion.We must take America back!!Whatever happend to “By the People for the People”?

“Way more people unemployed than there are now – that’s for sure.”
PROVE IT! Obama said unemployment wouldn’t hit 8% unless congress passed the stimulus. It’s now at 9.7% and the stimulus passed.
WHERE’S THE “SHOVEL-READY JOBS”?

“Obama said unemployment wouldn’t hit 8% unless congress passed the stimulus.”
_______________________________________
That is not true. Obama said nothing of the sort.
Still it’s good to know where you stand, that you would have opposed any spending having taken place to attempt to stave off the complete economic collapse that was taking place – regardless of who put it in place.
It’s good to have that clear.

Does obama really think he is fooling anyone? He can’t think seriously that he is fooling anyone.

“I really don’t think most of the people attacking the U.S. stimulus realize that pretty much every other major economy on the planet did the same thing.
Calm down friends, we’re all just trying to fix what was broken…”
___________________________________
Theo most aren’t thinking much at all. They’re just here to smear the President regardless of what he does.
It’s the standard tactics of the fanatical right – smear, fear and name calling. Sad but true.

Julie–
I know. It’s a shame.
The great irony, of course, is that the government’s bailout saved the biggest financial institutions in the country, transferring billions upon billions to salvage massive capitalist endeavors.
The very idea that anyone could believe that Barack Obama is in any way a socialist after witnessing this fact boggles the mind.

“It was 2 Obama advisors that did say it when they were trying to sell the Obama stimulus plan to congress.”
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I’ve read the report from those economic advisors and I know exactly what it says. And it specifically defines the worldwide economic meltdown as almost unprecedented.
And that report goes to great pains to say the figures in it are NOT MEANT TO BE FIRM FIGURES OR PREDICATIONS.
This is still being flaunted around by the right wing.
Go read the report.

“The reason given for the stimulus was to prevent unemployment from reaching 8.8%, which the White House stated was the predicted rate if nothing was done by the government.”
_______________________________________
Strange you’ve got a different figure from the last one trying to make the same point. They had 8%, you’ve got 8.8%. One of your ‘accurate’ statements must be wrong.
I’ve read the report that was published and I know exactly what it says. And it specifically defines the worldwide economic meltdown as almost unprecedented.
And that report goes to great pains to say the figures in it are NOT MEANT TO BE FIRM FIGURES OR PREDICATIONS.
The continued flaunting of these figures over and over by the right wing is just not accurate.
Are we out of this economic mess? Not by a long shot. Nobody said it was going to be easy, nobody said it would be a quick fix . . . everybody knew it would be a long, uphill struggle.

Obama won’t get a free pass from me.
WHERE’S THE SHOVEL-READY JOBS?

does he really think that we’re all in the dark since the Democrats took over in 2006
Posted by: Marcia Wood
all ?….. certainly not
the same people who were in the dark in 2006, remain in the dark in 2009, ‘rightys’ and the republican fringe, now they are out of work and poorer because of republican economic policy and the cost of the Iraq war.

Again.Everything about the presidency so far has been terrible.From the socialistic behaviour to the stupid Cap and Trade idea which will raise your utilities and cost thousands of jobs evntualy,to propagnda on greenhouse gas myth which is a relatively small percentage,to the medical coverage,all the way down to him offering to have a beer with the cops that he called stupid!!I think half originaly bought into the Time for Change idea but smooth talking speakers will say anything to win public opinion.We must take America back!!Whatever happend to “By the People for the People”?
Posted by: redseal33
Please enlighten us with some of your ideas.
What will be taking the country back from? A democratically elected president? What about Democracy? That is something you talk about believing in as long as everything is going the way you think it should?
And then after “you get the country back”, what will you be doing with it?
I am getting tired of the vile and violent verbal assaults being regurgitated over and over.
What is it in your background that makes you so afraid of everything?

Obama won’t get a free pass from me.
WHERE’S THE SHOVEL-READY JOBS?
Posted by: toby hill
***************************************** Ask you state representatives…We have put many people back to work here in Maine using the stimulous funds.
Obama is a leader, but he can’t hold your hand for you. Get off your butt and ask your representative what the hold up is. (unless of course, you are just regurgitating something you heard somebody else say)

Nephron- The question is how many jobs have been saved. There is no way to count this number, but we all know that jobs have been saved. This economy would have been much worse without President Obama acting. Even the Republican economist were for the stimulus.

What evidence is there that jobs have been saved? NONE. Saying that the stimulus has saved jobs doesn’t make it so.This is why I asked truthmatterz for actual numbers of jobs directly attributed to the stimulus in Maine.”We all know that jobs have been saved” -I don’t know that and frankly I haven’t seen any evidence of significant stimulus-related job creation.I have seen small numbers of temporarily funded jobs such as health clinics,but all are associated with tiny numbers of employees and certainly do not justify the tremendous monitary outlay per job.Remember.the stimulus package was nearly 800 billion dollars-you could give 800,000 people a million dollars apiece-without even creating a single job!

“What evidence is there that jobs have been saved? NONE.”
_____________________________________
Oh there is lots of evidence. Much of the initial phase of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act involved shoring up State and local budgets so that as many layoffs as possible could be prevented of police, firefighters and health care workers.
You have to understand, state and local budgets have been very hard hit by this economic collapse – this was a major economic catastrophe. They were being forced into situations where they would have layed off thousands upon thousands of these employees without the Recovery funds.
There are some real brass tacks to this stuff, it’s not just airy fairy nonsense as some right wingers portray.

I’m inclined to believe that the stimulus isn’t responsible for much. After all only about 1/3 of the money has actually been released. I know some state governments, counties and municipalities are going on 4 day work weeks. That means that the people that have managed to keep their jobs are losing about 1 weeks pay per month. How long can they keep up their mortgage payments at that rate? Maybe Obama should give the middle class a tax cut equal to the remaining stimulus money right now so they can continue to pay their bills and maybe even put some back into the economy.

Less last month huh? Could it be? Employers have just about run out of people to lay off without just shutting down completely?
Referencing last Friday’s unemployment numbers showing that the nation lost another 216, 000 jobs in August Obama said that while lost jobs are still “unacceptable” there are some signs of light.
“For the second straight month, we lost fewer jobs than the month before and it was the fewest jobs lost in a year. So make no mistake. We’re moving in the right direction. We’re on the road to recovery. Ohio. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.”

Not saying it did or did not, but how does Obama know that his spending had the effects he attributes to it? Is that the ONLY possibility?

Hint on how to stop getting in a deeper hole: STOP DIGGING!!!!

They have selective amnesia,” the President joked
++++
In July…
The President’s economic advisors predicted that unemployment would rise to 9 percent by 2010 if Congress did not pass the stimulus bill, but that with the stimulus unemployment would stay below 8 percentage points.
Congress passed the stimulus bill in February 2009 and the President has repeated his claims. President Obama recently said that the stimulus bill has already created or saved 150,000 new jobs and that it will “create or save” another 600,000 jobs by the end of the summer. Asked when the public should begin to judge the effects of the stimulus, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said “I think we should begin to judge it now.”
++++
Of course its EASY to CLAIM you saved jobs…There is NO real statistical data to back up or dispute such claims.
Then of course the was the claim from the those in the gov’t that “cash-For-clunkers” created jobs….
+++++
Last week….
The employment report shows that – despite the Cash for Clunkers craze, and the $2 billion Congress added to the program at the end of July – motor vehicles and parts manufactures shed 15,000 jobs in August. That erased half of the jobs gained in July and continued the yearlong downward trend. The Commerce Department separately reported that spending on automobiles increased between June and July when Cash for Clunkers kicked in. However, while spending on cars went up, spending on other goods and services fell. Handing out taxpayer dollars is popular, but that does not make it good – or effective – policy.
+++++
Amnesia seems to be a an operational trait of this administration.
Maybe instead of constantly trashing our healthcare system, Obama and his supporters should take a good long look at this….
+++++Employment in health care continued to rise in August (28,000), with
gains in ambulatory care and in nursing and residential care. Employ-
ment in hospitals was little changed in August; job growth in the
industry slowed in early 2009 and employment has been flat since May.
Health care has added 544,000 jobs since the start of the recession.
+++++

-Anybody remember Cash for Clunkers? Another smash n’ grab welfare program that drove sales up for TWO WEEKS. Now auto sales are the lowest in years.-
Did wonders for Toyota. Too bad they aren’t an American company. Oh, well…

I have seen several people working on construction in my area. In fact, I cant get onto my street because the are fixing it up now! There are two seasons in my area winter and construction season. I was able to put my employees to work off his stimulus plan( i work in social research) and if you kept your job….then the recovery was not for you!
***8Anybody remember Cash for Clunkers? Another smash n’ grab welfare program that drove sales up for TWO WEEKS. Now auto sales are the lowest in years.-
Did wonders for Toyota. Too bad they aren’t an American company. Oh, well…***
Lets not forget Americans work at these dealerships/plants as well! It gave a boost to some car dealers but the shouldnt rely heavily on government. They just need to step up their business motto!

Seems the president has selective amnesia and doesn’t recognize just how bad things still are RIGHT NOW. When did hundreds of thousands of more jobs lost and a steadily increasing unemployment rate suddenly become indicators that things are getting better? Tell the 200,000 people who no longer have jobs this month that things are moving in the right direction and see what kind of reaction you’ll get from them.

sounds like sour grapes from the losing party. you folks need to remember, you lost. your in the minority,let our congress and president lead, thats what the majority wants, we spoke at the ballot box,

RANDY SCOTT: thats what the majority wants, we spoke at the ballot box,
………………………………….
So, nobody else, no minority, has any rights or reason to complain at all? Your minority-race elected official has no right to speak at all? Guess we disagree on other things, too.

Americans and American Corporations worship the God Globalization.
Millions of once American jobs have been outsourced to China, India, Mexico and elsewhere. How will our economy recover without jobs returning.
I guess taking care of the rest of the world’s economy is more important than the American economy.
This continued outsourcing will in time put our economy into free fall and it won’t be long.