Hey, he made some speeches. What more do you want?
15 thoughts on “Obama’s Economy Pivot”
I think the US managed the economic crisis fairly well. GDP has rebounded a lot better than it did in Europe and elsewhere. Major engines for new economic growth are popping up like shale gas exploration. The main problems IMO are that the fundamental problems with the financial system are still there and there are no prospects for the unemployment situation getting better.
Oh yeah I forgot to say that I think there will be a stock collapse in the next 5 years. The stock market seems awfully leveraged to me. But I am no expert.
I think the administration has managed the economic crisis horribly. Approve a huge spending stimulus for shovel ready jobs and give the money to political cronies, and acknowledge later there were no shovel ready jobs. Cash for Clunkers. The Too Big to Fail philosophy. Changing bankruptcy laws to favor cronies. Quantitative Easing multiple times. Failure to approve the Keystone Pipeline. Channeling billions into failing solar investments. Not to mention the Affordable Care Act, which will wreak havoc on our economy until economic gravity brings everything crashing down.
Any economic growth in the US has come despite horrible policy decisions.
give the money to political cronies
Only in your imagination. Look at it this way: ubiquitous cellphone cameras + the passage of years + no pictures => there is no Bigfoot. Darrel Issa’s subpoena power + the passage of years + no charges => there were no stimulus handouts to political cronies.
there were no shovel ready jobs
And yet I regularly drive on highways and bridges that were built or improved thanks to the Recovery Act. Was the work done by volunteers?
Cash for Clunkers
Poor bang for the buck, I agree, but a tiny item in the context of the stimulus, much less the economy.
The Too Big to Fail philosophy
You can’t pin that on this administration.
Changing bankruptcy laws to favor cronies
Or that.
Quantitative Easing multiple times
Thank goodness! We need more of it.
Failure to approve the Keystone Pipeline
Who cares? A tiny item in the scope of things, greatly exaggerated for political purposes.
Channeling billions into failing solar investments
Millions went into solar investments that later failed, billions into ones that didn’t fail. We need more investment in clean energy, and worthwhile investments involve risk. It’s folly to expect every investment to pan out.
Only in your imagination. Issa thinks he is at risk politically to pursue this vigorously. He is probably right, the GOP is just as guilty of this over the years, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true right now.
there were no shovel ready jobs. I was just quoting Obama on that one, your denial notwithstanding.
Poor bang for the buck, I agree, but a tiny item in the context of the stimulus, much less the economy. Sometimes it is the principal of the thing. Penny foolish equals pound foolish here.
The Too Big to Fail philosophy. You can’t pin that on this administration. Sure I can. I don’t deny that the prior administration was wrong here as well, but this administration promised change. They didn’t change as promised, so they get the blame.
Changing bankruptcy laws to favor cronies I don’t think you will find any of the thousands of GM bondholders who agree with your opinion on this. The administration subverted the process of law to benefit the unions.
Quantitative Easing multiple times. Thank goodness! We need more of it. And just what did QE 1-5 get us? If they are going to print that kind of money we should have gotten better results.
Failure to approve the Keystone Pipeline Who cares? A tiny item in the scope of things, greatly exaggerated for political purposes. And you never defend the current administration’s decision for political purposes? Hypocrite. I would much rather that the US buy that resource from Canada than from any country in the Middle East
We need more investment in clean energy, and worthwhile investments involve risk. It’s folly to expect every investment to pan out. Allow me to invest my own money where I think it is worthwhile. Don’t take my money at gun point and invest it for me.
There is a simple response to GIGO Jim’s denseness:
give the money to political cronies
Only in your imagination. Look at it this way: ubiquitous cellphone cameras + the passage of years + no pictures => there is no Bigfoot. Darrel Issa’s subpoena power + the passage of years + no charges => there were no stimulus handouts to political cronies.
Detroit
there were no shovel ready jobs
And yet I regularly drive on highways and bridges that were built or improved thanks to the Recovery Act. Was the work done by volunteers?
Detroit
Cash for Clunkers
Poor bang for the buck, I agree, but a tiny item in the context of the stimulus, much less the economy.
Detroit
The Too Big to Fail philosophy
You can’t pin that on this administration.
Detroit (yes you can pin it on this admin because they did nothing to break them up, silly man)
Changing bankruptcy laws to favor cronies
Or that.
Detroit (again resent admin changed noting and in fact encouraged more)
Quantitative Easing multiple times
Thank goodness! We need more of it.
Mega-Detroit
Failure to approve the Keystone Pipeline
Who cares? A tiny item in the scope of things, greatly exaggerated for political purposes.
Detroit (who cares indeed…sheesh)
Channeling billions into failing solar investments
Millions went into solar investments that later failed, billions into ones that didn’t fail. We need more investment in clean energy, and worthwhile investments involve risk. It’s folly to expect every investment to pan out.
Detroit and it was billions not millions. (Oct 22, 2012 – The House Oversight Committee now warns the total loss on Solyndra now could be as high as $849 million. )
All right, I should have specified Keystone XL. Those phases are still pending approval. From your own link it should be clear that the entire project has not been approved.
The President mentioned the project this weekend noting that his approval likely would be predicated on the project’s contribution to carbon in the atmosphere:
The only piece which still needs approval is Keystone Phase IV which is basically a redundant link to improve pumping capacity from Canada. That was the most controversial segment with the most public opposition. It still should be possible to pump from Canada to the Gulf using I, II, and III from what I understand of the project.
As for Quantitative Easing that is a policy of the Federal Reserve which as you should know is not directly controlled by the President. In fact Bernanke was appointed by Bush.
So you are contending that no administration can influence the Federal Reserve?
A policy which the Fed pursues only because it is fully supported by the White House and enough of Congress.
Using Obama’s own words against him is not allowed. There were plenty of shovel ready jobs but Republicans were hiding them from Obama under a pile of racism and hatred for women. No wonder he didn’t find them…
Agree with the jiminator. Imagine what this ultra-tepid “recovery” would have been like if U.S. industry and business hadn’t been buried under thousands of pages of new rules and regulations, strangled by new taxes, and tagreted and attacked by the Justice Dept. for being… what, profitable?
Jim–
Unlike many others on this board, I always welcome your responses as being from an informed and articulate Obama supporter quite capable of standing his ground and arguing his position. As such, I have a question for you: Do you think the implementation of Obamacare, and the accompanying boatloads of new regulations and taxes on business, have helped or hurt the recovery? How about the tax hikes on upper-income earners (and businesses)? Also, reference to the “billions” that went into solar investments that “didn’t fail,” can you name one of these that received federal “investments” that is “successful” in the sense of making of a profit?
I think the US managed the economic crisis fairly well. GDP has rebounded a lot better than it did in Europe and elsewhere. Major engines for new economic growth are popping up like shale gas exploration. The main problems IMO are that the fundamental problems with the financial system are still there and there are no prospects for the unemployment situation getting better.
Oh yeah I forgot to say that I think there will be a stock collapse in the next 5 years. The stock market seems awfully leveraged to me. But I am no expert.
I think the administration has managed the economic crisis horribly. Approve a huge spending stimulus for shovel ready jobs and give the money to political cronies, and acknowledge later there were no shovel ready jobs. Cash for Clunkers. The Too Big to Fail philosophy. Changing bankruptcy laws to favor cronies. Quantitative Easing multiple times. Failure to approve the Keystone Pipeline. Channeling billions into failing solar investments. Not to mention the Affordable Care Act, which will wreak havoc on our economy until economic gravity brings everything crashing down.
Any economic growth in the US has come despite horrible policy decisions.
give the money to political cronies
Only in your imagination. Look at it this way: ubiquitous cellphone cameras + the passage of years + no pictures => there is no Bigfoot. Darrel Issa’s subpoena power + the passage of years + no charges => there were no stimulus handouts to political cronies.
there were no shovel ready jobs
And yet I regularly drive on highways and bridges that were built or improved thanks to the Recovery Act. Was the work done by volunteers?
Cash for Clunkers
Poor bang for the buck, I agree, but a tiny item in the context of the stimulus, much less the economy.
The Too Big to Fail philosophy
You can’t pin that on this administration.
Changing bankruptcy laws to favor cronies
Or that.
Quantitative Easing multiple times
Thank goodness! We need more of it.
Failure to approve the Keystone Pipeline
Who cares? A tiny item in the scope of things, greatly exaggerated for political purposes.
Channeling billions into failing solar investments
Millions went into solar investments that later failed, billions into ones that didn’t fail. We need more investment in clean energy, and worthwhile investments involve risk. It’s folly to expect every investment to pan out.
Only in your imagination. Issa thinks he is at risk politically to pursue this vigorously. He is probably right, the GOP is just as guilty of this over the years, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true right now.
there were no shovel ready jobs. I was just quoting Obama on that one, your denial notwithstanding.
Poor bang for the buck, I agree, but a tiny item in the context of the stimulus, much less the economy. Sometimes it is the principal of the thing. Penny foolish equals pound foolish here.
The Too Big to Fail philosophy. You can’t pin that on this administration. Sure I can. I don’t deny that the prior administration was wrong here as well, but this administration promised change. They didn’t change as promised, so they get the blame.
Changing bankruptcy laws to favor cronies I don’t think you will find any of the thousands of GM bondholders who agree with your opinion on this. The administration subverted the process of law to benefit the unions.
Quantitative Easing multiple times. Thank goodness! We need more of it. And just what did QE 1-5 get us? If they are going to print that kind of money we should have gotten better results.
Failure to approve the Keystone Pipeline Who cares? A tiny item in the scope of things, greatly exaggerated for political purposes. And you never defend the current administration’s decision for political purposes? Hypocrite. I would much rather that the US buy that resource from Canada than from any country in the Middle East
We need more investment in clean energy, and worthwhile investments involve risk. It’s folly to expect every investment to pan out. Allow me to invest my own money where I think it is worthwhile. Don’t take my money at gun point and invest it for me.
There is a simple response to GIGO Jim’s denseness:
give the money to political cronies
Only in your imagination. Look at it this way: ubiquitous cellphone cameras + the passage of years + no pictures => there is no Bigfoot. Darrel Issa’s subpoena power + the passage of years + no charges => there were no stimulus handouts to political cronies.
Detroit
there were no shovel ready jobs
And yet I regularly drive on highways and bridges that were built or improved thanks to the Recovery Act. Was the work done by volunteers?
Detroit
Cash for Clunkers
Poor bang for the buck, I agree, but a tiny item in the context of the stimulus, much less the economy.
Detroit
The Too Big to Fail philosophy
You can’t pin that on this administration.
Detroit (yes you can pin it on this admin because they did nothing to break them up, silly man)
Changing bankruptcy laws to favor cronies
Or that.
Detroit (again resent admin changed noting and in fact encouraged more)
Quantitative Easing multiple times
Thank goodness! We need more of it.
Mega-Detroit
Failure to approve the Keystone Pipeline
Who cares? A tiny item in the scope of things, greatly exaggerated for political purposes.
Detroit (who cares indeed…sheesh)
Channeling billions into failing solar investments
Millions went into solar investments that later failed, billions into ones that didn’t fail. We need more investment in clean energy, and worthwhile investments involve risk. It’s folly to expect every investment to pan out.
Detroit and it was billions not millions. (Oct 22, 2012 – The House Oversight Committee now warns the total loss on Solyndra now could be as high as $849 million. )
I see you strive to live up to your GIGO moniker…
The Keystone pipeline is being built. They had to change the proposal to bypass a nature preserve but after the changes it got approved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline
but after the changes it got approved
All right, I should have specified Keystone XL. Those phases are still pending approval. From your own link it should be clear that the entire project has not been approved.
The President mentioned the project this weekend noting that his approval likely would be predicated on the project’s contribution to carbon in the atmosphere:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/29/obama-comments-on-keystone-sparks-ire-more-concerns-about-projects-future/
Keystone Phase I and Phase II have been completed. Keystone Phase III, which is the part of Keystone XL which links to the Gulf of Mexico, is on track for completion this year:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/26/pipeline-operations-marketlink-idUSL2N0DD2KH20130426
The only piece which still needs approval is Keystone Phase IV which is basically a redundant link to improve pumping capacity from Canada. That was the most controversial segment with the most public opposition. It still should be possible to pump from Canada to the Gulf using I, II, and III from what I understand of the project.
As for Quantitative Easing that is a policy of the Federal Reserve which as you should know is not directly controlled by the President. In fact Bernanke was appointed by Bush.
So you are contending that no administration can influence the Federal Reserve?
A policy which the Fed pursues only because it is fully supported by the White House and enough of Congress.
Using Obama’s own words against him is not allowed. There were plenty of shovel ready jobs but Republicans were hiding them from Obama under a pile of racism and hatred for women. No wonder he didn’t find them…
Agree with the jiminator. Imagine what this ultra-tepid “recovery” would have been like if U.S. industry and business hadn’t been buried under thousands of pages of new rules and regulations, strangled by new taxes, and tagreted and attacked by the Justice Dept. for being… what, profitable?
Jim–
Unlike many others on this board, I always welcome your responses as being from an informed and articulate Obama supporter quite capable of standing his ground and arguing his position. As such, I have a question for you: Do you think the implementation of Obamacare, and the accompanying boatloads of new regulations and taxes on business, have helped or hurt the recovery? How about the tax hikes on upper-income earners (and businesses)? Also, reference to the “billions” that went into solar investments that “didn’t fail,” can you name one of these that received federal “investments” that is “successful” in the sense of making of a profit?