We did it!!!!!

[takza]

Well...there HAS been a change in Congress...for 6 years Bush vetoed nothing they came up with...result DEFICITS and setbacks in civil liberties...in 2006 the Dems got a slight majority. Now in 2008 the Dems have a more solid majority. NOW the Repub minority suddenly become fiscal conservatives and don't like spending...espec any spending that helps the avg person vs the top 1-5%.

Why? It's called "disaster capitalism"...underfund many things you don't like...throw money where your cronies can get it and make big profits (war and oil, etc)...then when the deficits are big and a recession hits...buy stuff on sale...privatize everything you can and make even more profits. So the Dems are spending on what the Repubs let go to hell in their effort to "starve the beast"...and they don't like it.

The Econ is only 1 one the big issues to be dealt with...but like that...the Repubs are on the wrong side of all of these issues. They oppose a new energy policy...environmental improvements...free trade fixes...consumer and labor protections. 8 years not only wasted...but 8 years digging holes that now need to be filled in. Lies and double-speak...while the world went to hell. There need to be prosecutions...Enron style.

The best way to deal with the Repub stuff is to "beat it with a stick"...they do not control the dialogue any more....their policies are defunct and the results from them are obvious. They use "talking points"...when you hear one of these being parroted...kill it. Remember.... 46% of our fellow citizens are dumber than the south end of a horse...they'll believe anything they hear.

[terceldude]

When I was young I was foolish enough to vote for Carter. I admit that was a mistake. Mortgage rates zoomed to 15 to 20% and unemployment soared. He had the highest numbers for the "Misery Index" in history. I learned from that mistake. I wish I could say the same about you. Your heads are in the sand and don't realize what is going on around you.

oh and I was well-aware of Obama's inexperience, etc. when I voted for him, that is why I initially voted for Clinton, but since Obama won the votes, I thought McCain wouldn't be able to get us out of this economic mess the way Obama could, so then I voted Obama like many of my friends and family did. But now jobs are being created and that is a good sign for certain things.. Right people? Now TOYOTA is hiring, so that is good news for me and others trying to get a job in that position, etc. etc. Let's just hope Obama fixes things that some people, (I won't talk about a specific party here), got us into! Take care and hope all is well with you Mr. Obama, Michelle, her kids and all the members of this forum and Ted Kennedy -- God Rest His Soul! ='(

[ARCHINSTL]

I deleted my original post, out of respect to "The New Yorker."
Tom M.

[Petros]

... But now jobs are being created and that is a good sign for certain things.. Right people?..

This is incorrect. No jobs are being created (except perhaps as government jobs, many of those jobs are just temp positions). What the major media is touted right now as good news is the RATE of job loss has slowed down. So instead of losing 600,000 jobs per month, we are now "only" losing 350,000 jobs per month. So the rate of job loss has slowed somewhat. Is that something to boast about? The country's economy will not long tolerate this kind of "recovery", a so-called "jobless recovery" they say. If this was not so serious this pathetic double talk would actually be laughable. The current administration, and the congress, has demonstrated they do not have a clue as to how to repair the economy.

[takza]

What we've been thru (?) is the Great Recession....worse than anything since the Great Depression. And it is going to take a long time to work thru the aftermath...when it is over.

Here is a chart...notice that the rate of job losses is still just about as bad as the worst the avg recession had to offer? With any luck we're near the bottom....though they are talking a "jobless" recovery like the last one. GDP is supposed to be ~ +3-4% next year though.




Most of the hole we are in was dug by our Republican friends...with some help from Clinton...you should thank them.


Comparing the Great Depression with the Great Recession...

http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/the- ... will-come/

Comparing unemployment....

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/09/ ... ut-it.html

[Petros]

What we've been thru (?) is the Great Recession....worse than anything since the Great Depression.

This too is incorrect. Perhaps you are too young to remember the mess Jimmy Carter made, much worse than we are facing now. He proved that Keynesian economics all wrong, and we had thousands of bank failures (not a few hundred), and almost double the inflation rate and much higher unemployment than we got now. Of course if the display of incompetence in the government continues (by both parties), it could get even worse than Carter's accomplishments (remember he was motivation for the infamous "misery index").

So why is it everyone forgets about Carter and his invincible incompetence?

[takza]

Unfortunately...I'm probably older than yourself...just maybe don't act like it.

Here info on the recession during Carter's term...

http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2006/08/c ... te-of.html

"For example, most of us would agree that the slowdown in inflation in the 1980s (for which President Reagan is sometimes credited) was due to Fed Chair Paul Volcker, who was in fact appointed by President Carter. Moreover, the primary reason that Volcker was able to bring inflation down was his willingness to contribute to an economic recession in 1980, for which Carter was blamed. Perhaps the real error was allowing inflation to accelerate as much as it did prior to Volcker, for which much of the blame would logically go to Fed Chair Arthur Burns, appointed by President Nixon in 1970, and G. William Miller, Carter's pick in 1978. But even here there is a separate interesting question as to the contribution that bad real-time data may have made to those policy errors."

At least Carter tried to start the ball rolling on energy issues...then Reagen crapped on that.

I guess the '80s recession was about the worst...except for the current one. This recession is worse than the '80s one and will have the "jobless recovery" characteristics of the last one due to jobs heading to China and elsewhere. Some compare this recession with the great depression...saying that the parallels are not just skin deep.

I'd say obvious incompetence/corruption...this country is so deep in the hole that...I don't think they can see the light? Or at least aren't moving toward it? Or at least not very fast....the Republicans just drag their feet...hoping they can get back into power and do some more damage?

My guess is that fiscal mismanagement (debt, derivatives, and medicare/social securlty, etc)....peak resources...global warming..over population will FORCE action...but when a country has the largest military in the world by far...financed on borrowed money...too much chance that war will be the answer.