I’m not an economist, nor do I play one on TV (or even Pajamas TV), but like a huge number of Americans I have invested in the stock market. My pension plan has dwindled by over fifty percent and my dreams of retirement have disappeared – not that I was going to do that, but I would like to have had an option or a cushion for my family, if something happened to me (touch virtual wood).
Of course I am not alone. Almost everyone is feeling this pain. Even, of course, the mainstream media, a large number of whom are losing their jobs and almost all of whom are seeing their savings vanish (unless they were smart enough to stay out of the market). But almost none of them are saying anything critical of Obama’s policies which, obviously, the stock market – conventionally the predictor of our economy – thinks are dead wrong.
Cognitive dissonance? Mental imbalance? Slavish idolatry? Or just plain inability to admit you made a mistake? You tell me. Meanwhile, the market goes lower and lower while the media continues its hosannas to BHO. I could just say it’s their futures, but it’s ours too, the selfish creeps.
Apropos of which, last Monday I was on the floor of the CME at the Chicago Board of Trade, interviewing for PJTV in the aftermath of the Santelli brouhaha. It was apparent there was no exaggeration: virtually every trader on the floor thought Obama’s bailouts were a recipe for economic disaster. And they are people who stake their livelihoods on it. We can be sure if they felt the other way, they’d be betting on it, no matter what their ideologies or political affiliations.
So, in the end, if things really go badly, I think it is the media that has led us into this, led the country to vote for an unprepared man with a self-destructive program. It will be interesting to see if they ever admit it.
Well Roger, no matter how great Obama and his minions think he is, he still isn’t immune from the immutable laws of economics. Without the media applying the brakes, we will, no doubt drive off the edge of the cliff and crash and burn.
There would be some small degree of comfort that after the crash that we could begin to rebuild from the ashes; much the same as Europe did after WWII.
But, I fear that there are too many Americans these days that would immediately return to their bad habits. After all, Michigan keeps electing Democrats. You’d think by now they’d be inclined to try a different approach. Same goes for California.
Let me be radical. Perhaps the long term solution is for the USA to break up into two different nations; the red states and the blue states. After a generation the blue states would resemble Cuba and the red would be thriving.
That probably entitles me to a fee tinfoil hat but I’m getting so cynical that I don’t see any other way out of this.
Another bastion of reactionary, as Roger likes to say, left-wing thinking is the universities, and they too are acting as if they have no faith in Obama’s economic plans. Today’s Yale Daily News announces that up to 300 employees will be fired. This is on top of earlier plans to scale back expansion and make other cutbacks at the university.
If people have their own investments and retirement accounts, they aren’t as dependent on government for sustainance. That goes directly against Obama’s agenda to have the maximum number of people dependent on government for everything. Expecting the Press to raise the issue of declining markets is expecting them to admit they were wrong about Obama. It’ll likely never happen.
Roger, the media won’t be around to admit it….
I’m failing to see why the media would be unhappy when their greatest dreams of socialism are about to come true…
Looks like the Obama program will be chewed up by the chaos that it’s creating. Ah Frankenstein, what a wonderful fable. To the castle !!
And one more thing, they’re shoveling money out of the back door right now. Hundreds of millions are being transferred into state coffers around the country. Guy shows up at the governor’s office, says “Sign here. No I don’t have time for you to read the agreement ! You want the money ? Then sign !”
It’s “beat the reaper” all over again.
ps. Blacklisting was a one full sitting read. Fun stuff.
This is the area where Obama simply cannot be held accountable.
Unless you’re an idiot, you’ve followed the story.
It’s beyond his control.
There is no presidential powern that could calm down a global meltdown.
AnninCA (#9)
Maybe, just maybe, a competent government could avoid making the situation worse!
What is the mainstream media going to do? Fall on their swords and say they didn’t do their jobs and admit they are worthless? No way, if they admit to being propaganda arms, do they still have jobs? Nooo.. So of course they will laud BHO until he hopefully nationalizes the press. Maybe NPR needs a few billion more and needs to get into print and TV? Seriously, they don’t expect republicans to keep them employed, so why bite the hand that feeds you, no matter if the portions get smaller.
No hope in the mainstream press.
6. robotech master: I’m failing to see why the media would be unhappy when their greatest dreams of socialism are about to come true…
This seems to be what the media and Democrats want. Destruction of Wall Street and capitalism with it.
“There is no presidential powern that could calm down a global meltdown.”
Not accurate. Barack Obama could turn everything around if he began to advocate for lower individual and corporate taxes—and a sharply reduced federal government budget. But that’s not going to happen. Investors are therefore losing hope. Things are going to get worse.
“virtually every trader on the floor thought Obama’s bailouts were a recipe for economic disaster.”
Many of these traders are not conservative Republicans. As matter of fact, it would not surprise me if most of them voted for Obama! A lot of traders are cultural liberals and find any excuse to vote for Democratic Party candidates. They lied to themselves about Obama—and now are paying an awful price.
“This seems to be what the media and Democrats want. Destruction of Wall Street and capitalism with it.”
If it were only that simple “e.” Unfortunately these people are more screwed up than that. If they were simply pure socialists, I could understand what they are doing. Frankly, they don’t know what they are.
10. Bob Miller:
“Maybe, just maybe, a competent government could avoid making the situation worse!”
~
I’m afraid the term ‘competent government’ is an oxymoron [or double negative?].
I’m looking to Jesus.
I think Pops in Vienna nailed this: I think this eventually leads to a breakup of the USA. Not sure if it’s Blue vs Red States or if it’s separated into more than that. At some point, the States that are fiscally responsible are not going to want to foot the bill for the ones that aren’t (ie California, Michigan). In the same way, I am not happy about having to foot the fill for others who are not financially responsible. Why am I bearing their burden? Why should responsible states have to bear the burden of other irresponsible states (and the current federal government). I would argue that the time is rapidly approaching for a breakup of the USA. Let those who are conservative and believe in the ideals that made this country great form a separate union.
“If they were simply pure socialists, I could understand what they are doing.”
Very few of them are pure socialists. Explicit Marxism has practically nothing to do with it. They are “elites.” These are the folks who graduated from the so-called best schools, and perceives themselves as both brilliant and benevolent. They believe that they should be running things—and also enjoy an affluent lifestyle. After all, aren’t they the best and the brightest?
They never will admit it since they’ll all be lined up in bankruptcy court wondering where all their jobs, power and influence went.
You are absolutely right, David. And they are getting their clocks cleaned: firings, savings wiped out, and yet they persist in their views. Is that a sign of mental health?
“Is that a sign of mental health?”
They don’t need a psychiatrist! I don’t even slightly question their sanity. No, it is their existential “health” that is out of whack. A large number of these people have been brought up to believe that they are brilliant and wonderful. Their parents made extraordinary sacrifices so that they could attend Ivy league universities. Nothing was too good for them. They have taken it for granted since early childhood that they should be running things. Jumping on the Obama bandwagon is deemed an easy way to accomplish their goals. It’s an express train to Nirvana.
Well much as I detest Obama’s policies which are simply a rehash of previously failed policies, and are likely doomed from the start, I must confess that I don’t really prefer ‘traders’.
Wall Street and its corrupt insane ponzi schemes have almost ruined the World Economy or at the very least have colluded willingly in its devastation. Without the active participation of all the inmates of the asylum, the ludicrous (oops I mean sophisticated )investment vehicles that have served to rot out the core of the system would never have escaped from the evil lab in which they were spawned.
One Hundred and Eighty BILLION DOLLARS and counting to bail out an Insurance Company. What could be more asinine ? What type of system was in place where it made perfect sense for an Insurer to underwrite GARBAGE as if it were Gold ? Where was the due diligence ? Where was the expected analysis ? Where was the COMMON SENSE ? Now the genius in charge of said AIG says that they will repay all the loans so don’t you worry about any of that small stuff. It’s just a flesh wound. In Monty Python World perhaps; here –not so much.
The reason Obama can get away with his ongoing drivel is that the optics are SO bad that he could do just about anything and still look ‘better’ than what went before.
Thats scary.
Like the bankers, the main stream media will say:
“We just didn’t see it coming…”
A combination of inherited syphilitic traits,combined with a lifetime of liberalshooling and socializing will easily produce the virulent insanity that passes for journalism.
“What could be more asinine ?”
It is not asinine if you attended the same universities as the “elites.” Subconsciously, they are merely taking care of each other. You wash my back, and I will wash yours.
Mentally healthy? No. Normal Human Mentality? Yes.
People have Faith in BHO or rather Faith in their Vision of BHO. If their Faith requires them to say the sky is green, then the sky is green and they are likely to turn on anyone that says otherwise.
If the economy is headed for the cliff edge under BHO’s direction, then so be it. Many are going to follow him right over the edge, the rest of us had better jump clear.
HERE’S HOW OBAMA IS DESTROYING THE MIDDLE CLASS
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-obama-is-destroying-middle-class.html
Obama doesn’t have a 401k, so naturally he’s uninformed & unconcerned about investments that aren’t his.
Jonah Goldberg posted these most interesting comments on his blog:
“Scheer Remembers His Marxism
Robert Scheer, formerly of the LA Times (heh), remembers that by the standards of his own intellectual tradition, what we are seeing is a kind of corporatism and corporatism is the economic doctrine of you-know-what:
I don’t think the idea of nationalizing, as it’s now being called — which means bailing out these banks, setting them straight, then letting them go private again, which is the model that everybody is using, and the people who get screwed are the people whose retirement funds had common or preferred shares and they get wiped out, and these bankers come out richer than ever at the other end — that’s not a leftist idea and it’s not socialism. This is what we used to, in Comparative Economic Systems, call fascism. It’s putting government at the service of the big financial interests. That’s what happened in Italy, that’s what happened in Germany, that’s what happened in Japan.”
http://tinyurl.com/ahtg2o
I completely agree with Robert Scheer! He is actually right on target. Our economy increasingly reminds one of the fascist economies of some sixty-seventy years ago. This is not an exaggeration.
They are “elites.”
~~~~~
they are they who are “more equal than others”.
Everything is going according to a plan. For quite some time, liberal media was losing money – and they need Obama to bail them out and to close progressive right-wing media.
All in all, Obama will be their employer – if they behave well and praise the One. Watch the money.
You’re right, Roger. You’re not an economist.
Your friend,
Max (an economist)
Roger, you have come apon a doctorial thesis in economics, that is “the media’s affect on the economy.” If we isolate the data of advertising, then the 24/7 news and commentary on the global markets has to have a major impact and I also would guess, that that impact would not favor reality.
A “neurotoxin is any substances that excites a neuron to death.” The MSM plays that part well; call it the neurotoxic news. Panic, fear, and morbidity sell the public into paying attention. Disasters sell and “ain’t it awful” seems to be the first words out of the talking heads. Their motives are clear enough; greed and adulation under the guise of informing the public. How much does a rumor affect Wall Street? How much do politicians suck up to public opinion? If the markets, banks, congress and the media took a week off of the subject we might level off the rate of descent of the economy. This is not going to happen unless a bigger disaster occurs.
The media and 50 plus Americans are mentally ill.
Oh wait – how many of those votes were ACORN-bought and paid for?
50 plus MILLION. whoops.
One reason: it’s different (aka A CHANGE). Since he didn’t define WHAT CHANGE MEANT… no one can say they think he’s wrong.
Apparently.
Thanks “Concerned in Cali”, at least two of us can start the tin foil hat brigade. I think you made good sense. Why should the ants continue to bail out the grasshoppers?
We will never get “those people” to change their minds. They will never make socialists out of us either. Yes, maybe the time has come to begin a discussion about forming two nations. Better that the responsible states cut off the cancer before it destroys the healthy parts. Forming a new nation might be difficult but could we be any worse off than we are now?
To 29. David Thomson
Someone should inform him that
1. Fascism is what can be called realistic/real world socialism.
and
2. Fascism is a left wing ideal and goal once they learn the cold hard facts of life that the fantasy version/textbook version of socialism/communism can not exist in real life.
Before the election my local newspaper, The Quad-City Times, had bold headlines everytime the market declined by several hundred points. Since November, no such headlines. Instead, everyday is another puff piece on Obama. Roger, the media is not only mental ill, but dishonest.
Thank you, Robotech Master–you beat me to it re: 29. Robert Scheer????? Give me a break–there has been no greater waste of newsprint anywhere.
Once you read 9 AnninCA you begine to understand our (Californians’) problem. 40 years of the Assembly and State Senate being controlled by the same party with a steady decline in standard of living. We will soon have the highest income tax rate in the country, nearly the highest sales tax, and gas tax and all they can think of to do it keep raising them. A few people point to Prop. 13 as the problem and one can argue that the commercial property side of Prop. 13 should be changed, but otherwise changing it would be just handing another drink to an alcholic. And AnninCA just throws up her hands and says, “please, sir, may I have another”.
“Liberalism is a mental disorder”…..now, where have I heard that before…..
Mr. Simon;
“It will be interesting to see if they ever admit it.”
You’re kidding right? Remember the fatal anthrax attacks? Weapon of mass Destruction used on American soil?
It didn’t fit in with the “Bush Lied People Died!” sloganeering.
Remember when Nicaragua became an “un-place”. right after the Nicraguan people voted out the Sandinista regime that the media was dead certain was going to be re-elected?
No…the media has no memory.
They’ve been used for a purpose in this Obama affair.
Watch very closely who it is that ends up buying all of this fantastically discounted stock.
GE at under ten bucks a share…
“Fascism is what can be called realistic/real world socialism.”
The main aspect of Fascism which we are seeing today in our own country is corporatism. The leaders of numerous large corporations are working closely with the political bosses to he benefit of both classes. Those who are not favored by the political elites are often seriously disadvantaged. The corporate leaders of General Motors, for instance, are now more worried about pleasing the Obama administration than selling automobiles!
Well, there are an awful lot of players in the finance industry who supported Obama and many of them are surely under his spell. There are also quite a few finance players whose grasp of the “real” economy is tenuous: who fail to understand, for instance, the enormous importance of reliable and low-cost electrical power and the way in which this is now being threatened by government policy. Such people will not understand the negative effects of Democratic policies until they show up in corporate operating results to a much greater extent than they have at present.
Sadly, I live in California. At least for now, I’m doing OK. I retire shortly and am leaving this state in a blur of motion. I am heading off to a small place in a low population mountain state where I can hopefully be left (mostly) alone. I fear urban riots in our cities, once the underclass realizes it has been sold a bill of goods. I sympathize a great deal with those who think the country might split over this. Indeed it may, but it will be horribly violent and scary and chaotic. Actually, the feds have nothing to stop the split with except the military, and given its demographics, it will probably leave as well. Altogether,I’m looking forward to a future that will be much simpler that I had planned
46. david foster
I have to agree, many ppl are so poorly educated in the most basic ideas of real life and common sense… to many ppl believe they can have their cake and eat it too.
Obama the dictator; Incompetence on parade. And they’re proud of it!
Someone might compile a list of the corporations chosen to enable the Obama disaster. JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs… Am I right?
Roger, thank you for informing us that that naked over there guy has no clothes. As for will the media ever admit that they had a hand in it? If Dan Rather is any indication, never. Even Chris Tingle is upset about his investments, but last time I checked, the tingle’s still there in his leg.
If our civilization goes down in flames, it will be because of a tingle up a leg. Not a great reason to end a great civilization.
Roger-you know why the commie media wont criticize the Obamascum. Its as simple as ideology. His ideology trumps everything. As with all Commies, even losing tons of money means nothing as long as there ideology wins. Keep the average John Die dumb, stupid , and poor. Keep the elite commie scum in power forever. Obamascum is now implemeting the commie agemda of Soros and the UN. He doesnt care about ruining America, just like Stalin didnt care how many he had to starve and the likes of Mao,Ho Chi Minh,or Pol Pot. Make no mistake about this-this agenda is Soros and his commie pals. Obamascum is just the front man.
Cybergeezer:
Obama the dictator; Incompetence on parade. And they’re proud of it!
Of course! The MSM has been shouting for a long time that “The Emperor has new clothes”. And the useful idiots are more than happy to vote themselves bread and circuses.
Roger, I suspect that belonging to “the club” is so hardwired into the system such that these little baby ducks have imprinted on a demolition derby funny car.
It crashes into a wall, they crash into a wall. It drives over a cliff, they waddle along behind and leap off as well.
It is so hardcoded into them that they would mindlessly sling themselves into the abyss, rather than stop, think and act in their own self-preservation, much less their self interest.
When one reaches a point where identity is so wrapped up in someone else’s ideals, so oblivious to harm, so blinded by the need for acceptance…tht the “self” is subservient to the “message”. Truth no longer matters. “Sacrifice” is the throwing of oneself into the pit so that the “message” is never exposed to the elements of light, truth or examination.
Amen to that.
I’ve been screaming from day one that Obama would run this country into the ground. I tried warning people. I read his two books, I researched this guy. He is a punk from Chicago.
He is a socialist.
He does not want this country to succeed as we know it. He wants to remake it into a socialist state–and history proves that socialism does not work.
He must be stopped.
Journalistic Fraud and Malpractice committed by the media. Thank you for your honesty. It is so needed right now. I fear your comrades, in the main, are hopeless.
An executive order which will follow the collapse of the market:
I BHO, require all 401k and IRA invests to be forwarded to the US Department of Investment Savings. From this day forward all must be so forwarded and all businesses offering these plans will be required to do so. There is to be no exception to this rule.
The monies transfer will be held in trust and be available in the same manner as the previous investments were.
All retirement accounts will earn 3 pct per annum.
I unfortunately have to take this action in order to save the remaining savings of those about to retire.
Just as investors hold onto a losing stock the media is clinging to Obama. They have invested heavily in him and will do anything to try to prop up his failing Presidency. They keep talking about his strong support numbers even as they fall. Their goal is to keep the illusion of success going as long as possible and when it can no longer be supported they will blame the failure on that vast right wing conspiracy Hillary blamed for all Wild Bill Clinton’s problems.
Right now they are try to distract people by focusing attention On Rush Limbaugh.
Unfortunately, Chavez in Venezuela has shown that when you are buying votes, you can destroy a country before you run out of money.
Let’s hope people in the US are smarter than they are in Venezuela, although I’m not betting on that.
Roger: When you use the word “press” to describe what we now have in the “main stream media”, you are being very generous. I would describe 99% of the MSM as “shills”, “leftist suck-ups”, and “Obama ass-kissers”. You would be in the 1% of real journalists who are still out there. General Electric Corp. bankrolls those “blame-America” clowns on MSNBC, and NBC.
Check out the price of their stock. Last time I checked it was 8$ and heading south. God bless America.
ref: the Blue States seceding from the Red States, or vice-versa…
How are we gonna handle the ethnic-cleansing issue, so to speak? Electoral mapping of even over-the-top Blue States like CA and OR shows that the interior counties voted red all the way and only the coastal yuppie enclaves went for The One.
Will we need to do a population exchange like India/Pakistan, where the homes on both sides abandoned by the emigrants were s’pozed to get occupied by the immigrants, even-steven.
Or maybe will it be a little uglier than that? You know how it turned out in 1947-48. Who gets Kashmir?
I’ve never been convinced that most of those people in journalism truly understand the economy and finance. They didn’t study it. A lot of journo types in college avoid the hard courses like economics and finance. I studied those disciplines and I can tell you that when I read most newspaper accounts of what goes on in the world of finance the writing generally shows little insight into the topic. The story lines are stilted and canned.
Mark my words. Within this decade two professions are going to have lost almost all credibility. Journalism and science. The latter because of the damage this shuck and jive act called AGW and the cap and trade system will do to our economy.
Obama has always been a pimp. Journalists have flung themselves like crack whores into his orbit. Rev. David Manning in Harlem had Obama’s number long before most people had a clue: Obama is a mack daddy.
Look, Bush handed Obama a crumbling, corrupt financial system and a rotting industrial base. The stimulus/bailout stuff that was thought of well before Obama took over incorporates fairly standard methods for a government to deal with these types of problems. The issue is the scale of the problems puts the attempts to correct it all into unknown territory. But Obama is mostly going along with the general consensus by economic experts (this is a reprint of a WSJ subscription article):
http://remington-work.blogspot.com/2009/01/experts-rx-on-how-to-get-out-of-this.html
You may not agree with his plan to fix things, but it is a well-considered and researched plan based on economic theory and history. Compare this to the games of Pinata and Beer Pong disguised as policy that Bush and Company engaged in the past 8 years, or the malicious, empty headed attempts at backseat driving going on right now by conservatives and Republicans.
Wow, you know, this Pres has only been in office for a few weeks. Reading all this rage against him, you would infer, if you landed from Mars, that he is responsible for all the economic destruction. He INHERITED it from the previous administration(s). Back off and give him a chance. We’re all in this together!
BC, I don’t know if this invalidates your pedestrian thinking, but “general consensus” is a redundancy.
“We’re all in this together!”
Indeed, Marriu – and that’s the point. Obama has raced to cobble this together as if this were a medical emergency and not a financial crisis. He promised consult many voices, but appears to be ruling basically by fiat. You apparently agree with that, which is your privilege, but the markets – people whose lives depend on this (as yours does) – are evidently very worried. I don’t know about you, but this gives me pause.
ref: the Blue States seceding from the Red States, or vice-versa…
I don’t know how it would exactly work, but I’m fully on board with this idea. When two sides have such diametrically opposing views on governance, their political union will end peacefully or it will end violently, but it will end.
The comedy potential of seeing a bunch of liberal college professors and entertainment types trying to create a viable state with the masses of welfare recipients and other assorted riff-raff left behind the in the blue states is tremendous! Image Sheryl Crow trying to tell some Crip or Blood that he can only use one square to wipe himself when he’s done taking a sh*t. Pure hilarity!
AnninCA writes:
“This is the area where Obama simply cannot be held accountable. Unless you’re an idiot, you’ve followed the story. It’s beyond his control.”
..under ordinary circumstances, I would cast about for some witty response to dumb-assed posts like this, but here one phrase applies both to the writer and to the clown in the White House: you both can help immeasurably; just STFU!
The libs keep telling me President Bush brought eight years of hell and he is to blame for this, if memory serves the DOW sat at an all-time high of 14,200 as late as October 2007. In addition, the S&P was 55% higher than it is at this moment.
And since unemployment was at 4.4% then, which by economic consent is considered full employment, exactly what did Bush do again in his last 15 months of office that he wasn’t doing first 79, or so?
Of course, because of the “unwinnable war” in Iraq which we won anyway, the American public did want change – and gave us a Democratic Congress in November 2006.
P.S. – I’m sure it’s just coincidence but since Obama took the helm, the S&P is down approximately 18% in less than six weeks. I’m sure that is Bush’s fault too.
..thanks, Tex. These are inconvenient truths too oft ignored by the trolls here. I was in a blue funk; you brightened my day!
My verdict is the same as the markets, two thumbs down on BHO, way down. Bring back W, even Laura could do better…
Is the media mentally ill? Like that great philosopher Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Equities’ markets are forward-looking. Therefore, even before the election the market was anticipating an Obama victory and was not liking it at all. These people did not like the same things I saw and did not like. I am one of those people who has skin in the game. I’m not happy seeing my retirement portfolio shrinking; I’m still dollar cost averaging because I know some day we will come back from this very strongly. And I don’t want to miss the big move up. Granted, the real bull market won’t occur until these idiots are long gone.
The rage is building. Slowly, but surely. It does not matter what the lemmings following the Pied Piper write or opine. The majority of the people will figure it out. Little by little buyer’s remorse is setting in.
The Big Mack Daddy does not seem to understand that when you reduce the number of successful people you reduce the size of the economy. Anybody think a KosKiddie living in his parents’ basement is going to start a business that’s going to hire people and grow a company?
Wall Street and its corrupt insane ponzi schemes have almost ruined the World Economy or at the very least have colluded willingly in its devastation.
Sorry, the only Ponzi scheme running is Social Security – whose earlier ‘investors’ are paid back by later ‘investors’, and all of whom MUST rely on an ever-increasing workforce of ever-increasing longevity to keep the golden eggs rolling in.
Should that ever-increasing workforce stop increasing (ever more likely now that the Obama admin is doing its best, witting or unwittingly, to hamstring the American economy), the current financial collapse will appear trivial by comparison.
And back to crooked financial schemes – without the Government-mandated lending of good money to bad risk borrowers (called the Community Reinvestment Act, which remains on the books), the subprime mortgage collapse could not have occurred. But the real estate bubble (which much like Social Security was supported by the supposedly ever-increasing value of all properties) popped when the increasing stopped – exactly as Social Security will, when the workforce stops increasing.
Wall Street (that’s folks who have invested their hard-earned money in securities) is voting, properly, with its feet. Thousands of individual investors are a hell of a lot smarter that one ideologue who’s out to punish the successful by transferring their wealth to a new legion of hopefully perpetual Democratic votes.
You might call Wall Street the new kulaks. Will the new Stalin-in-waiting ratchet up more extreme measures to punish, or otherwise expropriate, these already badly-burned investors? Stay tuned, guard your remaining valuables, and prepare some tar and feathers.
Macroeconomics is junk science. When I was in business school just a few years ago, the professor was still telling me that it was impossible to have both low unemployment and low inflation, even though that was exactly what was happening in the economy right then. You’re much better off simply applying common sense to the economy and thinking through the different incentives people have.
Right now, the business community is still trying to figure out what America will look like in 2010 and 2011, but what it does know is that there will be some combination of higher income taxes, higher payroll taxes, higher capital gains taxes, higher environmental and energy taxes, increased financial and business regulation, more unionization, health care mandates, higher minimum wages, very likely higher inflation, potentially greater terrorism risk, and potentially greater corruption. Does that sound like an economic environment in which you want to hire more employees, open a new plant, or expand your business? Or like an environment in which you should hunker down and see how bad its going to get first?
-Tristan Yates, author of Enhanced Indexing Strategies
“Cognitive dissonance? Mental imbalance? Slavish idolatry? Or just plain inability to admit you made a mistake? You tell me.”
I am truly exasperated by now. The answer is so obvious it’s ridiculous – and none of you blogpundits will say the plain truth of the matter.
The answer to your question is “none of the above”.
Malevolence.
That’s the answer.
Period. End of story. Finito.
We need to start dealing with that reality.
Sorry to sound a bit harsh, but anybody who kept his investments in the market after it was apparent that a majority of Americans were drinking the Goebellian 4th Estate’s vats of bubbling, toxic koolaid…well, what were you thinking? Did a drop of the “hope” koolaid spill over into your drink. We pulled out on Nov. 1st, and that was too late.
63
You may not agree with his plan to fix things, but it is a well-considered and researched plan based on economic theory and history. Compare this to the games of Pinata and Beer Pong disguised as policy that Bush and Company engaged in the past 8 years, or the malicious, empty headed attempts at backseat driving going on right now by conservatives and Republicans.
The thing that finally drove the economy over the cliff was the spike in oil prices. If the Dems and their green allies hadn’t stopped the US from drilling its own oil and making use of its own energy sources of other types for the last three decades, creating both jobs and lower energy prices overall, those at the margins of the housing boom might not have had to choose between gassing up and making their mortgage payments or they would have had a little more money in their pockets because they were working in the energy industry, not in the service industry. Heck, Dems are constantly telling me they’re so smart and clearly capital was flowing freely during the Bush years, so why didn’t some Dem genius invent a new form of energy? You guys used to say Bush was all hat and no cattle? With you guys it’s “bluster, bluster, bluster” until you get into power, then it’s “hem, haw, make excuses”.
So, if Bush was “playing Beer Pong and Pinata”, it was because the idiot environmental lobby had put all of the real games in the closet and out of reach. I only wish he would have been more forceful in pushing the issue and I fault him for that.
Also, if you dislike the way Republicans are reacting to Obama, you should support the idea of splitting the country into two, right? Just think of how much psychic energy you’ll be able to save no longer having to defend your clearly “well-considered and researched plans based on economic theory and history” against malignant nay-sayers such as myself. Or, now that you’re in power and realize the only way you’ve got even half a snowball’s chance in hell of paying for your idiotic programs is by sucking the blood out of people who’ve had a little success in life and who might want to share it with their family rather than complete strangers who just happen to inhabit the same patch of dirt.
I track the stocks of two companies on my Vista desktop:
New York Times(NYT: down another 2.4% today), and
Gannett – publisher of the rag in Phoenix(GCI: down another 9.88% today).
God I love watching liberal policies and supporters fail all around me…
Tristan Yates –
“Macroeconomics is junk science.”
Thank you. What a succinct way to put it. To a lot of us, “economics” is pretty much the ultimate expression of clueless intellecualism. Economists are the sophists of the modern age, today’s version of the Oracle of Delphi and the witch doctor. And quite a few of them combine the bogus analytic techniques of macroeconomics with: (a) a partisan political agenda; (b) a commercial agenda; or (c) both.
When someone tells me that the Obama administration has assembled a “top-flight team of economic advisers” and is following the “consensus prescription of the world’s leading economists,” I’m not comforted in the least — I shudder. This attitude encompasses everything that is wrong with modern liberalism. The idea that a bunch of egghead technocrats who have never run anything more complicated than a copy machine can “fix” the economy by lowering an interest rate here, tightening a reserve requirement there, etc. — madness.
And when we look to economists, we also miss the moral dimension of this crisis. The fact is that a lot of consumers were very irresponsible with money. They didn’t save anything, they bought more house than they could afford, and now instead of working hard to pay back their debts they want the government to bail them out. This is immoral. I don’t know of any macroeconomic models that take that into account, though.
“Is that a sign of mental health?” There’s a book entitled, “The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness,” by Lyle Rossiter, M.D. (psychiatrist). It might answer your question. A must read.
Gary Ogletree @50
Top the list with George Soros.
Is what you’re saying is people need the media in order to comprehend the world around them? I’m not sure about that. I know that Obama’s policies are a disaster and you know it, yet we didn’t need CNN or The Washington Post or the Rocky Mountain News (R.I.P., btw) to tell us. I’m still not convinced the average American or earthling is a moronic puppet that cannot think on his own.
Michael #75: I couldn’t agree more. Here’s an interesting factoid: at meetings of the National Security Council, BHO presides and everyone present must raise his or her hand and be called on. No spontaneous, human interactions allowed. The former lecturer who inflated this humble academic title into his having been a “professor” now makes his NSA staff, including Cabinet members when they attend, raise their hands. I wonder what they have to do to be excused to go to the bathroom.This behavior is creepy, narcissistic and insulting. Such an intense need to control others is not a good sign.
Yes, Roger… Modern progressives (which includes the media and other opinion elite) are able to ignore a roaring cognitive dissonance between their ideas and reality.
Technically, they are psychotic.
To venividivici: I’m not too particularly fond of Democrats either, most especially in the way they shrugged off and/or ignored a lot of bad behavior going on in both the White House and the financial sector. It wasn’t exactly as though there wasn’t plenty of evidence, signs and warnings for anyone who could be bothered to remove his or her head from his or her butt and take a little looksee.
I remember about a year ago or so looking into that Refco business from a few years back and wondered what was the deal with SEC — are they morons, corrupt or what? And who would have thought the Refco’s financial shenanigans would be considered chump change these days? But at least we know for sure what sort of people make up the SEC, and it was nice to know how much our government in general learns from past mistakes and screw-ups….
The first rule of propaganda is to never admit you are wrong. Instead you need to create a new narative, or reiterate the same old narrative, that proves you are right.
This is also Saul Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals rule #69, which the MSM by now have memorized. (Thanks to Barry Hussein)
George Bush, “We need you now more than ever!”-MSM
JoeSchmoe:
Thanks! Agree completely. FYI most people don’t know there are *lots* of different kinds of economists. If you check Wikipedia there are at least 25 different “schools”, so if you want to go shopping for economists its pretty easy.
Hayek, of the Austrian school, is the conservatives favorite, as he wrote that “all forms of collectivism lead to tyranny” in his book “The Road to Serfdom”. Also Milton Friedman, of the Chicago school, who recognized the relationship between increased regulation and decreased liberty and living standards, both in the US and around the world.
Then you have economists like JK Galbraith, who advocated higher taxes to fund infrastructure and social programs and redistribute income. He received TWO medals of freedom, one from Truman and one from Clinton. In 1968, he, Tobin, and Samuelson, and many other economists wrote a letter to congress advocating the creation of a “guaranteed minimum income” for all citizens as a way to eradicate poverty, i.e. a “war on poverty”-type welfare entitlement, funded through taxes of course.
– Tristan Yates, author Enhanced Indexing Strategies
Alas tyates, you appear to have learned something in b-school during your “junk science” classes. Like other sciences, the rubber meets the road when one compares hypotheses to results. Fortunately we have several chances to do that in various areas of economics–take your pick: JFK, Reagan or Bush II marginal income tax cuts, Ireland’s enterprise zone tax experiment, Japan’s tax policy last decade. While the timing is sometimes variable and the typical action-reaction can be diluted by other economic factors (one of which could have explained your simultaneous low inflation-low unemployment confusion), the basic connections are there just as they are in physics, chem or other sciences. JoeS is correct about the corrupting influence of political agenda and commercial conflicts of interest, but that doesn’t change the guidance that a legit policymaker should seek out even if he does make the advisors raise their hands. (I do love that mental image and can’t shake the image of David Petraeus raising his hand to discuss the surge in a BO meeting).
Hey Roger,
The media aren’t the only ones who are mentally ill. So is the new Chairman of the Republican Party. http://michellemalkin.com/2009/03/02/a-note-to-michael-steele/
He likens the 2008 GOP Convention to something out of Nazi Germany. Gosh, if anything reminds me of Nazi Germany it’s Obama and his cult of blind admirers.
First,Michael Steele needs to be removed from office. We’ll take on the media after we clean our own house.
I’m not sure that I would ascribe any great knowledge or predictive ability to the actions of mostly short-term traders. Assuming that this market exhausts itself soon on the downside and then starts moving up, don’t be surprised if all of a sudden these same traders start liking the Obama plan.
BTW, I voted for the other guy.
Roger,
You are attempting to apply logic to an irrational situation and mind set. Just as you are always in the wrong when your wife disagrees with you, the media is never wrong in any meaningful way. In my divorce, my ex simply stopped listening to what I was saying and focussed soley on her emotions (one of the contributing causes). This is exactly the way the media addresses this and virtually any other circumstance where their preconcieved paradigms don’t work. This is a key element in the success of Pajamas media, talk radio, Fox news and much of the blogosphere – so it is a mixed blessing.
Dear Roger,
Barack Obama promised publicly and clearly during his campaign to redistribute America’s wealth. And by that, he meant to take everything he could from the rich, especially from their stock market and redistribute it to the rest of the nation. He is calling it national health care, or alternative fuels, or hybrid cars, or free education or some other innocuous name, but make no mistake, Barack Hussein Obama intends to legislate taxes or stimulus packages until Wall Street is destroyed and average or poor Americans can enjoy the wealth that only well to do Americans once enjoyed. That is redistribution according to our new community organizer President.
Pops in Vienna: Amen. I made the mistake of contributing a few dollars to the RNC when Michael Steele took charge. Boy, was that a mistake. No more money RNC. The man heading your organization has probably been called an “Uncle Tom” once too many times by the shoe-shuffling authentic “Uncle Toms” in the Democrat Party (that would include about 95% of the black population). Correct me if I’m wrong, but is Obama sending his children to private school. I thought he was a big supporter of the public screw system. I hope his “stimulus” plan has an earmark for his half-brother living in a corrugated box somewhere in Africa. I sure as hell know Obama hasn’t spent any of his own money to help the guy out.
Obama is indeed sending his kids to a private school; this information should be considered together with the fact the Democrats are now trying to shut down DC’s charter school program so that other people’s kids will be at the *total* mercy of the public school establishment.
#47 Scott
I agree with you. I live in a rural area in a low-key state with about a million people. I’ve lived in California before. It was nice for a while, but things are much better here, especially for a later time in life. Having myself and my family left alone to live our lives moderately, yet comfortably, is good. Although, I’m worried that this administration will have far reaching arms and will prey on us all.
You nailed it Roger. Great post. The question is how big, bad and obvious the economic mess needs to get before the media decide it’s time to report to work. The American media are a national disgrace and, as you say, a big part of the coming catastrophe.
Has anyone noticed that the same characters who ran or watched passively while Citigroup, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, JP Morgan etc, into the ground, are Obama’s ‘best and brightest’ who are now supposed to ‘save’ the economy?
Well, I’m a bit more optimistic now that I’ve heard from the man himself assuring me of normal gyrations and something called bobbing up and down. It was something like that.
I don’t think Obama will drive a breakup of the U. S., but if I’m wrong, I won’t be living in one of the socialist states.
Let me see-a former coke-snorting, friend of a domestic terrorist, ties to a fund raiser for current terrorists, has an American hating, racist pastor, ad fills his cabinet with a bunch of anti-free eterprise tax cheats? Think you will see Brian(no brain) Williams, Katie(no courage) Couric, Charlie(Com) Gibson, Chris(obama is my viagra) Matthews, Kieth(I am as dumb as I look) ubercommie or Rachel Maddow(madcow diesease) will bother to report it, or will they continue to report what there butt buddies Soros and Immelt want them to do? any bets?
Promoguy:
Passengers on the Titanic probably were ‘bobbing up and down’ for a while too.
Hector #90:
Putting aside your “soon” and “short term” qualifiers, why would the markets necessarily go up vs stay flat at the bottom? A certain amount of private capital is risk tolerant and will be available to the markets no matter what. The vast majority of private capital however, is risk sensitive and gov’t policy can have a huge effect on that as we are seeing now. If the feds continue inserting themselves in the private markets you can expect to see an acceleration of fleeing capital and further erosion of the markets.
There is a theoretical point where policy and markets balance, but we won’t see it any time soon if this admin continues to prevaricate. But, they are prevaricating because they KNOW how the markets are going to react to their true intentions, so they are dribbling out details, obfuscating and outright lying. We ain’t seen nothing yet IMO.
“Yes, Roger… Modern progressives (which includes the media and other opinion elite) are able to ignore a roaring cognitive dissonance between their ideas and reality.”
there’s the term for you—”cognitive dissonance” For anyone who has ever experienced this, it’s very painful, and is a leading cause of suicide attemps (we can only measure those who attempted since those who succeeded are dead). Cognitive Dissonance is what keeps Europeans spreading the stereotype that the average American is a racist redneck, despite Obama being elected. Cognitive Dissonance is the reason why anti-Americans refuse to step foot inside the US–it’s not that they fear loathing it, they fear LOVING it! When you’re entire world is built on a house of cards, you must do everything to protect it.
The media? Do they even deserve that name anymore? They are botoxed, surgically enhanced actors mouthing their lines. But they are mere background noise now. What bothers me the most is that this crisis clearly does NOT bother Obama. Instead of a president of reason and moderation, we have an unapologetic idealogue who is every bit as radical as his past associations and positions indicated.
Bush looks better every day. The press will never admit that they were wrong, never. No more than the Bushbashers were.
For most of Bush’s tenure in office the economy did pretty well. Bush did try to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and was informed by Democrats that there was nothing to reform. He tried to push for more domestic production of oil when prices soared, and Pelosi blocked it stating that she was trying to save the planet.
Should Bush have tried harder? Probably, but what difference would it have made? No one really wanted to stop the housing bubble while money was still being made. And as for oil, a lot of people on the right refused to believe there was speculation in the market..it was just supply and demand. Meanwhile the Democrats are yammering about saving the planet.
So it seems to me that a lot of people are at fault here. However, Obama is taking advantage of the situation to try and push through an economic plan that would most Americans would never support under normal circumstances.
To 101 johngaltlives: I’m in the middle of happy hour right now (maybe I should rephrase that). I’m in the middle of happy hours right now and after a few double shots of Tennessee “sippin” whiskey on the rocks, your comments brought a smile to my face. As for 99 Don Rhudy, you don’t have to move anywhere. This country was founded on revolution: If you don’t already have a 2nd Amendment weapon, I advise you to get one. We are only one idiot “justice” away on the Supreme Court from repealing your right to defend yourself and your family from criminals, whether they stalk the streets at night or stalk the halls of Congress and the White House during the day.
I was willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and even defended him late into his campaign and up until a month ago. But his unwillingness to see how his ideology is petrifying the markets makes me realize that he is every bit the unAmerican radical that we all feared. Just like most Leftists, he’s completely unconcerned with the long term effects of his policies. He’s interested not with “saving” America, but in completely reshaping it into a welfare state. We cannot count on the media to seriously critique these policies (if the Fairness Doctrine is implemented it will get even worse). I do not think that race is a factor any longer. No one can seriously argue that those who oppose Obama’s policies are racist. The media is simply lazy, superficial and out-of-touch with the vast majority of Americans.
We cannot count on the media to provide any serious forum for an unbiased discussion of policies and issues, but we can write to our represenstatives (especially the Democrats) and remind them who’s in charge. We can rant and bellyache all we want on message boards like this, but the real impact will come from constituents making their worries known. Here is a complete list of phone numbers, emails and addresses of senators, congressmen, governors, etc: http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm
David # 108
“We cannot count on the media to provide any serious forum for an unbiased discussion of policies and issues, but we can write to our represenstatives (especially the Democrats) and remind them who’s in charge. We can rant and bellyache all we want on message boards like this, but the real impact will come from constituents making their worries known. Here is a complete list of phone numbers, emails and addresses of senators, congressmen, governors, etc:…”
You are whistling past the graveyard brother.
There’s no fixing this through the ballot. That option is now over. You just don’t know it yet. Read your history. Read the history of tyranny, Then watch it in living color as you live it.
You people are basically in deep denial. Can’t blame you. What we let happen to this country is a crime against history itself. We should all hang our heads in shame.
If you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable. Heed this warning Congress: listen to the American people or prepare to be shot, because the American people are on the brink of rebellion.
“What we let happen to this country is a crime against history itself. We should all hang our heads in shame.”
Brainwashing is a real instrument used to subdue people. I’m not sure what the numbers are, or if I could accurately say “a lot”, but enough Americans (and the world in general) have been literally brainwashed that it has caused such a disruption to rational thought, we have entered a New Dark Age. We have thrown into the garbage the most amazing, peaceful, innovative, free nation the world has ever seen. But how do you convince people who are brainwashed to see things clearly? It took decades to get us where we are today, it would take even more time to get things back on track. I’m an optomistic person by nature, despite in the early 1980s as a high school student noticing the mass hysteria (brainwashing) that was already in full swing. I was horified of it then. I just never imagined that I would see the results of such anti-American marxist brainwashing happen in my lifetime. I can’t believe it happened so quickly. But I keep reminding myself I’m no fortune teller or radical. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. We still have democracy. We still have web sites such as this and we still have Checks and Balances (praise the Lord!). Maybe things won’t be so bad… Hope springs eternal….
I think people will wake up soon. I was a liberal, but Obama turned me into a conservative. I did my research on him, and was horrified that with his thug, communist tendencies, America hating circle of friends, failure at success on any level, and completely weak resume that he was even a possibility of a presidential candidate. Not to mention his ghastly upbringing, that didn’t seem very American at all. (This is the first time there have been rumours of a candidate not even being American). I was sorry to see my friends and family fooled by him. They were more voting against the Repubs of the past eight years than for Obama. I sympathized, but voted Repub for the first time in my life this election because I respected McCain and Palin, and character meant more to me than party. However, I do feel that if I, a lifelong democrat was able to switch to conservatism, then that means anybody can. And so, I am optimistic about people eventually wising up sooner rather than later.
tyates – Macroeconomics is not junk science. There ARE some junk practitioners. Just like everything else in academia, it has been infiltrated by the sbuversives of the Left. If macroeconomics ever got full understanding, if certain precepts got accepted as proven truths, then Marxism would be finished.
Remember, at its heart, Marxism is an economic theory. It has been demonstrated to be false, but they can’t let that be known, so they must discredit all others to engender confusion. You’ve bought into it. Chaos and disorder.
It’s so hard for decent people to believe that others could possibly want these results, but it’s because they simply haven’t read enough on it and are too decent. Gotta have considerable hardness in yourself to believe it in others.
Would that be the same media that endorsed Bagojevich and then called for his resignation as if they had nothing to do with his election?
I’m not really interested in their opinion on anything beyond local sports.
Obama could not hav said it more clearly, he has to focus on the BIG picture and he can’t concern himself wih the day to day gyrations of the Stock Market.
So you say you want a revolution? Really, how would that work? “The free people of State of (let’s say – Texas) hereby secede from the United States of America.” And BHO is like, “let them go?” That battle would last a week. Then what, guerilla warfare against occupying federal forces? Terror against american “collaborators.” BHO already has one crisis which he is exacerbating and using to extend the power of the Federal Government and warp America into a mirror image of what our founders desired; active secession and it is dictator for life. Full Stop.
I understand the endless political and cultural warfare, in conjunction with the an economic recession and power grab by the left, is wearing away the belief that matters can be peacefully resolved. Indeed, we may be living in pre-revolutionary times, but the new model army is not yet marching down the street. Hope abides. Have faith in the fundamental soundness of the American people and our system of government, and take action at the state and local level – join conservative action groups, talk to your neighbors, run for local office. Next time somebody espouses some mush headed liberal groupthink – call them out on it (in a friendly but spirited way). Yes, you probably will loose friends, but there are enough conservatives (and libertarians) that a dialogue can be had even in blue states.
Civil war is messy, bloody, and scaring (even when being fought by cultural and political proxy as it is now); in our anger over the New New Deal being shoved down our throats by a nascent dictator, it is easy to forget the consequences. It may sound stupid, but I would recommend watching Babylon 5 Season 3 – whose major story arc entained a full out justified Civil War against an increasingly fascist central government, the reasons for it, and the bloody consequences thereof.
Anyway, if I haven’t lost you by refering to a TV show, one of the characters, a military capital ship commander who has has to engage and destroy an “enemy” ship in the process of seceding from the government, remarks to his XO, right before the battle:
“He has a wife back home, three small children, an Abyssinian cat named Max. That’s what makes this war different from anything we have ever gone through before. This time we know everyone we kill.”
I’m sorry folks, but there has got to be a better road to travel.
“So you say you want a revolution? Really, how would that work?”
Americans have become far too complacent. I wish in some ways we lived up to our stereotype of being the world’s most violent people. (Americans are less prone to rioting than Canadians!) We are well fed and well entertained with our giant flat screen TVs and gadgets, and we have let the government get enormous while we played and slept. While watching Monday Night Football, the government took over our lives right under our noses. I always wonder why Americans don’t riot more, or protest more. We’re not even known for protesting. I wondered why the people of Illinois did not riot after their governor was caught selling votes, threatening the lives of reporters, abusing power generally in a way that is mind boggling. There were no storming of the governor’s mansion, not even a protest march. I think of Musolini and Consescau and how mobs tore them to shreds. I wish we Americans would do that more often. I think it’s warranted. In China, they execute corrupt politicians. Here is an observant quote from a man some of you may have heard of. It sums up perfectly why we have an out-of-control government:
“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts
they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. …
And what country can preserve its liberties, if it’s rulers are not
warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as
to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost
in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure.” –Thomas Jefferson
RE: revolution and all that: I was recently in the market for a firearm, simple home defense purposes, target shooting, etc. But if you want to know something remarkable going on, walk into any store in the US that sells firearms and ask the clerks what’s been going on. They are all dazed and in wonderment over the massive volume of gun sales since the election. The firearms industry has never seen anything like it. They cannot make enough guns and ammo. I mean the folks are arming themselves, bigtime. Shotguns, pistols, rifles…esp any kind of defensive weaponry. I don’t think it’s just the threat of gun control…it seems more than that. Nothing organized, but I guess it could get that way.
There could be some things up with which people will not put.
#116 Giant Jelly Fish Killer:
“So you say you want a revolution? Really, how would that work? “The free people of State of (let’s say – Texas) hereby secede from the United States of America.” And BHO is like, “let them go?” That battle would last a week.”
Yep…and Texas would win.
A) Texas would NOT stand alone.
and
B) The USA is bankrupt…civil wars, (or wars of secession, as this would rightfully be), are also EXPENSIVE.
and
C) Texas, (and her likely co-secessionists in the South, Midwest and the West, have oil).
“I’m sorry folks, but there has got to be a better road to travel.”
I felt the EXACT same way last election day.
I voted for Bob Barr.
See where it got me?
Ummm… yes, they are. Next question?
Most of the members of the media contracted VD at Woodstock,then exacerbated the condition through abusing drugs,and years of liberal indoctrination. The result is a dementedclaque of virulent Dem. cheerleaders a sort of pravda,whose members lie under the influence of tertiary syphilis,and the after effects of halucigens. No wonder nobody listens to them
9. AnninCA:
This is the area where Obama simply cannot be held accountable.
Unless you’re an idiot, you’ve followed the story.
It’s beyond his control.
There is no presidential powern that could calm down a global meltdown.
Everything that happened between 1/20/01 and 1/20/09 was Bush’s fault.
How long before anything is Obama’s fault? Don’t bother- I know your answer already.
“I’m not an economist…”
Obviously! If you were capable of doing any advanced arithmetic you’d know that you spent all this time penning a blog that has no basis in the numbers.