This Is Obama’s Economy

11 responses to “This Is Obama’s Economy”

1. Sean Patrick Hazlett | August 4, 2011 at 6:01 pm | Reply

   But, but…Bush’s two wars…he inherited it from Bush…. the stimulus should have been bigger….if only we taxed the rich, the economy would get better…the Tea Party is racist…

   What other Democratic talking point am I missing?

   • reflectionephemeral | August 4, 2011 at 6:09 pm | Reply

     The Dow is up about 40% since Obama’s inauguration.

     Not that the Dow = the economy anyway, or that the president = the economy.

     This post conclusively demonstrates that when you close your eyes and think about the president, you feel sad, but it doesn’t tell us about anything that’s happening on actually-existing planet Earth.

     • pino | August 5, 2011 at 12:20 am | Reply

       But, but…Bush’s two wars

       Heh heh…even THAT’S flawed. Obama has admitted that the Afghan war is the proper war. So he really is only complaining about the Iraq war. And Bush virtually ended that before O took office.

       What other Democratic talking point am I missing?

       Bush deregulated too much. Other than that, you nailed it.

       Not that the Dow = the economy anyway, or that the president = the economy.

       Well, to be fair, folks love to point to Sean’s graph showing employment numbers as a method to blame Bush.

       This post conclusively demonstrates that when you close your eyes and think about the president, you feel sad, but it doesn’t tell us about anything that’s happening on actually-existing planet Earth.

       It took many people to pass the laws that are crippling us, to be sure. It’s not all Obama. But he’s the leader. He’s in front using his pulpit. It’s Obama waging war on oil companies and insurance companies and coal mine companies. It’s Obama that’s leading the charge on green technology.

       If you were going to invest a ton of money to start a company, would you do it here; now?

2. Sean Patrick Hazlett | August 4, 2011 at 7:31 pm | Reply

   The S&P500 hit a decade low under Obama as well, declining 15% after he took office, and then went up 77% from that point ending today. It’s not hard for the market to rally when you start at rock bottom. Volatility is a better indicator, and it has been higher under Obama’s watch than it was under Bush, even if you bake in the 2008 economic crisis. The VIX is a measure of fear/uncertainty/confidence. Right now, the President (and Congress) inspires everything but confidence.

   Then add silly policies like suing Boeing for creating 1,000 non union jobs in South Carolina, and tackling healthcare reform when the President should have been focused on jobs and the economic crisis. The number of Americans on food stamps have roughly doubled, and the President has added roughly $1.8 trillion to the national for each year he has been in office vs. George Bush’s $0.5 trillion. And of course, unemployment is at roughly 2 percentage points higher than what it was when Obama took office. But then again, it must be those dastardedly, evil Republicans who’ve been in control of one lower house of Congress for 6 months, who are to blame.

   You can continue to blame Bush and the Republicans all you want, but the fact is that after two years of a government dominated by Democrats, the President OWNS this economy, and what he is doing clearly is not working. Of course, that is for those of us who are observing the statistics about what is actually happening on planet earth.

3. Alan Scott | August 4, 2011 at 10:41 pm | Reply

   You guys should go to steve’s new blog and see the picture of President Obama standing among ruble , with the caption ” My work here is done ”

   http://cryandhowl.wordpress.com/

   • pino | August 5, 2011 at 12:22 am | Reply

     You guys should go to steve’s new blog

     Steve?

     Oh! The guy that posts over at Mo’s place?

4. Scott Erb | August 5, 2011 at 2:48 pm | Reply

   Unfortunately the problem in the US is that people want to blame Obama or Bush for a systemic problem that transcends administrations and parties. No Republican would be fearing much better (or worse) in this global economy. I look at Germany (and wrote a blog about it yesterday) where the economy is doing much better than others in Europe. The CDU and SPD (right and left) joined in 2009 to pass a balanced budget amendment. In 2010 Merkel’s government passed an austerity program with a mix of tax increases (which are less damaging to an economy than spending cuts) and spending cuts. They protected social welfare programs by reforming them. Rather than having one party or ideology blaming the other, they rationally analyze the situation and what steps best to take. Instead of ideological rancor and finger pointing, it’s compromise and problem solving. The blaming, partisan swipes and ideologically driven interpretations of reality on both the left and the right are creating a dysfunctional political discourse that assures only that the US will fall into permanent decline if we continue. Fortunately, the public is sick of it — support for Congress is at a record low. Maybe the moderates in both parties can push aside the extremists, stop worrying about blame and solve the problem. This compromise on the debt ceiling makes a bond down grade more likely than ever.

   • pino | August 6, 2011 at 1:15 am | Reply

     The CDU and SPD (right and left) joined in 2009 to pass a balanced budget amendment. In 2010 Merkel’s government passed an austerity program with a mix of tax increases (which are less damaging to an economy than spending cuts) and spending cuts. They protected social welfare programs by reforming them.

     We need something to change.

5. Scott Erb | August 5, 2011 at 2:48 pm | Reply

   I meant ‘faring’ much better, not fearing!

6. nickgb | August 6, 2011 at 1:18 pm | Reply

   Yes, clearly this economy is Obama’s fault. There’s NOTHING else in the news this week, driven by GOP demands, that led to market instability. I wish there was anything that Congress did in the past few weeks that could possibly have caused a market sell off, but clearly there’s not. It’s all Obama.

   Wait, no, this is a ridiculous post.

   • pino | August 6, 2011 at 1:49 pm | Reply

     There’s NOTHING else in the news this week, driven by GOP demands, that led to market instability.

     There have been several times in my life when my finances have been upside down; think college and beer.

     Each of those times has required dramatic reductions of spending an an increase in revenue – if possible. The Republicans, led by the Tea Party contingent, attempted to pull back spending, to actually spend fewer American dollars next year than this year. But they couldn’t get it by the Democrat controlled Senate or the Democrat White House. In addition to this attempt by Republicans in the House, they are allowing an increase in revenue. The United States will continue to take in more dollars next year than this year.

     The Republicans did their job.

     It is Obama leading an unrealistic ideological contingent within the Democrat party that is waging a war on the people in this nation that produce. Obama continues to try to remove from their hands the money that would otherwise grow the economy and put it into the hands of a group of people who have demonstrated, as a general group, that they don’t know how to manage money.

     If you were trying to win a basketball game, would you try to put your capital [the ball] in the hands of Michael Jordan or in the hands of, say, Luk Longley? While certainly not “fair” you will find that if we wanna succeed, the capital should be in the hands of the successful. But Obama isn’t doing that. He’s giving the capital to Luk.

     Take Boeing. Can you defend the position the Labor Board has taken? Can you believe you would see the day when a private corporation wouldn’t be free to open a factory in a state of their choosing? Can you honestly tell me that we need MORE of that type of behavior to grow the economy?

     Or take Obamacare. Can you defend the position that Obamacare is growing the economy? That what amounts to a massive tax on corporation in terms of providing free medical care is something that encourages those same corporations to just go hire?

     The list is exhaustive. You can argue that it makes you feel better that people have medical care, but you can not make the case that it is an economic stimulant. You can argue that jobs ought to be in the hands of the workers through union laws. But you can’t make the argument that it, again, drives economic growth.

     The GOP allowed revenues to rise and tried to reduce spending.

     The Democrats said no.