Obama's qualifications

[daytrader millionaire]

Could you tell me how HE created 22 million jobs??? Since HE did why don't we do that now and Obama won't have to lose jobs throughout at least half of his term?

 

Where do you get your talking points from? Do some RESEARCH like you guys always tell people to do and see what they changed when doing the budget. It's like saying I could borrow a million from Uncle Tom and say I'm rich.

 

 

 

 

I think you need to do some research yourself! Here's a start for you some facts!

 

 

 

Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.

 

Where is the evidence that everything would be better if Republicans were in charge? Does anyone believe the economy would be growing faster or that unemployment would be lower today if John McCain had won the election? I know of no economist who holds that view. The economy is like an ocean liner that turns only very slowly. The gross domestic product and the level of employment would be pretty much the same today under any conceivable set of policies enacted since Barack Obama’s inauguration.

 

Until conservatives once again hold Republicans to the same standard they hold Democrats, they will have no credibility and deserve no respect.

 

In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected a deficit this year of $1.2 trillion before Obama took office, with no estimate for actions he might take. To a large extent, the CBO’s estimate simply represented the $482 billion deficit projected by the Bush administration in last summer’s budget review, plus the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, which George W. Bush rammed through Congress in September over strenuous conservative objections. Thus the vast bulk of this year’s currently estimated $1.8 trillion deficit was determined by Bush’s policies, not Obama’s.

 

I think conservative anger is misplaced. To a large extent, Obama is only cleaning up messes created by Bush. This is not to say Obama hasn’t made mistakes himself, but even they can be blamed on Bush insofar as Bush’s incompetence led to the election of a Democrat. If he had done half as good a job as most Republicans have talked themselves into believing he did, McCain would have won easily.

 

Conservative protesters should remember that the recession, which led to so many of the policies they oppose, is almost entirely the result of Bush’s policies. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in December 2007—long before Obama was even nominated. And the previous recession ended in November 2001, so the current recession cannot be blamed on cyclical forces that Bush inherited.

 

Indeed, Bush’s responsibility for the recession is implicit in every conservative analysis of its origins. The most thorough has been done by John Taylor, a respected economist from Stanford University who served during most of the Bush administration as the No. 3 official at the Treasury Department. In his book, Getting Off Track, he puts most of the blame on the Federal Reserve for holding interest rates down too low for too long.

 

While the Fed does bear much responsibility for sowing the seeds of recession, it’s commonly treated as an institution independent of politics and even the government itself. But the Federal Reserve Board consists of governors appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

 

Because the president appoints the board, he has primary influence over its policies. This is especially the case for chairmen of the Fed appointed by Republicans because they often have ties to Republican administrations. Chairman Ben Bernanke was originally appointed as a member of the Fed in 2002, serving until 2005, when he became chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House, a position that made him Bush’s chief economic adviser.

 

As early as 2002, a majority of the seven-member Federal Reserve Board was Bush appointees, and by 2006 every member was a Bush appointee. While many critical decisions about monetary policy are made by the Federal Open Market Committee, the board’s position always prevails.

 

The Treasury secretary also has had breakfast with the Fed chairman on a weekly basis for decades. Consequently, most economists generally believe that every administration ultimately gets the Fed policy it wants. Therefore, one must conclude that if there were errors in Fed policy that caused the current downturn, it must be because the Fed was doing what the Bush administration wanted it to do.

 

To the extent that there were mistakes in housing policy that contributed to the recession, those were necessarily committed by Bush political appointees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other agencies. To the extent that banks and other financial institutions made mistakes or engaged in fraudulent activity, it was either overlooked or sanctioned by Bush appointees at the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and elsewhere.

 

But in a larger sense, the extremely poor economic performance of the Bush years really set the stage for the current recession. This is apparent when we compare Bush’s two terms to Bill Clinton’s eight years. Since both took office close to a business cycle trough and left office close to a cyclical peak, this is a reasonable comparison.

 

Throughout the Bush years, many conservative economists, including CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, extravagantly extolled Bush’s economic policies. As late as December 21, 2007, after the recession already began, he wrote in National Review: “the Goldilocks economy is outperforming all expectations.” In a column on May 2, 2008, almost six months into the recession, Kudlow praised Bush for having prevented a recession.

 

But the truth was always that the economy performed very, very badly under Bush, and the best efforts of his cheerleaders cannot change that fact because the data don’t lie. Consider these comparisons between Bush and Clinton:

 

• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real GDP grew 34.7 percent. Between the fourth quarter of 2000 and the fourth quarter of 2008, it grew 15.9 percent, less than half as much.

 

• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real gross private domestic investment almost doubled. By the fourth quarter of 2008, real investment was 6.5 percent lower than it was when Bush was elected.

 

• Between December 1992 and December 2000, payroll employment increased by more than 23 million jobs, an increase of 21.1 percent. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it rose by a little more than 2.5 million, an increase of 1.9 percent. In short, about 10 percent as many jobs were created on Bush’s watch as were created on Clinton’s.

 

• During the Bush years, conservative economists often dismissed the dismal performance of the economy by pointing to a rising stock market. But the stock market was lackluster during the Bush years, especially compared to the previous eight. Between December 1992 and December 2000, the S&P 500 Index more than doubled. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it fell 34 percent. People would have been better off putting all their investments into cash under a mattress the day Bush took office.

 

• Finally, conservatives have an absurdly unjustified view that Republicans have a better record on federal finances. It is well-known that Clinton left office with a budget surplus and Bush left with the largest deficit in history. Less well-known is Clinton’s cutting of spending on his watch, reducing federal outlays from 22.1 percent of GDP to 18.4 percent of GDP. Bush, by contrast, increased spending to 20.9 percent of GDP. Clinton abolished a federal entitlement program, Welfare, for the first time in American history, while Bush established a new one for prescription drugs.

 

Conservatives delude themselves that the Bush tax cuts worked and that the best medicine for America’s economic woes is more tax cuts; at a minimum, any tax increase would be economic poison. They forget that Ronald Reagan worked hard to pass one of the largest tax increases in American history in September 1982, the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, even though the nation was still in a recession that didn’t end until November of that year. Indeed, one could easily argue that the enactment of that legislation was a critical prerequisite to recovery because it led to a decline in interest rates. The same could be said of Clinton’s 1993 tax increase, which many conservatives predicted would cause a recession but led to one of the biggest economic booms in history.

 

According to the CBO, federal taxes will amount to just 15.5 percent of GDP this year. That’s 2.2 percent of GDP less than last year, 3.3 percent less than in 2007, and 1.8 percent less than the lowest percentage recorded during the Reagan years. If conservatives really believe their own rhetoric, they should be congratulating Obama for being one of the greatest tax cutters in history.

 

Conservatives will respond that some tax cuts are good while others are not. Determining which is which is based on something called supply-side economics. Because I was among those who developed it, I think I can speak authoritatively on the subject. According to the supply-side view, temporary tax cuts and tax credits are economically valueless. Only permanent cuts in marginal tax rates will significantly raise growth.

 

On this basis, we see that Bush’s tax cuts were pretty much the opposite of what supply-side economics would recommend. The vast bulk of his tax cuts involved tax rebates—which failed in 2001 and again in 2008, because the vast bulk of the money was saved—or tax credits that had no incentive effects. While marginal rates were cut slightly—the top rate fell from 39.6 percent to 35 percent—it was phased in slowly and never made permanent. Neither were Bush’s cuts in capital gains and dividend taxes.

 

I could go on to discuss other Bush mistakes that had negative economic consequences, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which imposed a massive regulatory burden on corporations without doing anything to prevent corporate misconduct, and starting unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will burden the economy for decades to come in the form of veterans’ benefits.

 

But there is yet another dimension to Bush’s failures—the things he didn’t do. In this category I would put a health-care overhaul. Budget experts have known for years that Medicare was on an unsustainable financial path. It is impossible to pay all the benefits that have been promised because spending has been rising faster than GDP.

 

In 2003, the Bush administration repeatedly lied about the cost of the drug benefit to get it passed, and Bush himself heavily pressured reluctant conservatives to vote for the program.

 

Because reforming Medicare is an important part of getting health costs under control generally, Bush could have used the opportunity to develop a comprehensive health-reform plan. By not doing so, he left his party with nothing to offer as an alternative to the Obama plan. Instead, Republicans have opposed Obama's initiative while proposing nothing themselves.

 

In my opinion, conservative activists, who seem to believe that the louder they shout the more correct their beliefs must be, are less angry about Obama’s policies than they are about having lost the White House in 2008. They are primarily Republican Party hacks trying to overturn the election results, not representatives of a true grassroots revolt against liberal policies. If that were the case they would have been out demonstrating against the Medicare drug benefit, the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, and all the pork-barrel spending that Bush refused to veto.

 

Until conservatives once again hold Republicans to the same standard they hold Democrats, they will have no credibility and deserve no respect. They can start building some by admitting to themselves that Bush caused many of the problems they are protesting.

 

Bruce Bartlett was one of the original supply-siders, helping draft the Kemp-Roth tax bill in the 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a leading Republican economist. He now considers himself to be a political independent. He is the author of Reaganomics: Supply-Side Economics in Action and Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy . His latest book, The New American Economy: The Failure of Reaganomics and a New Way Forward, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in October.

[longball]

Let me ask you again....Are you happy with the presidents handling of his duties so far? Is he keeping his campaign promises? Try not to mention other presidents in your response. Why is this so hard my fellow democrats. Did we buy a "pig in a poke"?

 

Daytrader...What is YOUR opinion....that copy and paste sure is easy...any original thoughts?

Edited August 28, 2009 by longball

[longball]

By the way Daytrader....A Republican controled congress past the bill that removed the federal government from the administration of welfare....Pres. Clinton signed it....But it never went away...The individual states hand out the money now...federal money

 

Open your eyes....nothing changes....both sides are against the working men and women of this great country....the parties just want us to keep arguing and paying.

 

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." Mark Twain

Edited August 28, 2009 by longball

[stephenhawkings]

should this be in off topic discussion?

[Dale143]

By the way Daytrader....A Republican controled congress past the bill that removed the federal government from the administration of welfare....Pres. Clinton signed it....But it never went away...The individual states hand out the money now...federal money

Open your eyes....nothing changes....both sides are against the working men and women of this great country....the parties just want us to keep arguing and paying.

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." Mark Twain

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

100 Senators, 435 Congressmen, 1 President, and 9 Supreme Court justices -- 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive Social Security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power..

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the

economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

All these tea party's and town hall meetings make great t.v. and all of the activist who take the time to go to these events and other events are being used by the government so they can say "look at us world! we are a democracy and the people have a say!"Its all a crock! and at the end of the day 545 people initiate there plans .Not you,not I,not any us,period !

[Die Wahrheit]

apparantly you weren't around maybe you weren't born yet. Ted, got drunk then drove off a bridge in Ma. he left Mary Jo in the car to drown. He called a friend, then waited 9 hours to report the accident. By the time it was done all he was charged with was a minor traffic violation. This isn't from Hannity ace, it's a matter of public record. so piss off.

 

 

Ok thats not new news. Bush lying about a war that killd thousand of our soldiers is recent. What do you have to asy aobut that. Nothing Just as I figured.

[Dale143]

Let me ask you again....Are you happy with the presidents handling of his duties so far? Is he keeping his campaign promises? Try not to mention other presidents in your response. Why is this so hard my fellow democrats. Did we buy a "pig in a poke"?

 

Daytrader...What is YOUR opinion....that copy and paste sure is easy...any original thoughts?

 

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

[Die Wahrheit]

he didn't get the surplus until they started adjustying the way they kept track of the deficit. in other words number pushing.

 

 

CLINTON created a surplus. WHat part of that dont you understand.

[Dale143]

Ok thats not new news. Bush lying about a war that killd thousand of our soldiers is recent. What do you have to asy aobut that. Nothing Just as I figured.

 

Die Wahrheit.

Lets say its 9/11 and you are the president.What do YOU do?

[Die Wahrheit]

In answer to the present yes he has spent more money in 8 months than any administration in history. What unnerves even more is the masses blindly following this man without so much as question as to what will happen if he succeeds.

 

I know Diewhatever and Suv only listen to ABC evening knews, but Obama has surrounded himself with all the players whos ideas of a more perfect america that he to believes in.

 

All I ask is to look at who he has installed as czars and their history. It unbelievable.

 

the saying is you can judge a man's character by the people he socializes with.

 

 

O do you mean like Bush and the big oil companies?

[Die Wahrheit]

Let me ask you again....Are you happy with the presidents handling of his duties so far? Is he keeping his campaign promises? Try not to mention other presidents in your response. Why is this so hard my fellow democrats. Did we buy a "pig in a poke"?

 

Daytrader...What is YOUR opinion....that copy and paste sure is easy...any original thoughts?

 

 

Yes. very much so considering the recession that he was left. My 401k is up 51% to date. The Dow is above 9000 and the economy is stabilizing. ANd he is about to pass health care reform, something previous Presidents before him was unable to do. All this in only 8 months. Hell yes im happy with his handling of his duties.....

[longball]

How do we pay for this prosperity our government has provided for us? I don't want to pay any more taxes.

[fmccap]

O do you mean like Bush and the big oil companies?

Or like Obama and the Pharmaceutical companies?

[fmccap]

Yes. very much so considering the recession that he was left. My 401k is up 51% to date. The Dow is above 9000 and the economy is stabilizing. ANd he is about to pass health care reform, something previous Presidents before him was unable to do. All this in only 8 months. Hell yes im happy with his handling of his duties.....

Up 51% on what fundamentals???

 

Stabilizing how?

 

It will not pass this year. Look at the polls, they are sinking fast.

 

How is HE going to pass this? Is he a DICTATOR? I thought this was America.

[Die Wahrheit]

Up 51% on what fundamentals???

 

Stabilizing how?

 

It will not pass this year. Look at the polls, they are sinking fast.

 

How is HE going to pass this? Is he a DICTATOR? I thought this was America.

 

 

Dont be fooled by the polls. He is going to pass this with the majority support of the american people

[Die Wahrheit]

Or like Obama and the Pharmaceutical companies?

 

 

Here say and what actually happened is two defferent things bubba

[Die Wahrheit]

Die Wahrheit.

Lets say its 9/11 and you are the president.What do YOU do?

 

 

Go after the right individuals and not lie to the american people and start a war for political gains.

[fmccap]

Dont be fooled by the polls. He is going to pass this with the majority support of the american people

You Union tool dumbocrats had no problem using polls when Bush(who I hated) was rated so low.

 

There is no majority support of the people.

[fmccap]

Here say and what actually happened is two defferent things bubba

Then what actually happened??? Let me guess you don't even know.

[fordworker]

You Union tool dumbocrats had no problem using polls when Bush(who I hated) was rated so low.

 

There is no majority support of the people.

bush had a 20% number.. and remember this they under pool the unemployed... and the poor in general...Obama and the dems will get 95% of the poor vote and 80%of the 45 million that have no insurance keep that in mind...

[Dale143]

ARCHIE AND DEMS.

 

AND GUN CONTROL.

 

AND CIVIL RIGHTS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RypVz09bE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frj9gkkj74I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDuZQabywjw

[fordworker]

ARCHIE AND DEMS.

 

AND GUN CONTROL.

 

AND CIVIL RIGHTS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RypVz09bE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frj9gkkj74I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDuZQabywjw

read the patriot act.. Bush and the GOP never read it when they scared everyone into voting for it... the most intrusive piece of legislation ever passed including nazi germany... go try to read it.u cant.. bush had the Illegal wiretaps bush was spying on us citizens,, it was bush who put innocent people in jail, it was bush who tortured pow's.. Its the GOP that wants the US to be like Nazi Germany not the democrats.. Its the GOP who wants the avg man to make no more then $10 an hour so they can control everything we do.... its the Republican party who puts this country into unjust wars...

[fordworker]

Funny how the party of "fiscal responsibility" has put this country into every recession since WWII.... Eisenhower had 1 and JFK got us out.

Nixon had a couple yes Nixon had them and Carter inhertied them, Reagan YES Reagan had 2 of them and Bush sr. had 1 and Clinton cleaned up that mess only to have Bush jr. put us in a big one...

Funny I dont see any democrat presidents who took office with a growing economy and left pffice with a recession.

[fmccap]

read the patriot act.. Bush and the GOP never read it when they scared everyone into voting for it... the most intrusive piece of legislation ever passed including nazi germany... go try to read it.u cant..

Just the way they are trying to cram healthcare down our throats???

 

bush had the Illegal wiretaps bush was spying on us citizens,, it was bush who put innocent people in jail, it was bush who tortured pow's.. Its the GOP that wants the US to be like Nazi Germany not the democrats.. Its the GOP who wants the avg man to make no more then $10 an hour so they can control everything we do.... its the Republican party who puts this country into unjust wars...

But it's OK Obama has expanded the wiretapping???

[Dale143]

New FCC Diversity Czar:

ignore the fact that this video is on glen beck.

Just watch what Mark Lloyd has to say.

Just one of many freedoms being snatch away.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF2C235fD7o

 

Check this out.

 

http://facta-non-verba.blogspot.com/2009/0...-appointed.html

Edited August 30, 2009 by Dale143