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Oh please! Isn't it a given that Obama needs for Americans to buy, buy, buy if he expects the economy to turn around? Can you explain how Obama expects to turn the economy around if people don't buy, buy, buy? Do you think the economy is going to fix itself without people spending? Do you think Obama was hoping the stimulus checks would be saved or used to pay down debt...or spent, the latter of which he hoped would "stimulate" the economy? Give me a break...you are 180 degrees off the mark in your comprehension of economics, but also about Obama. You get a big red F!
FAIL.
You falsely attributed a directive to someone who didn't even say it - inferring what you believe he would have said.
You would be laughed out of a court of law.
Yet again, you tout your education but are yet to demonstrate any degree of critical or analytical thinking typically derived therein.
FAIL. FAIL. FAIL. FAIL. FAIL. Next thread. Close this one down. Conjecture, your honor.
Once again a repub screams a thread title, makes a statement, that just isn't true and hasn't the courage to come back and admit it.
At the Coven of Conservatives (Cpac) wasn't there someone exhorting neocons to try the truth FOR A CHANGE to get back on track with Americans and maybe they could win some elections.......wasn't he booed down..
The truth has not been popular among those calling themselves Republicans for quite some time. Truth is their enemy. Fabricated disinformation is their friend.
As for truth in economics, Bush gets appointed and we go immediatley into a recession brought about in large part by fears over his plans to reverse the policies that had proved so successful under his predecessor. People had not forgotten what voodoo economics had brought about 20 years before. The nation's rock solid balance sheet is immediately undercut by tax cuts for the rich, with an expensive and unnecessary war soon added on top of that. A second round of tax cuts for the rich does nothing but boost corporate profits, and in a last ditch attempt to spur some sort of actual economic activity, the Fed cuts interest rates to near zero and pledges to leave them there. The behavior of major cash-pooling investors is altered, as they seek higher returns than the crummy 1% that Greenspan talks about. Mortgage-backed securities are an attractive option, as they produce now favorable rates of return while traditionally providing lots of security. In response, Wall Street investment banks ramp up their mortgage purchase and securitization programs and begin making huge profits off of those and new classes of derivatives that they invent. The investment banks get clearance (from Republicans) to greatly increase their leverage, and while interest rates begin to rise, the banks still need more and more original mortgage paper to slice and dice in order to maintain their staggering profit levels. Pressure is put on private brokers to produce more paper even if traditional underwriting standards are compromised. Pressure is put on Congress to wedge the GSE's out of the secondary markets so the banks can have access to that market share. Major mortgage players such as Countrywide put pressure on the GSE's themselves to start taking the same crap paper that the investment banks are buying. Interest rates rise some more, and some of the high-cost, back-loaded loans that private brokers have pushed onto consumers begin to reset and go into default and foreclosure. It's still full speed ahead on Wall Street though, and though warned for years already that a major problem could be building out of all this, regulators at places like the SEC and the Fed continue to take no action at all, confident that the markets are wise enough to regulate themselves. Defaults and foreclosures expand beyond the levels of tolerance built into the system for them. There is now not enough cash coming in on original mortgages to make the payments called for on mortgage-backed securities. There is so little transparency in these and in credit insurance contracts based on them that no one is sure what paper is good anymore. The markets for such paper start to seize. Unable to mark their assets to market, major holders are forced to take huge write-downs all over the world. They are afraid to lend to anyone, and everyone is afraid to lend to them. Soon it becomes obvious that suspect paper exists throughout the financial system and no one is able to trust anyone. Republicans ignore opportunities to address these emerging problems in the summer of 2007 and are finally galvanized into emergency action in the fall of 2008, but it is already too late. Banks, uncertain of their own reserves and lacking confidence in an ability to recapitalize, cut back on commercial and consumer credit. Without credit to fuel everyday transactions, layoffs and a curtailing of investments and purchases begin. Financial markets begin a major decline, further cutting into confidence and demand, leading to further rollbacks in employment, investment, and consumer spending and further market declines. Having sent us into this downward spiral toward depression, President Bush slinks out of town, leaving for his successor exactly the opposite of what he himself had inherited. He came in with the economy stronger than it had been in decades. He left with it weaker than it had been in decades and getting even weaker with each passing day. That is the economic history and legacy of the Bush administration...another sorry testimony to the wisdom of laissez-faire, free-market capitalism, a system that has never worked and never will.
Are you Obama supporters following Obama's direction to spend money? Are you buying stuff to improve the economy and reduce unemployment?
Are you buying homes, cars, furniture, appliances, artwork, computers, televisions, carpet, jewelry, clothes, etc., etc., etc.?
If not, why aren't you?
No I am not. Why? Because no one really knows what is going to happen to this economy, no one knows if his plan with work, and I know that the Republican may may not have worked either. I am stocking up on food for the future, myself. But actually, we own our home, have no credit cards, no bills, and don't need clothing, etc. If our TV goes out we will buy another. If my computer dies, another. I am not materialist anyway.
I don't believe that the President has exhorted us to spend, however, based totally on visual evidence, there was some major positive change this week, 'cause the stores I've frequented so far this weekend have been packed with people and, they are actually spending money, not just 'window-shopping.'
Well the question isn't addressed to me, but I'm sure the Obama supporters are spending money. Why not? If they get into too much debt, they know there's a bailout coming their way.
They can pay off their credit cards if they're to the limit with a second or third mortgage and start spending all over again. Obama is going to have the taxpayers pay down their mortages for them, they can't lose their big homes.
The truth has not been popular among those calling themselves Republicans for quite some time. Truth is their enemy. Fabricated disinformation is their friend.
As for truth in economics, Bush gets appointed and we go immediatley into a recession brought about in large part by fears over his plans to reverse the policies that had proved so successful under his predecessor. People had not forgotten what voodoo economics had brought about 20 years before. The nation's rock solid balance sheet is immediately undercut by tax cuts for the rich, with an expensive and unnecessary war soon added on top of that. A second round of tax cuts for the rich does nothing but boost corporate profits, and in a last ditch attempt to spur some sort of actual economic activity, the Fed cuts interest rates to near zero and pledges to leave them there. The behavior of major cash-pooling investors is altered, as they seek higher returns than the crummy 1% that Greenspan talks about. Mortgage-backed securities are an attractive option, as they produce now favorable rates of return while traditionally providing lots of security. In response, Wall Street investment banks ramp up their mortgage purchase and securitization programs and begin making huge profits off of those and new classes of derivatives that they invent. The investment banks get clearance (from Republicans) to greatly increase their leverage, and while interest rates begin to rise, the banks still need more and more original mortgage paper to slice and dice in order to maintain their staggering profit levels. Pressure is put on private brokers to produce more paper even if traditional underwriting standards are compromised. Pressure is put on Congress to wedge the GSE's out of the secondary markets so the banks can have access to that market share. Major mortgage players such as Countrywide put pressure on the GSE's themselves to start taking the same crap paper that the investment banks are buying. Interest rates rise some more, and some of the high-cost, back-loaded loans that private brokers have pushed onto consumers begin to reset and go into default and foreclosure. It's still full speed ahead on Wall Street though, and though warned for years already that a major problem could be building out of all this, regulators at places like the SEC and the Fed continue to take no action at all, confident that the markets are wise enough to regulate themselves. Defaults and foreclosures expand beyond the levels of tolerance built into the system for them. There is now not enough cash coming in on original mortgages to make the payments called for on mortgage-backed securities. There is so little transparency in these and in credit insurance contracts based on them that no one is sure what paper is good anymore. The markets for such paper start to seize. Unable to mark their assets to market, major holders are forced to take huge write-downs all over the world. They are afraid to lend to anyone, and everyone is afraid to lend to them. Soon it becomes obvious that suspect paper exists throughout the financial system and no one is able to trust anyone. Republicans ignore opportunities to address these emerging problems in the summer of 2007 and are finally galvanized into emergency action in the fall of 2008, but it is already too late. Banks, uncertain of their own reserves and lacking confidence in an ability to recapitalize, cut back on commercial and consumer credit. Without credit to fuel everyday transactions, layoffs and a curtailing of investments and purchases begin. Financial markets begin a major decline, further cutting into confidence and demand, leading to further rollbacks in employment, investment, and consumer spending and further market declines. Having sent us into this downward spiral toward depression, President Bush slinks out of town, leaving for his successor exactly the opposite of what he himself had inherited. He came in with the economy stronger than it had been in decades. He left with it weaker than it had been in decades and getting even weaker with each passing day. That is the economic history and legacy of the Bush administration...another sorry testimony to the wisdom of laissez-faire, free-market capitalism, a system that has never worked and never will.
Good summation....thank you.
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