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Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Purely Political Post

But not actually partisan.

I'm wondering if the DC bubble has enveloped ALL of Obama's advisors? Isn't he supposed to be gearing up for another campaign? Hasn't he been reminded of what happened to George Bush the First when he failed to grasp the economic reality on the ground?

Democratic Underground reacts to Obama's comments on the economy. This was one of the most supportive comments:
2. He's lying, but he also knows that the president giving a doomsday speech isn't going to help.

The economy needs to feel confident right now. The president doesn't need to be a downer.

There's a fine line here between telling the truth and having the truth be the worst medicine.
And then we have stuff like these:
36. "Freaking everyone out"?

Edited on Tue Jun-07-11 03:33 PM by woo me with science
People are *already* freaked out. They are freaked out because they are losing their jobs and homes and life savings and safety nets.

Telling them the truth about our economic problems is not going to "freak them out," as though they wouldn't even conceive of these problems unless you told them. People are LIVING this economic mess, and lots of them are pissed as hell that politicians have been minimizing what they are facing and putting it on the back burner. This is where you get the meme of politicians in bubbles....because they act that way.

How do you trust someone to fix your problem, if they won't even acknowledge what you are facing?
...
42. +1. What's freaking me out is that no one in DC will admit how bad things are.

That leaves me with some unattractive options

1) They're cowards
2) They're idiots
3) They're indifferent to our suffering

None of those options gives me a very high opinion of my elected officials. The President would be much better off, IMO, if he were doing his damnedest to created a jobs package--even if the Republicans were shooting his proposals down at every turn, he would obviously be trying. Right now, he's starting to remind me of Bush 41 and the grocery scanner.
...
3. He's delusional

If that's the best he can come up with, he should get new staff. or resign.
...
29. The President needs to thank his 'lucky stars' that this is 2011 and not 2012.

While he is at it, he needs to extract his head from his ass.

My patience, as many others seem to reflect, are wearing thin.
...
41. Oh, well, then that's official - double-dip recession is upon us.

Those bozos are so full of themselves, they think they can control the reality with their words.
As if the reality even cares what they say.
The problem is that even most people with jobs are sliding backward now, with expenses rising far more quickly than incomes. So the problem is way larger than 10% unemployed or needing a job but without a chance to get one, so not even looking.


Comments:
MoM,
Energy prices will not fall as long as we keep
debasing the dollar to compete and to pay debt.
That's why I favor a tariff on imported manufactured
goods. We have to cast a wider tax net for revenue
but can't keep taxing our working class because they
don't have it. Will it cause weeping and gnashing of
teeth ? Yeah. Do we have any choice ? I don't think so.
Sporkfed
 
Spork - we are running out of easy options, that's for sure.
 
Spork - who do you think PAYS that tariff? The consumer, AKA that working class stiff. You put in that tariff, you may have a few jobs move back. But I guarantee you'll reduce the standard of living of everyone else, because their cost of living will go up by the amount of the tariff.

I think a more important change to our tax code would be to go after foundations, trusts, and AMT-exempt income with a vengeance. That's the non-working wealthy, and the folks that really set the populists' teeth on edge. But you'll notice that the trustifarian class is heavily represented in political circles, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that change to happen. Instead, the rage of populists gets redirected to taxing the snot out of small businessmen, aka the folks who actually HIRE people. Then our esteemed leaders have the audacity to wonder why there aren't any new jobs created ...
 
The consumer can avoid buying all but essentials if they
choose. I would use the tariff to eliminate FICA taxes.
As it is now we tax our labor but and subsidize foreign
Labor. That has to stop.

Sporkfed
 
It's much simpler than that. Start getting rid of the regulation, all that unnecessary garbage. As I've said before, we can't even cut down a tree in the yard without dealing with a nightmare of permits and urban foresters. Imagine the load on what a business can do.

Remember when they gave Bush a bad time about that 4.5% unemployment?
 
Glass-steal was a start,right ?
You need some regulation otherwise
Power shifts to corporate interests rather
quickly.we have a government that puts
Corporations first and citizens last. Yeah
We can and should reduce burdens on
Business but only to the point that it doesn't
Allow them to knowingly put the public at
Risk.
Sporkfed
 
Damn spellcheck.

Sporkfed
 
We're having a true crisis of confidence.
 
I see that the State dept. has approved the Transcanada Keystone XL pipeline to bring oil sands oil from Canada to Houston Texas. This is a needed addition to our oil gathering and refining needs. The pipeline would provide 20,000 good paying jobs.

Guess what? The EPA has filed to block the construction for further environmental study. Read about it here:
http://www.thirdage.com/news/oil-sands-pipeline-epa-seeks-extended-review_06-07-2011

In the Permian Basin of West Texas, the Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of declaring the sand dunes lizard endangered. If this happens, it will destroy thousands of good paying jobs in the oil industry as well as interrupt access to millions of barrels of oil in the two richest oil producing counties in the continental U.S.
Read about it here:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/West-Texas-oil-industry-suffers-case-of-reptile-1408757.php

These are just two examples of the way this adminmistration is actively destroying jobs and making the energy situation worse here. Some people believe they are trying to destroy the economy ala Cloward - Piven. I still don't think he is evil, merely incompetent. I hope I'm right.
 
Mark - that was bad enough the first time! Shame on you!
 
MaxedOutMama,

Shame on me?

/snarkon

I'm simply trying to point out that everyone should hunker down like I am and "conserve" their gasoline (and/or savings).

That means cutting out all unnecessary trips to strip malls and restaurants.

Just think how great our economy will do!

/snarkoff

As a side note, I think Jimmy Carter was sincere and honest (which is a rare trait in a president). Unfortunately, the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

In all seriousness, if everyone hunkered down like I am then this economy would be 100% toast.
 
Don't make me send in the rabbit.
 
Yes, the nanosecond after you see an article about a company getting set to pour dollars into the West Texas oil deal...BAM...article about the EPA getting ready to block it.

If the news reports have a shred of truth, it means our gov. is actively working against the country at large.


And yes, regulations at the small level are insane. This is why no small business is getting created. It keeps the field clear for the corp. interests.

Why do you think there is a Subway and Family Dollar in most every tiny town? What happened to the general store and the local flavor?

They are being legislated out of business.
 
Home this week because both kids are graduating from the University of 'the Soviet' (good timing as they've been given permission to set tuition without political oversight...calling Mr. Otis!!) so I've been doing my part to support the economy by making daily 80 mile roundtrips to campus for one ceremony or the other.

As God is my witness, I didn't have a clue that the designated leftest...err, graduation speaker is Kathleen Sebelius. In honor of our hostess, I'd make a sign "Obamacare - Death Panel for the US Economy" to hold up during her speech, but my wife might well shoot me on the spot for lack of decorum, if nothing else.

The son is graduating in Civil Engineering. According to him, about the only 2011 CE graduates getting full-time jobs are those with connections (family or previous employers). He has a paying internship for 6 months, after that who knows as even paying internships are quite scarce. A degree in the hard sciences isn't even enough in this economy.
 
Soviet - on the one hand, not irritating the woman is always a good strategy. On the other hand, I think I'd go armed with materials in case I felt a blood vessel about to pop. It depends on the type of speech, but if it's a pack of nonsense delivered in a smarmily arrogant tone....

Congrats on the grads!

CE is not so good right now because the pace of building is down, but over time that's going to pay off.
 
MoM,

Oh it'll be smarmy all right. One look at the (Sebelius) woman is enough to tell you that. At this point, I'll settle for no-rain.

CE grad's twin sister has managed to avoid the job search for a while by going to Med School, albeit at the cost of taking on major debt (current estimate - $220K). I do worry a bit about her ability to pay that off after Obamacare crashes the current system, but hey...that's her problem.

I'll admit it DOES feel good to have made the last tuition payment.
 
Go for it, Soviet! Would do Seattle good to learn that there's at least one person that thinks differently!
 
Sebelius Speech Report

Wussed-out, but since our assigned seats were at the bowl end away from the stage, anything less than 3' high letters wouldn't have been readable. Speech was pablumic, complete with the usual bad jokes (Husky refers to brain-size, not future weight, har-har), references to past Democratic hero's (RFK), appeals to the vigor of youth, etc. Nothing specifically political. She didn't even manage to stick around until the end. Even the wife (who's the least political of the family) thought it was a weak effort.

Spent more time trying to keep track of my kids in a sea of 6K black gowns. It's amazingly hard, even with advanced optics.

6 ceremonies down, one to go (CE department this afternoon). Good thing...I'm getting tired.

Teri, Seattle proper and a number of the close-in cities (hello Shoreline...) deserve all the epithets you can throw at them, however the rest of Washington is actually purple-to-red. We live in the northern Pugetopolis burbs, there are plenty of people around who understand what's happening.
 
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