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President Obama On The Economy

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    This growth he speaks of (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by Inspector Gadget on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 10:31:05 AM EST
    are they comparing this October (531,000 more jobs lost) to last October? to last month? The GDP even have a direction to go other than UP?

    Just this week, including this morning, our local news announced that 6,000-7,000 people in our state alone are expiring their unemployment benefits every day. These people are no longer being included in the total number of unemployed, and I doubt this is the only state experiencing such numbers.

    Then, they went on to feature the landmark business area in Pioneer Square is struggling to the point of collapse for several of the long established businesses...and Boeing laid off another 500 yesterday...

    Guess they need (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by kmblue on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 10:32:16 AM EST
    more people to come into the White House and read them letters from people who have lost their jobs and can't pay their bills--like moi!

    Just so long as they don't try to sell me... (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by lambert on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 11:24:16 AM EST
    ... Obama gear.

    My pony's still on back order, and when it comes, I'll think about buying an Obama commemorative plate.

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    Why don't you go to the WH in (5.00 / 3) (#9)
    by oculus on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 11:52:36 AM EST
    costume tonight, maybe with a little kid in tow, and ask about your pony?

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    LOL! (none / 0) (#18)
    by lambert on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 01:47:41 PM EST
    Thanks for laughter, always the best medicine!

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    Plates are so yesterday (none / 0) (#7)
    by talesoftwokitties on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 11:29:00 AM EST
    I've ordered several of these for gifts - Change you can actually see!

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    "Adding comments has been disabled (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by oculus on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 12:05:00 PM EST
    for this video."

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    Whoever invented the Chia Obama (none / 0) (#13)
    by Spamlet on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 12:07:50 PM EST
    is one sick puppy. In the sonorous voiceover, you can almost hear the painful effort to keep a straight face.

    I guess they couldn't call it the Chia Obama Pet, though maybe they've reserved that name for the 2009 Wall Street Christmas Edition of the Chia Obama.

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    OMG....how has he done ANYTHING (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 11:49:40 AM EST
    to make it possible for people to save for their retirement (regulating the finance system) or send their kids to college?  We don't even have retirement in the U.S. anymore unless you are civil service or military.  This was a total B.S. session.

    My unemployed daughter takes heart (5.00 / 2) (#10)
    by oculus on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 11:53:22 AM EST
    from this talk of economic recovery.  Not sure why.

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    We all want something better to be happening (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 12:01:44 PM EST
    But I can't lie to myself.  I read too much, and this ups and downs things Obama talks about us having more of.....yup because they still have all the toxic assets out there and they are still selling credit default swaps.  The next two years are going to be hell, plain and simple.

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    Well, that's basically what (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by brodie on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 12:12:51 PM EST
    economist James K. Galbraith was saying on the teevee machine last night with Moyers.  The economy, according to a read of the latest numbers, might be doing nothing more than bottoming out at this point.

    And the next 2-3 years won't see much improvement in the unemployment situation if the status quo holds, sez he.  Galbraith advocates for a 21st-century oriented, large-scale New Deal type jobs program to get the patient out of bed and working again.  Otherwise, he sees great danger in our current situation of a major second downturn if the Obama admin doesn't act boldly.

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    and if we all pitch a fit (none / 0) (#15)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 12:20:50 PM EST
    we will have to read all these write ups about how we are racist, or zombie pumas, but somehow we are never accused of being reality based!  Chaps me HUGE!

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    And that Paul Krugman (none / 0) (#16)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 12:22:25 PM EST
    He's such an Obama hater, born hating I suppose.  

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    Who says (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by NYShooter on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 02:08:10 PM EST
    There's no such thing as alchemy?

    Goldman Sachs; you know, the "smartest guys in the room," and the guys who cried "we didn't really need the Tarp money," really are that smart. They took a page out of Steve Martin's routine: " I can make you 2 million dollars. Just send me $19.95, and I will send you the secret on how you can make 2 million dollars......guaranteed."

    "First, get yourself a million dollars, then...........

    GS, with a little help from a few obscure friends, Bush, Obama, Geithner, Paulsen, Summers, decided they wanted to be a bank. Of course the little inconvenient fact that banks are supposed to earn their money by making loans to businesses and individuals is a rule reserved for others, certainly not the blood-sucking, self-centered, bonus-obsessed, slime balls at GS. And obediently, of course, Bush, Obama, Geithner, Paulsen, and Summers........agreed.

    So, the new, improved GS "Bank" trots up to the FED window, backs up a thousand tractor trailers, and loads up gazillions of dollars at 0-½% interest.....in other words, free money. But, not knowing how to read maps, and discovering the batteries in their GPS went dead, they got lost on their way to making loans to businesses & individuals. So, being the geniuses we all know they are, they stroll up to the other window and lend that money right back to the Government.........at 3 ½%, netting a cool 3%.......instant Billions!

    Then checking their vault, and discovering they have a few dusty nickels and dimes left over, more than enough in our deregulated, "get off businesses backs"  paradigm, these "reserves"  had to be put to work also. So they asked their chief financial officer, Professor Irwin Corey, to dream up a program even he couldn't understand, and then sent out their legions of "best & brightest" to sell these instruments to the fiduciaries at all our State Treasureries, Pension Funds, and to all those who felt a "wink, wink" was all the collateral they needed to risk the taxpayers' money. A meeting was held in the White House with the aforementioned five Wise Men to get their approval, and when asked, "where's the collateral?" they received a rock-solid guarantee.....wink, wink, wink, wink, wink.

    And so, Willy Wonka's magical money machine cranks out so many billions of dollars, so fast, they had to buy a slew of super computers to keep track of their "High Frequency Trading Program"  just to keep up with the Zillions of Bonus dollars our Mensa boys "earn."

    So here we are: Our country is broken. Countless millions of families devastated, and no end in sight. GS and a small group of similar Slime caused it, with the full cooperation and collusion of your Government. The ones who caused it are also now in charge of fixing it. Good luck.

    We lost our futures; GS will have to suffer with 29 billion dollars in bonuses for the year, 2009.


    Yesterday, the claim was that 650,000 (none / 0) (#1)
    by tigercourse on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 10:25:00 AM EST
    jobs were created. Now that number is up to around a million. Why the change?

    Because 0.6 rounds up to 1 (5.00 / 3) (#5)
    by lambert on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 11:22:02 AM EST
    See how simple?

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    Depserate people do (none / 0) (#4)
    by SOS on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 10:48:14 AM EST
    desperate things. Up to and including flat out lying.

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    The Answer (According to the Marxists) (none / 0) (#17)
    by daring grace on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 01:28:52 PM EST
    Or at least, a website that describes itself as 'Marxist Thought Online'
    The Obama administration's recovery act has created or saved over 1 million jobs, top administration officials told reporters this week. While official data compiled and released by the independent recovery act oversight board this week showed that direct recipients of federal dollars under the act reported creating at least 640,000 full-time jobs, Jared Bernstein, a top economic advisor to Vice President Biden, stated that the report only told part of the story.

    The new report described only "a subset" of the total number of jobs "directly created or saved" by the President's economic recovery act, Bernstein explained on a conference call with reporters. Essentially, the new report was based on reports made by some 57,000 public and private entities about the number of jobs they were able to save or create with the assistance of federal recovery act money.

    Analysis of the "jobs multiplier" created by other recovery act money, such as unemployment insurance expansion, tax rebates, stimulus checks to seniors and veterans, expanded health benefits payments and additional circulation of money through the economy was not included in the report. According to Bernstein, the evidence suggests the total number of jobs reported by recipients and created with as a result of the "jobs multiplier" is at least 1 million.



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    Created or SAVED (none / 0) (#20)
    by Inspector Gadget on Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 02:25:19 PM EST
    Note the full explanation for the number of jobs. The created jobs were in the infrastructure projects that have been approved (already hired for and underway, apparently). The SAVED jobs (kdog is going to love this) are in the police, teachers, and civil service areas where the infusion of money from the feds to the states has made it unnecessary for immediate lay-offs.

    My guess is that the majority of the jobs he speaks of are the "saved" variety where it is nearly impossible to prove accuracy.


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