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Obama, You Ignorant Ass [Update]

By Larry Johnson on February 9, 2009 at 9:14 PM in Current Affairs

I am livid. Your stupidity on the fundamentals of economics is breathtaking. You blame Republican tax cuts as “not working?” Jesus Christ, man!!! George Bush’s tax cuts cost a total of $1.4 trillion dollars over 8 years. Here’s the link. Not my opinion, it is a fact.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government spent an additional $4.9 trillion dollars. Barack, open your taxi cab ears and listen–the Federal Government, thanks to Republican negligence, doubled the national debt from $5.7 trillion to $10.6 trillion in eight years. That means the U.S. borrowed more money than it could repay.

Do you understand, sir?

Tax cuts did not break the Federal budget. Tax cuts did not immerse the Federal Government in a level of debt not seen ever in the history of the United States. Spending by the Congress and the President helped break the bank.

And your “solution” to the current crisis–which was brought on by people and institutions spending money they did not have and borrowing money they could not repay–is to have the Federal government borrow more money it cannot repay and spend it? Are you shitting me?

I am not defending those Republican assholes who acted so recklessly and irresponsibly. They are guilty. But their stupidity does not give you license or excuse to be equally idiotic.

Here’s the scary number. U.S. GDP (i.e. Gross Domestic Product or the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States) is $14.2 trillion. Our Federal debt is approaching $11 trillion. In other words, our debt represents almost 80% of our annual economic output and GDP is shrinking while the amount of the debt is increasing.

Do get it? If you are in a lifeboat in the midst of the ocean and it is taking on water the last thing you want to do is start pouring more water into the boat.

Sorry, I cut you no break on this. Stupid is as stupid does. Only in this case your monumental ignorance is putting a nation at risk.

UPDATE–As is typical of the obama disciple, SFHillary, he reads things into my observations that are not there. Who has called for “doing nothing?” Not me.

Let’s focus the stimulus on where if should be.

First, cut government spending. How? Every employee of the Federal Government who is in the Senior Executive Service (i.e., holds the equivalent of a senior rank, starting at the 1 star general level) should take a 20% pay cut. Employees at the GS 11-15 should take a 15% pay cut, and those at GS 10 and below should take a 10% cut. Lead by example and make the government lead.

The money freed up by those cuts can be redirected to pay to help people who are in debt over their heads stay in their homes.

This much is certain–adding to the size of the Federal Government will not stimulate the economy and provide for sustained growth.

Second, a reduction on the interest rates of adjustable home loans. This will be arbitrary and costly but the Federal Government will offer to buy up bad mortgages and in turn will charge the folks paying on those mortgages a lower interest rate. The goal is to keep people in their homes, reduce their monthly expenses, and give them a reasonable chance of saving their property. That offers a better chance of stimulating economic growth than having houses go vacant.

Third, no matter how noble or necessary you may think an investment in infrastructure is you must understand that such public works projects do little by way of general economic stimulus. Rebuilding roads, sewers or schools may give us a spiffier nation down the road but it is like any project–if you want to remodel your home you still have to come up with the cash or get a loan. Just because it is the Federal Government does not mean those rules no longer apply.

  • AlexisM

    Larry, this is the greatest thread ever. The title says it all. “Ignorant Ass?” I would amend that to add one word…”Ignorant Dangerous Ass.” Thanks for this. I have been miserable all day thinking what idiots Americans are for falling for this crap. Very sad what’s coming if we don’t try to stop it.

    • no kidding

      Check this out. Obama has put rationed Healthcare into the Stimulus Bill. This will hit Seniors particularly hard because the Govt will decide if you are going to live long enough to make it worth their while to treat you.

      http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs#

      • AlexisM

        no kidding…that’s disgraceful, thanks. HARP and I separately posted about that today. I can’t believe no one has caught this. People should be ashamed of voting for that con man, knowing that now their own parents will suffer pain and agony.

        • no kidding

          alexis — I think people are already ashamed to have voted for him but the media has their phoney polls tell us how much we love him.

    • lynn2829

      He inherited a 8 year nightmare and the only ignorant ones are people who expect him to fix the economy in less than a month!

      • Reader

        Well it’s still not working. He is fixing nothing bad in America and attempting to ruin EVERYTHING good.

      • Rocky

        Dems say we inherited, Rep. say the same who’s at fault but us…we the people is what it suppose to be….but we the people just let all of this crazy junk happen….How about congress with 8 year limits to their jobs and no self inflicted raises both parties I might add….Those are the kind of things me the people want to see and I’m not going to hide behind a candidate to see if it comes to pass. That’s ignorance.

    • ObamasNobel

      Johnson: It’s clear you don’t know a thing about economics. You’re just another trickle-down fool, a failed system, prove to have dazzled only ecnomicallly illiterate (perhaps, stupid too) people. So shove it up your ingorant ass, you prick!

  • http://www.hillaryorbust.com Hillary or Bust

    THANK YOU LARRY!

  • sfhillary

    Dude, your outrage is, as usual, both overstated and misplaced. It is true that the GOP increased spending even more in the Bush years than it reduced tax receipts through tax cuts. But Obama didn’t blame the Bush tax cuts for the entire meltdown in our budget. They were a factor, though, clearly, and it takes a true believing libertarian to argue otherwise.

    It also takes a true-believing libertarian to argue that the government shouldn’t try to bail us out of this catastrophic hole of reduced consumer demand and reduced business investment by borrowing more money. The debt is a huge problem, sure, but at this point almost all economists acknowledge that the short-term risk of a true deflationary depression is far greater than the long-term risk of the U.S. taking on too much debt. A growing economy will reduce the deficit. But our fiscal hole right now is far too great for anyone realistically to think we’re going to start growing again anytime soon without an enormous stimulus from the government — just as an enormous stimulus of government spending to ramp up for WWII is what pulled us out of the Great Depression — which was prolonged greatly by FDR listening to voices like yours, Larry, saying that the government couldn’t afford to keep borrowing money.

    I watched Obama’s press conference. Anyone who doesn’t realize by now that the guy is a master is, not to put too fine a point on it, either a brainless moron or someone whose own professional success lies in knocking the guy down.

    Et tu, Larry?

    • HARP

      Is that you Rahmn?

      • sfhillary

        It’s your friend SFHillary, Harp. I haven’t been here in awhile; is it really NQ’s position that we shouldn’t have any major fiscal stimulus at all? If so, it’s sad to see that this site has fallen even deeper down the GOP rabbit hole.

        FYI, folks, most people think we really are headed into a Great Depression absent something approaching a trillion dollars pumped into the economy by the feds, and quickly. There are a few voices, like Larry, arguing otherwise. There were people arguing that way in 1930 and 1931 as well. They were Republicans then, too, and they were catastrophically wrong then too.

        • HARP

          Damn…..I wish you would share whatever you are smoking.

        • AlexisM

          Wow…did you get a “stimulus” check from the Fraud already? A “master?” ROFLMAO I’m with Harp…pass the bong dude!!!!

          PS No one has said we shouldn’t do something right now. But we shouldn’t be passing a bill Obama never read and Pelosi the Pig wrote. It’s pure pork fat. Did you read it? Thought so. “Ignorant Ass” is Larry being nice.

        • to77

          Really, I would love someone to explain to me how increasing Pell Grants is going to stimulate the economy. You really think increasing food stamps 13% is going to stimulate the economy? Fully funding Head Start is a stimulus? And the centerpiece $500 per person “tax cut” is going to do it when Bush’s $600 per person didnt work last year?

          Here’s the facts: government receipts INCREASED 45% under GW but spending increased nearly 80%. Even with the tax cuts government revenue went up faster than the rate of inflation and thats without making the argument that the tax cuts probably helped expand the economy. He increased spending on health care, education and welfare at nearly DOUBLE the rate that Clinton did.

          Another interesting note is, if the tax cuts are such a drain on the government receipts why hasnt Obama made increasing wealthy and corporate taxes a part of this economy “salvation” plan. Because he knows raising taxes would not increase receipts it would depress economic growth. So Obama’s “economic recovery plan” is doubling down on Bush policies: lower “rich” taxes, increased domestic spending and increased debt. Sounds like a good plan.

          Another interesting note is how he has gone from saying his plan will create millions of jobs to “create OR SAVE” millions of jobs. A claim much harder to hold him accountable to.

        • Newly Independent

          I haven’t been here in awhile; is it really NQ’s position that we shouldn’t have any major fiscal stimulus at all?

          To state it to you as plain as all outdoors,

          HELL NO.

          NO!!!

          The United States is FLAT BROKE. We have NO MONEY for this “stimulus” plan! The U.S. government doesn’t know how to build good businesses & create good jobs that will strenghen the economy & generate wealth. THAT’S WHAT OUR FREE MARKET IS FOR. This “stimulus” is not going to be used to fund new American businesses in the free market so that the free market can create new jobs. It’s going to be used to continue to prop up failing, dying, greedy, “multi-national” Wall Street banks, corporations and U.S. government projects that we ABSOLUTELY CANNOT afford right now. In other words, this “stimulus” will be an ABSOLUTE WASTE.

          The U.S. government is the VERY reason why we’re in this extremely serious dire economic mess. THEY CANNOT SUCCESSFULLY GET US OUT OF IT. Simply put, the U.S. government created all of the conditions that made it possible for Wall Street corporations to prey on the American people & our economy (predatory lending, shifting our economy from production to consumption, etc.)

          Wall Street’s greedy plans for our economy were unsustainable long term (who’s ever heard of ANY successful economy existing primarily on spending and consumption forever?) Now those Wall Street corporations are bleeding to death as a consequence. The damned U.S. government is suppose to STOP INTERFERING IN THE FREE MARKET & allow these toxic corporations to DIE as they’re SUPPOSE to just like any other corporation that makes fatally bad business decisions. But what are they doing instead? Using OUR TAX DOLLARS to bail these Wall Street clowns out! And the sickest part of this mess? These corporations are still going to DIE! The bailout money CAN’T SAVE THESE CORPORATIONS!

          In addition, unless other countries are still willing to loan us more real money and/or credit to fund Obama’s “stimulus” bill, all the U.S. government (Federal Reserve) is going to do if this “stimulus” package passes is PRINT MORE MONEY.

          Do you understand what’s going to happen to the value of the U.S. dollar when that happens?

          The U.S. dollar is going to completely COLLAPSE.

          Ever hear of the Weimar republic?

          • ChooChooMagoo

            Hear! Hear! Newly Independent.

          • FembotsForObama

            Ditto!

            How are we going to simulate the economy when companies like GM, who we just bailed out, are investing their money in their Brazilian plants, to a tune of $100 mill?

            Yes, I get the idea that increasing $ through a US corporation plant (even if overseas) does add to the GDP. But, it doesn’t do the other needed half of the equation which is CREATE US JOBS FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS.

            Obama stupidly tried to placate liberals by including “Buy American” clauses in the bill, when there should have been parameters with real teeth for ensuring those jobs stay here in the USA and go to American citizens first. You know the ones who own the homes that are in jeopardy of being lost. Moreover, his setting of the precedent of saying that execs cannot make over $500 K is mere symbolism since it doesn’t even apply to the bailouts and those other loans to auto giants and financial institutions in the first place.

            I heard that T-bills are going down in value again. Isn’t that the security that foreign govts buy into when they are covering our debt? ARen’t we in danger of those countries who already own our debt, like China, causing a run on those T-bills?

            And who was it that started the run on banks on Sept 15 that precipitated the bailout bill anyway? Who or what entities were responsible for $550 million in transactions in just a few hours?

    • fif

      A “master?” Are you out of your ever-lovin’ mind?!

      A MASTER?!!!! Are you really so drunk on Kool Aid that you actually think he put this package together himself and did not script every question and answer during that presser? Did you see him, glued to the teleprompter?

      Wow…

      • Donna Brazile

        fif:

        Don’t you get it, That One is what the SF’s MASTER not ours. Loves to do his bidding by calling everyone who questions that one UNPATRIOTIC. That’s all SF has– dribble.

        Stop the lovefest!

        • Paul

          Boy doesn’t that sound familiar, accept that was the past 8 years coming directly from the administration’s mouth.

      • sfhillary

        He used a teleprompter for his opening remarks, as they all do. He took live questions and gave live answers, though, as Bush rarely did but Bill Clinton (another master) did all the time. There are intelligent knowledgeable politicians, and then there are your Bushes and McCains, who simply have no idea what they’re talking about.

        • AlexisM

          I thought that NQ got rid of trolls. No? Well, it’s fun having you around sfhillary. I haven’t laughed that hard, after the “master” comment, in years. Keep ‘em coming! Free entertainment is always welcome at NQ. Need another drink? Another needle full of smack? We’ll provide the booze and drugs and you keep popping off that crap about the “master.”

          Get Help.

        • Andy

          He ONLY took 13 questions in almost an hour !! With 7-9 minutes rambling answers repeating mostly campaign slogans and that gave NO specifics no details and where at times both incoherent and contradictory…

          • AlexisM

            Andy, he can’t answer it. He has no idea WTH is in that bill and doesn’t care. He just wants to win. And, at this point, even if he knows that Pelosi Pork Bill is nothing but fat, which it is, he still has to save face. He also has to win. He’s not for Americans. He’s out to win. Very sad. I don’t see how the hell you people watch him. I gave that up at least six months ago when I couldn’t keep enough buckets in my house to hurl in.

            • FLDemFem

              Have you considered putting a TV on top of the toilet tank? That way you can watch him and not need buckets. Heh.

        • LindaP

          “He took live questions and gave live answers,…”
          __________________________

          What channel were you watching? The reporters submitted the questions they would ask if called on ahead of time. He had a chart of who to call on so he could give his ‘speech’. Didn’t you see when he looked at the paper and called the name and said, “Where are you?” This was completely staged. He never hesitated in answering because he already had the “right” answer from his puppeteers.

          If I sanp my fingers, will you come out of your hypnosis?

          • Judy L. NC

            I couldn’t watch. Thanks for letting me know this. What a friggin joke!

        • RebelCarol

          There are intelligent knowledgeable politicians, and then there are your Bushes and McCains, who simply have no idea what they’re talking about.

          You can add Obama to your above list. I listened to his answers to the questions (that he had knowledge of before they were asked?}. OMG, I still can’t tell you what he said. Words came out of his mouth, but he said nothing! He was definitely not the great orator tonight.

          A question from the Huffington Post?

          Larry is right on in is comments tonight.

        • Ani

          aah er uh ah. He is so laborious as to be painful — and rambling.

          Word salad, yes. A master, hardly.

          • socalannie

            He’s a master bullshitter.

        • elise

          sfhillary, are you aware the Chinese government owns over 20% of the National Debt? The US is paying over $400 billion/yr on the interest and that’s $80 billion/yr to China. You are simply repeating what you have heard Obama say and not thinking for yourself. There are only three ways to pay for this spending: raise taxes, borrow more or print more. Which door do you chose? The congress will have to vote to raise the debt limit again, because there is a law to limit it and the limit has been increased five times since 2001. Pushing this bill through right now in order to advance some programs is a huge mistake and it’s being done exactly the way Bush/Cheney did with Iraq. Obama’s going on the road just like Bush did, using the fear card and claiming it has to be done right now without real oversight. I hope Obama is on his knees every night praying to whatever God he believes in that there will not be another major crisis because it wouldn’t take much to bring everything crashing down. I doubt, however, he has the gravitas to understand the implications.

          • AlexisM

            I think Obama should be on his knees praying for a lot more than that every night. Like when his number’s up he doesn’t go downstairs, where he belongs. This move being pulled by Obama and Pelosi is despicable and they both deserve to go straight to hell.

            • elise

              Hell for the would be to lose their power and that’s something we can all pray for.

          • FembotsForObama

            come on Elise, don’t you know that there is oversight. It’s called tracking…

            It’s something we all can do. Just keep a running tally as to how much you spend and where it went. Example, $4 for Starbucks, $20 for gas, $20 for movies … until you run out of your paycheck.

            Anyone can make a budget, it is something else to follow that budget and abide by restrictions.

            I’ve never been so disgusted by the Democrats in all my life. :(

        • Susan

          Did you notice that he had a LIST of names that he kept referring to during the question and answer period??? Apparently, they once again were trying to control the media response by calling only on those they felt were sympathetic to their cause! Sick, sick, sick of it! And for someone who proposes to want to advance bipartisanship, how many times did he state he inhereited these problems of the last 8 years? Too many to count. So much for bipartisanship.

      • FranSC

        A Master of What?? He seems to be a master at cult building which is the only mastery I’ve observed.

        Today in Indiana on his snake-oil tour, I happened to see a few minutes of his speech – about all I could stand. When he said (as he so often does)”In *MY* White House…..”. Before he could get the rest of the sentence out, the hand-picked audience were applauding just the fact he’s in HIS White House.

        Admittedly, as boring as his press conference was, I was somewhat surprised that he was able for the first time to talk on and on about these subjects. He’s learned a lot from his appointees who have given him the words. As someone said tonight, this was a speech disguised as a press conference – WELL rehearsed, but still with a teleprompter.

        • Newly Independent

          LOL @ “Today in Indiana on his snake-oil tour…”

          • http://baddemocrat08.wordpress.com/ obamastolemyboyfriend

            Maybe he should head back to Germany and then the US will all feel better and maybe the House and senate can get something done after they tie Pelosi and Reid and Frank to chairs and lock them in the basement.

            after elections, here in the US, we should get a 30 day trial period. If we are unhappy with the outcome of an election by then we should be allowed a do-over (mulligan)so we can correct things before it gets too bad. This will be called the Obama law.

            • Newly Independent

              LMAO!! That makes sense to me!

    • Manu

      A master? Maybe in France.

      • carr50

        Please don’t insult France!

    • Angel

      I watched Obama’s press conference. Anyone who doesn’t realize by now that the guy is a master is, not to put too fine a point on it, either a brainless moron or someone whose own professional success lies in knocking the guy down.

      A master? Oh yes indeed. I recognized that 0bama is a master con artist of the highest degree almost immediately. How long did it take you?

      • oowawa

        Hmmmm . . . seems like the word “master” has touched a few nerves. Well, what are the connotations? There was the master who sat cross-legged and taught little “Grasshopper” the art of kung-fu; then there was Jeanne’s “master,” who as I recall was a bumbling astronaut; and then there’s Dracula, whom Renfield called “master;” so we can see right away that the term covers a lot of ground. I will certainly concede that O has been a master bamboozler, a master of deception, and so maybe the term is not so inappropriate after all . . .

        • (trying to get over it)

          just re-watched 2nd Harry Potter movie — all i can think of is shrinking around calling everyone “master” – ha! i guess it’s good to have lots of sub-servient obots running around calling you master!

          also, my 6 year old was building w/ legos & half listening; at one point he said ” I think Obama keeps saying the same answers no matter what the question is…”

          indeed

          • (trying to get over it)

            DOBBY shrinking around, my bad

          • oowawa

            Oh yes, I forgot about Harry Potter’s masters. One of the regular posters here always referred to O as Voldemort, so I guess it’s all starting to make some kind of fantastic sense. Maybe my unicorn will arrive in the mail after all . . .

            • AlexisM

              Holy Crap! I almost forgot. In all of the Doom and Gloom predicted by Herr Leader…where’s my free stuff? I’m still paying my bills. WTF?

          • Liberty Belle not for Obama

            God bless your child of 6, who could figure him out, and had his number.

      • Susan

        Obama’s the puppet, the master is Pelosi. Get with the program.

    • Animal Control

      Master of the filibuster! It was all scripted!!

    • meileen

      “Anyone who doesn’t realize by now that the guy is a master is, not to put too fine a point on it, either a brainless moron or someone whose own professional success lies in knocking the guy down.”

      Wow. Heavy marketing surely works on you, doesn’t it?

      • http://www.hillaryorbust.com Hillary or Bust

        No kidding. Anyone with half a brain can see through Obama and what a con he is. Anyone who can’t is either:

        a) a blind partisan, frothing at the mouth over Republicans to the point of giving Dems a pass on everything.

        b) a gullible new age idealist who probably also thinks 2012 will usher in a new golden era of the Age of Aquarius.

        c) someone who actually goes and buys all the latest designer clothing at twice the necessary price because advertising told them too.

      • HelenS

        Meileen you are an idiot. What the Hell kind of master do you think that Obama is? He is only good at manipulating people. You know what dummy, most of the people who take the time to listen to this dummy listen because they what what is best for the country and their families and they have to hear this so they can be informed and aware of how someone is trying to lead them down the primrose path. People who are the kool aid drinkers DON”T listen because they dont want to understand that this guy does not know what the hell he is talking about. He has been campainging for the last five years. He is not running our government as he should ie;being a leader. He goes on the road because he is so into himself and he needs the crowds annd the clapping of the other kool did drinkers , like yourself. He does not want ot WORK He wants to be admired. The more I hear him the angier I get at him.

        • socalannie

          Meileen was responding to a troll comment upthread and disagreeing with their comment about O being a master. Note that the comment is in quotes (“). You have misread her post. Now say you’re sorry like a nice girl!!!

    • brainlessmoron

      Dude!

      You are besotted!

      Come on over to our place and translate what we were too obtuse to possibly comprehend (being in the former category).

      Mein Gott! I hate being a dunderhead AND a moron!!!

    • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

      sf,
      I didn’t see the same Obama that you did. I saw an angry guy who couldn’t believe that he walked into a job this difficult and wasn’t the rosy position that he had applied for when filling out the American Idol questionnaire.
      as for your statement..

      The debt is a huge problem, sure, but at this point almost all economists acknowledge that the short-term risk of a true deflationary depression is far greater than the long-term risk of the U.S. taking on too much debt.

      At this point I think the specter of triple digit hyper inflation and a collapse of the dollar is much worse than deflation and the crash down to reality that would happen by not propping up this national Ponzi system.
      What’s amazing to me is how government for 60 years tried to keep housing affordable and now they are doing everything in their power to keep housing unaffordable..

    • James

      I agree here (with everything except Obama being a “master”), except the current bill isn’t a massive WWII-like stimulus. It’s being compromised with Republican ideas on the economy. It’s not a big enough bill imo.

      • Mary

        Obama is the one who set the total at $800 billion, James, not the Republicans.

        If you think it’s not enough, blame HIM.

      • Jaycephus

        You’ve obviously drunk the Krugman-Koolaid.

        First of all, tax-cuts didn’t ’cause’ this.

        The size is irrelevant if it is all spent on creating govt jobs, building stuff no one wants or needs, beginning the nationalization and destruction of our healthcare, and not even bothering to getting around to doing anything useful for more than a YEAR.

        We had a deeper depression in 1920-21 than we did in 1929-30. The actions of Harding ended the 1920 depression and gave us the Roaring Twenties. FDR followed the advice of economists like Krugman, and all they can say in defense of FDR’s policies failing to end the Great Depression was that “he didn’t spend enough”, though FDR doubled America’s debt almost overnight.

        On the other hand, Harding ignored the Krugman-like advice of his Secretary of Commerce, someone named Herbert Hoover, and vetoed spending, pushed cutting taxes and spending cuts. Taxes and spending were cut drastically.

        America’s Greatest Depression Fighter
        (No, it wasn’t Franklin Delano Roosevelt)

        http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/powell-jim4.html

    • Jon Loves Barry

      sfHillary

      Read N.y.Times today. In a phenomenally astute article, Paul Krugman blasts Obama for his shortsighted “bipartisan” and other stupid policies designed to enhance the Republicans’ hearing of his dumbo Kumbaya. ‘OBAMA IS NEGOTIATING WITH HIMSELF’ Paul, a Nobel winner, states and he gives explicit reasons for the OBAMA FAILURE to act decisively and prudently in this crisis of the century that we may not survive.

      OBAMA IS THE WEAKEST PRESIDENT AND HIS STUPID ‘PLAYING NICE’ WITH REPUBLICANS WILL NAIL HIS political coffin.
      Sweetie feels down and has started launching attacks against Reason to boost his appeal….

      • AlexisM

        Well, actually, OT but the wussy is also negotiating and playing nice with terrorists. Kiss our azzes goodbye!

      • no kidding

        jon loves barry — Well Obama isn’t playing nice with the American people. In this bill he decides who is worthy of Healthcare and who isn’t and if a Doctor treats a patient not deemed worthy of treatment he or she will have to answer to the Government.

    • angie

      Master Bull-shiter.

      Master-bator.

      Both I grant you — master of anything else, Obama most certainly is not.

      • mylifeontheglist

        master-bator!!

        Love it…LOL!

    • C.S.

      I would never describe Soertoro/Obama (we still don’t know the guy’s legal name)) is a master of anything – not even disguise.

      And he certainly isn’t a financial wizard because he has lived off handouts all of his almost 50 years, “borrowing” from criminals and terrorists as he leapfrogged onto the backs of his constitutes to get his Chicago mansion. Men like him don’t understand accountability or the need for assets to acquire what they desire; like any career welfare recipient, they expect it to be given to them no strings attached.

      And I personally will not approve of any bailout bill that does not include a repayment plan or that requires higher taxes or lower salaries from We the working class People who feed the U. S. Treasury.

    • Newly Independent

      I watched Obama’s press conference. Anyone who doesn’t realize by now that the guy is a master is,

      MASTER?

      Of whom??????

      Of ignorant fools like you????

    • mylifeontheglist

      whoa, sfhill, a master???? a master in what???? Have you been taking your koolaid again today? :rolleyes:

    • nancy sabet

      the whole spending deal is for obama’s re-electuion and media wants to make sure of it since they spent so much on him!

    • TeakWoodKite

      Anyone who doesn’t realize by now that the guy is a master

      A Master at Bullsh*t.

  • untilthelastdogdies

    Here’s the scary number. U.S. GDP… is $14.2 trillion. Our Federal debt is approaching $11 trillion. In other words, our debt represents almost 80% of our annual economic output and GDP is shrinking while the amount of the debt is increasing.

    Yesssiree Larry! We are a nation of consumers producing nothing.

    Until that is no longer the reality, we will continue to slip into a Depression with a capital D.

    I’ll wait to hear, what Geitner has to say tomorrow, surely he’ll do better in his news conference talking about a subject he is suppose to know something about!

    • Mary

      Geithner’s gonna tell you tomorrow that the American taxpayer should pick up the financial industry’s losses in their toxic assets, so the banks can grant more credit.

      Grab your ankles.

      • NoBamaNoWay

        correct; the answer is not the feds (i.e. taxpayers) throwing more money at crooks and con artists and pet pork projects; nor is it tax cuts for the rich and the very well-off.

        there is no shortage of wealth at the top; the gap between the rich and poor has been growing for decades, especially in the last 8 years, so where are all the good jobs that the rich and corporations were supposed to created?

        we need a long term strategy to change the structure of our economy and provide enough good paying jobs to allow consumers the discretionary income to buy things which fuel the economy. there is no way that a country in which 50% of the available jobs pay poverty wages is going to be a healthy country.

        no amount of tax cuts for the rich or special favors for FOO(L)s (Friends of Obama) is going to make a rat’s ass worth of difference when this country is still operating essentially on reagan era, supply-side, trickle-down economics.

  • fif

    A “master!” I still can’t stop laughing from that one…

    Please, seek psychological help.

    • sfhillary

      Yeah, yeah. You’ll all still be spouting the same nonsense about how incompetent he is while he’s coasting to a landslide reelection in 2012 and completing the once-a-generation realignment that I was predicting last summer while all you geniuses were calling Obama “unelectable” and crowing about the end of the Democratic Party.

      The silver lining in your very dark NQ cloud is that I still think (as I also speculated last fall might be possible) that Biden may step aside so Hillary can move into the VP slot in 2012 and the presidency in 2016. As long as she stays healthy I really do see that happening.

      • fif

        Have you been paying ANY attention for the last 2+ weeks? A master? He is stumbling around like a freshman in high school. It’s embarrassing. And please stop the b.s. about his “landslide.” He spent almost a billion dollars, had a slavish press promoting and protecting him for months, and STILL the only reason he won (by a mere 6 pts.) was because the conservatives stayed home due to McCain being too “moderate.” And BTW: he didn’t even “win” the primaries, so he’s not even popular with Dems. He only benefitted from Hillary’s compaigning and the “I have to vote for a Dem” backlash due to Bush’s incompetence.

        I’m done with you. You’re a complete waste of time.

        • sfhillary

          Well, this is why I haven’t been visiting NQ much lately. We all made a lot of predictions in the months and weeks leading up to the elections. All of you, based on your considered judgment about Obama, about independent centrists who would surely reject him because of Rev. Wright and etc., and about all those millions of Democratic Hillary fans who would never vote for him, were quite sure that McCain would win easily. It’s just astonishing to me that you’ve managed to pivot into the Obama presidency without, apparently, even considering the possibility that your judgments last year were wrong.

          • AlexisM

            We’re not wrong sfhillary and even the stupidest of Bots are starting to wake up. Lots of AAs too. Sorry you still worship at the Con Man Altar. You’ll be sorry. Nothing good will ever come of this, ever.

            And, yeah, how can you call yourself “American” if you can defend the so called “President” marinating in a church of hate, racism and Anti-America crap for 20 years. You people kill me. Trust me, Obama won’t get another term. Why? He had no business having this term.

            • sfhillary

              Who is waking up? Obama’s personal popularity and job approval ratings are at all-time highs for an early presidency. What are you folks talking about? You are talking in exactly the same deluded PUMA bubble that you did during the election. Now your line is that his presidency is a disaster and Americans realize this. It isn’t, and they don’t. He’s incredibly popular and that hasn’t changed because they fumbled some poorly vetted appointments.

              • AlexisM

                Okay, really, get some serious help sfhillary. You’re out of your mind. “All time highs?” ROFLMAO!!!!

                PS. Do you read? He’s losing support all over the place. Even from the dimwit journalists that were in the tank for him before. Duh.

                PPS. I’m not a PUMA. But it’s pretty simple minded to think American who cares about my country = PUMA. Yet another joke.

              • Mary

                If he doesn’t produce the 4 million jobs he promised tonight, he’s a one-termer, and the Democratic Party will lose Congress.

                He should NEVER have left it up to Pelosi to write the bill that had his name on it.

                Poor judgement. Just like we told you.

                • AlexisM

                  Dear God,

                  Please pass the Pelosi Pig Bill. She’s halfway under the Obama Bus and we’d love to see her finally get her karmic due.

                  Please let Obama once and for all show what an incompetent moron, liar, lazy ass, thieving nut job he is with the passing of the Bacon Bill.

                  Please douche Congress in 2010 and send Pelosi to the Arctic Netherlands.

                  Please let me finally get that tattoo on my forehead that says “Don’t blame me, I voted for McCain.”

              • Donna Brazile

                Hey What the Sfu:

                What happened to your tired meme of “I wasn’t an Obama supporter originally, but he’s our President and we need to support him in this troubled times?”

                Your so funny. How about you answer the question about when will it be acceptable to start questioning That One? Is is appropriate after he breaks 2, 3, 4, 5 campaign promises?

                Are you part of the “prominent” class where a different set of rules apply or are you “ordinary” people?

                Don’t you just love the tax cheat in charge of the IRS and the 17 former lobbyist in his administration:-) That’s change you can believe in!

                Stop the slobbering lovefest!

              • fif

                Bush’s approval ratings were at 90%…

                case closed.

                • fif

                  oh, and BTW:

                  Miley Cyrus & Hannah Montana are also “incredibly popular.” Don’t ever underestimate the ignorance of the majority.

                  This is your reasoning? Still believing the corporate-paid media? You’re “hope-less.”

                  • AlexisM

                    They’re all hopeless and deserve what they get. Actually what they don’t get.

              • to77

                all time highs for an early presidency? are you just stupid?

                Rasmussen has him pegged right at 60% Truman was over 80% at this point, Eisenhower 72%, Kennedy 74%, LBJ 75%, NIxon 63%, Carter 65%, Reagan 62%, GHW Bush 65%, even GW who lost the popular vote was around 58%.

                He is at an all time high for the early presidency of an African-American but that doesnt say much…

              • FLDemFem

                Right now, Obama’s approval ratings are at 61%..that’s lower than Bill Clinton’s were when he left office, after being impeached. So, imagine what Obama’s numbers will be when the current job loss wave crests. If the economy doesn’t turn around in a hurry, which it won’t, he will be a one term president. He said so himself. Or did you miss that pearl of wisdom as it dripped from your master’s lips?

          • meileen

            I stand by my judgments from last year. He has never done anything to warrant the adulation, has not truly served a community, has zero experience at managing and we are paying the price of his naivete.

            He won because he bought it, and if you are a true Democrat, you too, would be disgusted at the money spent on this last election while others are hurting, hungry and some, newly homeless.

          • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

            sf,
            My prediction came true!

            When you talk class warfare ,raising taxes on the wealthy, capital gains taxes,additional payroll taxes, punishing businesses with fines, carbon taxes and extra regulations you get what I coined way back in May….
            The Obama collapse…
            A race from equities of 30 trillion that began when it was known that Obama and his minions could win.
            A Self fulfilling prophesy!

            • AlexisM

              Guys, the troll came out because of Larry’s thread. I say we ignore her/him and move on with our intelligent discourse and dialogue. It’s just a distraction because the troll knows the truth.

              • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

                Alexis,
                sf is just Larry’s version of Bob Beckel that Hannity uses to stimulate debate.
                I wonder If Larry called him and asked if he would be willing to troll tonight..

                • AlexisM

                  Seattle…sfhillary is a boy? (I would say “man” but it doesn’t clearly apply). Come on. Those posts read like a chick wrote them. But, then again, Chris Matthews is a “man” and ‘Bama gives him tingles.

                • http://Safari AnnieCollier

                  Yes indeedy SM. sf just comes around to stir the s**t. He likes to provoke then sit back and watch.

                  Pay no attention to him and go about your business.

            • NoBamaNoWay

              seriously, SM, how much *more* money do the people at the top need before we start to see something in the way of good jobs materializing for us down here at the bottom? the wealth gap between the top and the bottom has been increasing for years, so why haven’t good jobs been increasing at the same time? seems to me that the relationship is an inverse one; as the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

              i absolutely do not favor throwing money around on pet pork projects; i would rather do nothing at all. we need major, fundamental changes in the structure of our economy and trade relationships, in order to create a broad base of good paying jobs for the majority of americans. helping the rich get richer is not going to accomplish this.

              • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

                This is not about the rich so much as it is about spooking the markets.
                150 million Americans have assets in equities and there was a stampede to get out of the market once it was realized that Obama desired to raise capital gains taxes.
                I’m only commenting on the cause and effect.
                If you talk about restricting the creation of money it therefore becomes a reality

              • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

                the wealth gap between the top and the bottom has been increasing for years, so why haven’t good jobs been increasing at the same time? seems to me that the relationship is an inverse one; as the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

                I agree with your statement. Now we all pay for the greedsters that have stolen from all of us.

          • fif

            How dumb are you?! They DID reject him. He only won because conservatives stayed home. Oh forget it…it’s like talking to a Kool Aide drenched wall.

          • Newly Independent

            Well, this is why I haven’t been visiting NQ much lately.

            Because you hate the truth about Obama.

            And you resent NQ posters for giving you the truth about Obama.

            • AlexisM

              Newly Independent…that’s a troll and someone who is always going to come here to stir the pot. Worthless trying to reason with him (although I really did think it was a girl).

        • James

          I’m not a fan of Obama. Yes, he got the pro-media coverage. And he spent an outrageous amt of momey. But 6 points is HUGE! He won handily. He won conservative states. At least give him that.

          • AlexisM

            We’ll never really know what Obama “won.” We know he didn’t win the Primary. Get out the vote dude!

            Now, we pay. ACORN, the criminal enterprise, is getting money left and right from us, banks, etc. Voter fraud? Priceless.

          • LindaP

            He cheated in the primaries and cheated in the election.

            Remember that 72% of the American people that can vote, did not vote for him.

            He needs to remember that too.

          • to77

            6 points is not huge. look at history. of the last 8 presidential elections his margin of victory ranks him 6th. that would be below average. (of the last 15 his margin ranks him 9th). Reagan twice, Bush HW once and Clinton twice all had higher electoral college numbers. all won their races by a higher percentage.

            perspective is helpful.

          • elise

            James, Richard Nixon only lost one state and that was McGovern’s home state. He won by 22%. Reagan won in 1984 by over 18% and only lost one state and that was Mondale’s state. Obama lost 22 states. Considering the unpopularity of the other party, the amount of money he spent and McCain’s age, that really isn’t very impressive.

        • FranSC

          fif, as usual, you nailed it from a to z. The only thing I would add to why HE won was the September banking crisis that gave us a preview of things to come. After that, anybody or anyTHING that was *not* a republican could have won that election. For example, conservative older Americans many of whom always vote republican saw their retirement savings go down the drain in Sept and Oct. They either voted democratic for the first time or stayed home.

          • so saddened

            funny thing is am an older american who voted dem – always. but voted repub this year. and will again in 2012. the september thing had a very fishy smell to it. the timing was just too, too perfect for obama. the economy has been the way it is for a long time, but the oh we’re heading for a depression talk and the msm’s hyping of it made sure that things were particularly bad just in time for obama.

            in many ways, see obama as like carter. in many other ways, see him as like nixon. sadly, he may be both – as incompetent as carter and as crooked as nixon.

      • AlexisM

        sfhillary…I’m all for divergent opinions here. But it would be much easier to address them if they were coming from sober people. WTF is wrong with you?

        PS Obama and Pelosi will be on the slow boat to Venezuela long before 2012.

      • meileen

        So, you’re happy with the current state of the Democratic Party?! Now that is scary.

      • http://www.hillaryorbust.com Hillary or Bust

        “while he’s coasting to a landslide reelection in 2012 and completing the once-a-generation realignment that I was predicting last summer while all you geniuses were calling Obama “unelectable” and crowing about the end of the Democratic Party.”

        I never opposed Obama on the grounds that he was “unelectable.” I opposed him on the grounds of his being a ruthless politician who uses fraud to win.

      • mylifeontheglist

        SFhillary, get it into your head, without the market crash Barry wouldn’t have been elected. It’s not that we had that much a choice, really!! And he overspent McCain 7 to 1. With 1 billion dollars and MSM cheerleading his every move, even a circus clown can be president!

  • fif

    Larry, you are being too gracious in assuming that Obama has any idea regarding economics. He is merely a talking head, a figurehead to “sell” whatever program is being crafted by his Wall St. veteran economists: Summers, Geithner, et. al. He has said so himself: “Tell me what you want to do, and I’ll sell it.” And you can see by the likes of sfhillary that there are plenty of suckers out there who believe anything he says, just because he pauses self-importantly, and can use a decent vocabulary. After Bush, standards have been so lowered, that anyone that can string a sentence together is considered a GENIUS!

  • fif

    Please release my last comment moderator :)

    • http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

      fatto!

  • http://liberalrapture.com/ John (from Liberal Rapture)

    Go Larry! Do not mince words. We are WAAAAAAAAY past that. We need truth. Thanks for this post.

  • Peggy Sue

    A Master, eh? A Master bullshitter. Get off the kool-aide, please.

    Better yet, take Larry’s analogy–get your lifeboat ready. We’re all being tossed overboard. Even the Obamatrons. But, of course, you’ll be the last to admit it, even when you’re flailing and choking. Try practicing the doggy paddle. Good backup. Or the deadman’s float.

    Thank you, Larry, for the post and the passion.

  • sfhillary

    I notice that none of you are taking issue with Larry’s post. Do you all really advocate just letting the economy continue sliding into the abyss without putting up a huge amount of cash to try and restart spending? Do any of you even realize how radical, and how deeply Republican, this point of view is?

    • Disgusted

      Hell NO we want our golf carts too.

      • AlexisM

        LMFAO…Disgusted.

    • meileen

      Granted we must do something, but tax cuts to appease the Repubs is part of what got us into this mess. Providing a plan that protects at risk homeowners, and the tax payers footing this bill till eternity, would make me much more happy. Nominating tax cheats and having others do what he should be taking on is not a good start for his presidency.

      The only thing ‘masterful’ about his first couple of weeks is how the press still coddles him. To OUR detriment.

    • Mary

      You’re being bamboozled, sfhillary.

      And besides…..even your Obama said Ronald Reagan had GREAT ideas, during the primaries.

      Dontcha remember?

    • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

      sf
      What do the following countries have in common

      Weimer Republic
      Argentina
      Zimbabwe
      They all printed money to the point of national bankruptcy

      I would rather see housing collapse and the consumer economy and have a rebirth as a savings nation and producer rather than see us become a third world country.
      We are just putting off the inevitable

      Do you remember the pictures of the money in wheelbarrows to buy a loaf of bread.
      Hyper Inflation causes famine as people are unable to buy anything….Of course you know what happens after hyper inflation…
      The rise of fascism and wars..

      • no kidding

        Obama wants to spend 9.7 trillion. So the bail outs keep coming as his warchest for 2012 gets fatter and fatter.

    • Mary

      But sfhillary, wasn’t it Obama who said he was going to give 95% of Americans a tax cut?

      Isn’t THAT a deeply Republican point of view?

      You’re contradicting yourself, in all your I-hate-Republicans-but-Obama-is-a-master, gobbledegook.

      When is your “master” gonna help little homeowners and not the big banks?

      • fif

        Don’t forget the expansion of Bush’s faith-based initiatives.

    • jbjd

      “None” is singular, as in ‘not one.’ Thus, the proper comment would have been, “None of you is taking issue with Larry’s post.”

      • anon

        ‘No one’, not ‘not one’. Symbolic logic correction. Sorry, couldn’t help self.

    • Newly Independent

      Do you all really advocate just letting the economy continue sliding into the abyss without putting up a huge amount of cash to try and restart spending?

      The U.S. government cannot spend its way out of recession. The more money it spends, the deeper into the abyss the United States goes. Because the U.S. government doesn’t know how to create long-term wealth.

      Do any of you even realize how radical, and how deeply Republican, this point of view is?

      The Republicans are absolutely right on this.

      The U.S. government cannot save the economy. ONLY OUR FREE MARKET CAN.

      This is not a party fight. This is a fight for the survival of the U.S. economy and the United States.

      Take your head out of your ass and stop thinking “party” and start thinking COUNTRY.

    • elise

      “I am proposing what we’re calling The Homeowners Mortgage Enterprise, an acronym obviously spelling HOME, to rewrite mortgages and reset terms so that creditworthy, responsible families can keep their homes and keep making affordable payments. Through such a HOME program, we’d also be able to consider freezing adjustable mortgage rates and even placing short term moratoriums on foreclosures.”

      “Second, we must be vigilant on behalf of taxpayers, putting in place safeguards so the Treasury is maximizing the value of the assets purchased with taxpayer dollars. We need to have the flexibility to ensure we’re not just subsidizing investors and executives, but we should tie this debt relief to strong recapitalization requirements and greater accountability.”

      This is what Hillary Clinton said on the floor of the senate last month. She also said the following which Obama has used since as if it were his own idea: But we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good, or in this case, the enemy of what’s necessary.” He also used her three legged stool again tonight and only explained one
      leg. BTW her favorability rating is, drum roll, 65%. She said absolutely nothing about spending a trillion dollars and wouldn’t have left Pelosi, Reid and Emanuel write this bill. Could it be that they knew she wouldn’t go along and that is why they sabotaged her candidacy?

  • RedDragon62

    I watched Obama’s press conference. Anyone who doesn’t realize by now that the guy is a master is, not to put too fine a point on it, either a brainless moron or someone whose own professional success lies in knocking the guy down.

    Say what?

    • Andy

      who are you quoting RedDragon62 ?

  • sandi78

    The difference is that Bill Clinton knew in detail what he was talking about. Oblabla, not much clue. We could have had another Clinton who knows the details….

    • Andy

      Agree !!

    • FLDemFem

      And Bill could explain it so that someone who got a C- in economics can understand it. Obama can’t explain it in a way that an economist can understand what the hell he is talking about, because he doesn’t know what he is talking about. Damn, I miss Bubba… sigh.

  • dnesser

    Why don’t the Democrats just go ahead and pass what they want? They do not need the Republicans. The Senate Republicans said they would NOT filibuster….So WHY is Obama trying so hard? If Obama is so sure this is going to fix the Economy and NOT create High Inflation, the Democrats can take all the credit if it works. By the way, this is not Obama’s Stimulus Plan, it’s the Pelosi Stinulus Plan. I’m getting ready for double digit Inflation.

    • AlexisM

      Obama knows this fat pig is going to kill him, Pelosi, Reid and all the trash in DC. He wants some GOP people to back it and take the blame. No prayer in hell. So Arlin Specter got paid off. Big deal. This will all fall in the Dimwits’ laps and no one will be happier than I will to see them repaid for what they have done to this country the last two years. Buh bye DNC.

    • no kidding

      dnesser — Cause there is crap in this bill that if it saw the light of day the nation would be in an uproar. Obama needs the Republicans for cover.

      • http://baddemocrat08.wordpress.com/ obamastolemyboyfriend

        Obama will start switching to Republican round about 2010 so he has aprayer winning re-election in 2012. I don’t put it past him, the slimey, scumbag.

  • Babs

    Did I hear correctly his claim that 90% of the jobs in this package are in the private sector?

  • http://radamisto.blogspot.com Steve J.

    PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS CREATED, IN THOUSANDS
    CARTER – 4 YEARS
    JAN 1977 65636
    DEC 1980 74563
    NET == + 8927

    BUSH – 8 YEARS
    JAN 2001 111634
    DEC 2008 112645
    NET == +1011

    • to77

      yeah, those carter years were the BEST! If only he wasnt senile…

    • Andy

      Who cares about Carter?
      I will hold Obama to Bill Clinton’s standards.
      22M + NEW jobs created – not just ‘saved’….

      • Strawberrybitch

        ….I MISS BILL!!!!! AND WE COULD HAVE HAD HILL AND BILL!! I need to go smash my head against a stationary object.

  • http://radamisto.blogspot.com Steve J.

    And your “solution” to the current crisis–which was brought on by people and institutions spending money they did not have and borrowing money they could not repay–is to have the Federal government borrow more money it cannot repay and spend it? Are you shitting me?

    Have you ever heard of Keynes?

    • Peggy Sue

      Yes, I have. And you, Steve, might find this of interest:

      http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090209/OPINION/902090359/1028/OPINION02

      A particularly pertinent paragraph is here:

      “There is something desperate about the way economists are clinging to their dog-eared copies of Keynes’s “General Theory.” Uneasily aware that their discipline almost entirely failed to anticipate the current crisis, they seem to be regressing to macroeconomic childhood, clutching the Keynesian “multiplier effect” – that holds that a dollar spent by the government begets more than a dollar’s worth of additional economic output – like an old teddy bear.”

      Niall Ferguson, Concord Monitor, 2/9/2009

      This piece also ran in the LA Times and the Salt Lake Tribune. Interesting, no? Of course, it throws a wrench into your exuberent optimism.

      Get your parachute ready. We’re about to take a breathless ride.

      • http://radamisto.blogspot.com Steve J.

        The New Deal WORKED no matter what Ferguson says or writes.

    • Newly Independent
  • cathnealon

    If that lady who said that BO was going to “save us all and pay her mortgage, her heating bills and buy her groceries” doesn’t get her money right after this stimulus goes through she and her fellow delusional BO supporters might just storm the WH to get their checks.

  • http://radamisto.blogspot.com Steve J.

    Let’s focus the stimulus on where if should be.

    First, cut government spending.

    Hoover tried that and it was an epic FAIL.

    • Mary

      Hoover didn’t support funding for golf carts and frisbee courts and shelters for prostitutes.

      Not the same, little darlin.

      • http://radamisto.blogspot.com Steve J.

        You don’t get it. Hoover cut government spending and the economy sank further into Depression.

        • Mary

          Nobody is arguing that we need a stimulus, dumbass.

          The QUESTION is whether golf carts and frisbees and shelters for prostitutes is the RIGHT kind of stimulus.

          You think he’ll create 4 million jobs with that kinda crap?

          Sheesh

          • http://radamisto.blogspot.com Steve J.

            Turn off the radio and get into a rehab program.

        • Jaycephus

          And FDR doubled the national debt, and the depression continuted!!! So what’s the Keynesian answer? “Quadruple the national debt! That will work, we promise!”

          No thanks.

        • Jaycephus

          Of course, the ironic thing is that FDR himself ran on a promise to cut federal expenditures by 25%!

  • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com Uppity Woman

    God knows what the market will do tomorrow. Someone needs to tell this guy to shut up.

    Chicken Little Obama.

    • AlexisM

      Chicken Little Obama?

      ROFL

    • http://tojo toni

      Chicken Little Obama…..that’s perfect!

  • GOP08_DOA

    Bwah ha ha ha ha ha. Nothing beats watching totally pissed off republicans with their hair blazing and steam coming outta their ears. God bless Barack Obama.

    • AlexisM

      God didn’t bless Barack Obama. And he sure didn’t bless America when we got conned by the Fraud. How much did you make for that post? A few dimes?

      Do you read? The Fraud and his partner in Pork, Pelosi, have given the GOP a new reason to live and breath. There won’t be a lot of Dims in Congress at Midterms and sure as hell not one in the WH in 2012.

    • Mary

      Translation: I don’t understand Economics, but it doesn’t matter. Obama is my hero.

    • oowawa

      God bless Barack Obama.

      Is there a melody to this anthem, or is it a rap tune?

      • Mary

        Brush him off your shoulders, and scrape him off your shoes.

        Obama taught me that. :)

  • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

    Third, no matter how noble or necessary you may think an investment in infrastructure is you must understand that such public works projects do little by way of general economic stimulus. Rebuilding roads, sewers or schools may give us a spiffier nation down the road but it is like any project–if you want to remodel your home you still have to come up with the cash or get a loan. Just because it is the Federal Government does not mean those rules no longer apply.

    Larry…Out of the thousand manufacturers that my company does business only about ten will benefit from this stimulus package. Those companies are cement and related companies and even those don’t have any government contracts.
    I see the end of deflation and the beginning of massive hyper inflation.
    We have already received notice of increased costs for raw materials despite the fact that demand is way off..

    • Mary

      YEP. The value of the dollar will be reduced, causing things to cost more, creating hyper-inflation, and eventually , 21% interest rates.

      Carter 2.

  • Patience

    If the bill must be passed ASAP in order to avoid imminent catastrophe, why is so much of the spending in it deferred? Plus, even the AP is now saying the claims of no pork/earmarks/parochialism is bogus.

    It’s natural (and prudent) for people to recoil from duress and fear-mongering. Big, expensive decisions should be made with due diligence and deliberation. Enough criticism has been raised by partisans of all stripes to make me believe this bill needs an overhaul. Probably won’t happen though.

    The more emergent issue is the credit crunch. If effectively resolved, it will provide stimulus that we can count on, and sooner than the legislation proposed. I’m getting weary of the increasing chorus of class warfare — at this point I don’t give a rat’s ass if someone at Merrill Lynch bought an expensive waste basket last year. It’s no excuse to defer fixing the problem whose solution will provide relief for a lot of what ails our economy right now.

    Congress can still allocate extended unemployment compensation and other types of timely relief without all of the expensive add-ons.

  • TexasMirth

    I thought Obama sounded defensive, arrogant, and very un-presidential. I was shocked when Dick Morris and Ari Fleischer gave him great marks for this rambling, stump speech retread. This is going to be a long four years…

    • AlexisM

      So he was himself tonight?

  • dormantdem

    Shame on you GOP08_DOA…
    didn’t anyone tell you that Kool-aid sours?

    Thanks Larry for this very good read.

  • candymarl

    FISA vote, backtracking on immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Wanting to expand the war in Afghanistan. Putting a clause in that trade agreements will be “looked at” meanwhile the US will abide by all existing trade agreements (NAFTA, CAFTA, and GATT).

    Cutting 100 billion from a bill that will ultimately cost over a trillion dollars when the bill comes due with interest.

    Apparently spending large amounts of taxpayer monies is fine as long as “your guy” does does it. Where’s the oversight? Oh, there won’t be any until the money is already spent.

    Wasn’t that one of the major criticisms of the previous admin that they spent money with no oversight?

    About Obama being a ” Master”. I thought only slaves had “Masters”. I guess some people prefer that to freedom.

    • oowawa

      About Obama being a ” Master”. I thought only slaves had “Masters”. I guess some people prefer that to freedom.

      O Candymarl, that’s a good one.

  • G-funkadelic

    Larry, got to hand it to you. You are one of the few democratic leaning folks i know who is willing to tell the truth on economics without pie in the sky spin about how the government can save us all by borrowing yet more money. One thing to add – 500 billion or so a year paid in interest now. 500 billion!

    At 5% a year, a trillion stimulus means we just added another 50 billion or so a year to that interest payment…..for the next few decades. how much will that really cost? another 500 billion over 10 years? why is noone talking about this?

  • MacGruber

    The money freed up by those cuts can be redirected to pay to help people who are in debt over their heads stay in their homes.

    Wait, Larry…are you talking about spreading the wealth around? Because if so, I’m not down with that.

  • Babs

    Cut out of the bill all “stimulus” that cannot be projected to create jobs within one year. Cut out all the social programs, and then let them be debated and passed or not passed on their own merits. Open up all “shovel ready” infrastructure projects to the entire American work force, not just to union businesses or non-union businesses forced to pay prevailing union wages. Just a few of the things on my “if I were President” list……sigh.

    • G-funkadelic

      That is a centrist proposal, the sad truth is that Obama wanted to pay off his constituencies with this bill, and he did. Everyone got a piece, timeliness be damned, effectiveness be damned.

      • no kidding

        G-funkadelic — You got that right. 600 Million to get him to the Presidency requires a large quid-pro-quo. Thats all its about fatcats make out and the rest of us sacrifice — while Obama lives high on the hog on our dime.

  • Mercedes

    I don’t know if tax cuts work. I do know that there is an enormous amount of waste in the US Federal budget and it appears that Obama’s rescue plan just inflates it. Obama may be an ignorant hack, but he was endorsed by academic know-it-alls from Harvard and the University of Chicago and this think tank and that think tank. What have those people been doing all these years? Are they all idiots or do they have some hidden agenda? Does or can anybody really control the economy? I would be interested to hear what Bill Clinton has to say about all this.

  • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

    Time for a grim observation
    Without the stimulus program you have a collapse in asset values the end of the service economy with record breaking unemployment along with a rise in civil instability

    With the stimulus you have hyper inflation and a 90% reduction in the dollar and a spiral into a third world nation status with famine and the rise of extremism

    Folks…The truth is we’re SCREWED either way!

    Enjoy the ride!

    • AlexisM

      Seattle…I don’t think that’s 100% true. I think a lot of this financial instability has been brought on by the Dimwits to cause panic and therefore force people to ignorantly pass their socialist agenda. I believe we will be fine. Of course we will, as we always have. But we won’t be fine if the pigs in DC turn us into Cuba.

      • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

        Thanks Alexis..I will try to see that our vigilance will save this country from the abyss.

        • AlexisM

          We’re all too riled up. No one is going to let him destroy our country.

    • G-funkadelic

      Cmon man there is a third way, it involves the GOP taking over in 2010 and making sure a lot of the backended programs of the stimulus are checked to lessen inflation and business tax cuts are foisted on Obama instead in 2011, reviving the economy.

      • AlexisM

        I think at this point, only three weeks into the Pelosi-Obama reign of terror, that we can safely say 2010 belongs to the GOP.

        • G-funkadelic

          It is far from clear, Alexis…Obama is a master politician, and all news can be spun, no matter how damning the actual facts may be…

        • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

          I recommend to everyone to venture to Mark Levin’s web site and listen to his free show today.

      • http://radamisto.blogspot.com Steve J.

        Inflation won’t be a problem. The 10 year T-bill is still under 3%.

        • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

          Print the Monopoly money and see what happens

        • to77

          yeah, just like it wasnt a problem when that GOD carter was president. you tell um’ steve.

    • no kidding

      seattle moss — think of it this way. Would Obama be able to take 9.7 trillion of our money without this crisis. When this thing passes we are all going to need the Govt just to survive.
      Economists say if we did nothing our economy would get back to normal in the next year. Obama is using this situation to screw us over.

  • KintheNorthwest

    Has anyone noticed that gas has gone up around 50 cents a gallon since Obama took office.
    Where I live it was just below $1.50 a couple of days before his swearing in. Now gas is almost $2.10 a gallon.
    For some reason I have a feeling that gas is not the only thing that we are going to see a price jump in.

    • AlexisM

      Oil will probably skyrocket. Too many countries like Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, etc. are suffering because oil prices are way below what they should be for a stable world. If the don’t get higher, I think someone will commit some international crisis situation to drive them back up. Iran has lost 2/3 of their income. Venezuela is in the crapper too. How long do we think they will put up with this?

    • cynic

      Now why would gas prices be rising, when global demand has dropped greatly due to the economic slow down?

      • AlexisM

        Do you read what I write? The oil producing countries are suffering. Iran has had their income cut to 1/3 of what it was. Like I SAID…somehow there will be either a natural disaster, or an international crisis/event that will naturally or unnaturally drive the prices back up. Also, you might want to get familiar with this thing called OPEC. You know, the people who also regulate oil prices by cutting production?

      • AlexisM

        PS…You might want to educate yourself about oil. Many things can drive oil prices up…for instance, if someone blows up a refinery in Nigeria, a hurricane takes out a refinery in Texas. You look at the oil business with a very simple mind. Geopolitics, weather, cuts in production, etc. affect oil. You just reduce it to republicans. Or supply vs. demand.

  • Mandelay

    Bravo Larry! Good old fashioned American common sense in a terrific post!

    Last week was a bad one for some of my friends. One lost a job. Another told of layoffs in her company earlier in the week with an end of week company-wide assembly when all employees were told they’d be taking a pay cut. Hours to be cut as well.

    BTW, I watched Obama’s press conference with the sound off, just to catch the body language. I watched for 20 minutes during the first half hour and didn’t see him look into the camera at all. It was as if he wanted us at home to “watch him work” but he wasn’t looking at/speaking to the t.v. audience at all. It was very odd. I switched to the dog show.

    • TexasMirth

      I switched to the dog show.

      I wish I had thought of that!

      • Mandelay

        The Scottish Deerhound won best in the hound class. But it was only the first night … there’s more during this week … in case you need to be rescued from our leader. Nothing like a dog!

        • TexasMirth

          in case you need to be rescued from our leader. Nothing like a dog!

          Thanks! I will tune in because I definitely need a break from the grim realities of Obama’s America.

  • lisadawn82

    I know that having government employees taking a pay cut is pretty popular but when I worked for the Bureau of Economic Analysis I was a GS-7 making $44,000. That might sound like a lot but in DC where rents in something halfway decent is around $1200-1500 a month. I was poor making $44,000 grand with a rent and a car payment.

    It’s not fair to make the employees suffer for the bosses mistakes.

    • Andy

      I agree with you here. There should be another way.

      • so saddened

        also agree. lots of those employees do things like provide care in va hospitals, etc. makes no sense at all for the sins of the politicians to be taken out of the paychecks of the regular people. agree re the high-level executives and the jerks obama’s appointing (those jerks should have to work for $1 a year).

        • Andy

          that’s an idea!! and PBO too.

  • BlackmanNot4obama

    This is going to be a long 4 years. We just left the republican monster to deal with the Democratic monster. He continues to say save or creat 4 million jobs. How can you prove if he failed or succeeded with that “golden parachute-like” statement? Either way he can say he succeeded!

  • Dutch

    Obama is a master of bullshit. It was painful to listen to him go on, and on, and on….ad infinitem! He lies real good too.

    • AF catfish

      Bill O’Rielly has been trying really hard to give Bam credit but today he kept saying how looong-winded our PITO is. He also said “I was bored” during the press conference, and “it wasn’t really a press conference” cuz PITO only took a few questions.

    • AlexisM

      I can’t watch the Con Man, but my mother did. She said she’s never seen anything so arrogant and full of crap. He’s an idiot.

  • JULIE

    Hey Larry, I always knew BHO was an ignorant ass!

  • HARP

    Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.

    Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).

    The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

    But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs

    • AlexisM

      HARP I posted that earlier today in its entirety. I can’t believe it. Basically they are also saying that seniors should forego expensive medical care because at their age certain things have to be dealt with. It makes me puke. Wait until the elderly people who voted for the prick see that crap.

      • HARP

        Sorry for the repeat. These friggin socialists have lost their minds.

        • AlexisM

          HARP….Nooooooo worries on the repeat. I was just sharing the experience. Thanks for bringing it up again. I think people would literally freak if they knew about this. These frigging socialist pieces of crap are right. This has made me angry all day and Obama is like a snake oil salesman pushing his bile and lies all over America. Grrrrr…WTF is happening to us?

      • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com Uppity Woman

        Your first sign of Totalitarian rule.

        Wait till AARP takes a piece out of his ass. That generatio will be at the white house gates with pitch forks and torches.

        • AlexisM

          Do these idiots who voted for this scum realize that they just sold out the health care of their own parents in their twilight years? Obama’s a piece of crap. Period.

        • AlexisM

          Just think…the losers who voted for Obama just cut their own parents out of health care in their twilight years. That’s not going to sit well.

        • so saddened

          the aarp puts out baloney praising the fool. plan to drop them.

          the health records things is pretty scary – not only will they decide what we older people should and shouldn’t receive in medical care, but they’ll also have access to everyone’s private medical info. just imagine if you’re a candidate for oh, maybe, something like senator from illinois and your opponent is someone like oh, maybe, obama, and he gets your private info and it turns out you had an std or you told your doctor about your wife’s sex habits or whatever. what are the odds that obama-like politician would or wouldn’t use that info?

          • TexasMirth

            so saddened – you are so right. This is scary stuff. The worst of it is having some bureaucrat looking over your doctor’s treatment.
            Did the bureaucrat go to med school? Does anyone want somebody diagnosing you over the telephone or from reading about your case without ever seeing you as a patient? This is madness, not to mention malpractice.

            • so saddened

              agree, texasmirth. and not only will the person deciding what care we get probably not be a doctor but he or she will probably be a young person hired into the job and indoctrinated into thinking that treatment of anyone over 60 is just a drain on the country.

              i have a very nice, very young, doctor. i can imagine her having to deal with pressures to cut back on treatment for older patients or risk loss of income from medicare, etc. although she’s very nice, she has decades ahead of her and might bow to the pressure. maybe i need an old doctor. . .???

              • TexasMirth

                Older doctors are ready to throw in the towel – or at least my husband is after 25 years of practicing medicine. My son graduates this coming May from med school and it is hard to be excited for him, knowing what is coming.

            • no kidding

              Texas Mirth — For me the worst part of it is deciding that because a person is older they don’t have the right to the same treatment as a younger person. Only God should have the right to decide who lives and who dies.

            • no kidding

              Right now because Seniors are mobile most don’t need to be in the care of families. If seniors are denied care that care falls to the families who will have to juggle their parents needs as well as those of their children.

    • http://sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

      The electronic records are a real privacy issue as far as I’m concerned. It is being slipped into this ‘catastrophe’ bill to avoid debate.

      • AlexisM

        Isn’t this a major Constitutional issue? Don’t we have the right to privacy? Wow is this going to backfire on these goofballs.

      • no kidding

        sonic — sure Dems didn’t want to argue this before Congress because they are cowards. They want to call themselves the people’s party while they screw over the people.

    • no kidding

      Harp — It will be Seniors who will be hit the hardest. The Govt will be able to decide if a procedure is necessary based on how old you are. If a doctor decides on his own that you merit this treatment he can be sanctions by the Govt. They didn’t have the nerve to take this before Congress and fight this out–no they had to sneak this in. What this has to do with Simulus I don’t know except it will stimulate the death of people who would otherwise be helped by treatment.

    • http://radamisto.blogspot.com Steve J.

      THIS IS ANOTHER WINGNUT LIE. BESTY MCCAUGHEY LIED WHEN SHE WROTE ABOUT THE BILL. I KNOW BECAUSE I TOOK THE TIME TO CHECK HER REFERENCES.

  • CG

    Larry, I think you made a brilliant point, step one is government pay cuts, but I would take it a step further and cut government benefits by a percentage too.

    • http://sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

      Too bad Congress just voted themselves a pay raise last week.

      • TexasMirth

        Too bad Congress just voted themselves a pay raise last week.

        Unconscionable! Their gall exceeds their greed.

      • Newly Independent

        It’s time for an American revolution. And a mass tax revolt.

  • Greg H

    Personally, I think this showboating is a set up for either Pelosi or Reid when Obama VETO’s the package and tells the House leaders “Do you think I’m that stupid to sign that CRAP” Not gonna happen. He is that ignorant !

  • Dutch

    AlexisM, are you kidding me? The man is dangerous as is the other axis of evil, Nancy Pelosi. I have never seen a more divisive, destructive and deceitful pair parading as human beings. Obama doesn’t give two shits about anyone but himself and will sell all of us down the river (including Pelosi)in a heartbeat. Who’s going to stop him????? The Media, Congress, the Kool Aid drinking masses? Jim Jones got a lot of people to kill themselves as well as their children – all as good “followers”.

    Obama lied through his teeth tonight and the media is giving him good grades for his performance. That might not be so bad if it was a play…but this is real. Isn’t that what our great leader said tonight…that the economic crisis is real. Pearls of wisdom. I think the people in Indiana know that Mr. Obama and so do we all. His fear mongering was so uplifting.

    • AlexisM

      Dutch…I’m on your team and agree with you 100%. Did you misunderstand me?

  • donjo

    Larry, you forgot one big, fat, important way to save money and that’s to get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan and turn the “war” on terror over to the police units where it belongs.

  • Andy

    Hold on to your hats b/c I am watching Charlie Rose and his guests say that the Govt will soom come asking for MORE. In other words this stimulus is PBO’s first installment….

    • no kidding

      andy — Obama wants 9.7 Trillion.

      • Newly Independent

        You have GOT to be kidding.

  • kgirl1028

    thunderous applause! And cheers.

  • QUEENIE

    This ashole is Bush #2..he not only used 2 telepromters..he was also using an IFB..you could see him waiting for answers from the wizard behind the curtain in his ear, and flubbed words when he didn’t hear them right..this is Bush x2..only this one does it better..but none the less he was using an IFB in his ear!

    Watch how he looks down when he is waiting for an answer in his ear!! It is obvious to anyone who has used one!!

    • AlexisM

      During the GE he was using the IFB and Axelfraud was giving him the answers. He’s just plain idiotic.

  • Babs

    I am 65 years old, have been watching press conferences since before many of you were born, and this is the first press conference I have seen where the President has a list to call on, calls on a person on that list, and then says “Where are you?”. The 10 minute answer to the first question made me almost 100% sure that he knew the questions beforehand, and that at least the majority of the questions were planned as introductions to more campaign speeches. There was no sense of a real press conference, no challenges to anything he said, no probing questions such as those related to details in the bill that he swears he knows every facet of, even though its final draft has yet to be determined. More softballs so he can demonize Bush and remind us all that the evil Republicans got us into this mess all by themselves, more softballs so he can keep telling us how bad things are, what terrible shape we’re in. Phooey!

    • http://sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

      I thought it seemed contrived the way he called names off a list…this is another sad example of our MSM failing at their duty.

    • QUEENIE

      Heck he had Ed Schultz sitting next to Helen, one of the questioners was from the Blog, Huffington Post..one of the benefactors of George Soros..the only one missing was Move On..another of G Soros benefactors!
      What a joke!

    • anon

      oohrah!! You said it!

  • Thinker

    Ignorant indeed.

    http://www.zshare.net/audio/552044966dde323b/

    In the snippet, Obama can be heard saying, “You ain’t my b***h, n****. Buy your own damn fries!”

    Obama:

    Always assy, never classy, lol

  • Babs

    Thinker: Do you know where that snippet was recorded? To whom he was speaking? If that’s not Obama’s voice, it’s surely a more evil twin!

    • Thinker

      It’s Obama.

      Either he was secretly taped or it’s from the audio version of his “autobiography.”

  • TheBigB

    It isn’t guvmint workers that are eating up the dough. I still haven’t quite figured out the advantage to being a gov employee over a contractor. Contractors typically get paid more and have better benefits. The only disadvantage is that your contract may get terminated and you walk in and find you don’t have a job BUT usually what happens – go to work somewhere else in the same company or get hired on to the same job by another company.

    There are new rules in effect for government employees. Basically, there is no pay increase until the fall after next.

    It’s the contractors for the gov. that get the cash cow deals. Take for example:
    Mr. M gets hired by a contractor. He gets paid “X” amount but the contractor is getting paid “XX” and often “XXX” by the government for each employee.
    A very lucrative business to be in.

    Or, another example, let’s say I want to buy “X” equipment for my section. Any item/items over $3k MUST be contracted out to disadvantaged businesses that have a license to do business w/ govmint. And, don’t get caught piece-mealing to not have to contract out cuz it is your @$$!

  • JrRD

    Yeah, Obama`s a master. A Master-baiter!

  • WildChild

    First, cut government spending. How? Every employee of the Federal Government who is in the Senior Executive Service (i.e., holds the equivalent of a senior rank, starting at the 1 star general level) should take a 20% pay cut. Employees at the GS 11-15 should take a 15% pay cut, and those at GS 10 and below should take a 10% cut. Lead by example and make the government lead.

    First, you don’t ask any hard working American to to take a pay cut when we are using tax dollars to bail out multi-gazillionaires. That is not going to fly. Cutting public sector pay is the first thing every bone head conservative suggests in the same sentence they suggest the next round of tax cuts. In essence they want to cut the pay of working men and women but give the wealthy a raise. If you re going to cut pay you do it the responsible way. You raise taxes. It’s what our government is supposed to do to raise the money it spends and it has the exact same effect as a pay cut.

    Second, you don’t buy the paper being held by multi gazilionares using tax dollars either. They are the assholes that blew up the bubble and if you buy them out they just walk away counting their dough and laughing at us just like they did when we bailed them out. Instead what you do is use the regulatory power of the United States to cap the rate on primary home mortgages and put a moratorium on foreclosures of the same. The gazillionaires wrote those mortgages and they are going to have to suck it up and hold onto them until this thing blows over, and they can’t screw us in the process.

    Fellas we need to start getting out of the mind set that government is bad. It isn’t. It’s a reflection of us and is no better or worse then we are. We were sold on a bullshit conservative lie that told us government was bad and the private sector could do no wrong. Well before we continue down that rode one more step we might want to notice the shit we are up to our necks in because of that bullshit conservative lie.

    • anon

      You are mistaken. Conservatives do not believe that government is BAD, they believe that government is properly limited in its power. Government is good when it stays out of market principles and allows those forces to dictate the ebb and flow of commerce.

      You don’t cut pay by raising taxes, you raise the price of goods and services, ding dong.

      Your belief that people think “government is bad…and the private sector could do no wrong” is hopelessly juvenile and, of course, wrongheaded.

      Also, you should spell check, just saying.

      • WildChild

        You are mistaken. Conservatives do not believe that government is BAD, they believe that government is properly limited in its power.

        first of all that statement doesn’t mean anything LOL

        You don’t cut pay by raising taxes, you raise the price of goods and services, ding dong.

        I raise the price of goods and services if I raise sales taxes. If I raise inicome taxes there is no direc correlation. If I raise corporate taxers the marketplace will select against those companies which pass them on and favor those that don’t.

        Your belief that people think “government is bad…and the private sector could do no wrong” is hopelessly juvenile and, of course, wrongheaded.

        why, LOL because you said so?

        Also, you should spell check, just saying.

        Not using spell check is probably the funniest way to can smoke out the fringe. For some reason they just can’t help but point out incorrect spelling.

  • http://sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

    Larry, Remember–Obama was a part of the Congress that created the astounding government spending–he’s just continuing down the same path–faster! For us it is the road to serfdom.

    I’m no expert, but I wonder why more people aren’t talking about the inflation this spending will cause (surely!). Some deflation (which we have now and will continue if allowed) is actually a good thing–something we should want. It adjusts prices down to where they should have been in the first place. I know it’s painful (especially in housing) but we cannot continue to have unrealistic expectations of our house values soaring. How will our children ever afford any house?

    Obama’s minions are trying to scare people with chicken little talk of a ‘deflationary spiral’ but don’t believe it! The CBO has predicted a bottoming out of this recession (which is NOT the worst since the Depression, as Obama constantly says!) during the second quarter of this year.

    Inflation will kill us–it will suffocate businesses and raise everyone’s cost of living. Tax cuts (NOT tax rebates, which are one-time deals that no one can make long-term plans with) will help businesses plan for investment and growth, which is what we want. Businesses provide the stable, long term jobs as opposed to the ‘stimulus jobs’ that are temporary (if there even are many–one estimate I heard said that if you take the money, divide by the number of jobs it’s supposed to create, it comes to almost $300,000 we will pay to ‘create’ each job!).

    I get so frustrated when Obama repeats the false phrase “failed policies of the past”!! The thing that failed was NOT the economic policy per se, it was Congress–in terms of creating laws that forced banks to make bad loans, in failing abjectly in oversight when all those banks were over leveraging/credit default swapping, and in spending like there was no tomorrow!! And YOU were a part of that, Obama, so shut the heck up!!

  • AlexisM

    Good lord when are you people going to stop whining about rich people? America was founded on the principle that anyone can become a success. Not on the premise that the rich have to carry the lazy.

    Let’s take a poll…of all the people here out of work…would you honestly do the dirty jobs that the illegals do? Pick lettuce, dig ditches? No, you would rather get a free ride off the “rich people” that you envy and hate. The rich should work their azzes off to carry you. Right? That’s disgusting.

    We’re a welfare, lazy pathetic society. We have to send our business overseas because Americans won’t do the cheap labor. We have illegals coming here taking our jobs because lazy azzes would rather collect welfare on the back of the rich than do those jobs. So illegals take the jobs, don’t pay taxes, and send all their money back to Mexico. What’s wrong with this pathetic picture?

    Too many Americans are buying the free ride theory. Good luck with that. The more Obama pushes that, the more wealth leaves this country. Corporations don’t have to be citizens. And until America stops the liberal jealousy and hate for people who work hard and get paid for it, then we are going to fail. We’re not Canada, we’re America. But, of course, no one has to live here. Quite frankly, I am tired of paying the taxes I pay to support people who won’t work. It’s appalling.

    • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

      Alexis,
      Excellent post..When I drove through apple orchards last year i was appalled at all the fruit left on the trees not being harvested because of a crack down in illegals. If we wanted a real stimulus we could direct the unemployed Americans to the farms to pick the harvest.
      This won’t happen until food is the most important factor in everyday life. That is when Americans will take the ditch jobs.Until then they will blame the rich and those that work hard to make jobs possible for others.
      Societies don’t change until there is revolution.

      This is the change we are going to see here and in other countries
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/4571944/Ed-Balls-minister-fears-rise-of-fascism-amid-economic-gloom.html

      • AlexisM

        My father came here from Greece with a family to feed. He is way too much of a “man” to go on the government dole and ask for handouts. He took whatever work he could to feed his family, and studied at night so he could learn a valuable trade that eventually made him wealthy enough for us to be comfortable. None of that exists anymore. None of it. The American dream and spirit is gone. It’s “let’s destroy the rich and steal from them” which is a disgrace. What kind of “man” does something like that? If someone has bills to pay, or a family to feed, they should get out in those apple orchards and pick apples. Period. In fact, Seattle, that’s a really good plan. Send those on welfare and unemployment out to the fields.

        • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

          Alexis,

          The American dream and spirit is gone. It’s “let’s destroy the rich and steal from them” which is a disgrace.

          Those that create the jobs employ the workers and buy products that other workers make are being looted and punished for their good works.
          Last week the Yacht builder closed laying off 600 people;
          The week before the small jet builder closed
          The week before that all the RV builders closed
          The week before that the custom builders went under.
          They all employed regular workers with families to feed
          The liberal Marxists would rather we all drive one car and live a life style they dictate.
          Problem is there is no job creation with that model
          Damn those rich people…They create far to many jobs!

          • AlexisM

            I’ve said it before…the wealthy in Venezuela got tired of Chavez and took their money elsewhere. A lot of it came here, much of it to Florida, thanks very much to them. We will do the same. If people can’t pursue their dreams here, they will go elsewhere. My family has a lot of friends who decided to just retire early and close their businesses, rather than go through the Obama nonsense. They could have continued to employ people and do business, but it’s just getting too hard to look to the future positively with someone like Obama destroying incentive.

            • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

              Alexis,
              I can only give myself as an example..
              I’m fortunate to have had a great education and upbringing from a father that sacrificed everything material so that his two sons could be equipped for the world out there.
              My easy life ended with the collapse of the oil industry back in the 80′s. My father lost everything he had built over the years especially his career and for several years it was really hard for me.
              I realized that it was up to me to make something of myself in this world and that I would have nobody to help.
              I moved up to Seattle in my car with just a hope and a prayer not even knowing a soul in this town.
              Over the nearly twenty years I have been here, I first etched out a living anyway I could by selling whatever products that needed to be sold.
              I finally got recognized one day selling high end windows at the home show many years back. I had been working everyday at the show and the other reps laughed at my drive to get every last deal. Then walked in a friend of an owner of a plastics company and he stood and watched my style. He then wanted me to sell him a single door miles away. The other reps couldn’t believe that I would drive sixty mile just to sell a door. But I knew I could sell him all the windows too. When I got to his house he wasn’t so much interested in the door although he bought that along with the windows. This gentleman was interested in my life and in my future and told me I had the opportunity to take the job of a lifetime building a plastics company for his friend.
              Since that time I have doubled the business for this company and have become a partner part owner and member of the family. I owe all my success to not giving up and working the extra hours and going the extra distance to get the deal.

              • AlexisM

                First, Seattle, there are two of you out there? Be still my heart.

                I have never been on unemployment or welfare. Ever. I started working when I was 19 and have worked every single day, even weekends, since. I have never taken government money, never, for anything. Nor will I. I am educated and have a craft and talent, but if that ever stops being lucrative I will scrub toilets in a Motel 6 before I go on the dole and steal money from those who earned it. Never, ever, ever will I promote depriving people of their success so that I can have a free ride. I have pride and dignity and my spirit would die if I took from others. I can sense that you would never do that either, being the man you seem to be. Congrats on all of your success!

                • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

                  Alexis,

                  I have pride and dignity and my spirit would die if I took from others. I can sense that you would never do that either, being the man you seem to be.

                  As I was rising here in Seattle there were times when I was alone and searching. Empty and wondering why I didn’t have the easy road like some. I set out to cure myself of this self pity by volunteering to help people at my local church. What I came to realize was how fortunate I really was and how I could never forsake my parents and what they had given me. I have taken that attitude all the way and work so that others can work and provide for their families. Part of my job is motivating others either at work or in my church. We all have a gift that God has given us to perform in this world.

                  • AlexisM

                    Seattle, you are a dreamboat. What a lucky woman your wife is. And what a great American you are. Like what America was when our forefathers created it. I have no earthly idea what the hell America is now. But I pray for the backlash. Just like in physics…every action has a reaction…time to clean America up from the filth we have wallowed in for too long.

                    • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

                      Alexis,
                      You’re a real patriot!
                      The backlash will be severe.Not just about Obama but this whole culture that brought us here to this moment.
                      I appreciate your confidence that we will get through this mess intact.
                      I’m preparing for the revolution

                      The revolution of American patriotism pride, value in work, decency towards others and respect to all people especially women.
                      This revolution starts in 2010

                    • AlexisM

                      LOL Seattle…the Revolution has already started. Victory is in 2010 and then in 2012.

                    • cynic

                      If you’re part of a society that has got some serious systemic problems, the rational response is to start trying to fix things, not to burn it all to the ground.

                      Don’t advocate total ruin and try to pass it off as patriotism.

                    • AlexisM

                      Cynic…it’s Obama and Pelosi who are advocating our total ruin. We’re just going to stop them, that’s all. This is America, not the old Soviet Union. Grow up, get a backbone, get educated and stop your partisan rants for God’s sakes. If you’re going to live here, be American and love America dammit.

    • cynic

      We have to send our business overseas because Americans won’t do the cheap labor.

      Tell that to any midwestern American who worked hard for years, only to have the factory he or she worked in packed up and moved to China.

      The average full-time factory worker in China earns about $40 per week. How are American workers supposed to compete with that?

      Most Americans couldn’t live on the wages an illegal alien picking lettuce earns.

      I don’t believe laziness much to do with any of this.

      • AlexisM

        LOL cynic…why do you think that company moved to China in the first place? And, do you think maybe if the left stopped the influx of illegals here, that those jobs would be available to Americans? Hmmmm….Oh yeah, it’s all the Republicans’ fault. You should start reading up on who creates these policies that cause the problems.

        • cynic

          Why do you think that company moved to China in the first place?

          Simple. To cut costs and increase profits. Besides being able to pay slave wages, when they farm out the work to China they don’t have to worry about healthcare costs, safe working conditions, paying social security taxes, unemployment taxes, workers compensation insurance, or providing any retirement benefits. They also don’t have to worry about responsible environmental practices. Child labor goes unnoticed.

          • AlexisM

            And, cynic, why do you think that is? Could it maybe be unions having something to do with that? Could it be that it’s impossible to make any profits if you have to pay more than jobs are worth, salary-wise and you have to pay ridiculous benefits? Unions have destroyed business in this country. Whereas they once served a purpose, now they serve for extortion. Either give, give, give or we will shut your business down. There are two sides to every story. Not just that rich people and, therefore republicans, suck.

          • Newly Independent

            Besides being able to pay slave wages, when they farm out the work to China they don’t have to worry about healthcare costs, safe working conditions, paying social security taxes, unemployment taxes, workers compensation insurance, or providing any retirement benefits. They also don’t have to worry about responsible environmental practices. Child labor goes unnoticed.

            Exactly.

            In other words, these corporations don’t have to worry about treating their Chinese or Mexican employees like human beings. They can treat them like borderline slaves.

            That seems to be one thing that the “new” “progressive” Democrat party & fiscal Republicans have in common: their hatred for working class America.

            Having said that, it is also disgusting for some Americans to want to live off of working Americans like parasites instead of taking advantage of our free Capitalistic system by working for themselves or creating businesses that will provide new jobs for other Americans.

          • http://sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

            Why do you think that company moved to China in the first place?

            Simple. To cut costs and increase profits.

            Yes, and you can add the fact that foreign labor makes the goods we buy here cheaper, giving us a better standard of living. Oh, and when foreigners have better wages which lift them our of poverty, they tend to start buying our raw materials and products, too. It all comes back around.

            Free trade (which includes movement of jobs to places that increase economies of scale) should not be demonized, but rather lauded. It raises the standard of living for everybody in the world.

            Americans will just have to get smarter in the jobs they decide to train for, and get used to more mobility in the job market. We cannot take all the benefits of free trade and lower product prices and then claim we don’t want to participate on the other end of it.

  • cynic

    I credit Obama for giving thoughtful responses this evening that suggest he believes the American people are capable of intelligent analysis and have more than a 60-second attention span.

    Here’s a link to a full transcript of his Monday evening press conference, it anyone is fuzzy on what was actually in some of those long answers:
    http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/09/obama.conference.transcript/

    • AlexisM

      If Americans are capable of intelligent analysis then we should sum up the Bacon Bill for them and let them get educated on what a fraud and con job it is.

  • EWard

    Larry

    Great analysis about our economy and Obama’s poor performance. I agree with the other NQ posters that the questions he answered were planned. I listened to the conference on my car radio and noticed that he called on the Huffington Post reporter, Garrett of Fox, Chuck Todd of MSNBC, and Tapper of ABC. They are all Obama media hacks. Did anyone see Ed Schultz of Air America in the audience? These people are a joke!

    I agree that government employees should take a pay cut.

    One more note, on KSFO after OIAF’s conference a financial reporter stated that the buzz in financial circles is these institutions are underreporting their losses. And the amounts are huge.

    • http://Safari AnnieCollier

      I don’t watch anything that includes Ed Schultz. He’s scum.

  • indiedogg

    “Scum”

    How articulate.

    How we have elevated the level of discourse. Very persuasive. I’m surprised Billy Shakespeare himself hasn’t risen from the bog to applaud your erudition.

    Monty Python help us; the king is crossing the bridge (might take some of you back a bit, but still funny, and instructive).

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  • I’m a Linda too

    woohoo Larry. Yep.

    And, the irrespsonbility for media and Camp Obama to just say this plan will create and save 4 million jobs is a lie. And worse, to claim “most” of this money will be to create, save and stimulate the economy. Repeating a lie many times does not make it true or fact. And Even if parsing words it became true, that they just made a majoirty for this effort, lets say, 430 billion for the goal, that means he’s wasting 400 billion in additional spending?

    But, sadlly Larry, he is proving us correct again. Especially on the finance market where he is protecting his donors. Like when he voted against the cap for interest rates.

    He is not adding the Republican plan to lower interest rates to 4 percent, or anything similar. He’s not even offering that as a solution for the 350 billion tarp funds. No no no, they want to bring our home prices down, so they can charge high amounts of interest rates, the same repeat of what brought the housig bubble. Then when the home prices inched up and up on a hot market, we got the sub prime mortages.

    And that’s why many are freaking out at this plan. It will so hurt so hurt our country. But the financiers are giddy with excitement, which is why they started buying troubled banks.

    DISASTER. Worse than Bush 2.0, because he’s repeating mistakes on a grander scale after being put in an economic mess.

    Again, what we all predicted.

  • wodiej

    GM laying off 10,000…..

    • Blunt Force Trauma

      Which is effecting salaried employees and is up from 5,000 last week.

  • Tricia Spiegel

    Wow–Larry–You sound almost like, but better than, Keith Olbermann back when he was sane!
    Thanks!

  • Blunt Force Trauma

    Sorry to report Larry, according to Reuters, as of 12:40 PM, EST, Reuters is reporting that ‘Senate passes $838 billion economic stimulus plan, sets up negotiations with House of Representatives’.

  • Cathy6224

    Let the government bailout small companies going under due to credit crunch, rather than big corporations who are going under due to greed. Help those home owners who lost their jobs. Those who aren’t home owners give them money to pay off their debts or purchase cars and things needed, that will stimulate the economy.

    Rebuild the manufacturing industry within the US

  • Cathy6224

    I thought the Dems had enough to pass without the Republicans? So what is it, they want Republicans on board to blame them when it fails and it will fail.

  • lynn2829

    Obama inherited a 8 year nightmare and the only ignorant ones are people who expect him to fix the economy in less than a month

  • Benny Dawkins

    Larry, You ignorant ranting moron. Who the hell gives you the knowledge to act like you know so much. Hey dumbass, the president said it did not create jobs. Got. Go look for one moron, Bozo Bush left so many around.

    Benny Dawkins

  • Bazooka

    Nice rant Larry, but a little misguided!

    It is exactly right to say that the tax cuts did not work. The point of the tax cuts were to stimulate the economy and you would expect create some jobs. They did not do that.

    I don’t think anyone including Obama is saying that taxes were the only reason the debt went up, but it contributed. I don’t think Obama would disagree with you on saying that spending was the reason for much of the increase in debt. Republicans spent and spent for years and the dems had no power to stop them.

    Where exactly did Obama say that tax cuts entirely caused the expansion in the deficit?

    A government stimulus package that uses borrowed money is a viable strategy to help kick-start the economy. This is completely different than bad mortgages or a credit bubble based on cheap money that were the basis for the current crisis. The government deficit is not the reason for the current economic mess. It does not help and makes it more difficult to pass a recovery plan, but it was not the cause of the problem. So to equate a stimulus plan with what caused this mess in the first place is completely false. A stimulus is not at all more of the same. Sure adds debt, but for the reason to kick start the economy.

    You are right the deficit is not in great shape and is tragedy of the Bush era. Total gross debt as percentage of GDP has averaged about 50% since 1940 and topped out during Clinton years at about 65% and steadily climbed during bush years. Compare it to Japan at 170%, Norway 83%, Canada 64%, Germany 65%, France 64%. However, that is total debt which includes social security obligations. If you exclude social security, which has been ballooning and only look at US Federal debt or public debt, as a % of revenue it has acctually been falling. It is now about 40% of GDP after topping out during the Clinton years at about 50%.

    http://barelkarsan.com/2008/09/debt-as-percentage-of-gdp.html

    Not great to add more debt, but the economy can probably afford the stimulus, particularly if it gets the tax dollars flowing again.

    Your suggest of a government pay cut will not get your very far. Actualy may make things worse as you will be taking more spending out of the economy.

    Just trying help pay for mortgages or lowering mortgage rates will create zero new jobs and is a stupid idea. The mortgage problem will be handled separately by TARP II.

    See this: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123388493959055161.html

    Infrastructure spending will create jobs for the next couple of years (economist are claiming 3-4 million by end of 2010). Not sure if it will be enough, but probably better than doing nothing. I think the idea is to at least stop the deflationary tailspin and kick-start the economy or getting it at least heading back in the right direction.

    From one of the most conservative economists around:

    “The only way to prevent a deepening recession will be a temporary program of increased government spending. Previous attempts to use government spending to stimulate an economic recovery, particularly spending on infrastructure, have not been successful because of long legislative lags that delayed the spending until a recovery was well underway. But while past recessions lasted an average of only about 12 months, this downturn is likely to last much longer, providing the scope for successful countercyclical spending.

    A fiscal package of $100 billion is not likely to be large enough to revive the economy. The fall in household wealth resulting from the collapse of the stock market and the decline of home prices may cut aggregate spending by $300 billion a year or more.

    The president-elect should focus on developing a mechanism for identifying and funding spending initiatives that can occur quickly and that would otherwise not be done. While it would be good if some of the increased spending also contributed to long-term productivity, the key is to stimulate demand. Any plan to finance this spending by raising taxes, even if postponed, as Sen. Barack Obama has suggested, would hurt the recovery by causing affected taxpayers to cut their spending now.

    The increased government spending should include not only money for infrastructure such as bridges and roads but also for a wide range of equipment. Rebuilding some of the military capacity that has been depleted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be done relatively quickly and should be part of the overall package.”

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR2008102903198.html

    End of the day Obama has been handed about the biggest shit sandwich you can have. There will never be solutions that everyone will agree on and make everyone happy. Nice way to have to start the presidency. Essentially take the heat and anger for something the Republicans created.

  • Portuguese Revolutionary Patriot- Peter Francisco

    Hi fellow Patriots,

    I just want to encourage Dr Orly and all the Patriots in this struggle. Keep up the great effort our country depends on Minutemen like you and Seeking the Truth is God’s work.

    REMINDER:
    TODAY Feb 11 AT MIDNIGHT is the Final Day to Order a Numbered and Signed copy of the Larry Sinclair tell all book on “obama”. The book is an espose’ about homosexual sex, crack cocaine use & Murder. We need to help put this book over the top. “obama” got falsely famous with 2 books he may also be de-throned with one book.
    The Chigcago family of ASSASSINATED Donald Young, “obama’s church’s” choir director and supposed homosexual lover, needs closure. Making this book a success will expose this FRAUD.

    FOR MORE INFO ON BOOK:
    http://larrysinclair-0926.blogspot.com/

    I ordered my copy long ago. Mr Sinclair has been put thru hell and has been threatened with death, etc. His courage needs our support.

    God Bless US.

    PS “obama” found a house for a homeless person in less than an hour but can’t find his original Birth Certificate in well over a year?

    • Bazooka

      The above sounds like your typical NQ reader. Love it! This guy should be the president.

  • Portuguese Revolutionary Patriot- Peter Francisco

    Fellow Patriots,
    Please got to Military.com website, link below, and VOTE.
    This is to swupport LT Easterling who agreed to become a plaintiff in Orly Taitz Military Lawsuit. There was a badly written article about him and he needs support. Thanks & God Bless US.

    Please do it this instant it will take a few seconds.

    URGENT EVERYONE,

    CALL TO ACTION got to the Military Website and VOTE on the MIDDLE CHOICE it is running close right now.
    The link on the story Opened for me by hitting SHIFT + Click.
    OR Click this link directly to the poll:
    http://www.military.com/hp/poll?poll=4181
    Probably can vote multiple times.

    Story Link: http://www.military.com/news/article/February-2009/officer-calls-obama-usurper-imposter-president.html

  • sub

    it’s a month after this article, and look at what barack obama’s “economic policy” is doing to the US and world stock markets. this guy is like poison. and don’t talk to me about what he “inherited.” that was priced into the market when he took office. everyday, the market just goes down (17 of last 20 sessions, something like that). he’s been easily exposed, along with his tax cheat buddy geithner, as clueless, ineffectual, arrogant scum of the earth. I detest Obama, and I will do whatever I can to make sure he only has four years to ruin us. Thanks dems, you guys are a bunch or real geniuses….

  • sub

    Benny Dawkins, this is Larry’s blog. He can say whatever the hell he wants. And so can I. if you want to stick your head up BHO’s rear entry, because you’re so enamored of his lovely speaking voice, that’s up to you. i’ll be calling him out for what he is, and arrogant narcissistic pretender. come back here in three years, and hang your head before me….

    sUb, NYC

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  • Obama hussain

    What in the hell are you raving about you red neck pirate.Obama is the best thing now to run the country and sink us into the red debt tha twas created by all politicans.I say he needs a good spanking and a beating .Hey put him picking cotton.

  • http://www.facebook.com/thedaryl Daryl L. Hunter

    Well said!

  • AlexisM

    Boy are you exactly an example of why that piece of crap Obama got elected. Illiterate dumbasses like you with IQs less than 50. By the way sick pig, it’s not exactly legal rant like you are. I hope Larry calls the cops you frigging brain dead loser.

  • HARP

    WOW….I thought all the really stupid bots had already overdosed.

  • Strawberrybitch

    Poor thing. Typing must be difficult without opposable thumbs.

  • Peggy Sue

    My, what an intelligent post! You’re a true credit to your Leader, the Lightbringer.

    You might check your spelling, btw. Just a suggestion, of course. Because if you’re calling people morons, you’d be well advised not to sound like one.

  • http://www.marklevinshow.com/ Seattle Moss

    Admin..Clean up on aisle 5

  • Mary

    That poster always sounds like he’s skunk drunk when he posts.

    Can you be that ignorant , sober?

  • Strawberrybitch

    Mary, if I had voted for Barky, I’d try and stay as blind stinking drunk as possible as well.

  • AlexisM

    I would take it a step further and embrace the hypodermic needle.

  • Andy

    ROFLOL !! Great one PeggySue.