Warren Buffett: “Wall Street Owes the American People”
By Larry Doyle on July 10, 2009 at 9:01 AM in Economy, Sense on Cents (Larry Doyle blog), Stimulus Plan
Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett
When the Oracle of Omaha speaks, people listen. What is Warren Buffett saying now? What does he see on our economic landscape? How do we prepare? We can let Warren be our guide, but let’s make sure we question him aggressively as we manage our own finances.
ABC News reports, Warren Buffett Backs Second Stimulus:
Buffett cautioned that a second stimulus package, like the first, won’t be “a panacea,” because stimulus packages take time to work. He criticized lawmakers’ work on the first stimulus package, which contained $787 billion in spending.
“Our first stimulus bill … was sort of like taking half a tablet of Viagra and having also a bunch of candy mixed in … as if everybody was putting in enough for their own constituents,” he said. “It doesn’t have really quite the wall that might have been anticipated there.”
Not for nothing, but where was Warren at the time the initial bill was rammed through Congress? Warren is a close economic adviser of Obama’s but he does us no favor by playing his political cards when our country is screaming for real economic leadership.
In regard to the PPIP? What does Warren think about this government program to help banks cleanse their books of toxic assets?
Buffett also criticized the government’s public-private investment plan, through which private investors are supposed to buy so-called toxic assets off the balance sheets of ailing banks that received billions in government aid.
“I do not like the idea of any kind of a plan involving the government where Wall Street makes a lot of money. My plan provided that they would make no money whatsoever, and the American public would make the money. I just think that Wall Street owes the American people one at this point,” he said. (LD’s emphasis)
How about the economy? What does the Oracle see in his crystal ball? The grand swami believes that:
. . . despite the talk of recent economic “green shoots,” he couldn’t predict when the flagging economy would bounce back.
“We are not in a freefall, but we are not in a recovery either,” Buffett said. “We were in a freefall really in the last quarter of last year, starting in the financial markets and spreading to the economy, and we had this huge change in behavior. That change hasn’t changed.”
I concur. Warren is not totally clear, but in so many words he is saying the American economy is adjusting to the lack of a shadow banking system.
How about over the long haul? Does Warren think America will rebound? He is very optimistic, as ABC reports:
“I want to emphasize, we are going to come out of this better than ever,” he said. “I mean the best days of America, by far, lie ahead. But not next week or next month and then, I don’t know exactly when we will come out, but we will come out big time.”
That’s great. I am also eternally optimistic. That said, things do not just happen and we will not have better days without reinstilling strong discipline and values throughout our economy and our country. In my opinion, those disciplines and values need to encompass the following:
1. honesty on where we currently stand across all aspects of our economy and society. Publicize our successes and, more importantly, our failures so we can properly address them.
Do not allow urban education dropout rates of 50% to be swept under the rug. Promote the correlation between those figures, single parent birth rates, income levels, and criminal behaviors. BE HONEST ON THESE TOPICS!!!
2. Expose the lack of integrity and transparency in our financial and political institutions. Hold people accountable!!
That is a good start. Warren has the bully pulpit. Perhaps he could speak aggressively on these topics in the future.
LD
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By Sarah Palin (Release date: November 17. 2009)
TARP I should never have been done, let alone TARP 2, or Porkulus. Instead of advice from Warren Buffet, I’d rather hear from Jimmy Buffet.
LOL — Specifically Buffett’s “Gypsies in the Palace” seems a fitting theme song.
Apologies to Jimmy for a minor change in lyrics but….. “Why don’t we get drunk, (we’re screwed)?”
I definitely think transparency is essential to any political activity if that activity is ultimately going to be positive. So when any of these gurus start giving advice, I think they should let us know just exactly where their own private interests lie. Where are Mr Buffet’s investments, what media companies does he have a major interest in, what political campaigns did he donate to, etc? He could put that info on a web page or CNN, or MSNBC, or the Wall Street Journal, or whoever has invited him to offer his advice and opinions, could put that info on their web page. I find it almost always helpful to check out wikipedia for biographies, related topics etc, but most people don’t have as much time on their hands as I do.
No, his candidate, Obama, does.
Buffett sounds like a bafoon to me. Even half a tablet of viagra would still stimulate a man, although maybe not as much as he’d like. The candy would not detract from the effect of the viagra either. The first stimulus stimulated nothing so unlike half a tabet of viagra, it was a placebo. The candy he speaks of was more like a fruitcake. No one wants it and will just hang on to it or pass it along later, if they don’t throw it away. I agree that a stimulus could help, but not one that these clowns in congress would draft! If a stimulus was really put out there to create jobs and send people shopping then maybe we could pull out of this mess and I’d be all for it. Unfortunately, the plan of the clowns is just to line their pockets and the pockets of their buddies! Unless there’s a job available in their pocket, well…
I think they should just give each taxpayer at least $10,000-$25,000. With that, I would stimulate the banks by paying off my loans and I would get some work done on my home and give some handyman some work!
I prefer someone just lock Obama in a closet until 2013 (hence missing the 2012 election). I’ll Wait for a grown up to take over. I’d rather suffer through this hard time until then because we all know anything Obama touches is a disaster! He and the folls he pals around with will only make things worse!
oops, not folls, fools!
Only 7% of the stimulus has actually been spent. It’s good to have some understanding of what you’re talking about before you start blabbing away.
yep. Fruitcake.
According to media matters and the CBO 20.7% of the stimulus is to be spent by Aug. Maybe you dont know what you are talking about.
Of course even if you were right you don’t seem to have the critical thinking capacity to question the delay in getting the money to the economy in light of these statements by Obama when he was pushing for the legislation:
Millions more Americans will lose their jobs. Homes will be lost. Families will go without health care. Our crippling dependence on foreign oil will continue. That is the price of inaction.”
“I believe that legislation of this enormous magnitude, that by necessity we are moving quickly — we’re not moving quickly because we’re trying to jam something down people’s throats. We’re moving quickly because we’re told that if we don’t move quickly, that the economy is going keep on getting worse, and we’ll have another 2 or 3 or 4 million jobs loss this year.”
The stimulus was designed to do nothing but stimulate political allies and has done nothing to stimulate the economy. “…and we’ll have another 2 or 3 or 4 million jobs loss this year.” since signing the “stimulus” bill we have lost 2.7 million jobs on pace to lose 6.6 million jobs this year. And you think it is acceptable to be 6 months out and only have 3% of the stimulus money in the economy? hmmmmmm….
Obviously things are not going well. But blaming that on the stimulus package is ridiculous. The extent to which the US (and world) economy is in ruin cannnot be overstated. The Obama admin is trying to put a happy face on very very hard times that were left to them by the previous admin (who broke the whole God Damn world.)
It’s important to remember that Obama inherited this mess from the worst President our country has ever known.
It will take time to clean up this mess, but I believe we will eventually get things on track.
Nevertheless, when you find yourself in a deep hole, don’t ask for a bigger shovel.
When we said that the economy was badly broken and would be a horrible job to fix, and we questioned Obama’s readiness to do that, you and your Obot friends went LIVID.
You assured us he was entirely up to the task, that yes he COULD fix it, and how DARE we question whether he had the ability.
So spare me your excuses. He has yet to give any indication that he can do the job that you and he SWORE he could do. The economy was broken by Bush, but YOUR repairman gave us an estimate and a guarantee of the quality of his work. Don’t bitch now that the job is too hard, or harder than you thought.
HE is the one who said he could do it, not me.
And some day the Bush excuse will grow old.
suzie, face it, you don’t know dog shix about the economy. “we’ll clean it up.” that is pathetic. the dimocrats helped create the mess and or futher increasing it. now get along! we have some very smart posters on here but it doesn’t include you.
From a report released yesterday by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
The housing bubble that burst in 2007 and led to a financial crisis can be traced back to federal government intervention in the U.S. housing market intended to help provide homeownership opportunities for more Americans. This intervention began with two government-backed corporations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which privatized their profits but socialized their risks, creating powerful incentives for them to act recklessly and exposing taxpayers to tremendous losses. Government intervention also created “affordable” but dangerous lending policies which encouraged lower down payments, looser underwriting standards and higher leverage.
Finally, government intervention created a nexus of vested interests – politicians, lenders and lobbyists – who profited from the “affordable” housing market and acted to kill reforms. In the short run, this government intervention was successful in its stated goal – raising the national homeownership rate. However, the ultimate effect was to create a mortgage tsunami that wrought devastation on the American people and economy. While government intervention was not the sole cause of the financial crisis, its role was significant and has received too little attention.
… The consequences of these policies have also brought the entire global financial system to the brink of collapse, destroying trillions in equity and untold numbers of lives. It is essential to reexamine the borrow-and-spend, high-leverage policies that became prevalent in the mortgage market as a result of well-intentioned-but-reckless decisions made by elected officials on behalf of the American people.
In other words, no good deed goes unpunished.
not even close to the issue. the issue now is the stimulus package. we have spent (according to CBO) $150 billion of the $800billion package (money we borrowed)that we “had to have NOW” if we were going to save jobs. According to the White House’s own ridiculous calculations so far the stimulus has “saved” 150,000 jobs.
The stimulus package has spent $150 billion and “saved” 150,000 jobs. You could have handed those workers $1 million each and they wouldnt have to work a day for the next 20 years and you would have spent the same amount of money.
And I agree we will get this on track once the Obie and the Dems continue down this ridiculous path and get voted out of office.
I’m sure they’ll get it “cleaned up”. For instance, Barney Frank is planning on more Fannie/Freddie loans just like the ones that started the housing debacle. Smart, huh? Only for the brain dead. Round two will probably be for undocumented loans for undocumented workers on foreclosed houses…we have a lot of them.
Wow! 780 billion less 10% already expended; that leaves over 600 billion for electioneering in 2010. Even now according to reports, most of those funds are going to areas that supported O in 2008. The picture is there–large as the whole country.
and, don’t forget, the stimulus was supposed to be for “shovel-ready” projects! Yeah, right.
According to media matters and the CBO 20.7% of the stimulus is to be spent by Aug. Maybe you dont know what you are talking about.
Of course even if you were right you don’t seem to have the critical thinking capacity to question the delay in getting the money to the economy in light of these statements by Obama when he was pushing for the legislation:
Millions more Americans will lose their jobs. Homes will be lost. Families will go without health care. Our crippling dependence on foreign oil will continue. That is the price of inaction.”
“I believe that legislation of this enormous magnitude, that by necessity we are moving quickly — we’re not moving quickly because we’re trying to jam something down people’s throats. We’re moving quickly because we’re told that if we don’t move quickly, that the economy is going keep on getting worse, and we’ll have another 2 or 3 or 4 million jobs loss this year.”
The stimulus was designed to do nothing but stimulate political allies and has done nothing to stimulate the economy. “…and we’ll have another 2 or 3 or 4 million jobs loss this year.” since signing the “stimulus” bill we have lost 2.7 million jobs on pace to lose 6.6 million jobs this year. And you think it is acceptable to be 6 months out and only have 7% of the stimulus money in the economy? hmmmmmm….
sorry about the double post:)
Actually, that is close to the correct amount — and since they were so busy ramming this through Congress back in February, what are they waiting for? Even if the correct amount is as high as 20%, that is even worse because it is not working — or hadn’t you noticed.
Even worse than that, if indeed they’ve spent half of it or all of it ($787B) with these kinds of horrid results, that really shows they don’t know what the hell they’re doing — so what point are you trying to make by insulting people here?
Hey Suzie Q, since you are all knowing and all that about your messiahinfantman, clue me in, please. What exactly in the stimulus was designed to create millions of jobs? Send me a link, too, please. I would really like to know, especially about jobs that create a positive number, not the green jobs that would kill jobs at a 3 to 1 ratio.
BTW, why do we need cap and trade to create those Green jobs and supposedly the stimulus is going to create green jobs? Answer me this bots. Inquiring minds want to know.
Seven percent of what amount in the stimulus has been spent? The amount in the bill Congress and BO passed; or, the amount distributed to end users, like banks, or individuals, many of whom saved that money, banking on the fact, things will get worse?
I heard it was 10% of the total amount - and this is the way they intended it to be. It was not a stimulus package. There is nothing in there that creates jobs. It was a POLITICAL document, thrown together by Pelosi, and scheduled to be gradually doled out so that Obama can target specific areas which will help the Dems in the 2010 midterms. They were gambling that the bailouts would help the banks, and therefore the market, and that the economy would turn around on it’s own. They would then credit the stimulus.
Remember a little while back, when some economists said there were some small indications of growth? Obama immediately ran out and made a big speech taking credit for the turnaround. It was bullshit, of course.
Oh, geez…I don’t think I want Warren Buffett’s advice on anything. The guy supported Obama - that’s enough to cause me to question his wisdom.
“The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.” -Adam Smith, The Wealth Of Nations, Book IV, Chapter II, p. 456, para. 10.
Funny! I like your ideas, I actually have thought that if everyone was given a chunk of change in a lump sum, we’d save money in the long run and everyone would be better off.
You can really see Obama’s youth and inexperience now, we need an adult, we need Hillary. Buffett supported her by the way in the primaries. And CNBC also thought she’d be better on the economy.
LD,I agree with your values of honesty and accountability.
I’d also add that accountability includes that the government have an actual plan for eventualities that it in effect authorizes.
We’ve heard Geithner, Bernanke and others tell congressional hearings that they didn’t have the “tools” to unwind failures as big as AIG, Citi and others, so bailouts were necessary. Except that the government repealed Glass Stegall (via reps we of course elected) and de-regulated in other ways.
Also, a number of the bailout recipients are companies resulting from mergers and leveraged buyouts which the government approved.
Basically, the right and left hands are not communicating. There’s no disaster plan. Don’t approve a merger if theres no “tools” to unwind it, if or when it blows up.
The view from the economic right, that the “market will fix it”, is an illusion. It depends on what “fix” means. Money is like water, in that it finds it’s own level. Today it is doing exactly that - just not in a way anyone wants.
Whether water finding it’s own level amounts to a fix, depends on whether you’re standing at the top of a hydroelectric dam, or the bottom of a hurricane ravaged levee.
Better than before? Who is Buffett kidding??
I doubt it, seriously. I don’t think Buffett’s being honest. I am not saying he’s lying; he’s just being disingenous with a purpose toward encouraging hope in the “animal spirits” out here. But, I don’t think that is going to matter much in the short run, and I don’t think it will matter much in the long run, either.
If you want to know who’s getting the best advice, it isn’t Obama, it’s Angela Merkel, who has William White among her advisors; Obama’s got Geithner, Summers, and Bernanke–the three stooges of Greek Tragedy!
Here’s a Greek Tragedy in Short Story Format, that you don’t want to miss! This is must read stuff.
The Man Nobody Wanted to Hear…
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,635051,00.html
A friend of mine once mentioned to me that when I read a fortune from a fortune cookie I should add the words “…in bed.”
Using the same process when talking / thinking about the United States of America I now add the words “…for the wealthy”
Health care… for the wealthy
Tax breaks…for the wealthy
Education….for the wealthy
Home ownership….for the wealthy
Healthy food…for the wealthy
Technology….for the wealthy
Rest/leisure…for the wealthy
Short cuts and fast tracks…for the wealthy
Good jobs….for the wealthy
Opportunity…for the wealthy
Government representation….for the wealthy
When the said “we the people” the founders meant We (the wealthy)the people”
If you recall the old poem Casey at bat, you will know how some of us feel about the infallibility of Warrens observations. He missed the warning signals as badly as the worst Wall Street rookie, the value of his A shares tumbeled from $150 K to $75 K, which is not what oracles are supposted to do except in Mudville. Warren himself wrote his own obituary when he said in his folksy way “it isnt until the tide goes out that you find out who is swimming without a bathing suit”. It is not the man himself, whom I thoughly enjoy–and I admire his partner you never hear about Charlie Munger even though he is a Republican. Rather it is the oracle status that big media imputes to him that is annoying on the one hand and materially misleading on the other. And, as you correctly point out, it is easy to Monday morning quarterback this stimulus bill but where was he in the moment, when it counted. And even though revisionist historians would say everyone got that one wrong, just as everyone got the gdp outlook wrong, the truth is the administration and the the congressional leadership were the ones who got it tragically wrong. Not others. So again where was the oracle when the lights went out?
If we get off this trip to the moon on gossimer wings and get back to terra firma for a change, there are reasons to consider a second stimulus, and people I have more confidence in than the oracle or god forbid that snakeoil salesman who occupies the peoples residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and throws secret parties for big media shills on July 4 which they are sworn not to talk about. Paul Krugman and Laura Tyson are people whose opinions carry some weight with me and they favor a second stimulus, even as Harpers Magazine features an article on Obama as the second Hoover. The trouble with that concept is the doctine of opporunity cost which is as much political as economic. In my town, $230,000 of stimulus moneys were allocated to replace the windows in a social club for the most wealthiest people who could well afford to replace their own windows. This is a case of robbing from the middle class to give to the rich, to create what exactly? Jobs? If you take the 150,000 jobs created so far, and compare it to the $1.2 trillion allocated by this stimulus plan which was supposed to create jobs the cost of creating those jobs is $8 million per job. Nice ROI. Granted only 20% of that money has been allocated, however the intended use as a slush fund for the 2010 as Emanuel designs is an even greater evil. It is not the role of the American people now and in generations to come to pay the exhorbitant toll of electing dimocrats who can rob them further to bail out other members of the privileged class like big media. The sell out there is of epic proportion.
I agree with your theorems wbboei but American Citizens won’t tolerate another stimulus as so eloquently put in this video from a citizen in flyover America.
Anyone who travels the Midwest knows this is the going theme and it’s only going to get worse.
Check him out. He starts going off at 30 seconds precisely and he literally hits the nail on the head. Makes me want to get out my old Easton softball bat. Not for kids.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7ZN2F_7K7U&feature=email
Hilarious and completely true.
CA State workers furloughed today; hold those calls to State Disability…Closed. State Unemployment benefits have been bankrupted and borrowed from the Feds since January. And still the state Dims want to tax us more. Gov Arnie says close the state parks and the idiot even includes those making money. To quote the patriot in the video, WTF?
Well, I love the youtube and did comment…however it’s in the land of SpamFilter.
Yes, Congress and the administrations are to blame for getting it wrong. It is their primary job, after all. Buffett gets it backwards–it’s not primarily Wall Street’s fault.
I ask respectfully, wbboei, have you ever read any counterpoints to Krugman’s ideas? There is a whole cadre of economists out there who are in direct opposition to him and the rest of the Keynesians. William Anderson, George Reisman, Robert P. Murphy (author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal) and Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (whose NYT bestseller Meltdown, was refused a review by the NYT, and which, btw, is an excellent book) and Peter Schiff (although he’s a financial adviser not an economist) are some.
Here’s one recent article by Anderson: http://mises.org/story/3526 and some on the folly of Keynsianism: http://capitalisthero.com/Keynesian_Economics.php and http://mises.org/story/3413
The problem with the profession of economics is that it is mired in politics. Krugman is certainly not immune to the siren songs. I am with your on your laments about the ’stimulus’ money being totally misallocated, but I also go a bit further in thinking that little government spending is ever going to be efficiently allocated. Better to let people decide what to do with their own money.
I totally agree with LD’s assertion that we need honesty and accountability. We also need to clear up the basic ‘to fail or to prop up’ and ‘does spending create wealth’ questions and the fallacy of saving being a bad thing. We are still stuck on those, unfortunately.
Great comment. Need to go back to the book store tomorrow.
No one wants to face the fact that the country is run by monopolies and cartels. That used to be against the law but now - not so much. And it is killing us.
The media monopolies have to keep all mention of this quiet or people might start looking at them.
I have started seeing the economy like a huge dying creature that is covered in leeches of different sizes. The banks, one of the largest, have decided that the problem is that they are not getting enough blood, when in fact they have been allowed to grow too big. And everyone thinks the creature is too big to die - despite the fact that large sections of it are obviously atrophying.
Our government reps are smaller leeches on the big leeches.
I got an e-mail from a congressman I supported - so honest that he turned down congressional health care. He says he has to start collecting funds for the next election to defend himself.
We’re doomed.
You’re lucky. According to NQ my (relatively wealthy) town got stimulus money to remove gang tattoos on ex-cons.
Wonder what lucky plastic surgeon got that? And he’s going to have to go a long way to bring in his patients because they don’t live anywhere near here.
It’s a joke.
If they want to spend it here I can show them some pretty big potholes that need filling.
Don’t forget Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, and all those who ganged up on Hillary. If those people are not careful, they will be turning the majority of the people into barbarians and they won’t have a place to hide in.
I forgot CNN, CBS, ABC, GOOGLE and YAHOO.
I forgot CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, GOOGLE and YAHOO
THIS IS NOTHING SHORT OF INSANITY.
How could Americans stoop so low as to feel okay with taking taxpayers’ money to remove tattoos?
Ellen D, you may be right- We may be doomed.
Sounds to me like a worthy expenditure of anti-crime funds, garnering a big bang for the buck.
TATTOO REMOVAL PART OF ANTI-CRIME PROGRAM
TARGETED TATTOO REMOVAL MEANS JOBS
Using your logic, gastric bypass would be a worthwhile expenditure since obese people might have a hard time finding jobs. And plastic surgery could be included in the stimulus package to help unattractive people become more attractive and thus, have an easier time and more confidence when seeking employment. And what about hair transplants? Baldness could be holding some folks back, too. Charm schools should be created if they don’t exist anymore because some folks lack the proper manners to conduct themselves appropriately at job interviews. I’m coming around to your way of thinking, jbjd. We should definitely be paying to have tattoos removed. Moles, too, while we’re at it.
Buffett is hedging his bets just like Powell yet both knew what Obama stood for long before the election endorsing the candidate Obama. These two dislodged on the fence Independents, the “pissed at Bush Republicans not to mention siphoning off much of Hillary’s base.
I hold Buffet and Powell directly responsible for their endorsement of the most inexperienced President in our history of which effort IMO produced this current disaster in the Whitehouse. Now that Obama et al., is going south, I think Soros, Bing, Lewis, Powell and Buffet should get a room and stay there.
Absolute hogwash! The current problems are all Bush’s fault. And no I’m not being tongue in cheek when I say that. It’s a huge mistake that the Obama admin. has not done more to place the blame where it clearly lies: George W. Bush. The worst President in the history of the United States. This man DESTROYED OUR COUNTRY. Barack Obama is doing everything he can to rescue our country. Folks like yourself who are trying to blame him now when it’s clearly not his fault … well that will backfire on you in a big way.
Because eventually things are going to turn around, and guess what? Obama will get all of the credit.
Are you nuts? Bush bashing is all they’ve done. I inherited this. We inherited that. No. It’s theirs now. They took every mistake and quadrupled it. If he was so wrong why have they followed the exact same path? Grow up.
AC, Susie Q has been reminded on this blog, we have 3 (three) branches of government, which are supposed to check and balance each other; GWB could not have signed a bill that wasn’t first passed and handed to him by a Democratically controlled Congress.
a point that always seems to be forgotten.
after 6 years of Bush:unemployment 4.5%, deficit 250 billion, debt 9 trillion
after 3 years of Dem congress: unemployment 10%, deficit 1.8 trillion, debt 13 trillion.
Listen very carefully, and I’ll try to explain this using small words so you can understand.
I am not saying Obama caused the initial problems, or didn’t inherit a mess. As far as I can tell, no one here has said that. You are right, Bush and Congress did that. But it is Obama’s job to fix it. And he said he could. He interviewed for the job SAYING he could handle this. So if it’s not getting better, it IS his fault.
Your loud objections are akin to a doctor screaming “But I didn’t CAUSE the illness!!!” when being held accountable for treating it in a reasonable and effective way, and not doing things to make it worse.
Comment by WMCB | 2009-07-10 18:29:3
———————————
You are spot on. And it isnt simply that he said he could fix it and didnt. It is also the fact that he used his political dirty tricks to steal the nomination from someone who could have fixed it, someone who was a creative thinker and problemsolver about whom he could only say I agree with Hillary. His incestuous relationship with big media is another threat to the American People. I shut my eyes and can see him steering us into an iceberg, boarding the lifeboat with his cronies, and leaving the American People in steerage and the main deck fore and aft to slip into the dark cold ocean.
SusieQ-you must be completely out to lunch. That is ALL Obama has done - blame Bush, blame Bush, blame Bush…he’s a broken record when it comes to avoiding responsibility. WHAT A LOSER OUR PRESIDENT IS! He’s a disgrace to the office and daily more Americans are figuring that out.
Oh Pleeeeeeeezzzz.
It’s Obama’s baby now and just because HE hasn’t been able to do much he deflects the spotlight off of his failure and blames it on the other guy.
Sounds like both you and Obama need to grow up and grow a pair.
Him - some ballz You - two halves of a brain
Buffet also endorsed Arnold in Calif.
and look what a mess they are in.
I completely agree. They gave their impramateur to this narcissitic, inexperienced sociopath in his quest to become president. They did so based primarily on his race. And now they are seeing the folly of their decision. Both men are known for competence in other areas–stockpicking for Buffett, and military planning for Powell. Neither one of them has a reputation for being politically astute. And of course that is the relavant criterion.
dont worry…..2010 elections are coming….45 house seats will switch to republican…. at least 45 possibly more. Thank GOD!!!!!
They are no better. Bush deficit spent like crazy, as did Reagan.
Oh, yes. The Republicans to the rescue after they spent their way into oblivion for eight years!
Please!
I’m glad the opposition has found their moral center now that they’re in the minority. But I have little faith in either party at this point. The Dems have clearly gone insane but the Republicans are hardly the miraculous cure.
We need to clean house on both sides of the aisle, otherwise it will be same old, same old.
How convenient for you Dems to play the “blame Bush” card. It was your corrupt Congress that pushed through ACORN and fought any legislation to keep this and other programs from getting out of hand. You have stifled any meaningful measures to make us less dependent on others for energy. You simpletons wanted disaster for our country, you worked for it, and now that you have it you refuse to take credit for it.
Please, my ass. May you all rot in political hell.
The problem with that attitude, tillthen, is we’ll all rot in Hell together if we don’t stop the incessent blame game because there is plenty of blame to go around. When it comes to Dems and Republicans, it’s an equal opportunity party.
Not everyone is suffering from amnesia about what the Republican Party closed its eyes to for six long years. If the ship goes down, we all drown and it won’t make a frigging inch of difference what side of the boat you’re standing on.
So yes, please, let’s get some reality into the discussion. Regardless of party, we need reps with a moral center, dedicated to the interests of the country more than their own self interests. I’ve had it with both parties!
after 6 years of republican congress and pres:
unemployment 4.5%, deficit 250 billion, debt 9 trillion
after 3 years of Dem congress: unemployment 10%, deficit 1.8 trillion, debt 13 trillion.
and you would do well to read the report released yesterday by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sighted above which clearly places the blame at Dem policies. Policies that even the “incompetent” Bush White House warned against as far back as 2002 but the Dems blocked any reform.
The incessant blame-shifting and finger-pointing do us no good in either the short- or long-term and are not part of any potential solution. And a simple acknowledgement that both parties have a hand in this current mess might actually go a long way towards creating an atmosphere where something can be accomplished.
This predilection for carping by extremists on both the right and left sounds like juvenile schoolyard bickering. They did so; they did not; it is so; it is not, ad nauseam.
Gee, we’re getting a lot f-ing done here, now aren’t we?
It’s okay, barry is on the tube giving a speech in Africa.
I can’t wait until he starts reciting passages from Dream of My Drunk Dead Father
Morning, PK.
Yeah, Obobble is another fixture better off being sent where he belongs–in the back window of a car making the obligatory motions with his silly head.
LOL Ferd, you mean the Obobblehead has already been demoted from the front dashboard to the rear package shelf? I guess forward looking hopiness has been demoted to a chintzy little figure that looks backward and waves “So Long Suckers!”
Hi Ferd–I wrote a little response to this earlier, but the Almighty Spam Filter watches over this blog like a junkyard dog, and with about as much intelligence. I’m getting weary of struggling with it. A very bad system.
Oowawa–I have been scrubbed so many times, my skin is raw. Yep–That One is relegated to the thing he does best–backseat window driving. He can’t actually take charge but can pontificate to those behind him, as it were.
LMAO
And how convenient of you dittoheads to conveniently ignore the fact that Shrubbie started a war he could never finish and didn’t ask for a common sacrifice, even though this was “so” important that it required a violation of Constitutional rights to fight an enemy he didn’t even try to catch.
And why didn’t you serve, troll? Oh, because like Cheney, you had other priorities and they didn’t include real service.
You bonehead neocons aren’t new and aren’t conservative–nope, like the obamabots, you’re a group of whiney pissant 5-year olds who need a trip to the woodshed for a well-deserved beating. Yuk fu, shillthen, you unmitigated, overbearing right-wing crap artist.
And you can stuff it up your anal orifice, even though it might make it difficult for you to see, bot.
Mr. Doyle,
A reasoned article on your behalf but you do sound as a bit as if you’re bowing a bit to the oracle.
Buffet would like more “stimulus” because, like so many of the vutures on the fence, he knows he’ll be there, by way of his wealth, to pick the bones no matter what happens.
Spend, Spend, Spend!!! Not working??? Spend more. Where does it come from??? Print more.
As to your discipline and values, sadly, we haven’t seen any honest politicians in quite some time. Apparantly, asking a politician to be honest is like asking a pig to ignore the corn.
As far as transparancy goes, well , our current group of tax cheats, thugs and attention seekers aren’t about to let you in how they’re stealing the country blind while their incompetence runs amok.
Indeed. And these boobs continue to get elected because the American public votes for politicians who they think can do something good for THEM in lieu of doing something good for the country. It appears to be all about special-interest groups, wedge issues, and not the general interest.
No lasting stability will come unless we restore banking regulations put in place during the FDR administration and gutted by republicans.
We have seen the results of the “Shrink government until it can be drowned in a bathtub” philosophy and it ain’t pretty.
The only reasons republicans can still show their faces in public is because some greedy Democrat legislators went along with their plans to gut America for thirty pieces of silver.
That includes the first republican Democratic Party President, Barack Obunko. (Bill Clinton being the first black Democrat President)
Despite the “Cornventional Wizdim” there are some thing s that require government intervention when those organizations involved have proven untrustworthy. Health care and financial regulations being two of them.
we restore banking regulations put in place during the FDR administration and gutted by republicans.
I love this. what regulations were gutted and how did they cause our current problem?
I am sorry but our economic problems are the result of loosening of lending practices put in place during clinton admin. and required by Dems for purposes of benefiting poor and minorities. they required banks to lend to those not qualified or face federal reprisals and thye used freddie and fannie to lead the way. when repubs called for MORE oversight of freddie and fannie the Dem, led by Barney Frank, called them alarmists and racists and blocked Bush and Repubs from making changes.
That’s just the reality of it. It’s not about partisanship. You can watch the banking hearings online and see how it all played out starting in 2002 when the Bush admin started warning congress about it.
take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnSp4qEXNM
That this POS supported Obama is all I need to know. It is impossible to assume that he is/was ignorant of all, past and present, that makes up the Fraud. Was his vote a ‘feel good’ thing, and a ‘look at me, I’m voting for a Communist’ and fuck the rest of you? Take your pick, either way, I wouldn’t trust him for anything. Yeah, I know, I’m poor and he’s rich and if that’s your measure of a man then you are, indeed, a sorry soul.
I feel the same way you do (sans the name calling). I discount outright the opinion of anyone who supported BO, either before or after HRC. I cannot even listen to what a former BO supporter has to say, unless the statement is prefaced with something like, ‘I don’t know what the hell was wrong with me but…’
If we had a woman president, we wouldn’t need Viagra at all.
LOL!
lol.true so true
Yes, indeed, especially one who survived the terror of sniper fire! WTF??
Nyet! Before that, Buffet owes the people an enormous apology for supporting Obama. His endorsement, along with Powell’s, and Hillary’s stumping, did the nation in.
…and, to a person, they knew everything about the Fraud, including the fact that he is a Kenyan-born, non-American, Indonesian-hybrid. I will forgive none of them. They are enemies of the constitution and the people. You appeasers can rationalize till hell freezes over. It is what it is, and they are what they are.
Comment by Seymour | 2009-07-10 11:27:28
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Excellent post. I think you are correct. The reaction will get stronger as time goes by. I think it will surpass the tax revolt as the first item of people at tea parties. This is an L shaped recession,it foreshadows a jobless recovery and the reality of permanent unemployment will dominate the political landscape. Marie Cocoo has an article on this new phenomenon.
Meanwhile, there is the hearing next week on Obamas candidate for the SCOUS. This woman has made and rendered decisions adverse white males. This will add to the electricity already in the air. And so does the unheathy love affair of big media for Bambi.
In sum, there is a growing sense that bambi, his media cronies and big corporations are abanding the the American People, promulgating propaganda and fiddling like Nero while Rome burns.
Great article, and great ideas. Thanks LD.
[...] “Our first stimulus bill … was sort of like taking half a tablet of Viagra and having also a bunch of candy mixed in … as if everybody was puttRead more at http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/07/10/warren-buffett-wall-street-owes-the-american-people/ [...]