Econ 101 for the Obamallamas

[AZhitman]

So, the big story du jour is the economy... According to the media, it's all doom and gloom, foreclosures, layoffs, recession, depression, puppies being skinned alive and swimsuit models being fed into woodchippers....

Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, is a smart cookie. He did his dissertation on the Great Depression. The man knows the economy, and is much more of a realist than Greenspan ever was...

He comprehends the cause and effect and the short and long-term results on the economy...

So, how did we get here?

Simple: An explosion of easy credit. people making $35K a year could buy a $200K house with a minimum of paperwork...$35K cars were being sold to recent college grads and even high schoolers on their first job, and credit card offers reached their highest level in history. It was a free money orgy, and our society thrives on immediate gratification.

A review of ALL economic downturns (not just in the US but elsewhere as well) has one common thread - They were all preceded by the same thing: Easy credit.

The current situation is the natural and logical response to years of NO risk aversion... The pendulum swung too far one way, and now it's swinging back.

BUT, in all this, it's IMPERATIVE that you keep perspective, or you'll panic too.

The people losing their houses are NOT the people who have always lived within their means. The people unable to pay their credit card bills are NOT the ones who saved up for major purchases. The people who are still unemployed are NOT the ones who made sure they had a fall-back plan, and the ones digging into their 401K are NOT the ones who postponed gratification and put a little aside each paycheck for an emergency.

There's a real entitlement mentality being fostered by the Left that Uncle Sam is somehow responsible for your financial well-being. Let me tell you this: He's NOT. Take care of your OWN economic health and you'll never CARE what cockamamie nonsense the politicians say. Sometimes it involves sacrifice, but all good things do.

Is the government responsible for your oral health? No. You brush your own teeth or they fall out. Is the government responsible for your car's condition? No. You change the oil and rotate the tires, or it's not gonna last. Is the government responsible to maintain your house? No. You fix the little things, or they soon become major repairs.

Your economic health is NO different.

Now, on to the Obamessiah and his most recent idiotic statement:

Sometimes I wonder if people RELALY listen to the jibberish he spews, or if they're just enthralled by his lips flapping in the breeze, but here goes -

Obama criticized John McCain's discussion of the current economic situation, and came down especially hard on McCain's suggestion that a "9/11-type commission" should look at the issues, including Wall Street.

OK, fine. Criticism is a beautiful thing IF there's a counter-point.

Barack Obama later comes out with HIS take on the situation. His plan?

Hearings.

Yes, he wants to hold HEARINGS.

OK, someone please explain to me how "hearings" are substantially different or more effective than a commission?

Lest one think he's the ONLY Dem with no real plan, let's look at what Hillary proposed:

"A summit".

Yes, folks. McCain wants a "9/11-style commission" to look at Wall Street. Obama wants to hold "hearings" and Hillarious wants "a summit".

This is the candidate who supposedly has a stronger grasp of the issues affecting our economy? Horse hockey.

Contrary to what Barack Obama says, the fundamentals of our economy ARE STILL STRONG. The free market STILL works. Capitalism is STILL king.

Yes, times are tough... some may have to cut back. Unemployment is at 6%. Gas is down to $90 a barrel (from a high of $140+). Interest rates are down. Homebuying is starting an (admittedly very slow and cautious) upturn. The ecomomy is strong enough to allow the Fed to deny a bailout of Lehman, and strong enough to have faith on AIG enough to take over 85% of the company.

Folks, if "the economy" is Obama's strong suit, he'd have a much more concrete plan than "hearings".

Let me ask you this: Did Congressional hearings get steroids out of the MLB? Nope. It was a waste of money, a chance for congressmen to meet ball players and talk sports. Congressional hearings on the stock market will be a waste as well, a chance for congressmen to set up golf dates and share retirement portfolio information.

Don't be fooled. Senator Obama didn't step up and comment about the economy when he and other Democrats were reaping the benefits of a strong economy. He didn't try to pull the brakes on this speeding train. So why start pointing fingers now? For POLITICAL GAIN.

[S13_love]

wow, that went from any economy lesson (this has been discussed before) to an attack on obama...and who said anything about a depression?

Yes credit and loans (to purchase houses) were incredibly easy to get and were basically thrown at the people who couldnt afford it... the only ones to blame here are our selves and the mortgage sellers, and not to mention a few greedy wall street investors

[AZhitman]

...and who said anything about a depression?

Obama Blames GOP for Great Depression Style Crisis on Wall Street:http://elections.foxnews.com/2...treet/

Obama compares housing crisis to Great Depression:http://www.reuters.com/article...80514

Obama: Most Serious Financial Crisis Since the Depression:http://www.paperarticles.com/2....html

You asked.

[S13_love]

Oh...lol, i see, but im pretty sure we are nowhere near a depression...the only time we should be worried about one is if...lets say ford or gm goes under...only then i would be worried

Also gas dropped 10 cents today (and last week), so things arent looking so bad lol

[S13_love]

“This economic crisis is not the fault of the American people. … No one can match an American worker."

Actually...it kinda is our fault, greed and instant gratification led us to this situation

"Our workers sell more goods to more markets than any other on Earth."

Oh really?...Actually i think china has that covered

"Our workers have always been the strength of our economy, and they remain the strength of our economy today."

That they are but the got undermined hardcore...lol ok mccain, you can talk the talk, lets see if you can walk the walk

Oh and foxnews ...seriously!? the day i take anything serious from them is when.....ah hell, that'll never happen

[AZhitman]

Oh...lol, i see, but im pretty sure we are nowhere near a depression...the only time we should be worried about one is if...lets say ford or gm goes under...only then i would be worried

Also gas dropped 10 cents today (and last week), so things arent looking so bad lol

Attaboy - Now you're using your noodle.

Ford or GM can go under, we'll be OK. If they do, it'll be of their OWN doing, and a long time coming. Gm / Ford are nowhere near the size of AIG or Lehmann.

OK, back to Obama's "Big Bag Of Tricks".

[S13_love]

Attaboy - Now you're using your noodle.

Ford or GM can go under, we'll be OK. If they do, it'll be of their OWN doing, and a long time coming. Gm / Ford are nowhere near the size of AIG or Lehmann.

OK, back to Obama's "Big Bag Of Tricks".

Well, back then (in the 80s?), Chrysler was doing really bad and the gov. bailed them out, so basically ford and gm will never go under, the gov. wont allow it for 1) the impact on the economy and 2)...they're pretty much american icons

[audtatious]

“This economic crisis is not the fault of the American people. … No one can match an American worker."

Actually...it kinda is our fault, greed and instant gratification led us to this situation

You are correct. McCain is off base on that statement. The people taking out loans, the Gov and those with their "fingers in the till" (from a fraud perspective) are to blame. I do agree with the American Worker line......sometimes.

"Our workers sell more goods to more markets than any other on Earth."

Oh really?...Actually i think china has that covered

Dunno. I have not looked into those stats but he may be correct in some aspects. Can't really say.

"Our workers have always been the strength of our economy, and they remain the strength of our economy today."

That they are but the got undermined hardcore...lol ok mccain, you can talk the talk, lets see if you can walk the walk

I believe he intends to "walk the walk" and use Palin to do a smack-down on the fed Gov. We need to fix our internal issues before we can begin to fix other issues like SS and healthcare. Obama simply talks about new initiatives.

Oh and foxnews ...seriously!? the day i take anything serious from them is when.....ah hell, that'll never happen

Then you should ignore the other media sources as well because they are all propagating an agenda today. News is not reported, it's analyzed for you. Kinda like having someone sit at McD's to prechew your food for ya (you get what you get).

[S13_love]

You are correct. McCain is off base on that statement. The people taking out loans, the Gov and those with their "fingers in the till" (from a fraud perspective) are to blame. I do agree with the American Worker line......sometimes.

Dunno. I have not looked into those stats but he may be correct in some aspects. Can't really say.

I believe he intends to "walk the walk" and use Palin to do a smack-down on the fed Gov. We need to fix our internal issues before we can begin to fix other issues like SS and healthcare. Obama simply talks about new initiatives.

Then you should ignore the other media sources as well because they are all propagating an agenda today. News is not reported, it's analyzed for you. Kinda like having someone sit at McD's to prechew your food for ya (you get what you get).

Well everything i see is either made in china....or taiwan, and not only that but i dont see very much fords being driven around in europe or japan lol

As for media and news, the only one that could be trusted at most is bbc right? hella boring to watch though...but yeah i've studied proganda in a class for a while...its pretty much EVERYWHERE! lol

Well i hope to god that obama...or mccain will do something (im sure they both will, in one way or another)

IMO lets get out of Iraq already, we kicked the terrorists a$$ for 5 years now, we practically crippled a country by just simply walking in it, we've done our job.... lets stop worrying about some pos f***ed up country and start paying a little bit more attention to ours for a change

[audtatious]

You would not see our exports in the US

http://www.commerce.gov/02-13-...t.pdf

BBC is known to spin things too. They are all corrupt in some aspects.

The Bush plan has always been to start pulling out troops when the generals who are running things believe they should be pulled out. I believe we are already below our pre-surge numbers and Patreus has been pulling out units consistently. The Iraq gov is in the process of taking over the day to days which is why they are working with our Gov to define troop movements and what help they still need from us (which is what Obama wanted stopped). Obama has claimed that he will immediately pull troops out but as time passes he is talking about a 1-2 year pullout, which will pretty much be the same thing under what Bush's plan is based upon the military and what Iraq's Gov thinks they need. Obama is full of it and if he did "drop drawers" and run, that would be the worse thing anyone can do.

[HashiriyaS14]

Obama is indeed presently masquerading as if he can make a bigger impact on the economy than he probably can. This is the result of the perception in the US that he is better equipped to handle the economy than McCain is.

I am generally of the same mind as Greg, that Presidents can do little to help the economy, but for whatever reason, this difference in perception between the two candidates exists anyway. Obama is focusing on this due to the recent economic news (i.e. bailouts), to try and bring the focus back to him and away from Palin.

Presidents CAN do some things, most notably in how they deal with the deficit, which in turn can stimulate the bond market and have positive effects. They obviously can not singlehandedly "right" an economy.

It's all politics, on both sides. One side is claiming that reducing illegitimate earmarks is the key to all of our well-being, which is preposterous as illegitimate earmarks represent only a blip in our spending, and then the other side is claiming that a President can somehow step in and singlehandedly fix an economic crisis, which is every bit as untrue. Welcome to election years, folks. This is how it rolls.

[WDRacing]

Just so long as you'll fully admit that Obama is simply playing lip service to the masses in order to get elected. The dude is just another friggin politician out to be in power...NOTHING more. The slogan of change is a spin aimed at stupid people...people that are supposedly cappuccino drinkers right Hash? While us coffee drinkers...also known as stupid people, see right through his antics. So tell me, who are the uneducated? The ones that drink the coolaide and see waves of salvation or the people that step back and see just another lying politician.

Obama is a shyster at best.

Don't think I'm biased either...that's crap. I don't like McCain much more then Obama, but I have always said so. Not like the majority of the Dems that will go to their graves fighting for their party for no better reason then partisanship...

[S13_love]

Just so long as you'll fully admit that Obama is simply playing lip service to the masses in order to get elected. The dude is just another friggin politician out to be in power...NOTHING more. The slogan of change is a spin aimed at stupid people...people that are supposedly cappuccino drinkers right Hash? While us coffee drinkers...also known as stupid people, see right through his antics. So tell me, who are the uneducated? The ones that drink the coolaide and see waves of salvation or the people that step back and see just another lying politician.

Obama is a shyster at best.

Don't think I'm biased either...that's crap. I don't like McCain much more then Obama, but I have always said so. Not like the majority of the Dems that will go to their graves fighting for their party for no better reason then partisanship...

Both candidates are full of s***, obama is bad at bs-ing but mccain on the other hand seems to be better at it...this has me worried...

[HashiriyaS14]

Just so long as you'll fully admit that Obama is simply playing lip service to the masses in order to get elected. The dude is just another friggin politician out to be in power...NOTHING more. The slogan of change is a spin aimed at stupid people...people that are supposedly cappuccino drinkers right Hash? While us coffee drinkers...also known as stupid people, see right through his antics. So tell me, who are the uneducated? The ones that drink the coolaide and see waves of salvation or the people that step back and see just another lying politician.

Obama is a shyster at best.

Don't think I'm biased either...that's crap. I don't like McCain much more then Obama, but I have always said so. Not like the majority of the Dems that will go to their graves fighting for their party for no better reason then partisanship...

Well, I think you might be taking it a step too far.

It IS possible to do a not-so-good thing but yet still have good intentions. You are in essence accusing Obama of doing/saying anything to get elected just so he can "get power". I disagree with this statement in that I think BOTH CANDIDATES are willing to go to great lengths to get elected but BOTH CANDIDATES are genuinely people who want to do right by the people of this country. Sometimes we get guys running for POTUS who I believe really do just want to bask in power and advance their own agenda (Mitt Romney), but I don't think either of these two qualify. They may both be going to great lengths to get elected, but I think they would both do a pretty good job and act, generally, in the best interests of the nation.

That said, I don't think Obama is being any more of a "shyster" than McCain is.

Obama is claiming, however indirectly, that he can "fix" the economy. McCain is claiming that he can both reduce government earmarks (unlikely) and that this reduction would make a serious impact on our national budget and collective financial well-being (patently untrue).

On THESE TWO POINTS, I think they've both done about equal wrong.

I do stand by the statement, however, that McCain has used more falsehoods and underhanded negatives in his ads. The "lipstick" outrage, the claim about kindergarten sex-ed, and others were just over the line.

[WDRacing]

Just wanted it on the record that you know he's just another say anything Politician bro...thats all.

IMO they are all shysters man...no amount of elections will purge the corruption and liars from our Gov. There is ALWAYS someone profiting...always.

I'm just tired of the faithful Dem supporters vomiting up whatever verbage they can think of in blind support of a guy that is nothing more then another say anything candidate.

Once you admit that, what does he have? If we're admitting he's just another liar, then all his "change" preaching is full of crap. He's just another dude that will gain office and not improve a damn thing.

[HashiriyaS14]

Once you admit that, what does he have? If we're admitting he's just another liar, then all his "change" preaching is full of crap. He's just another dude that will gain office and not improve a damn thing.

Again, I'll have to disagree.

If you live and die by 100-word CNN text bites, it would be easy to believe that both candidates offer all fluff and no substance, as no real substance tends to be offered by the news. It isn't their business to go into any depth.

If anyone has read "Audacity of Hope", they would know that, right or wrong, the man definitely has ideas, and very specific ones. I'd be glad to outlay a few for you if you have any specific inquiries.

He lays out his positions very bare and in great detail in the book. I don't necessarily agree with every last one of them, but I agree with enough of them to support the guy over the alternative. I think that he will improve some aspects of our society very materially (i.e. corporate incentives to outsource jobs, health care, energy, reformed affirmative action) while I disagree fairly strongly with others (his welfare positions are too far left, he supports a tad bit too much market regulation, etc).

That said, I think that McCain has his own substance to bring to the table. Obama seems to be to be a little stronger and more thought-out on domestic issues while McCain undoubtably brings more experience to the table in the realm of foreign policy (however hawkish he may be, which can be a positive or a negative depending on the voter). Neither of them are "fluff" candidates.

[Jesda]

I blame the Democrats and Republicans for quite a few things, and McCain and Senator Obama deserve plenty of blame.

Barack Obama seems like a cult leader, whose supporters are full-fledged fluff mongers. <-- Clever use of alliteration. +3 pts.

That nonsense aside, neither have anything new to offer. Both want more of everyone's money to fund larger departments, more programs, and more Federal-everything. If you can't see that, you're enthralled by personality and caught up in the false dichotomy of left/right American politics, not logic.

[smockers83]

Ooo, Econ 101. I like. Want an Econ 101 crash course?



That's as simple as it gets.

I thought this was going to be more of the Democratic party as a whole not understanding markets. I was ready to tear it up with some 101.

[S13_love]

Ooo, Econ 101. I like. Want an Econ 101 crash course?



That's as simple as it gets.

I thought this was going to be more of the Democratic party as a whole not understanding markets. I was ready to tear it up with some 101.

Haha I'm taking en economy class and i actually understood everything in that graph

[smockers83]

If you need any help, just post up or something. Graduated in Econ and I've done just about everything you can in the curriculum.

[AZhitman]

I thought this was going to be more of the Democratic party as a whole not understanding markets. I was ready to tear it up with some 101.

Well, since none of the llamas has stepped up to actually dispute my criticisms of BO's ignorant statements....

[audtatious]

Obama says your car sux cuz it don't have 36" dubz. I hear he has primised "the hood" a set for their votes....

[smockers83]

Obama says your car sux cuz it don't have 36" dubz. I hear he has primised "the hood" a set for their votes....

Is this going with whoever proposed we only post in this forum drunk? I mean, Saturday night, late, football Saturday...outrageous post haha.

[smockers83]

Well, since none of the llamas has stepped up to actually dispute my criticisms of BO's ignorant statements....

In that case, I'll stick around. You all know I'm up for a good economic discussion. But so far a commission = hearings = summit. Each of those are true.

[AZhitman]

Yeah, Matt and I have had a few adult beverages at NICOfest Atlanta...

[smockers83]

Adult drinks? Haha, are we all teenagers now? NICOfest is this weekend? There should be another one next August in ATL...company HQ is in Duluth and I'll be at the convention. Was just at a company pool party down in Ohio, that god forsaken state. But the party was awesome, I also had a few adult beverages.

[audtatious]

The night is still young and the 12yo's are nervous

[AZhitman]

...and, by few, I mean.... litres.

Need sleep. Hitman Out.

[S13_love]

Obama says your car sux cuz it don't have 36" dubz. I hear he has primised "the hood" a set for their votes....

Hmmm...racist?...probably not, more like an arrogant a**.

Way to show a complete lack of respect there if anything...haha let me guess...you are not voting for obama?

I think you just lost all credibility there bud.

[S13_love]

Well, since none of the llamas has stepped up to actually dispute my criticisms of BO's ignorant statements....

When do the debates between Obama and McCain start?