Posted on 06/14/2012 2:18:30 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
If President Obama loses in November, the new numbers out showing a calamitous drop in Americans' median net worth--we lost 20 years' worth of prosperity in the Great Recession, folks--will tell a good part of the story why. Bottom line: he lost the middle class. According to the Federal Reserve, a broad group of Americans loosely defined as the middle class saw its net worth plummet from a median of $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010.
It's hardly fair to blame Obama for what began in 2007, but there's no reason why he shouldn't also be saddled with some of the blame in underestimating the severity of the crisis. Indeed, as economist Emmanuel Saez has written, the wealthiest one percent in the country have actually made out better, in percentage terms, during Obama's "recovery" of 2009-2010 than they did from 2002-07 under George W. Bush.
Judging from recent polls--my colleague Ron Brownstein parses one here-- the perception of the president is that he's spending a lot more time coddling the very poor (the uninsured) and the very rich (Wall Street) than he is the middle class. Obama spent a huge portion of his political capital on Obamacare, and almost none on helping underwater middle-class mortgage holders. Nor did he deploy, in a big way, the enormous leverage he had over Wall Street and Main Street both to induce more lending and hiring. Remember, the drop in middle-class net worth came largely because of the financial crisis, during and after which we witnessed Washington handing over hundreds of billions of dollars to sustain the mortgage-bubble-engendering financial firms that cost us all that middle-class income.
It gets worse. According to a 2010 paper by Andrew Haldane, head of the Bank of England's financial-stability department, the financial crisis of 2008-09 produced an output loss equivalent to between $60 trillion and $200 trillion for the world economy. Assuming that a crisis occurs every 20 years -- a very conservative estimate -- the systemic levy needed to recoup these crisis costs would be in excess of $1.5 trillion per year, Haldane says. What that means is that overall, our unrestrained financial sector does not add any net benefit to the economy--its repeated crises cost us far more than Wall Street brings to overall economic growth.
Lost it? He's been doing everything he can to destroy it.
Pretty much frigged it up, IMHO.
SOMEONE CHECK THE HISTORY BOOKS AND TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED ON JANUARY 4, 2007 IN THE US CONGRESS!!
SOMEONE CHECK THE HISTORY BOOKS AND TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED ON JANUARY 4, 2007 IN THE US CONGRESS!!
Fraud is fraud, and theft is theft, whether committed by Wall Street traders, too-big-to-fail banks, Washington burueaucrats and politcians, someone committing insurance fraud, someone who does not qualify collecting governtment entitlement checks or tax refunds, a robber knocking over a convenience store, or a burgular stealing from you while you are away from home.
ALL thievery carries a huge social and financial cost. We used to be a relatively moral country. The leftists are chasing God into the closet and we all are suffering for it.
"But", indeed. Being the fair-minded individual that I am, I don't blame the sack of fig pilth for the start of the "recession". What I do blame him for is the exacerbation and for the continuation of it.
[ So yes, this festering inequity at the heart of our economy is perhaps the main reason why Barack Obama may lose in November. ]
I fail to see the problem... Whats not to like?..
Obama losing in November is a good thing...
Zero is a leak in the Ship of State...
A boil on the ass of Lady Liberty..
But while screwing her he may have given her AIDS... as well..
If so(aids) he will NOT lose in Nov.. America may need another dose..
The WhiteHut has a dose of the crabs sucking the life out of AMericas “package”...
The 110th United States Congress was sworn in on January 4, 2007.
Later, on May 4, 2007, I had heart surgery, suffered a stroke during surgery and contracted MRSA.
I survived the heart surgery and it’s complications, but I am not so sure that we will survive the actions of the 110th United States Congress.
One word: Barney Frank...Affordable Housing...sub prime mortgages...Freddie...Fannie...CRA...Sep 18 2008
But he expects votes from the poor, and there will be a whole lot more poor people thanks to Obama's policies in these terrible four years. I wonder how many of the newly poor he is counting on to vote for him.
Who's he kidding?
Colonel Sanders?
and we are the chickens
BTTT!
“Alienated” does not begin to describe it.
I’m sorry — what is this “middle class” you are referring to?
Thanks Vintage Freeper for posting this:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.