Economists give the "Cabinet of Geniuses" an "F" on Handling the Economy

The report card is in for the Obama Adminstration. The grades are bad, but the troubling thing is that these economists were very confident just a couple of months ago that the President and his team were completely capable of handling the problem.

Remember the nauseating David Brooks telling us how brilliant Obama's cabinet was. How's that working out for you now David?

The economists' assessment stands in stark contrast with Mr. Obama's popularity with the public, with a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll giving him a 60% approval rating.

How long will it take? One year of 10+% unemployment? Two at 12%? Of course the polls will be manipulated, so we'll never know. FDR shredded the economy for 10 years before he was about to get the boot when the war saved his bacon. This generation doesn't have the patience of that one though.

“FDR shredded the economy for 10 years before he was about to get the boot when the war saved his bacon.”

I recently argued with a liberal relative about FDR. Since we saw things differently, I did some research. 1938 was the sixth year of the new deal. The unemployment rate was 19%.

Apparently, if one doesn’t call that a success, it’s due to partisanship. (s.)

I think what people are just now figuring out is the statement "Joe the Plumber" was talking about. Obama is a socialist, not just a liberal. I have been looking for the video I remember Joe and Obama had where Joe said, "That sounds like socialism", and Obama said something about he didn't care if it worked or not, he wanted "Social Justice". He admitted on camera that he wasn't interested in tried and true solutions, it mattered what it looked like emotionally. I can't find it, but I remember it well. It struck me as insane to purposely destroy the economy to get the system that made sense to you.

I'm still trying to figure out if he just doesn't know what he is doing or is doing this on purpose. When he said he was doing away with the mortgage interest deduction even though the housing glut is our biggest problem, you have to wonder where that comes from. We are almost to the point where Pelosi and Barney Frank may be our only hope for financial recovery, ergo Dow 4k may be coming and Wall Street,( who voted for him), is now figuring out we have a big problem. Even the wackiest Dem knows tax cuts work and you can't raise taxes in bad times. Obama will try for cap and trade which taxes everyone, even the poorest of the poor, and removal of many deductions will affect many below the $250k level.

If he had inherited the recession and ordered massive tax cuts and a real stimulus to get the spending going and let some of the bad companies go bankrupt, we would never have gotten below 7k in the DOW and would already be looking at a recovery. We wouldn't;t have all this debt and the massive losses would have been somewhat muted. Instead we mortgaged our grandchildren's future and exacerbated the problem with crazy policies and propping up broken companies that will fail anyway. The damage we are doing now will most likely end up with the US as a 3rd world country in the end. The numbers will have to sink in to the psyche of the country before they realize we are in an impossible situation.

People have always thought I was exaggerating when I said the Dems wanted us to look like Viet Nam. They are ashamed that we are rich and can defeat any country militarily. They dismantle our military and try for socialistic economic goals each time they get power. They are not comfortable being #1. This weakening is done on purpose. Is Obama stupid, or just following the plan?

A lot depends on which economists one chooses. My impression is that free market (certainly Austrian) economists did not like either the Bush intervention, or the Obama interventions. The problems were caused by Government in the first place.

Consider the federal involvement in housing that I know about: Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Reinvestment Act, federal accusations of red-lining and racism, the Federal Reserve issuing lending guidelines that an unemployment check should count just like an employment check in getting a loan, Sarbanes-Oxley and “mark to market.” That’s what I know about, but I’m sure there is more meddling that I do not know about.

Our problems do not stem from inadequate regulation. They stem from too much regulation.

Yes, ‘The Forgotten Man” is an honest history of the Great Depression. Everyone should read it before offering an opinion on FDR, or on Hoover for that matter. A lot of people meant well - and Shlaes seems to especially like Rex Tugwell - but good intentions got them nowhere. Nobody knew how to get out of the mess.

Today we are blessed with another con-man in the White House and a fast-talking shill at the Treasury.

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