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Obama Doubles Down on Failure
Townhall.com ^ | August 30, 2011 | Bob Beauprez

Posted on 08/30/2011 4:42:20 AM PDT by Kaslin

Today Barack Obama nominated Alan Krueger to be the next chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers; staying inside the circle of his very small, tight economic team.  Krueger previously served as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, which means he was the economic adviser to Secretary Tim Geithner - who advised Barack Obama.  

Somebody at the White House must actually think all of that economic advice over the last 31 months has actually worked. 

It hasn't.  Even the excessively reliable defender of the Administration, the Washington Post, admits that Obama's economic policies have led to a "crisis of confidence" among American consumers and businesses alike.  

Like the President, Krueger is a fan of schemes to increase "revenue" to the federal government, particularly a European style VAT, or Value Added Tax.  

The week before Obama was inaugurated, Krueger published an op-ed in The New York Times promoting a VAT - "a 5 percent consumption tax" as he called it - as a way to lead America out of the recession that was already well underway.  

Providing an open window to the perverted logic of liberal, Keynesian economists, Krueger wrote that "greater revenue flowing into federal coffers would probably help lower long-term interest rates because the government would need to borrow less down the road, and further bolster the economy."  Really?  By that logic, why just a 5 percent tax?  Wouldn't a 10 or 20 percent VAT really, really "bolster the economy?"  

Krueger suggested implementation of his new tax be delayed two years serving as a kind of hammer over the consumer's head.  The threat of the pending tax, he argued, would "encourage households to spend money now, rather than after the tax is in place," according to his reasoning. Krueger went on to explain how raising taxes would also create jobs and grow the economy.  "Along with the rest of the recovery package (Obama's $800 billion Stimulus was already on the Congressional table by that time), this would help jump start spending in the economy and thereby increase production and employment."  So, scare people into spending what little money they might have left in the middle of a deep recession, and then whack them with a new tax just about the time you think they might be getting up off the mat?  

Obama must have been sufficiently impressed by Krueger's op-ed because shortly after it published he tapped the Princeton professor to be Geithner's right-hand man.  Now, Krueger is moving into the big chair as the third chairman of the CEA.  He'll succeed Austan Goolsbee, an original member of the three person CEA, who succeeded Christina Romer. The same week as Krueger's op-ed was published, Romer released the now infamous report on Obama's economic stimulus plan in which she said the unemployment rate would be kept under 8 percent and up to 4.1 million new jobs would be created by Q4 of 2010.  

The unemployment rate jumped above 8 percent the very next month, peaked at 10.1 percent in October, 2009, and is still frozen above 9 percent which is 2.5 percent greater than she predicted it would be at this time.  As for jobs created - she missed that by 7 million.  

The nomination of Krueger is a clear signal to the markets and to the voters to expect more of the same from the Administration.  More government programs, more tax increase proposals, and more of a direct assault on jobs and our economy.  Instead of a change of direction and seeking new advice, Barack Obama is doubling down on economic policy that has already proven to be disastrous.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial
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1 posted on 08/30/2011 4:42:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

"Read my lips. No new axes".

2 posted on 08/30/2011 4:46:03 AM PDT by Diogenesis ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." Pres. Ronald Reagan)
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To: Kaslin

VAT on top of Income taxes, great idea. At least with income taxes we are told what we must pay. A VAT is a hidden tax.


3 posted on 08/30/2011 4:48:39 AM PDT by sickoflibs (Obama :"We all were undocumented workers once")
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To: Kaslin

His plans are working very well if you know the motivations of his policies.


4 posted on 08/30/2011 4:49:17 AM PDT by Edgerunner (Second Amendment Spoken Here)
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To: Kaslin

with media blessing


5 posted on 08/30/2011 4:49:28 AM PDT by Doogle ((USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: Kaslin
Yep that is the perfect title for what Present-ident 0 did.

If you read this guy's bio you realize he is another never done anything but go to school academic with nothing but a theoretic understanding of the Economy. Despite the complete failure of their theories, the 0 regime is instant on clinging to their failed dogmas.

6 posted on 08/30/2011 4:49:57 AM PDT by MNJohnnie (Giving more money to DC to fix the Debt is like giving free drugs to addicts think it will cure them)
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To: Edgerunner

Will he pass senate confirmation after proposing a VAT ?


7 posted on 08/30/2011 4:50:51 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (I want a Triple A president for our Triple A country)
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To: Kaslin
What the economy really needs now is another Keynesian Princeton economist...


8 posted on 08/30/2011 4:51:40 AM PDT by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
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To: Kaslin

it simply fits his life style ...

OBAMA’S HYPOCRISY KNOWS NO BOUNDS !!!
“Greyhound 1”.... Secret Service Buys Two New $1.1 Million Buses For Three-Day Trip…

President Barack Obama (C) walks to his bus as he arrives in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, August 15, 2011, where he is to begin his three-day bus tour in the Midwest centering on ways to grow the economy.
He FLYS into an airport somewhere in the midwest, hops into a brand new 1.1 Million $ bus, paid for by you and me, for a “bus tour” ‘around the midwest’, and after an hour or so, gets driven back to the airport for ANOTHER FLIGHT, lands at another airport where another 1.1 Million $ brand new black bus is waiting for him… and repeats all that until his midwest bus‘tour’ is done?? Oh yes......and THEN he leaves on a 12 day vacation to Martha’s Vineyard.......to REST UP from this campaign bus tour!

And don’t forget........those brand new shiny black buses aren’t DRIVEN to the location where they meet Obama. Those buses are loaded up on one or more C-17s. Then, they are flown to the destination ahead of AirForce- AND!.......this is REPEATED FOR EVERY CAMPAIGN STOP. On this ‘bus tour’, the Prez will lecture the ‘little people’ on how they need to live within their means and cut-back! Remember when very recently Obama told that family man to GO BUY A HYBRID VAN when he said he couldn’t afford to fill up his truck???? Obama’s ‘carbon footprint’ must be as large as most cities by now.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cb1_1314314885


9 posted on 08/30/2011 4:55:55 AM PDT by SF_Redux (Sarah stands for accountablility and personal responsiblity, democrats can't live with that)
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To: Edgerunner

It’s all part of the plan to destroy America’s economy.

It’s working


10 posted on 08/30/2011 4:56:29 AM PDT by Venturer
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To: Kaslin

Here is the “thought” process inside the liberal brain:

“OK. THAT liberal Democrat made things worse with his/her policies. What OTHER liberal Democrat should we vote for to fix the situation?”

They then run a liberal candidate and tout him/her as the savior while painting all conservatives as too stupid or greedy to be any good in office.

Their candidate wins and when (not if) that candidate’s policies fail, the “thought” process inside the liberal brain is:

“OK. THAT liberal Democrat made things worse with his/her policies. What OTHER liberal Democrat should we vote for to fix the situation?”

It is almost sad that they are so consumed by hatred for anything to their right, that they cannot open their minds to the possibility that the ideology they are slaves to is critically flawed.

Almost sad, I said. But it’s way beyond sad, and patriots have a duty to be enraged.


11 posted on 08/30/2011 5:01:23 AM PDT by Ghost of Philip Marlowe (Prepare for survival.)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
If Obama tomorrow adopted the Ryab plan and the Club for Growh economic agenda, it still wouldn't fix the economy in time to save his a** next November.

Everything he does, and will do, is politically driven...he will propose stuff that he knows the GOP will oppose, then hope he can get the voters to blame them next year.

12 posted on 08/30/2011 5:02:09 AM PDT by ken5050 (Should Christie RUN in 2012? NO!!! But he should WALK three miles every day!)
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To: Kaslin
Providing an open window to the perverted logic of liberal, Keynesian economists...

A cutting and ironic choice of words considering this recent article.

13 posted on 08/30/2011 5:05:57 AM PDT by Steely Tom (Obama goes on long after the thrill of Obama is gone)
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To: Kaslin
Like the President, Krueger is a fan of schemes to increase "revenue"

--------------------------

Obama's Pick Billed as 'Jobs Expert'

Time to rotate the titanic's deck chairs again with the Princeton labor economist Alan Krueger taking over for Goolsbee, as we head straight into a Double Dip iceberg.

He'll keep promising us, ad nauseam, that he 'gets' what's happening with the middle class as he redistributes the wealth of America.

The 2.5 million jobs 'created or saved' comes from a formula. The formula comes from a theory. It says that for every dollar the government spends, 1.5 dollars' worth of economic activity is generated, and presto, jobs come out. The economic geniuses working for Obama want us to believe that by definition, since they spent almost a trillion dollars in 'stimulus', they automatically created jobs.

Once you know about this magic formula in which any government spending creates jobs, much becomes clear. That's why Pelosi claimed that unemployment insurance creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative. The Secretary of Agriculture told us August 16, 2011 that Food Stamps are an economic stimulus, explaining that every dollar of food stamp benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity.

The Congressional Budget Office reported that through the first quarter of 2011 the stimulus created between 1.6 million and 4.6 million jobs, increased real GDP by 1-3 percent, and reduced unemployment by up to 1.8 percentage points. Where did the CBO get these figures? It made them up using formulas.

Payments to state and local governments for infrastructure were estimated to have a multiplier of between 1 and 2.5, whereas the multiplier for unemployment benefits, food stamps to individuals was between 0.8 and 2.1.

That's it. That's the only reality to 2.5 million jobs created or saved.

We are still in a Depression folks. The GDP grew 1% for the fist 6 months of 2011. This growth rate is actually a 1.5% decline. It takes a 2.5% growth rate for us to stay even, when factoring in the nation's population growth.

Historic.

Photobucket

So now we know... 
'CHANGE' =
 MORE Spending
 MORE Debt
 MORE Golf
 MORE Taxes 
 MORE Welfare 
 MORE Regulation
 MORE Government 
 MORE Money Printing
 MORE Vacations
 MORE Porkulus
 MORE Formulas
 MORE Failure

Thanks Mr. President.

The media is going to go full Orwell to try to get Obama re-elected. That hated Tea Party is wrecking the plan to give everyone a slice of socialist pie -- free healthcare and a Lexus -- for doing absolutely nothing.

It's all a crock... of Barack

Remember Porkulus... 'shovel ready jobs' weren't shovel ready!

Countdown until Obama leaves Office: 508 days as of August 30, 2011.


14 posted on 08/30/2011 5:20:35 AM PDT by BobP (The piss-stream media - Never to be watched again in my house)
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To: Kaslin
Krueger suggested implementation of his new tax be delayed two years serving as a kind of hammer over the consumer's head. The threat of the pending tax, he argued, would "encourage households to spend money now, rather than after the tax is in place," according to his reasoning. Krueger went on to explain how raising taxes would also create jobs and grow the economy. "Along with the rest of the recovery package (Obama's $800 billion Stimulus was already on the Congressional table by that time), this would help jump start spending in the economy and thereby increase production and employment."

All I ask is that they show historical proof that this has worked in the past....just one case....that's all....

Wow...just wow....and this is our new economic guru...???

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetically misguided and dangerous....
15 posted on 08/30/2011 5:43:16 AM PDT by PigRigger (Donate to http://www.AdoptAPlatoon.org - The Troops have our front covered, let's guard their backs!)
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To: Kaslin

Another Socialist bird floats down from his gilded cage at a university to tell BO how to create jobs. Unbelievable.

This administration has the lowest number of members with business experience, only 9%, at a time when we needed the most such experience. BO’s failure was assured by his disastrous team of “experts” who have never run anything but their mouths, impressing the gullible students they were teaching.


16 posted on 08/30/2011 5:47:54 AM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: Kaslin

shovelready 3.0


17 posted on 08/30/2011 5:51:58 AM PDT by Drango (NO-vember is payback for April 15th)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Will he pass senate confirmation after proposing a VAT ?

Why on earth would the GOP ever filibuster him? This is a very clear signal that Obama is going to stay on-course with the failed policies, which will likely result in a 45 state wipe-out next fall.
18 posted on 08/30/2011 6:32:58 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Kaslin

The first question for Egghead Krueger:

Have you paid your taxes ?


19 posted on 08/30/2011 6:36:00 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (I want a Triple A president for our Triple A country)
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To: PigRigger
Krueger suggested implementation of his new tax be delayed two years serving as a kind of hammer over the consumer's head.

and a sickle around their neck. Hammer & sickle, why hasn't anyone thought of this clever economic stimulus idea before?

20 posted on 08/30/2011 6:36:54 AM PDT by Reeses (It's a safety net, not a hammock!)
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