Economic Numbers Hurting Obama

Townhall.com ^ | July 10, 2010 | Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

[Kaslin]

The increasing consensus that we are entering a "double dip" recession is seeping into the conventional wisdom, posing a further obstacle to Obama's attempts to keep control of Congress. Even when the conventional wisdom was that the economy was slowly emerging from recession, the president was having his problems keeping Congress. But now that all indicators -- from employment to housing to consumer confidence to the Dow ---are trending downward, the task is likely to become even harder.

The days are fading when George W. Bush could be blamed for the economic problems we are facing as a nation. The passage of time and, interestingly, the very perception that things had been getting better earlier in the year both make this second dip the Obama dip rather than just a continuation of the "Bush recession."

The facts are that we have likely never emerged from the recession at all. The Economic Conference Board has not yet declared the recession over, since so much (or even all) of the anemic but still somewhat positive growth recorded in the past three quarters stems directly from public sector cash transfer payments. These transfusions may mask the symptoms of recession, but they are no indication of emerging prosperity.

We are now coping with the damage not of the original recession that started in 2007, but with the cures administered by Obama when he took office in 2009. His big spending, big borrowing and his looming tax increases in 2011 are driving the economy down.

History will probably record the Obama administration of 2009-2013 (hopefully his only time in office) as one long recession-depression, just as we see the Hoover administration of 1929-1933.

We make no allowances for the "false dawn" of rising markets that engendered a great deal of hope in 1930-1931 before these expectations were crushed by the Hoover tax increases of late 1931 and the Federal Reserve Board's increase of interest rates that same year. In retrospect, we will see the slight uptick of the early months of 2010 as our own "false dawn" interrupting but not punctuating our four-year recession.

As the debt crisis that started in Greece spreads to Europe and across the ocean, the United States' high level of deficit spending makes us particularly vulnerable. It was recognition of that weakness that led Europeans to reduce their deficits and cut back their spending, oblivious to Obama's request that they increase their outlays. But Obama continues his big spending and big borrowing ways in the U.S.

To this we need to add the climate of uncertainty that the president's changes have engendered. The prospect of big tax hikes ahead in 2011 (beyond just the simple repeal of the upper income Bush tax cuts), the uncertainty in the credit markets due to the passage of the financial regulation bill and the questions raised by possible cap-and-trade legislation all militate against new investment or borrowing and are inducing corporations and banks to hoard cash that might, otherwise, have stimulated economic growth.

Politically, Obama was likely to lose Congress even before this disaster hit. Now, Rasmussen has four Democratic Senate seats definitely going Republican (Arkansas, North Dakota, Indiana and Delaware), with six more rated as tossups (Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado, Nevada, Washington state and Wisconsin). California is also a likely Republican pickup. Rasmussen rates four GOP Senate seats as tossup (Ohio, Missouri, Florida and New Hampshire), but the Democrats are unlikely to win any of them.

If the GOP picks up the seats it is likely to win, it will control the Senate by 52-48. And, in the House, the likelihood of a Republican victory is even more significant.

The Rev. Wright famously said that Sept. 11 represented America's "chickens coming home to roost." He was wrong. But the double dip recession, and its political consequence, is clearly an instance of Obama's spending policies making the same journey.

[Skared2deth]

With Bush Tax Cuts expiring, and Obamacare coming,
Why wait until January?
I dumped my stocks over 3 months ago.
I’m really surprised investors have held on this long.

[bcsco]

The days are fading when George W. Bush could be blamed for the economic problems we are facing as a nation.

As far as I'm concerned, that faded away a long time ago. Obama's responsible for what happens on his watch; not Bush.

[all the best]

More like OBAMA HURTING ECONOMIC NUMBERS

[FrankR]

Self inflicted.

[FormerACLUmember]

“Economic Numbers Hurting Obama”

Obama could care less.

He is very pleased with his planned systematic destruction of the USA.

[Rome2000]

They spent 700 billion over at Treasury (includes interest the national debt) in 09 and the marxists only have 500 billion budgeted for '10

With a national debt that increased from 9 trillion to 13 trillion!

Obama and Pelosi are arch criminals and shysters.

In 2012 the national debt is estimated to exceed 100% of GDP, up from a low of 30% in 1980.

Debt has only exceeded GDP once before, and that was in WWII when REAL GDP was way lower.

These communists are robbing us blind without facing any consequences.

Stupid marxist animals think they can just continue to vote themselves ever increasing amounts of our money and freedom and we’re just supposed to shut up and like it or else

They haven’t seen anything yet

Its not enough to vote out them out in the swing districts and regain the majority, that will be the easy part.

It needs to be coupled with the destruction of the communist "Congressional Progressive Caucus" as an above ground legitimate organization.

Its members and supporters need to be exposed as red communists, prosecuted and imprisoned where evidence of criminality is uncovered, and the organization itself driven back underground like in the 50's when the marxists met in secret to plot the communist revolution, not changed their names to "Progressives" and did it in our faces.

[Mr. K]

Just think how awful it would have been if democraps had not taken over from that evil Bush!

Remember how bad things were under him? Huh? Remember?

[griswold3]

If I hear Obama talk about ‘driving the economy over the cliff’ and ‘you can’t have the car keys’ again, I’m going to get mad.
The Obama pro ‘bidness’ charm offensive is just that..Offensive!
As a small business owner, I’m mad right now. Just wait until I get angry!

[Girlene]

More like OBAMA HURTING ECONOMIC NUMBERS

Bingo

[thethirddegree]

Obama needs to be impeached and tried for treason.

[PaleoBob]

It needs to be coupled with the destruction of the communist “Congressional Progressive Caucus” as an above ground legitimate organization.

Its members and supporters need to be exposed as red communists, prosecuted and imprisoned where evidence of criminality is uncovered, and the organization itself driven back underground like in the 50’s when the marxists met in secret to plot the communist revolution, not changed their names to “Progressives” and did it in our faces.

---

I agree with you but this will NOT happen unless and until things get so much worse that the chief protector of the Marxists, the lamestream media, is first removed from their prominent position on the watchtower. Not an easy thing to do.

[Vaduz]

Every Obama voter pat your self on the back all of this mess belongs to you and you only.

[Rome2000]

McCarthy went after these red sons of bitches and they destroyed him and put everyone else on notice that the same is in store for anybody who would follow in his footsteps.

Now Drudge and Beck and others have continued the fight, but you can't get any GOP "leaders" to push the advance.

I believe that the first conservative who advocates a zero tolerance for marxism policy and starts calling the reds in the press an on capital hill out, naming names and calling for investigations, will emerge as the head of a new leadership team.

If you are a marxist, you side with enemies of the USA, Castro, Chavez, and Kim Jong-il.

The membership of the CPC should be decimated, they are public enemy no 1, a bigger threat than Bin Laden.

[usconservative]

(bookmark) Great post.

[Rome2000]

No time to be "Collegial"

The "Congressional Progressive Caucus" must be targeted and destroyed as well their allies in the press and academia.

No holds barred, take no prisoners, name names and make these red bastards pay dearly for the consequences of nearly one hundred years of insidious and unrelenting attacks on capitalism and judeo-christian morality.

CPUSA And Obama Platforms Are Identical

Forget for the moment about Bill Ayers and Obama’s other Communist friends and mentors of the distant past.

From the current ‘Election 2008′ brochure from the Communist Party Of The United States (a pdf file):

A new day is dawning. Our country is at a turning point. This is a time of great possibility.

Issued as a public service by the Communist Party USA

The choice is clear. Stay with the Bush-McCain race to the bottom or raise up the whole country with a landslide defeat of the Republican ultra-right on November 4.

A new day is dawning. Our country is at a turning point. This is a time of great possibility. Across the land, people are coming together to reshape our nation’s priorities to make government “of, by and for the people” a reality.

From the Midwest to the South, from coast to coast, in big cities and rural communities voters have turned out in record numbers for change.

A landslide vote on November 4 can open the way to recovery from the very deep wounds of the Bush administration and decades of corporate right-wing control.

There is a crisis in every critical area of national life. Profits at the top are record high, but families can’t make ends meet. Trillions are squandered in Iraq, but 45 million are without health care. Billions are spent on tax breaks to the super rich, but working families are losing their homes and young people can’t afford higher education.

Working people want bold new policies to end war restore democratic traditions and create green living wage jobs, affordable housing, healthcare and quality education for everyone.

Republican John McCain, the candidate of the military industrial complex, will continue the Bush agenda. “100 years” in Iraq, Social Security privatization, and tax cuts for the rich. His Republican partners in Congress have blocked, stalled or gutted every bill that benefits working people since they lost majority control in 2006.

Although the ultra-right is weakened and divided, they continue to push fear, division, racism and anti-immigrant bigotry in this year’s elections, aided and abetted by the corporate media. These multi-pronged poisonous tactics can only be overcome with unbreakable unity.

The choice is clear. Stay with the Bush-McCain race to the bottom or raise up the whole country with a landslide defeat of the Republican ultra-right on November 4.

Voters are demanding a new kind of politics to rebuild our country for the common good. A democratic spirit of unity and hope is inspiring millions to get involved.

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, unemployed workers and their allies marched and organized until public works jobs, Social Security and New Deal programs were won. In the 1960’s the great civil rights movement won the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

In 2008, union members, African Americans, Latinos, youth and women, seniors, environmental and peace voters are forging a powerful new all encompassing movement that makes great changes possible.

Help make history. Talk with co-workers, neighbors, friends and family. Volunteer to knock on doors, make calls, get online to turnout a landslide defeat of the Republican ultra-right on November 4, and keep the movement going.

EMERGENCY PROGRAM TO REPAIR, RENEW AND REBUILD

We offer these proposals as a contribution toward the bold policy changes necessary to meet the immediate needs of working people, eliminate poverty and move our country forward with a new President and Congress. Funding to come from monies now being spent on the Iraq war, military budget and tax breaks to the super rich.

1. Immediate Relief

A moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Reset mortgages so payments are affordable. No bail outs for banks.

Extend unemployment compensation, increase payments and eligibility. Increase food stamps, WIC, children’s health insurance, and low income energy assistance.

Assist deficit-ridden state and local governments so they can preserve services and jobs. Fund “ready-to-go” infrastructure projects.

2. A Peacetime, Green Jobs Economy for All

Enact massive public works job creation to make existing buildings energy efficient, construct new schools, hospitals, affordable housing, mass transit and bridges. Priority to areas hurt by loss of manufacturing, loss of family farms and highest unemployment areas including the Katrina-devastated Gulf Coast.

Major clean, affordable energy development project for solar, wind and biomass electricity generation. Immediate program to cut greenhouse gas emissions and for environmental cleanup. Restore Federal energy regulation and encourage public ownership of utilities.

Enact the Employee Free Choice Act to enable workers to form unions without intimidation and win higher wages and benefits, dignity and respect.

Enact HR 676 the US National Health Insurance Act to provide universal health insurance with single-payer financing. Fully fund public education from pre-school through higher education and technical training. No privatization of Social Security or Medicare. Expand and improve benefits.

3. Restore Civil Rights, the Bill of Rights and Separation of Powers

Restore Civil Rights Act enforcement, affirmative action in employment, education, and housing. End the “school to prison” pipeline. Outlaw hate crimes. Preserve Roe v. Wade.

Pass immigration reform with legalization, a path to citizenship, due process, no militarization of the borders, and no exploitative guest worker programs. No human being is illegal.

Repeal Patriot Act. Restore Habeas Corpus rights. No more torture. Investigate and prosecute Bush administration violations of the Constitution.

Expand voting rights. Enact publicly financed elections, same day registration, voting rights for ex-felons, verifiable voting equipment, and instant runoff voting. Restore Fairness Doctrine in media.

4. Strength through Peace

Withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq with no bases or U.S. corporations left behind. Full care for returning veterans. No war on Iran or expansion of troops in Afghanistan. Assistance to Iraqi people to rebuild their country.

Adopt a new foreign policy of diplomacy and respect for all nations, instead of preemptive war for corporate interests. Renew commitment to UN peace role.

End trade policies that enrich corporations while destroying jobs. Ratify Kyoto Treaty and other climate change agreements.

Enforce nuclear non-proliferation, work to abolish nuclear weapons. Cut Pentagon spending in half, close down US bases around the world.

Vote November 4 as if your life, and your future, depend on it!

Defeating the right wing is the first step in the struggle to end exploitation, poverty, racism and war inherent in capitalism.

The Communist Party USA and Young Communist League participate in today’s movements confident that they set the stage for more fundamental change tomorrow.

Throughout our 88-year history we have defended the interests of the working class, fighting for unity and democratic rights. Today we are guided by our motto, “People and Nature Before Profits.”

Our vision is a socialist USA, that opens the way for equality, world peace, real democracy, a society in which people control their own destinies in a sustainable world.

We invite you to join us. Issued as a public service by the Communist Party USA

For comments or more information call: 212-989-4994 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              212-989-4994      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              212-989-4994      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

In case anyone is confused about the ultimate goals of the CPUSA, they have been kind enough to post online their “Program Of The Communist Party USA.”

Maybe we should offer a prize to anyone who can find one scintilla of divergence between what the CPUSA want and what Obama and the rest of the Democrats want.

For our full program visit http://www.cpusa.org

We invite you to join us. Issued as a public service by the Communist Party USA

For comments or more information call: 212-989-4994 or e-mail: politicalaction@cpusa.org

Young Communist League http://www.yclusa.org

Peoples Weekly World / Nuestro Mundo http://www.pww.org

Political Affairs http://www.politicalaffairs.net

[Mygirlsmom]

"Economic Numbers Hurting Obama"

Not nearly as much as they're hurting US!!!

Stupidity and arrogance SHOULD hurt. Unfortunately they don't.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Obama needs to be impeached and tried for treason.

It's a shame he wasn't swapped to Putin.

[xzins]

And a conservative acting Congress saved Clinton’s bacon just in time for him to proclaim it his very own and win with it.

The 2006 depression/recession belongs to the Democratic House/Senate which they controlled. All spending must originate in Congress; the President doesn’t control it at all. So....it isn’t Bush’s fault. It also isn’t, using that logic, Obama’s fault with the stipulation that this democratic congress is now doing what this democratic president has wanted.

Congress is the only way to increase spending and congress is the only way to decrease spending.

[jnsun]

the chief protector of the Marxists, the lamestream media, is first removed from their prominent position on the watchtower. Not an easy thing to do.

Really true. Everything, virtually everything, except maybe the ball scores, is a spin vision by the Media. The "Republicans" are either totally incapable of combating it, or are complicit.

There really are no articulate spokesmen who can break through. I guess Beck and Limbaugh try, but are either just too dramatic, or completely overwhelmed by the day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, presentation of the Left. Overwhelmed in the sense that the stupid are going to believe what they hear the most of.

Free Republic itself is a good statistical example of the problem. An ostensibly conservative website look at how much of its content (postings/comments) is only response to the spin of the Left, thus reaction constantly on the defensive, i.e. cynicism. In that sense it is indeed true what the Left claims - "Republicans" have no answers. The "progressive" Left (Communism) really is driving stupid America's issues and visions, via the Media.

The Tea Party offers a correction. An articulate conservative third party would offer a correction. Term limits would offer a correction (by introducing views outside the DC oligarchy). Internet (blogs) offer a correction. Certainly a few media outlets in the right ownership would offer a correction. And constant, incessant, exposure of the existing Media filter would offer correction.

You're right, not an easy thing to do.