Obama, the Comedian

He's made a boatload of mistakes and has squandered every bit of the political capital he came into office with, but at least our 44th president knows how to keep us entertained with his fabulous sense of humor. Just listen to what he had to say in a speech he made after meeting with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke:

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I just had an excellent conversation with Chairman Bernanke. This is a periodic discussion that we have to get the Chairman’s assessment of the economy and to discuss some of the policy initiatives that we have here at the White House.

I think in our discussions, we share the view that the economy is strengthening, that we are into recovery, that it’s actually led by some interesting sectors like manufacturing that we haven’t seen in quite some time -- the tech sectors are strong; we have gone from losing 750,000 jobs per month to five months of job growth now; private sector job growth that is obviously so important to consumer confidence and the well-being of the economy overall.

Stop, please -- I'm laughing so hard that it hurts!

Comments

[nowhereman]

President Obama stated that as result of "Financial Reform that the result will be that:
"Main Street is never again held responsible for Wall Street's mistakes."
After I stopped laughing, I realized just how clueless this man is, and how dangerous that makes him.

[Mar]

I want whatever he's drinking. No, actually, I don't since it obviously makes one lose any sense of reality and all common sense and turns one into an irrational being. What a loon! Apparently Bernanke is on his side, which makes it even worse.

[Richard]

What is the difference between a white man who goes to Ivy League schools and a diversity mulatto who goes to Ivy League schools, nothing, both are clueless. Baby Boomers really thought that this clown was their mulatto messiah. Wrong. La, la, la, la, la the bill came today.

[american messiah]

The Obama economy utilizes a system of carefully monitored checks and balances. He writes the checks, you pay the balance.

[roger]

Not in defense of Obama.
I get the feeling that people are looking for a strong
leader one who has all the answers, well, millions put
their trust in Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin and payed
a terrible price for their intellectual laziness It's
easy to demonize and criticize it's a whole different
ball game to come up with intelligent answers.
Is Obama messing up? sure he is and so are all the
other leading wizards.This system is nothing more
than a global gigantic Ponzy scheme and people are to
dam scarred to contemplate an alternative,
so change will be imposed by events not Intellect.

[Steve]

Michael,
Obama was handed a sackful of rattle snakes by his predecessor. He's still dealing with it and will be dealing with it for years to come. He has no leeway to take care of his own programs; he's just putting out the fires of others. Whatever he says may not be what he believes. But unlike those of us who have the luxury to make comments without retribution, Obama must do what is necessary to keep this economy going. I think it's BS that you're taking pot shots at him - it's an insult to your intellgence. You've come down a notch in my opinion.

While we all can make jokes, the truth is that real human misery is happening for tens of millions. Obama's job is to care for all those people, not just those of us who can afford to laugh. So, let's stop taking pot shots. Do you think that Sarah Palin can do a better job? What should we do, go into a debt liquidating depression? Would be interesting to observe, if you're not human.

Should Obama turn the monetary spigots on? Of course, as Keynes said, "In the long run we are all dead." As least inflation is something we can manage. Let's find real stuff to talk about instead of you focusing on American news items all the time. Armageddon in happening in Europe too you know, in case you're aren't aware. Maybe you can cover that once in a while.

[boatman]

oh and here come the obozoites to defend their boy.....so indignant that anyone says anything.

i have been in the presence of really good car salesmen before....obozo is the best i ever saw.

[its not about left/right, its top/down.]

30 June 2010
Class War and the Decline of the West

President Obama's recent motto of "fiscal responsibility" and his frequent grumbles about "out of control government spending" are reflections of this insidious strategy of blaming victims for the crimes of perpetrators. They also reflect the fact that the powerful financial interests that received trillions of taxpayers' dollars, which saved them from bankruptcy, are now dictating debt-collecting strategies through which governments can recoup those dollars from taxpayers. In effect, governments and multilateral institutions such as the IMF are acting as bailiffs or tax collectors on behalf of banksters and other financial wizards.

http://tinyurl.com/33wvdz8

[ruralcounsel]

Obama reaped the political gains from electioneering during a period when the real estate bubble was popping for his predecessor. (Not that his predecessor was solely responsible for the bubble, Steve.) So he should have had a strategy to deal with it once elected. Apparently if he did, it was nothing except throw tax dollars at it, in hopes of stringing things along for a couple more years. Then hand it off like a hot potato to the next guy in the cross hairs.

Now maybe his economic advisors were too stupid to see the coming domino effect of the crisis, since they seemed to ignore the dire influence of deficit spending, huge national debt, runaway budgets, and unfavorable demographics. Not to mention an inferent hostility to private enterprise. But that's his fault. All his.

[Steve]

Handing it off like a hot potato to the next guy is the right analogy. And it's been that way for years, at least back to the 70s. So, it's easy to take pot shots but it was George Bush and the Republicans who had the levers of power while everything was really falling apart and there was an actual chance to change course.

Here in Canada, as in the US, it's been the fiscal conservative party - supposedly the one that is most logical and careful with our money - that has run up enormous deficits in the 80s and now. Maybe because they have the financial cred to do that?

In the US, it was Reagan and then Bush junior who blew up the deficits and debt. (FYI, I know Clinton benefited from a rising economy in the 90s as did our Liberal party which ran huge surpluses and paid down our federal debt).

Viewed from Canada, your closest friends, George Bush and the Republican Party in Congress destroyed America's financing and have brought the country to fiscal ruin. Attempts to shift blame are misguided.

I would also add that divide and conquer is a great strategy to rule a nation. Ruling elites like to distract people from the real issues. The question to ask is, Who stands to benefit from the current US political stalemate of blue vs red, country vs city?

[zippythepinhead]

Obama knew what he was getting as he was privy to all the information cc the banks, fannie freddie et al. To say otherwise is disingenious at best. Obama is just another puppet in the string of puppets to do the bidding of central banks transfering wealth from the poor to the ultra rich, he however doesn't contain the "human" touch that RR or Bill Clinton did. He is an "intellectual" who I would surmise, looks down on the very people he purports to serve.

Your take however that Obama is somehow responsible for our economy is nonsense. The economy is supposed to belong to the people, not central planners. Obama had the ability to let things liquidate, to purge the system he chose to continue on because that's what the paper aristocracy wants. Keynesian economics is about to be buried forever as Uncle Ben takes it up a notch. QE to infinity. Think you can handle inflation?

The Austrians will be proven right again.

[Linda C]

I doubt the Austrians will be proven right again since history has proven them to be wrong. Has the voluntary austerity in Ireland actually helped or hindered? Has the European nonsense helped their bond spreads? Why are people still investing in US treasuries with that huge unsustainable debt? I did read some nonsense that the banking problem in Europe is "not as bad as feared" Why is the LIBOR rate going up and not down? Why is money supply at levels not seen since the 1930's? If the money supply is that low, then where is the inflation?

The economic idea that one can have a truly sustainable economy based on nothing more than asset inflation, high finance without producing a product is the problem. The US manufacturing base is now too small to make up for the demise of housing. Once inventories are restocked look for manufacturing to hit bottom. This will actually create more deflation while some will still worry about the non-existent inflation pursuing policies to combat a condition that does not exist.

[Steve]

Good point on the Austrians Linda. They have been proved wrong time and again. One reason the US is still strong is that, if everything crashed it would be the one economy that could survive and rebuild on its own (with little brother Canada in the mix hopefully).

The other reason is that all other countries know that if the dollar declines too much, US manufacturing would take over the world. I wonder if the EU's troubles aren't some crafty plan by the Euros to reduce the value of the Euro in world markets to spur their manufacturing. A planned competitive devaluation.

Interesting future point on manufacturing is that when the oil price gets too high, which it will at some point, it will cost too much to transport manufactured goods from the Far East to North America. Manufacturing in the US and Canada will, eventually, have a resurrection.

[roger]

The Austrian school includes a very long list
of: Von's, Bohm, Wieser, Hayek, etc.....
they served very well the Austrian Aristocracy
and the super rich ,never ever one word of sympathy
for the real wealth producers.
Just say the word UNION or Socialism and watch them
foam at the mouth.

[mistah charley, ph.d.]

Speaking of comedy, I had a fund raising call from the Democratic Party today. I told them I no longer consider myself a democrat, and when asked to explain further I said that the American Party system was a like a bird with two right wings. The fundraiser asked, "But don't you think Obama is kind of left wing?" I laughed out loud, wished them a nice day and hung up the phone.

[Had Enough]

The election has been over for over a year and a half. You get four years to lead this country. If the best you can do in a year and a half is complain about what you inherited, what good are you? Any executive, in the private or public sector, knows they are going into a difficult situation that they were hired to turn around. If Obama had actually managed any enterprise in his entire life, he would have realized this. So far, he has proven he doesn't know anything about economics, health care, foreign policy, or leadership. Other than that, he is doing a great job. That is why his approval rating is at 45%. He has no leadership ability, and has already lost his credibility with the majority of the citizens.

As far as Keynesian economics, simply ask yourself this question: if it works so well, why is it that the International Monetary Fund's prescription for countries that are close to defaulting on their debt is always to follow the Austrian School prescription of cutting spending, cutting taxes and regulations to get more competitive in the real world of global competition, and not to follow the Keynesian School that says flood the system with cheap money, set interest rates artificially low, and have the government borrow money it doesn't have to spend in the first place? Can anyone of the Obama defenders on this site explain why that is? Here's a hint: because ultimately, the laws of economics cannot be fudged by politicians.

At some point, there is no more actual cash, and no more access to borrowing that cash. You cannot pay public employees, or their pensions, or social security or medicaid when there is no cash. When no one is willing to lend you money (for governments that is buy your bonds), a country (like Greece) has to get back in the real, competitive world or default on its debt or hyperinflate. Since Greece cannot control the Euro, it can only default. The reality that the socialists in Europe are being forced to accept is that no one ever could afford their lavish welfare states, they did it all on credit, and the bills are now due. The irony is that Obama and crew want to have the USA follow this bankrupt European welfare state model at the very time the world sees it is financially unsustainable. That is why Obama and little Timmy Giethner were the odd men out at the G20 meeting. The welfare states in Europe and America are unsustainable financially, and will die from lack of funding. You can strike, riot, burn a capital, it does not matter. There is no more money. There never was. Those who put their faith in big government were foolish, and now they will pay the price. Unfortunately, so will the rest of us as well.

[chrisanthemama]

Two words: President Palin.

[roger]

Well for one thing I am at 182 deg. from the
Austrian philosophy and I say that spending for
the sake of spending is pure folly and that unlimited
growth in consumerism will lead to civilizations
collapse. Law of economics sounds very scientific,
but it is hogwash,economics not being separate from
human behavior,we would be better served by a studie
in political economy.
OH yes, we do have a grave problem in this country
with welfare, but it benefits only the very rich and
powerful corporations. THAT CERTAINLY NEEDS TO BE CORRECTED.

[zippythepinhead]

How have the Austrians been proven wrong? The Austrians have called for the collapse of the US dollar since 71 and after Bretton Woods which allowed us to export inflation. Your dollar has lost 97% of it's value since the advent of the Fed in 1913. The Austrians called the tech bubble accurately and nailed the housing bubble 3 yrs before anybody in the msm picked it up, that includes Roubini and Taleb. Gold was $35 in 71 it's $1240 as we speak now. All of that was forecasted yrs before it happened by the Austrians and now were seeing the death of fiat money in front of our eyes.

No inflation? Don't tell me about CPI either. How about that bag of chips? Same bag but fewer ounces. Grocery store inflation is easily 10%. Gas is $2.85 does anyone not believe it will hit $3 before long? Oil is back to +-80 a barrel down from $150 but up from $35 just over 2yrs ago. I'm a small business owner, all my costs are up across the board, insurance, COGS, medical, transportation costs from one yr ago. Priced a brand new car lately? Wanna buy a home in California? 450k will buy you a home in the ghetto in Oakland. Stock market went from 6500 to 10k all on money printing (gambling) p/e ratios are way out of wack.

Do we have deflation? We have some. In shit nobody needs or wants. Big screen tvs, stereo systems, computers. We need more. We will have more as forces of hard money will give everybody a crash course in economics. Meanwhile BB has just spouted off about more money printing. Just under 5 trillion is the figure floating around. He is a money printer. He is a counterfeiter. He will print and print and print. And then when he thinks about it he will print more. We'll have deflation all right, then it will morph into hyperinflation just as it has always done.

CC your comments about treasury sales that's the Fed buying up paper. Europe's austerity programs haven't even been enacted, talk is one thing doing so is another. Banks are hoarding cash as most of them are broke so velocity is not an issue at this point but that is irrelevant as hyperinflation does not arise from banks lending too much money. Rather, hyperinflation invariably occurs for only one reason – too much government spending that leads to too much government borrowing and these debts are then turned into currency by the government’s captive central bank.

Gold will be your only protection in what comes next. And no gold is not in a bubble as less than 1% of the worlds population owns any. In 2001 the gold/dow ratio was 44:1 today as we speak it's roughly 8:1. The ratio will reach 2:1, 1:1 like it has 3 other times since it's inception in 1896. Last time this happened was 30 yrs ago.

The Austrians will be proven right again.

[Al Fin]

I am certain that Mr. Obama has had a plan, and that one day we will understand what it was.

Beyond blaming his predecessor, that is. I always assumed that the blaming of his predecessor was something of a stalling tactic in order to allow his real plan to start working. But maybe I was wrong about that.

Wait and see. Things are likely to get worse before they get better, but that also could have been Mr. Obama's plan. No one really knows.

[roger]

Have I got this correct?
The Dam Government is to blame for all this mess.
Off shoring is OK, never ending search for cheap labor is OK,
automating assembly line to get rid of labor is OK,
constant propaganda to increase consumption is OK,
brain washing kids with toys to entice them to consume garbage food is OK,
enticing people who don't now better to go deep in debt so
as to make a fast buck is OK ,lies like buy 2 get one free or
you get $299.00 value for $19.99 is OK. Seems to me that corruption
and dishonesty is the rule rather than the exception.

[Troy]

I'd love to know what other decisions you geniuses would have made. You think the tea party goers have it right? If Obama stopped stimulating the economy, people would complain that he didn't care about main street. If he keeps stimulating, people complain that he's wasting money. You think the old geezer that Obama destroyed in the election would have done better? He'd have had two or three heart attacks by now. You think Sarah Palin would do better? Puhleeez. The truth is that nobody could fix this mess quickly, and hard decisions have to be made. We've spent decades getting into this mess, and people think we should be out of it a couple of years after the greatest recession in 80 years? Lots of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning quarterbacking going on here, but no solutions folks. Stop bitching already. You're not half as smart or competent as Obama, and you wouldn't have a clue how to deal with these problems.

[Capt. Frank Dodd]

Obama and His Czars have crafted bills that will destroy the most important thing we as citizens have and that is Faith that our elected officials will craft legislation that wont destroy our nation and wars that send back pieces of wonderful patriotic citizens. Lets not forget racism, Obama should be teaching college not trying to lead a nation. NOT A CLUE!