Mr. President, Dump Your Economic Team and Fix This Unemployment Crisis.
By Susie Madrak Tuesday Nov 24, 2009 12:00pmIn a move that's akin to acknowledging the roof has massive leaks, but you won't consider any solutions that involve anything more costly than putting pots and pans under the leaks, President Obama announces he wants to do something about unemployment - but he doesn't want it to cost anything:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama assured Americans on Monday that boosting jobs was a top priority, but gave no specifics about how to meet this goal that some economists say warrants more government spending.
The White House said separately that all "sensible and reasonable measures" would be considered to encourage employment, but also stressed that it must be balanced with the need for the United States to tackle record budget deficits.
"Our economy is growing again for the first time in more than a year," Obama told reporters after a meeting with his Cabinet. "We cannot be sit back and be satisfied given the extraordinarily high unemployment levels that we have seen."
[...] Obama has also said he is interested in solutions that would not cost much public money, warning that adding to the U.S. debt could trigger a double-dip recession.
Reacting in the NY Times, Krugman is, well, appalled:
What? Huh? Most economists I talk to believe that the big risk to recovery comes from the inadequacy of government efforts: the stimulus was too small, and it will fade out next year, while high unemployment is undermining both consumer and business confidence.
Now, it’s politically difficult for the Obama administration to enact a full-scale second stimulus. Still, he should be trying to push through as much aid to the economy as possible. And remember, Mr. Obama has the bully pulpit; it’s his job to persuade America to do what needs to be done.
Instead, however, Mr. Obama is lending his voice to those who say that we can’t create more jobs. And a report on Politico.com suggests that deficit reduction, not job creation, will be the centerpiece of his first State of the Union address. What happened?
It took me a while to puzzle this out. But the concerns Mr. Obama expressed become comprehensible if you suppose that he’s getting his views, directly or indirectly, from Wall Street.
I suspect a lot of this goes back to what Howard Dean said when I interviewed him: That the young people who came out in record numbers to vote for Obama are concerned about the deficit. Well, isn't it time you put on your teaching hat and explained why that can't be the priority right now, Mr. President?
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They don't seem too concerned that "adding to the U.S. debt could trigger a double-dip recession" when it comes to escalating the insane quagmire that is Afghanistan.
..in Iraq.
General Odierno says he can't.*
*ie: won't
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/24/blackw...
We can't afford to spend money on addressing the economic crisis. That money is needed to ensure that executive bonuses are paid at AIG. Otherwise, the talent will walk out. If that happens....then the company will fail....the American people won't get paid back...our financial underpinnings will be undermined...and then...and THEN!!...
THE TERRORISTS WIN!!!
Nooooooooo.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!
.
We JUST washed those bed sheets.
;)
Science tells us bonuses don't work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y
by Talk Talk is what immediately comes to mind.
I don't know how you "create" jobs. It doesn't matter what else is going on with a business, if people aren't buying their products they aren't going to need to hire more employees.
..isn't that what FDR concentrated on? Re-pave roads, structural repairs on bridges, re-forestation projects. I have been saying for some time that a national aqueduct system to move flood waters away from flood prone areas would pay for itself but I'm not an engineer but looking at some of the projects that are in existence today, how could it not employ people and be cost beneficial. All the money going to the banks was supposed to trickle-down and America didn't get wet.
bulding a high-speed national transit system, creating jobs in a national healthcare system, and I hear the national parks need help too.
But that would all lead to socialism, and we could turn into Europe or something. And then we'd have to speak with pretentious accents.
I'm all for fixing our country with such a project. It's about time we fixed a whole lot of things.
Could we fix all the republican's and bluedog's too? It would employ people in the medical fields, and increase the collective I.Q. of America.
...we could stop our nefarious Al Gore funded plan to keep pumping lead into red state drinking water, but I don't think our French and terrorist masters would approve...
The WPA employed millions to do work that was desperately needed. And now we have our own desperate needs, and lots of opportunities, if they would only open their ears to the people they made their promises to.
that is depression era stats
so here is what you do
you create a new national job core
tell the kids they are going to work at national parks
get them out of the inner city
you "create" jobs by offering the products and services that people do need and/or want. But you see that's not supply side economics so we can't do it. If we become a demand driven economy the terrorists win. And if you're not buying what Wall Street tells you on the teevee to buy then you must be unAmerican.
/snark
you know what, the right has a point when they say government doesn't create jobs; at least not the way our economy is currently organized.
the USA will never get out of this crisis, let alone out of debt, until we start producing value added products again, that is just the way it is.
we will not start making things again, besides hamburgers, until capital is compelled to invest in this country again; it is too lucrative to pay starvation wages in china.
I agree! There is not a thing that's made in China today that we couldn't make even better right here. Problem is whatever that product was would cost a lot more if it were made here and I don't know if the public is willing right now to pay that extra expense. A dog toy that costs five bucks made in China would probably cost ten bucks if it were made here. Walmart would have a melt down if they couldn't get all that junk from China that fills our garbage piles every day.
the only reason products cost more to produce here rather then overseas is that we are allowing products produced at slave wages, forced labor and child labor, unsafe working conditions and equitpment
those products are SUPPOSED to face a tariff that equalizes the comenserate differance
we should not allow products into this country produced by anything less then a living wage and when they are we need to tariff that differance on the company and the good
Here here! Dead-on!
"thought" it was "unfair" for products made by child labor to face sever tariffs?
With such level of subhumanity among our political class, nothing seems to surprise any more.
If we made our own shit and it did cost more, we would all have less shit and I see nothing wrong with that. How many plastic patio chairs does anyone need? I could go on with that sort of thing forever. We have become spoiled to having lots of shit and cheap shit. If this country made a decision to not have as much stuff and only buy what is made in this country, not that would be a goal I think almost everyone could support. Yeah, I know it won't happen but I sure would like to see what would happen if it did.
Less shit and an actual job? I'll take it. Especially over what we've got now.
That's what I mean. We would have less junky stuff but more quality in the stuff we would have and we would probably take better care of what we had too.
Our attitude of toss it and we'll buy a new one would go down the drain. Repair people would be doing business again as well.
Boil it down simply.
"Want Jobs. Buy American MADE".
Right now that's almost impossible. I looked through a lot of my clothes to see if I could find one piece made in the USA. I found one piece, an Obama sweatshirt that I ordered from his site during the beginning of the campaign.
But we have people who can sew, put things together and all the other stuff needed to make products. We just need a demand for them and the equipment they need which could also be made right here.
Remember when every small town had at least 2 or 3 small repair shops? I was just talking about that a few hrs ago with the landlords office manager.
There were repairmen for just about everything and people relied on one another for products too. Sure it was a simpler time but one we just might take some lessons from right now.
where they compared labor costs, per item, in USA vs. China. It turns out that American labor ended up being rather competitive, since China needed more than 5 times the amount of laborers to match the same production output.
Chances are that most outsourcing wasn't done due to economic/cost cutting reasons. And it sort of makes sense, we sure see a lot of chinese-made crap, but prices on the whole haven't been lowered (there are other factors like inflation, I know).
So chances are that this country dismantled its industrial infrastructure, not due to competition/price, but because the fat cats either did not feel like paying their fair share of taxes, or figured they didn't want to abide by basic pollution and quality standards.
Greedy and dumb, that is basically what passes for the business intelligentsia in our country. No wonder, we're circling the drain...
Your third paragraph just about sums it up; and rather nicely may I say?
spoiled and petulant.
too for quite a few years. It was to weaken the freedom loving spirit of American labor. The fat cats felt labor wanted to big a share of the profit from their labor.
Looks like this post-crash recovery is headed for the ditch.
It'll be a double-dip recession/depression, just like in the 1930s.
Who says we don't learn from history?
;)
mcdonald's in this day and age?
especially if you were previously "cubicled"?
and it is a true sign of desperation when a vegan actually considers
working under such an unholy sigil as the golden arches.
man i miss my overbearing, micromanaging, soul-sucking, blame-the-sins-of-the-world-on-you, square pegs will fit in any shaped hole, dick-head boss.
Now you have to fill out an online form that takes over an HOUR to do just for some crap retail job.
than having a job is looking for one.
Barack is some kind of a dullard?
Fer sure. He only saved the world from a depression worse than the last.
Dump your economic team Obama! - the professional nay-sayers say so!
Are you people even serious? I mean come the eff on?
Jobs are a LAGGING indicator and the leading indicators have only started to slow down not (all) have risen yet.
But I'm sure everybody knows better than Barack. He is just too slow on the uptake, he is only good at speeches.
lol
Hey, I didn't dis the president.
Then let me.
We are still waiting for the jobs to show up from the 2001 recession.
This jobless recovery is just another step in the dismantling of the middle class. Wipe out jobs while stealing the country blind. Then, once the whole shootin' match collapses into recession/depression mode, shrink the job market by cancelling public works because of the deficit you created, saving the unemployed dupes taxpayer dollars by shipping more jobs overseas and through low paying privatized workers.
Wash, rinse and repeat, until the masses show up at your doorstep.
...and willing to work for $.30/hour. USA! USA!
Saved or delayed? I think the jury is still out on his success.
we're still in a depression, I can't believe anyone thinks we're close to out of it
the shit hits the fan this spring
until you have at lest hunt the bear.
We're not out of this recession by a long shot. We're not in free fall any more, but that is not the same as having emerged from a recession.
Also there has been zero attempts at proposing actual legislation reform, in order to avoid repeating this clusterf*ck, and the guilty parties of one of the worst market (if not the worst) manipulations in history of humankind have been not only shielded from any responsibility... but they have been pampered.
It is very troubling for anyone paying a shred of attention.
the notion that jobs are a lagging indicator is not shared by all economists, fyi. especially in this crisis.
the most important aspect of this crisis is making sure that we actually fix what went wrong, not just throw trillions of dollars at the problem, only to have it come back and bite us in the ass in 5-10 years.
and as many who are familiar with the economic team know, those that serve obama are partly responsible for the lax economic regulations on finance that led to the collapse. and, knowing that, and seeing that regulations are not currently being proposed by the admin, there is the simple thought that if obama were to get a better econ team (say stiglitz and/or baker, etc.) that we could get serious about bringing back glass-stegal.
that is more the point of getting a better econ team, not some sort of insult to obama's honor.
of this administration's performance. Because every time a shred of criticism is offered (of the constructive kind) some people without any actual (read based on reality) counter argument... always attempt to turn any criticism into a personal attack on Mr. Obama.
I am really not humored by blind allegiance to the office of the United States presidency any more... esp. after the 8 years of hubris we went through.
couldn't agree more
This is just a period of wage adjustment, no big deal. It's the way our system is supposed to work. We have to compete with China for jobs, after all.
rediculous, we don't want to compete with china for jobs, we need them to compete with us for fair labor practices
the answer is NOT to lower our wages, that's obsurd
That's why I said it. There's way too much absurdity in our collective common wisdom these days.
this president actually hired the same people who created the problem for his team to solve the problem
sad to say, obama is proving as inept as bush, with a better vocabulary
the progressives have always solved the ecnomic problems of this country and it will take progressive economics to solve those problems this time
you have a few problems hiring the people who caused the issues you are trying to fix
the first problem is, most of those people knew they were collapsing the system, in other words they are theives who don't give a crap about a healthy economy
the second problem are those in the system who actually believe the system works and something simply went wrong
they obviously can't fix the problem either
here's some advice for the president;
you DO NOT give money to the banking industry and "hope" they do what needs to be done, you INSIST any funds used are directed fore specific puposes
FOR INSTANCE;
if you want money to become more available for loans you DON'T give it to banks, you set it aside for loans and allow the banks to act as brokers at the prescribed rate, if they don't want to lend according to OUR perameters then they don't get ANY of those funds
simple stuff and obama blew it
same thing with "creating jobs"
the man just doesn't get it, he has to create the programs that will hire those people he needs to put back to work, he CANNOT expect private industry to hire people when nobody is buying
obama nees a real team of economists who actually understand the problem, predicted the problem and collapse before it happened and are ready to institute those polices that will both fix the problem and prevent it from happening again
That's why the ecomony is in the deepest depression since 1930?
lol
.
"That the young people who came out in record numbers to vote for Obama are concerned about the deficit."
I just read somewhere . . .Where was it . . . Hmmmm.
Oh yeah - right here on C&L. If the "young people" are concerned it is because the M$M have spoon fed them some bad mojo.
I seriously have problems believing the young people who voted for the president are concerned about the deficit. I doubt many of them could define it or state the ammount.
I voted for the president and I am concerned about the deficit
more to the point, the way he's growing it, by giving money to banks, by allowing the rediculous bush give aways to remain
it's not the deficit it's what you get on your investment, giving money to the wealthy and to the theives who caused the problem does not get a return on the investment
obama in the map are not only paying attention, but also keep tabs of things.
I think Mr. Emmanuel is going to be very surprised in 2010 and 2012. His old 90s play book in which he tries to Clinton liberals again, is not very "internet" friendly.
with you. That being said, if the deficit expands too much it will put upward pressure on interest rates and that will have economic consequences whether Krugman says yea or nay.
Switch one Wall Street Icon for ANOTHER Wall Street Icon!!!:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/polishi...
movement.
In fact there is a clear correlation between Mr. Murdoch visiting his restroom, and the NY publication times.
I don't know if "vowel" was an intended word or a typo but whatever, it's funny as hell.
my vs and bs are all over the place I guess.
NYT here
and
George Washington [sic] at Naked Capitalism here
That's where the money and the jobs will be. The MICC is hardly an effective jobs program but it is heavenly for the Banksters.
The Banksters are doubly in heaven since Government Sachs has seen to it that $17 trillion has been handed over to the TBTF few. The money has gone for acquisitions, speculation and risky business, not lending.
Why not? Lending is dull with limited rewards, speculation and derivative trading is risky but highly profitable at least until they go bust and they will. They know when they go bust again, GS will bail them out again.
The Banks profits are way, way up, small wonder. Bloomberg here.
They are up 36% while the non financials are up 2%. Two per cent because they cutting labor to bone.
It will be a long time, if ever, that many of the those jobs will come back.
The high unemployment is here to stay.
This is crony capitalism at its worst. The biggest banana republic ever.
so dont bitch and moan now
congress and the prez effed up
it shouldve been a massive jobs program...ala fdr's wpa
but it wasnt
but people are making money now...the debt collector biz is booming as credit card defaults are at an all time high
a GOOD stimulus program. We were appalled and disgusted by the "More tax breaks" and "lets give States lotsa money", even tho they'll waste it on god-knows-what but it won't be creating jobs.
After bribery, Bitching and moaning is the only way to get things done.
It is war between the American people and International business, with congress & the Admin on Business's side.
Consequently he's more interested in getting re-elected than taking any kind of unilateral or bold action to fix any of the inherently broken dynamics of our socio-economic-political system.
Since the benefit of any action will be delayed beyond election time, or will be willfully perverted by the opposition, regardless of how good it may be, into a vicious attack, he'd rather work with our damaged system, call it bi-partisanship and avoid getting in trouble.
At least thats what it looks like to me.
in Obama's cabinet already?
Also, Krugman is intelligent and what is more usually correct, and the Government can't comprehend being smart and right. Status Quo Forever!
Obama hasn't blown anything. His hands are tied.
30 years of Reagan/Bush 'fiscal conservatism' has come home to roost. From 1980 to 2007, US GDP increased 5 times (nominally - the inflation-adjusted number is lower). Meanwhile, the federal debt increased 11 times.
Forget the current fear of high deficits, real as this concern may be. The prior generation of growth was based on uncontrolled, exponential debt, which has set the limits within which government must now operate. Under the Neocons, the US went from being the world's biggest creditor nation to its biggest debtor. Who is there left to borrow from to finance the American way of life?
Who benefited from all this? The financial sector, the military-industrial complex, the top 1% of income earners, the so-called 'Greatest Generation', who bought their houses cheap 50 years ago and got full value from Social Security and Medicare on the backs of the Baby Boomers.
The middle class is a remnant of what it was and has not seen a real increase in income since 1973 - even though labor productivity in the US is still the highest in the world.
Political parties are corrupt, the media is owned and co-opted by self-serving corporations who cut and paste the 'facts' at their whim, 'the people' have been reduced to the status of dumb, subservient consumers, the economy has been crippled by financial corruption, deregulation and the loss of manufacturing jobs -
And you want to blame Obama for not turning this around after only 1 year in office?
What do you think he is, a miracle worker? He has the worst in-box in history and faces a canny, corrupt opposition. Those are the cards he has to play with. It's not a pretty picture.
That explains why he voted for FISA and indefinite detention of all the people we kidnapped and tortured.
... it has nothing to do with the amount of time in office, or how much has or hasn't been fixed. The real issue a lot of people have is with the DIRECTION of his policies.
You know, and we all know, that there can't be an honest debate regarding the direction of this administration's economic policies, if the people defending Obama's actions thus far don't stop trying to deflect the debate using all sorts of red herrings.
Interesting comments from this article:
The Atlantic - Did WWI end the Great Depression?
http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/...
Kinda hard. Since one preceded the other.
I wouldn’t argue that. I did enjoy the comment section though. There were some very interesting comments about Gov intervention in the form of stimulus spending, the role of military programs, fluctuations in prewar/postwar domestic consumption, etc.
McArgle-bargle is retarded and. . . stupid and . . . dumb a trash bin.
Plus, her writing "style" faux "coy", which is to say that as well as being stupid and wrong about everything, she thinks she's clever and witty. Ug.
attempt by the GOP and the rest of the libertarian psychopaths to re-write history.
If America had not recovered, in a significant way by the mid/late 30s, from the Depression... there is no way we could have faced TWO concurrent fronts against the biggest combined military powers of the time.
It reeks of desperation, trying to make it seem as if FDR's policies were not responsible in cleaning up (and fixing) the clusterf*ck the same GOPers and libertarians left us with by the end of the 20s. Not only that, but it is beyond the pale to see the same vermin who created the mess, try to not only diminish the achievements of those tasked with cleaning the sh*t sandwich they created... but they are starting to take credit for the recovery.
would rather send more troops to Afghanistan than put U.S. citizens to work at home.
claimed---during his campaign for Prez---that he would increase the size of the military by 95-100,000 soldiers? Now we can understand exactly how he intends to accomplish that promise: no jobs = join the military. Simple.
One could almost believe it was deliberate.
... at least 2 things, maybe more.
1. Stop the redistribution of wealth where the banks charge outrageous fees and interest rates, paid mostly by the poor to end up as dividends and increasing stock prices owned by the rich. The latest news has it that banks will charge debit card fees as high as $55/yr. I guess that is a starting amount. $85B were siphoned off last year by this mechanism that could have gone into the economy helping to create jobs.
"pay an annual percentage rate (APR) of 696%, if the credit is paid back in two weeks, according to a USA TODAY analysis. This compares with an APR of 450% on a $100 payday loan with an average fee of $17.25."
2. Control executive remuneration -salaries, options, bonuses, golden parachutes. For each industry establish a factor which, when multiplied by the salary (pay) of the predominant worker classification establishes the top salary. GM executives whose workforce is predominantly assembly line workers would be limited to (example) 10 times what workers get.
Raising salaries on either side will raise allowable salary on the other side. {A rising tide will raise all boats. The opposite is also true]
This President has shown his TRUE preferences long ago and MAIN street isn't one of them. Obama has been the biggest disappointment for as President in my lifetime. I worked tirelessly and spent money I really didn't have to see him elected and for nearly every reason I thought I wanted him to be Prez, (upholding the Constitution, Anti Torture, Healthcare Reform, leveling the playing field by reigning in the financial system that preyed on us all (The TARP critters on Wall St.)and by undoing the Bush Tax Cuts for just the wealthy (ok, but certainly not right away), stopping Wars that are draining our budgets and killing our people, and hell, the list goes on and on.
Almost entirely he's let me down.
God, I hope there are DEMS in the wings I can vote for in a primary, because I won't vote for this man... ever again.
Obama is not driving this bus, he's riding in it. Sitting way in the back.
i think the young people are worried about jobs. But I think the big problem is WE DON'T GET IT. Obama doesn't care what we think. He only wants to appease us enuf so he and the bankers can rob us blind. until he stops wanting to act on their behalf, or we scream so loud that he goes deaf, he will continue to serve the ruling elite. Remember, the era of big government is over. We are in the era of mega corporations.
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