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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: peter michaelson who wrote (100815)	9/5/2011 3:22:03 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 149317

RE:"A serious contraction (depression) may be not only inevitable but also what is required. The government has used pretty much all of the available tools to stave it off so far, but this has not produced a political consensus to do what is needed to restructure society to regain competitiveness and momentum. Costs and inefficiencies and entitlements and waste are deeply embedded, the result of years of being at or near the top. Now we are faced with gigantic nations gaining productivity as quickly as the US did between 1870 and 1970. It is an entirely new situation. " Exactly right. While Bernanke has kept us afloat by printing out the wazoo...the underlying problem hasn't been repaired. Maybe be even made worse.

To: peter michaelson who wrote (100815)	9/5/2011 3:27:30 PM
From: John Vosilla	Respond to of 149317

Maybe the serous contraction now is what is needed on Wall Street and in DC? We've been going through that in my world since early 2007. Whether we'd be having bread lines, 25% unemployment and the DOW at 3k by now like 1932 if none of the extraordinary measures were taken is unknown but it would be much worse and certainly China and other developing economies would not have boomed like they did and inflation for things you need would be much lower here in the states..

To: peter michaelson who wrote (100815)	9/5/2011 4:45:09 PM
From: cirrus	Respond to of 149317

Ten years ago the United States had full employment and a budget surplus projected to reach $800 billion a year by 2010. What triggered that happy time? Tax increases. Bill Clinton's economic plan which raised taxes and controlled spending led to the the longest peacetime expansion in history. Why? Confidence. People had confidence that the government was being run by adults. What did George Bush and the Republicans do to run the train off the tracks? Cut taxes. Deliberately create a deficit for no good reason, then start wars and increase entitlements without attempting to pay for them. The solution is not rocket science: Reverse the Bush tax cuts, control spending somewhat - but not by the numbers currently being tossed around - and fix the biggest drag on consumer spending - health care. Once business and consumers see that adults are running the country confidence can return, followed by growth and jobs. Of course, it ain't gonna happen, so a depression may well be in the cards. A serious contraction (depression) may be not only inevitable but also what is required.