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Obama to the Economic Rescue: Is He Picking the Best Team?

By Alexander Zaitchik, AlterNet. Posted November 25, 2008.


Obama has picked too many failures who are in the process of recalibrating everything they've ever believed.

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Three weeks after the election, the markets are rallying behind the president-elect's picks for his administration's top economic posts. In an irony that has not escaped observers critical of the selections, yesterday's appointment of two protégés of former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin was announced along with a $300 billion federal bailout of Citigroup, the failed financial giant that has become the latest symbol of the eponymous and thoroughly discredited economic philosophy known as Rubinomics.

For those hoping for a progressive transformational presidency, the tapping of Timothy Geithner for treasury secretary and Larry Summers to advise the White House on economic policy is cause for serious concern. Will continuity, more than the promised change, define the Obama administration's thinking as it confronts the economic crisis? In a New York Times article describing how a "virtual Rubin constellation is taking shape" in the incoming administration, the liberal economist Robert Kuttner spoke for many when he asked, "Where is the diversity of opinion in this economic team? What worries me is there is not one person in the senior group who is the outsider to this club."

Relax, say others. Policy, not personnel, is what matters, and so far the major policy signals coming from the Obama team are blinking in the right direction. In Saturday's radio address, the president-elect called for creating 2.5 million jobs by 2011 through heavy deficit-spending on public infrastructure, modernizing the auto industry and developing clean energy. He also praised the decision to extend unemployment benefits and has continued laying the groundwork for an early and successful push for universal health care.

"The crisis we face makes Rubinomics irrelevant," says Robert Borosage, director of the Campaign for America's Future. "The situation drives policy, and the situation no longer allows for Rubinomics. The fact that these are Rubin protégés doesn't change that. There is no way they can go back to the old economics [of deregulation and an obsession with balanced budgets]." Borosage isn't alone in refusing to despair -- yet -- over the appointments of Geithner and Summers. His colleague at the Economic Policy Institute, the labor economist Jared Bernstein, who is frequently mentioned as a potential progressive voice in the Obama administration brain trust, recently told reporters that Mr. Summers has "truly evolved" since his days as a dogmatic free-trader and regulation-slasher.

This evolution has been charted in Summer's regular columns for the Financial Times, such as one in October, in which Summers sounded like a big-thinking New New Dealer. "[T]he crisis creates space to address longer-standing problems," wrote the former treasury secretary. "Just as patients hear advice regarding diet and exercise differently after a heart attack, so recent events should make it possible for the next U.S. administration to accomplish more than might previously have been thought possible."

Kuttner himself has notably measured his concern over Summers and Geithner, noting that Geithner has been "among the toughest on the need to re-regulate" the financial industry during his years at the New York Federal Reserve.

But even if these two former Rubin protégés are hemmed in and transformed by new realities -- not to mention the policy dictated by their boss -- the question remains: Why not hire people who were right all along, and not historic failures who are now in the process of recalibrating everything they ever believed? Why not reward people like Kuttner, Bernstein, James Galbraith, and others, who have been right all along?


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See more stories tagged with: obama, larry summers, geithner, melody barnes, economic council, orszag

Alexander Zaitchik is a freelance journalist.

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View:
Obama's one-trick wizards
Posted by: avatar_singh on Nov 25, 2008 12:12 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JK25Dj06.html


Nov 25, 2008


Obama's one-trick wizards
By Spengler

quote"
Investment banks were levered long the leverage, so to speak. The more leverage the world demanded, the more Wall Street could charge for ever-more-arcane methods of packaging leverage, and the higher the returns to leverage providers.

That explains how a Washington political operative like Rahm Emanuel, now Obama's chief of staff, who studied ballet rather than balance sheets, could earn a reported $16.2 million in two-and-a-half years at Wasserstein Perella, the mergers and acquisitions boutique. At the height of the bubble, Bruce Wasserstein's firm sold out to Germany's Dresdner Bank for the fairy-tale sum of $1.6 billion. Even the crumbs from Wasserstein's loaf could make a Chicago politician rich.

Without leverage, the clever folk around Barack Obama are fleas without a dog. None of them invented anything, introduced an important new product, opened a new market, or did anything that reached into the lives of ordinary people. They wore expensive cufflinks, read balance sheets, exercised regularly, sat on philanthropic boards, and assumed that their flea's ride on the Reagan dog would last forever.

All they knew was leverage, and now that the world is de-levering, they are trying to put leverage back into the system. One almost can hear Mortimer Duke, Don Ameche's charcter in Trading Places, shouting, "Now, you listen to me! I want trading reopened right now. Get those brokers back in here! Turn those machines back on!"

Of course, nothing excludes the possibility that Obama's team will come up with something constructive. But there is no reason to expect a drastic change from the crisis response of the same sort of people (starting with Treasury Secretary Paulson) in the Bush administration. They will bail out incompetent, failing firms and drop money from helicopters and call it a stimulus package. And it will turn out no better than it did for the humiliated Republicans.

(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

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Is He Picking the Best Team?
Posted by: mmckinl on Nov 25, 2008 12:26 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It all depends.

Will this team come up with some radical answers to the current financial crisis. What is needed is a massive stimulus that can be absorbed quickly and efficiently into the economy.

Infrastructure is not that answer. Infrastructure takes time and just a one shot package leaves nothing behind while infrastructure itself is both high wage and material intensive and will not create a lot of jobs for the money.

All the mumblings I have heard from these people really fall short of any real plan to stop the financial fallout and turn things around.

The best program for this crisis is Medicare for All. Sales tax receipts, property tax receipts, state income tax receipts and pension funds are falling precipitously creating a fiscal nightmare for school districts, cities, counties, states and business. How do we inject money as efficiently and fairly as possible into the economy saving jobs, government programs and pension funds ?

Medicare for All ...

Medicare for All would help re-capitalize business (especially manufacturing), school districts, state and local government, individual payers and the under and uninsured. The states and business would be required to use any excess of savings for unemployment and pension funds. Overall this could save hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs while putting money quickly and directly into the system in the most efficient, fairest way possible ... taking care of people's medical bills.

It is far far easier, faster and more efficient to save jobs rather than create them.

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» Must be a Doctor Posted by: garcam123
» You're right -- definitely hare-brained Posted by: tommy_slothrop
» RE: We're going to print it. Posted by: oregoncharles
Not much left to believe in...
Posted by: gunboat diplomat on Nov 25, 2008 1:06 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Quote: "In Saturday's radio address, the president-elect called for creating 2.5 million jobs by 2011 through heavy deficit-spending on public infrastructure, modernizing the auto industry and developing clean energy.

Never trust what politicians say in their little addresses. Recall what Bush had to say in his state of the union, 2001?

"Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy. This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil."

and in 2003?

"Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment. (Applause.) I have sent you a comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home."

Let's see if the Energy positions follow the pattern - if so, it'll be a bunch of coal and nuclear insiders.

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Maybe its not all bad. It is said we learn most from our mistakes
Posted by: LoveFound on Nov 25, 2008 1:26 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Perhaps a mixture of old and new would be best, with the ones who accurately predicted this getting the dominant positions. I do believe that our system is so co-opted and things are so far out of kilter that no solution will come in a vacuum or by theory alone. Add in the intentions of the GOP / Right to destroy the democrats and perhaps the solution is not as clear as we might want.

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Faulty Logic on fiscal and monetary policy
Posted by: Indiosmith on Nov 25, 2008 1:32 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
From Judis: " "Fiscal policy...contributed almost nothing to the recovery before 1942," Romer wrote in a 1991 paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research. That's a view that would lead one to emphasize monetary over fiscal fixes -- that is, changes in the federal funds rate and money supply over increases in public investment and cuts in taxes. This policy perspective would seem to de-emphasize or even oppose the kind of massive public investments that Obama now seems to be considering ..."

Fiscal policy contributed almost nothing to the recovery until 1942 because prior to that it was only attempted half-heartedly, what with the Supreme Court declaring the National Recovery Act to be unconstitutional. When the country mobilized massively for World War II beginning in 1942, the efficacy of large-scale fiscal policy stimulus was demonstrated: unemployment, then at 13%, vanished overnight. The experience of fiscal policy during and immediately after the Great Depression demonstrates that fiscal policy is effective only if the government is massively engaged in stimulating demand. Accordingly, the lesson of this period is not to "emphasize monetary over fiscal fixes" but to resort to fiscal policy on a sufficiently large scale to be effective.
David L. Smith
www.cassandra-chronicles.com
http://cassandra-chronicles.blogspot.com

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Don Quixot
Posted by: Don Quixote on Nov 25, 2008 1:39 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How can Obama pick the best "team"? He has himself also been "picked" as part of the the same "team" with changing faces that the US has had for a century, if you knew the secret but non-classifed history of the US. Imagine if we knew the classified history.

Many more Americans neded to see Zeitgeistmovie.com. But most prefer to believe that a plane can vaporize and dissappear in the Pentagon against a century of aviation experience and the only 3 skyskrapers to collapse by fire in another century of building experience chose the same place and day, than believe the laws of physics, including people with university degrees.

They are part of the "team", also with university degrees, which for decades said on TV that there was no evidence of tobacco damaging health, no evidence of human influence on humans on climate and no risk for the economy if the rich were allowed to get richer while the middle class and the poor got poorer, and WMD in Iraq. Obama might end up being called the black Bush.

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» RE: Don Quixot Posted by: EncinoM
» RE: Don Quixot Posted by: masthead
» RE: Don Quixot Posted by: EncinoM
» RE: Don Quixot Posted by: Nightstallion
ever heard of the Trojan Horse?
Posted by: Suzon on Nov 25, 2008 2:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't agree with all the policies, but they are what matters.

We are all conduits for ideas. We inherit more than genes, we inherit ideas, some of which are good and others that are not. We are responsible for what we do with what we see, hear and read.

First of all, we must examine the ideas. Are they connected to reality? Can they be tested? How should we act upon them? Is doing so likely to increase human happiness or be harmful? Can we improve on them?

Obama has the intellect to help grow not just the people in his administration but the American public.

Interesting times...

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Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Posted by: blogoffanddie on Nov 25, 2008 3:45 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama is choosing experienced people who know how broken and corrupt the system is, (because they helped make it that way). Hey, who better to understand the mind of white collar criminal than white collar criminals?
Obama endorsed the bailout of Wall Street – which is a bailout of the wealthy not the US economy. Obama speaks of change but reveals himself as just another corporate bootlicking toadie. It’s business as usual.
http://blogoffanddie.wordpress.com
http://theimpolitecanadian.wordpress.com/
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all the evidence.

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Need to know where the 'bodies' are buried
Posted by: Purple Girl on Nov 25, 2008 4:06 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
and possibly HOW exactly they got there.
When investigating a crime it is often best to 'flip' an accomplice.
The benefit of this is to know exactly what happened so better gather evidence against Those involved in planning & execution.
If you bring in an 'outsider' those involved will have a far easier time concealing or destroying evidence.
To break the organized Crime Syndicated called Wall Street we need a 'Sammy the Bull'.
Consider the Extortive nature of the ups & downs throught the News Conference. These Wall Street 'movers & shakers' were betting on every word Obama Spoke.Who are these People who can move the market so easily and quickly? Are they not basically Extorting money from US everytime they are don't like what they hear? That was Blatant StrongArming Yesterday on Wall street and I would love to Know Exactly Who these particular Mafiaoso's are, not only to finally bring them to justice, but to destroy their Organization.
I have no idea which side Giethner or summers are on, but I do know we have to have some line into the 'Web' to begin to unravel it.

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FASCIST Team "right" for Organized Corporate Crime
Posted by: Mister_PsyOps on Nov 25, 2008 4:31 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Need I say more?

In place of my usual diatribe defer to Catherine Austin Fitts who worked in the belly of the hollow beast that puppet Obama now pretends to lead for his monopolist corporate paymasters.

This is on what is actually behind the recent "G-20 communique" cum Fascist-globalist extortion policy:

Statement From G-20 Summit: In English

1. Now that the growth of debt and derivatives bubbles has stalled, we are committed to using governmental-central bank mechanisms to cover the positions of any of the large private financial institutions whose profits are at risk due to their management of these bubbles and who can use this opportunity to squeeze and acquire smaller rivals at low cost.

2. Our commitment to use derivatives and market interventions to shift investment from the real economy and commodities into a paper economy is firm. We will continue to use centralized governmental mechanisms to subsidize and manage this process.


3. All of the organizations and players who reaped a fortune engineering the debt and derivatives bubbles will be allowed to keep their winnings.

4. We will use this period of consolidation to further centralize the global financial system by enforcing greater centralization of the standards, practices and control of enforcement and regulatory bureaucracies. This increased governmental centralization will be presented as the “fix” for our “problems.”

5. We will continue the move toward one world government and one world currency.

6. We are prepared to use coordinated inflation of global money supplies and fiscal stimulus to protect our control and positions.

7. We are committed to the Slow Burn (see my blog post on this subject).

8. This process will continue to be managed to protect large insurance and risk positions.

9. The net result will be to continue to exercise growing control over the real economy by a handful of private families and institutions designed to protect and grow intergenerational wealth.

G-20 are silent on the military and covert action that will be required to make this stick. They are also silent on how they are going to manage this much inflation. For example, the most recent figures from the St. Louis Fed indicate that the aggregate monetary base is growing at an annualized rate of almost 800%.

http://solari.com/blog/?p=1823


....Ain't we got fun...

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So, look at it this way...
Posted by: Babygoat on Nov 25, 2008 7:02 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
He isn't throwing the baby out with the bath water....This provides the rats to move under his thumb...screw up will be assured and then he has them exactly where he wants them...it's called hire and prosecute. Besides that he will learn not only what rocks the boat but how to stop it at it's most vulnerable spots. GIVE THIS GUY A CHANCE- THAT'S WHY WE ELECTED HIM!!! We're only at the end of November! It will get bettter.

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donzi
Posted by: donzi on Nov 25, 2008 7:41 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All this emotional, vitriolic nonproductive ranting is part of the problem, not the solution to positive productive support that gets to consensus and progress. I'm cancelling my subscription and moving on to progressive organizations with proactive, intelligent, non-negative comment. Get with or get out of the way.

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Have a Bit of Patience
Posted by: Gravitas on Nov 25, 2008 8:12 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have a strong intuition that Obama really is on the side of the little guy. He has chosen to work within the system. That takes time. And lets face it, if he came in with a bunch of outsiders they would be eaten alive and the old guard would mobilize against him. And some people have used the system to enact change. Look at Bono and loan forgiveness. He went to people who appeared to have hearts of stone, yet things did change somewhat. We just have to have realistic expectations. Things can not get better overnight, we are in for a long journey. The important thing is that we are traveling in the right direction.

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» No more Patience. Time for action. Posted by: common intelligence
» RE: Have a Bit of Patience Posted by: KDelphi5950
Don't debate "Their rescue". Rescue yourselve's ! Before it's too late.
Posted by: common intelligence on Nov 25, 2008 8:47 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As Obama said ," things are going to get a whole lot worst before they get better".

It's like the people of Somalia have realized no one is going to rescue them from their ill situation and they have no other choice but to take what will give them their only chance for survival. The country and it's people are in dire straits. The only people I have heard of that have any balls are these pirates that have decided to take what they need and will give them a fighting chance to survive.

All Hail the Pirates of Somalia!

As for the rest of you, Americans..... There seems to be an approach by most all commenters and even contributing writers here to talk about what is happening but not discussing how WE must be proActive in directing the "Change" WE want v. the "Chains" being shackled around the people that will have to bear the out of our hands burden that is being imposed on us.

How many of you have actually been asked what you would like to see happen? nill I suspect, Because "they " will not relinquish POWER to those other than the inner circles.

Are you all going to allow the Bush Head to pardon himself? .Going to allow Cheney, Turd Blossum, Rummy, Wolfo.....off the hook for killing milllions of innocents? Destroying any stability this country ever had?

All the retiries are going to loose their safety nets, we may get health care EVENTIALLY so we can all live better in the street. or in the cars we buy to keep the auto industry alive. (It's going to be a cold long winter folks)

This is the time, NOW to get Pro Active; before the militia take the country to protect the interests of the few, the 1%.
(Did you ever wonder why Obama wants the troops back home? I'll tell you this. It ain't for the troops good! The system has no protection from revolt at home. They are all abroad. )

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Where did all the brains go!
Posted by: 2thepoint on Nov 25, 2008 9:02 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Is there only so much inside talent to go around?

Rehashing old Clintonites, some of who are accused of being the architect of the deregulation the has lead up to this mess (I don't agree entirely with that) is the only way to effect change?

There must be someone else who has the insight and leadership to handle this.

It does cross ones mind that maybe Obama's lack of experience limits his vision as to who are the right people! Time will tell.

I do commend Bush for working closer with Obama than any other President has worked with an opposing party incoming!

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» RE: Where did all the brains go! Posted by: BigElectricCat
This economy is a game changer, not the Great Depression
Posted by: alturn on Nov 25, 2008 9:16 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama is more concerned about being in the center - and a perceived voice of reason from the traditional standpoint - than telling the unvarnished truth to the American public. This shows up in his appointments which largely are cautious and safe. Witness no Kucinich types.

The challenge for Obama is that his orientation is on a repeat of the Great Depression while this current scenario is an entirely different beast. It is more analogous to a radically new technology that wipes out old industries. This is not solely a depression; it is the end of relating to each other and to nature through the exploitation models we now wield.

The new ideas of the future are now being seen on Alternet but are not being proposed by anyone of significant political or mass societal influence. For that reason, it will be the people who ultimately demand and push Obama to the needed models of global sharing and cooperation, not the other way around.

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It was about 'Celebrity', suckers
Posted by: gellero1 on Nov 25, 2008 9:30 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The virulent hatred of the current admin by the complacent media and the ignorant hoi poloi got us the Messiah who's only 'message' was "Change" and "Hope".

Of course none of his media and internet acolytes ever pinned him down on exactly what he meant.

Don't you feel stupid? Don't you wonder why the press never asked ANYTHING of significance. Don't you wonder why the Democratic Party power structure NEVER provided specifics??

My theory?? Why say anything when an election can be bought with proper advertising, like soap.

"Plus ca change, plus la meme chose" That's French.......look it up.

I have hope, and won't throw stones until Sen Obama takes office. May YAWEH help the Messiah.

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"He's too smart to let this happen"
Posted by: DaBear on Nov 25, 2008 9:52 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I keep hearing about how "smart" Obama is. I never bought into that because he sure seems like a nice guy mono-a-mono but he's owning class. In my meager four decades I have yet to meet an owning class guy whose "smarts" were a good thing for me, a lower class guy.

Mostly when an owning classer is "smart" it's code for he know how to fix things and rig things so he does no work and gets all the pay. Or watch your wallet, this guy's gonna steal it before you know what hit you.

As each pick is made, I'm continually amazed and nauseated as the owning class libruls and their middling acolytes swoon and preen and primp over the "possibilities".... meanwhile my cheeks clench tighter and tighter 'cause I know what's coming.

Every bailout for corporate criminals means more owning class "padding" against the consequences of the owning class' own actions over the last century-plus-eight. Every "pick" for a "team" by a guy who mouthed vapid phrases like Bush-on-peanut-butter (insteada crack) "hope," "change," ("nine-eleven," "terrishts," "mishun-'complishhhdt") just makes me have a sudden urge to empty my guts.

As I pack for yet another move out of an emptied neighborhood (the owning class has systematically evicted all tenants, our neighbors, and put up the houses for sale in a "market" where no one is buying or can buy... hmmmm), all I can think about it, how can I pad over the wheel well in my truck so I can sleep all four of us more comfortably? Homeless, again.... thanks 'Bama. Keep up the good work.

Oh wait... I was supposed to wait until you're sworn in, right? Only one President at a time and all that.

Owning class Code for: "shut up and eat my crumbs or get out of my sight."

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SOROS A Major "GREEN" Bullshitter and Sponsor of Sites Like This Has Just Bought a Load of COAL
Posted by: opmoc on Nov 25, 2008 10:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Talk It Down with Green Bullshit - then Buy it at Firesale prices.

Does this mean that Alternet will now become a PRO-Coal site stressing the dangers of Global Cooling?

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/
view/mineweb/en/page43?oid=73734&sn=Detail

linked text

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Paul Volcker
Posted by: Col. Jackleg on Nov 25, 2008 10:24 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Forget all of Obamarama's warmed over Clintonoids, where the hell is Paul Volcker who remains the only Federal Reserve Chairman that was worth a damn? Bipartisanship aside, what this nation needs is "change" and Volcker rep[resents the first big step in that direction....but, he must be "off the table" also. How much more "Reagan Revolution," aka "voodoo economics," can we stand? Apparently a lot more than we deserve or can afford. Obamarama is looking like a major disappointment to those of us that hoped for more.

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» RE: Paul Volcker Posted by: dockboy
The next administration will conduct business as usual
Posted by: Richard House on Nov 25, 2008 10:49 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Business as usual meaning the country will continue to be run in the interests of big business; with U.S. foreign policy decisions in the Middle East based on Israeli interests. The occupants who enter the White House every four to eight years are part of the shell game, the drama set up for the public which sets up the democracy delusion we continue to fall for.

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So With Virtually EVERY Country In The World Having Massive Debt - Who Exactly Do We Owe It To?
Posted by: opmoc on Nov 25, 2008 11:16 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We've all heard about individuals who claim to be the richest in the World - but the sums mentioned are mere peanuts compared to the World's Debt.

And when in the shit - like now - ENORMOUS amounts of money are Magic'ed - apparently instantly from nowhere.

And future generations are supposed to pay back - not only this enormous amount of money - but interest on it as well?

Who exactly are we paying this money to?

They must already have far more wealth than they could possibly know what to do with - they effectively own the ENTIRE World several times over - so can't possibly want any more money?

As they are apparently Private Individuals - and not part of any Governments - if they actually exist at all - which I find rather hard to believe - shouldn't Governments simply tax all their assets at 99.9999% - or alternatively arrest them and put them in jail for being so greedy and destructive with money, and put them on trial - and if found guilty confiscate all their assets?

I'm finding this all rather confusing. Sure I can understand that a load of totally corrupt elite people are in control of governments and have made democracy just a sad illusion - but I still find it hard to believe that it is these people who almost every country in the world owes such enormous amounts of money to - and if it is - why not just tell them to go and do one. We didn't elect them to control us.

Apologies for asking such a simple question.

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Who decides who's best before they even start?
Posted by: dockboy on Nov 25, 2008 11:26 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Who gets to decide who's the best team before Obama even gets inaugurated? I don't really trust Obama on economics, but I certainly trust more than Alexander Zaitchik or any other economically clueless Alternet writer. Besides, seems to me the economy did fairly well under the Clinton administration. They did a decent job.

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The Sky is Falling !
Posted by: hadashito on Nov 25, 2008 12:04 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Help, help ! He's picking all the wrong people. The sky is falling ! The sky is falling ! All of a sudden Obama is an idiot who can't distinguish between failures from the RIGHT people, i.e., far left wingers who fantasize that only they elected him and no one else has the right stuff to run the country. We've had enough of authoritarian ideologs on the right; the same jerks on the left are no better. I prefer Obama and the competent and proven people UNDER HIS WING (so as to avoid all the horrid mistakes that these abject, proven failures will oh-so-certainly commit). We ALL elected Obama, but now hear the TV and web howlers on the left criticizing every move he makes. How about visiting your therapist before jumping off the roof ?

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» RE: The Sky is Falling ! Posted by: dockboy
» RE: The Sky is Falling 2 Posted by: grkjr
» Definition of insanity Posted by: DCostello2
waht we voted for
Posted by: grkjr on Nov 25, 2008 2:02 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
we are getting exactly what we voted for.. the choice was ours and it is made....we elected to stay on the same course. unless you saw through the vail of "hope" the opium of the left just as pragmatism is that of the middle. you can't change directions unless you change the directors. and the revolving door of experts has been there to see for all from day one.. so if you have unfilled expectations for change now even after all the signs of a continued express going downs the same track..then "shame on you"

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Makin' a list... checkin' it twice
Posted by: chlamor on Nov 25, 2008 2:49 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The latest additions:

No prosecutions for torture, war crimes or corruption for the last administration.

No reversal of the Paulson bailouts or the Bernake monetary policy - "At last conservative and liberal economists agree..." - Bully.

No repeal of the Bush tax cuts...

$600 to $900 Billion in stimulus, primarily in infrastructure ("potholes"), but no direct jobs or "relief" programs of any kind.

Confirmation of the $7 to $8 Trillion total price tag (half of the entire GNP for 1 year).

"Delays" in the Obama "social program"...

Forgiveness for all Republicans and Democratic tools; jobs for every reactionary and neo-lib in the Democratic party.

Yup, he is a lying sack of shit who not only doesn't stack up to FDR ("FDR was a 'centrist', ya know..") but doesn't even come close to Herbert Hoover.

Even the "center" gets sold out while the U.S.A. gets the American Idol.

And, we haven't even started yet...

This is headed for one hell of a big train wreck.

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Obama's choices ...
Posted by: kagu632418 on Nov 25, 2008 3:30 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Unfortunately I don't see any Progressives in Obama's Cabinet. I guess he forgot who got him elected ..
Oh well, I wish folks would understand that nothing will change when voting along Party Lines.
The only way something will change if you really vote for those that will bring change! Its not McCain nor Obama. I am taken aback by the fact that Obama retaines Gates - A man that does not have the courage to tell Obama to get out of Afghanistan - we do not need more war! Sending more troops to Afghanistan will result in failure just like it failed in Iraq.
I feel sick to my stomach watching what is going on with the Great Black Hope's cabinet! All I see are Clintonites and Neocons ...

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FASCISM, Vanilla or Chocolate
Posted by: hilly7 on Nov 25, 2008 5:52 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Well, personally I am prepared for what is coming...Depression 2, the sequel. Only this one features more sheep.

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Change is over before it started.
Posted by: waterflaws on Nov 25, 2008 10:54 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"For those [me, for one] hoping for a progressive transformational presidency, the tapping of Timothy Geithner for treasury secretary and Larry Summers to advise the White House on economic policy is cause for serious concern. Why not hire people who were right all along, and not historic failures who are now in the process of recalibrating everything they ever believed?"

Seems obvious doesn't it?

What about Gates? Clinton? The Bailout/Giveaway ($15,000 for EVERY American)! May not rescind the tax breaks for the Rich. Lieberman being welcomed "back" into the fold. Lots of buried bodies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pardon me but, WTF!?

And "HOPE" is quickly fading, too. I'd cry, but I'm all cried out (after 16+ years).

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What Is Wrong Here?
Posted by: bessie on Nov 25, 2008 11:39 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama showed everyone with his incredible campaign that he knows how to unify people towards a common cause. He overcame incredible odds to become our next President. Let's not forget the hurdles he overcame, not to mention, the color of his skin. I'll be the first to complain if and when I see his agenda changed from his campaign. Now with our economic system right to the point of a total collapse - no wonder he is reaching out to everyone and almost anyone with real knowledge about the very whacky system itself. Obama is a genius obviously & his approach might cause concern, as it does to me. But how about this one? Obama is a progressive and he reacts this way automatically but he is also concerned about the totality of any situation. Look to Michelle - without a doubt she's a true progressive .Obama & Michelle are amazing - they want to hear any and all ideas in order to form their plans, based on information & experience. These are wierd times but if we have a chance to prevail it's because the Obamas are who they exactly demonstrate themselves to be. Time will tell but I'll bet that Obama's hope is to lessen the suffering of the people in terms of health care, education, jobs, and retirement. Alternetics, keep the faith!

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Those In Govt Who Create The Mess Grab More Power
Posted by: FoonTheElder on Nov 26, 2008 6:06 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Those people in government who created the mess will try to grab more power and continue messing things up.

The Obama economic team is nothing more than a group of Clinton era Wall Street Corpocrats who are almost as responsible for the current economic mess as Bush/Cheney are. Their solution continues to be similar to the GOP, which is corporate welfare for big corporations and a few dollars sprinkled on everyone else to keep them quiet.

There are more corporate Clintonites in the Obama Administration than there would have been in a Hillary Clinton administration.

Hamilton Jordan once said about Jimmy Carter during the campaign that "If Cyrus Vance is named Secretary of State and Zbigniew Brzezinki is head of National Security in a Carter Administration, then I say we failed and I would quit. But that's not going to happen." Guess who was in these positions and guess who didn't quit. The Democrats just don't ever seem to learn when it comes to real progress.

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Empty Foreclosed Homes are Virtually Worthless
Posted by: jbpaz on Nov 27, 2008 7:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Vermin and junkies quickly trash the deserted homes. The banks eager to unload the properties will offer them for $1000 or $2000 in bulk, say 100 for $150,000 cash.
The new owner can rent them at a most affordable rate of $200 to $300 monthly. The main object is to keep the houses habitable. If the tenant still can't afford it, he can do fix-up labor on his dwelling.
Adventurous souls can buy an assault rifle and squat on an abandoned property.
The main idea is never again to allow the government to get its greedy hands on you.
The $400k/year mugs who surround Obama can't cope with a Depression.

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Rant nd Rave from the Left
Posted by: hadashito on Nov 27, 2008 11:38 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
While I have seen quite a large share of insane ravings from far right wing "pundits" (easy to locate and easy to ignore since there are so very few remaining that we would label as "near" right wing or moderate conservatives), I have seldom seen extremist left wing rants that the Rush Limbaugh crowd often refer to, even on AlterNet. But now with Zaitchik's two howlings at the moon about Obama's choices for his administration, I see what the coyotes on the right are hooting about. My guess is that Zaitchik would prefer if Obama would choose someone from his camp (NO THANKS !) or maybe some REALLY OLD guys who served in the Kennedy or Roosevelt administrations. What makes sense is to choose people who are experienced and are stll alive; i.e., many who served under Bill Clinton going back to 1990. I agree with much of what Ralph Nader has to say, for instance, but I wouldn't want such a head case in the Obama administration.

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Obama Will Be Judged On Result
Posted by: ds1st on Nov 27, 2008 12:09 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
These discussions are fun but we are putting the CART ahead of the HORSE. I do enjoy reading them though!

Obama said allot of things to get elected as does every POLITICIAN. He is a politician by the way.

OBAMA will be judged on; THE ECONOMY and AMERICAN SECURITY/SAFETY.

OBAMA needs to make sure that these issues get addressed and solved. As any politician assuming the PREDIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES role, he must perform. Speeches can sooth the American people but it will not create jobs, action creates jobs.

I wish OBAMA the BEST in his future.

BLAMING the previous PRESIDENT or CONGRESS will not work if he is unsuccessful.

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