The Obama Economic Train Almost Out of Track

All aboard for the Obama economic train wreck! I want Senator Reid and Congresswoman Pelosi shoveling coal while President Obama drives the train off the cliff.

The Great Divide

Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html

We’re in the midst of a great four-year national debate on the size and reach of government, the future of the welfare state, indeed, the nature of the social contract between citizen and state. The distinctive visions of the two parties — social-democratic vs. limited-government — have underlain every debate on every issue since Barack Obama’s inauguration: the stimulus, the auto bailouts, health-care reform, financial regulation, deficit spending. Everything. The debt ceiling is but the latest focus of this fundamental divide....

We’re only at the midpoint. Obama won a great victory in 2008 that he took as a mandate to transform America toward European-style social democracy. The subsequent counterrevolution delivered to that project a staggering rebuke in November 2010. Under our incremental system, however, a rebuke delivered is not a mandate conferred. That awaits definitive resolution, the rubber match of November 2012...

The Obama Plan? There is no Obama plan. And the McConnell Plan, a final resort that punts the debt issue to Election Day, would likely yield no cuts at all.

Obama faces two massive problems — jobs and debt. They’re both the result of his spectacularly failed Keynesian gamble: massive spending that left us a stagnant economy with high and chronic unemployment — and a staggering debt burden. Obama is desperate to share ownership of this failure. Economic dislocation from a debt-ceiling crisis nicely serves that purpose — if the Republicans play along. The perfect out: Those crazy Tea Partyers ruined the recovery!

Why would any conservative collaborate with that ploy? November 2012 constitutes the new conservatism’s one chance to restructure government and change the ideological course of the country. Why risk forfeiting that outcome by offering to share ownership of Obama’s wreckage?

It's clearly a great divide between two radically different ideologies on what makes our country's economic engine run. I'm not sure that the two sides will ever agree on this topic. The real question is, how do you run a country with this sort of divisiveness?

To make it worse, it seems the President, Senator Reid and much of the media are taking great glee in belittling those on the other side of the aisle. We call these people statesmen? Really?

Who wants to toot the horn?

I'm afraid to say anything for fear of jinxing it, but it appears a solution on raising the debt ceiling and reducing the national debt may be in the works. Looks like the President (and his VP) is stepping up behind the scenes...much to the chagrin of the Democrat Party members in Congress and the folks at MSNBC. It also looks like there will be no tax increases either.

Both MSNBC and Fox are hitting the point that this may hurt the Republicans politically. Apparently, Republicans putting the country's long-term economic health ahead of their short-term political aspirations is bad politics. All the more reason for conservatives to vote for those Republican politicians who held the line on this issue.

My hat is off to the Tea Party for holding the line and forcing a national discussion on the debt issue. In the end, the Tea Party will likely not get ALL that they wanted for our Nation....but they sure as hell forced a tough national discussion in a town where folks don't seem to want to talk about the hard stuff too much....much less solve those problems. There was bound to be some compromise and it appears there will be.

I tip my glass to the Tea Party for doing a very good thing for America. The problem is not completely solved by any stretch of the imagination, but we took the first difficult step in getting our Nation back on firm footing economically and stemmed the headlong run into economic oblivion. The Tea Party has taken a beating from a group of people who don't have the Nation's best interest in mind...so consider the source and smile to yourself over a job well done. You, and Speaker Boehner, will likely continue to be savaged by the "fair and balanced" media....sorry about that. Just remember that's how those people and their followers play. Remember the sixth grade and the play ground and name calling? Any adult who calls another adult a "Tea Bagger" never progressed past that playground emotionally.

lionshead2010 wrote: Any adult who calls another adult a "Tea Bagger" never progressed past that playground emotionally.

But doesn't name calling make them more "progressive"? But seriously, I agree with you about the Tea Party's accomplishment here. We would not be FINALLY discussing seriously the spending spree our government is so accustom to. We would have just raised the debt ceiling like we always do and push the problem into our children's laps, as usual. The people are not as unaware and stupid as this administration seems to think (I forgot how the pres worded it but basically said we don't care about stuff like this). We are living this in our own lives and know what happens when we get too far behind our bills, I'm happy the Tea Party has helped to wake this country up to the pending disaster.

That said, this won't even be a bandage big enough to cover the wound, but I hope our leaders stay focused on this issue because it really is our #1 security concern.

I don't go to Huffington Post all that often but I found this article:

Durbin: Debt Deal Will Be the Death of Keynsian Economics

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/3 ... 14356.html

The Republicans are killing Keynesian economics with their attempt to cut spending as the economy rebounds from a recession, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a floor speech on Sunday.

"I would say ... that symbolically, that agreement is moving us to the point where we are having the final interment of John Maynard Keynes," he said, referring to the British economist. "He normally died in 1946 but it appears we are going to put him to his final rest with this agreement."

Keynes argued that aggregate demand was not always enough to spur full employment and that outside structures, such as governments, could influence the economy to create jobs and regulate business cycles....

"So here we are in the horns of a dilemma," Durbin said. "In order to avoid the disaster that would occur August 2 if the United States defaulted for the first time in its history, we are being told we have to cut back on government spending and by cutting back on spending, we may also have a negative impact on our economy."

Are the implications of this potential deal that dire? Will we miss the Keynsian Economics that have been so instrumental in pulling us out of the recession?

lionshead2010 wrote:
Will we miss the Keynsian Economics that have been so instrumental in pulling us out of the recession?

Oh ya, Keynsian economics worked soooo well rofllol , this economy is booming! I would miss Keynsian economics as much as I will miss Obama.