dagblog - Comments for "What's about to happen and why"

LOLOL! Good one.

MrSmith1 — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 21:28:36 +0000

In reply to If he truly can do nothing,

LOLOL! Good one.

If he truly can do nothing,

quinn esq — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:45:35 +0000

In reply to What's about to happen and why

If he truly can do nothing, then he should resign and turn his salary over to Congress to reallocate toward deficit reduction.

Otherwise, he and his family are freeloaders.

Which means I only have one thing to say to Obama - GET A JOB.

Obey, I'm by no means an

Oxy Mora — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 15:23:34 +0000

In reply to I can't follow your logic,

Obey, I'm by no means an expert on statistics. However, the 93K number was the ADP report, a report separate from the gummit and focused on private sector employment. The 93K was the largest increase in three years--supposedly it includes medium and small sized companies. As for operating margins, the "sweet" profit spot for companies is when coming out of a recession--sales improve and they hold back on hiring, increasing hours of existing employees and whipping them with lashes--all of which increases margins. Sooner or later if things improve, they have to start hiring or they piss off customers with slow deliveries and lose market share. Also, 70% of GDP is the consumer. Consumer confidence was up by several percentage points which was a big move and that translates into "growth".

Growth of what? Unfortunately for all of us who wanted to change this goddammed lopsided economic system, growth is very much a two edged sword. On the one hand it seems as if nothing has changed and on the other hand I for one am happy not to see my small business and even smaller retirement fund crater. So shit, Obama has gotten our lousy system back on track but a historic opportunity to change the system has been passed over. That's crazy-making.

I can't follow your logic,

Obey — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 14:31:36 +0000

In reply to Star, I'm going to wait until

I can't follow your logic, Oxy. A horrible jobs number is ... GOOD news? and good because the market doesn't care about US employment? I find the jobs number catastrophic, and the fact that the market doesn't care to be TERRIFYING.

The performance of US large caps has nothing to do with the employment picture anymore. Why that is would be interesting to know. It might be that large caps have gained such a strong market position - cheap capital, concentrated markets - that they can pick of the small fry and price their product as they please. Operating margins are going through the roof. It is partly also that many large-caps don't depend on the US market anymore, or for many of them, depend only on the expansion of the consumer habits of the top income decile (since they sell primarily positional goods). And that consumer is doing just dandy thankyeverymuch, and accounts for 50% of the consumer market at this point. The bottom 90%? Who gives a hoot...

Star, I'm going to wait until

Oxy Mora — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 14:17:09 +0000

In reply to The answer is downright

Star, I'm going to wait until I see what's in the package before I give up hope. I think Obama is focused on improving the unemployjment numbers without which no Dem is going to win in 2012. He will not sign any deal which does not include more unemployment benefits, and he may get some extra stimulus besides. I was surprised that the market didn't tank on the Friday numbers--tells me the overall trend for recovery is up, even though painfully slow. You'll hate this--Goldman Sachs says the S&P will be up 20% by the end of next year.

And just what, exactly, did

SleepinJeezus — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 14:13:35 +0000

In reply to This President was elected

And just what, exactly, did Obama do to discredit and marginalize the "miserable President" and his policies and the equally ugly powers behind him that set us on our present course?

End extraordinary rendition, torture, and indefinite detention and re-establish this overreach on Executive Power as being wholly illegal?

Close Guantanamo?

End the wars?

End DADT, which he firmly promised would be his first order of business upon assuming the Presidency?

etc.

If, as you say, he was elected "only in reaction to the unbelievably miserably president who was then in office," what does it say that the forces behind that "miserable president" are once again ascendant within two short years of his taking office?

Sorry, barth, but if we accept your premise, it follows that Obama is a profound failure who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I won't argue otherwise.

"...he lost that fight..."Did

SleepinJeezus — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 14:01:10 +0000

In reply to Thanks. You may have noted

"...he lost that fight..."

Did you say fight? What a concept!

well NCD, I disagree that

Barth — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:52:20 +0000

In reply to The Republicans would cave

well NCD, I disagree that things would be no worse. We may get to find out, though.

This President was elected

Barth — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:50:43 +0000

In reply to I don't know, John McCain

This President was elected only in reaction to the unbelievably miserable president who was then in office. We thought we won a big victory, but we did not.

Thanks. You may have noted

Barth — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:48:00 +0000

In reply to It takes absolutely NO amount

Thanks. You may have noted that the quote in my main post came from the same speech. I wish President Obama was President Roosevelt. He is not. FDR was our greatest president. They don't grow them on trees.

But these are different times. People saw what was done to them, and how the New Deal was changing all of that. The wind was at the President's back. FOX and sons are blowing quite the other way.

And, on the subject of 1933-1940: there were many ups and downs then, too. The President even tried to support candidates against southern Democrats who were retarding the New Deal, but he lost that fight and many others.