Where is the US economy headed?

Obama is trying to put a positive spin on our economy now, but it'd be almost a miracle of we're able to turn around our deficit by 2013. We'll be lucky of we recover 50% of jobs lost.

Obama, just after robbing the bank, has now declared bank robbery unwise. Meanwhile, his bank robbery is perpetuated by programs set up in the stimulus package. Go figure.

Wall Street is figuring it out. They don't think its going to work.

okie, When did Obama rob the bank?

He meant the kid's piggy bank ci. He would be unpopular if he suggested chaps like you stopping your seeing the world indulgencies.

Heres an interesting article...

http://www.rr.com/news/economy/article/9004/6959758/Major_stock_market_indexes_fall_to_1997_levels

It seems the stock market has lost 10 years.
Who do we blame that on, especially since the economy has continued in a freefall since the "stimulus" was signed.

Obama once said that he "inherited" the economy, but that isnt true.
He WANTED the job, knowing what the problems were.
For him to say he "inherited" the problem isnt true.

Of course he inherited the current mess; but he did so with his eyes wide open. He surely did not create it.

Do you think anyone else at the helm would have done any better? How?

What many investors are doing now is the wrong decision; they're selling at new lows; they're supposed to sell high, and buy low. What they've sold, they have now recognized all their losses.

It's true that we haven't seen the bottom yet; fear does stupid things to people's perception. When it goes below 7,000, I'm going to start buying back some of the funds I sold when the market was above 14,000.

If we adjust for our big ticket item spending for the past several years, we're still ahead by 11.6%, and that doesn't include the amounts I spent on my world travels.

My retirement funds are down 4%, and my wife's funds are down 3% for MTD (through today's closing).

The plunge began in earnest when Obama beat out Clinton in May, 2008. Dow Jones was about 13,000. The largest two day drop following a U.S. presidential election occurred when Obama was elected. Big drops occur every time Obama does anything to supposedly fix this. Obama's fingerprints are increasingly on this tanking of the market. Spell it "confidence" or the lack thereof in regard to people thinking his fixes are appropriate and will work.

Many people doubt Obama is pro capitalism. I would be buying energy stocks right now, except I fear Obama will mess with them, and if a profit is made a year or two down the road, he will rob and pillage the companies, or even attempt to nationalize them.

okie, You have absolutely no understanding of economics or politics. No president who has spent one month is office is guilty of everything you blame him for. Get a life!

Okie, c'mon. The top paragraph is ridiculous and the second is just bad investment advice.

Are you referring to the recent (and impending) bank failures/receivership/nationalizations? Keep in mind that these companies have already lost 70-90% of their value of just a few years ago. Investor's money in these companies has basically vanished already. So your investment in energy stocks is safe - unless it's worthless, and then we'll probably save your ass by also investing in the companies.

You can say that Obama is anti-capitalism, but he could have just ordered to let any bank or company that fails, fails. And then when the market really tanked, down to almost nothing, he could have gotten the Dem majorities to ram through bills to nationalize anything he wanted. He did not do this. Instead, he is busting his ass to save the current system. How do you square his actions to save the system with your accusations that he wants to wreck the system? They don't seem to match up.

Cycloptichorn

I see this as huge. Obama might do more if he thought he could get away with it. I think he is very calculating, and we don't really know where he stands, or what he wants to do, or the real reasons why he is doing what he is doing. You don't have to agree, but I know alot of people that feel this way. They have no trust, no confidence, and lack of stability and confidence will destroy the market, and it is right now. Obama is unclear and contradictory with his policies, and it is creating havoc. It is in fact the blind leading the blind. I guarantee you, if McCain had been elected, things would be better. You could count me as one with alot more confidence, I would be far more optimistic. The government will not solve this crisis. We will. Just unleash the American people, but it takes a people that have confidence, and they don't have it right now. Building a bike path somewhere, a rail line to Las Vegas, or giving away more Medicaid and unemployment benefits, increasing welfare rolls, that will not get this country moving in the right direction, no way.

We might climb out of this recession despite Obama, not because of Obama, thats the way I see it. He will prolong it, however long it will be.

Sure, and you might kill someone tomorrow.

I ride a bike every day and wish there were more bike paths. Better use of our money than most of the bullshit that it gets spent on.

Cycloptichorn

It is not the blind leading the blind. The only blind person here is you, okie. Obama did not develop this "plan" by himself. He had some of the best minds in the country to help him.

The reason you "think" it's blind leading the blind is very simple; you listen to all the conservatives telling Americans there's too much waste in the plan. In fact, less than 10% goes to what can be considered "non-stimulus."

You need to get your head out of your arse; learn to listen to both sides; you might learn something.

My mistake. I thought it was written by congress.

Okie wrote:



I see this as huge. Obama might do more if he thought he could get away with it. I think he is very calculating, and we don't really know where he stands, or what he wants to do, or the real reasons why he is doing what he is doing. You don't have to agree, but I know alot of people that feel this way. They have no trust, no confidence, and lack of stability and confidence will destroy the market, and it is right now. Obama is unclear and contradictory with his policies, and it is creating havoc. It is in fact the blind leading the blind. I guarantee you, if McCain had been elected, things would be better. You could count me as one with alot more confidence, I would be far more optimistic. The government will not solve this crisis. We will. Just unleash the American people, but it takes a people that have confidence, and they don't have it right now. Building a bike path somewhere, a rail line to Las Vegas, or giving away more Medicaid and unemployment benefits, increasing welfare rolls, that will not get this country moving in the right direction, no way.

We might climb out of this recession despite Obama, not because of Obama, thats the way I see it. He will prolong it, however long it will be.

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You are correct, Okie. Obama promised us change. The illiterate, the minorities and the deluded voted for him. Now, one month after he has been elected, you would think that there would be great confidence in our land.
The change Meister has been elected. But then why is the Stock Market going down so fast? Don't people believe that Obama will set everything right?

I know,or have heard, that the stock market decline in the last half of 2008 was due to the Bush policies,but NOW? we have a continuation of the decline?

Where is the confidence?

In January, MILLIONS of workers with 401k's got bad news. Their 401K's were losing value rapidly. But--there was no worry. Obama was elected and CHANGE was in the air.

As the Stock Market keeps declining--people will open their 401K's reports for the first quarter( since we have had Obama) and will find indeed that CHANGE is in the air---CHANGE is all they have left.

Well, you know. . . . If you are wanting to pass bailout after stimulus bill, after bailout, you've kind of got to scare people. Now, think about it. It has to be a challenge to scare people and build their confidence at the same time. If anyone can pull it off, Obama's the one.

Obama is clearly imitating FDR. But he is making FDR look cheap. FDR spent Millions to get us out of the Depression. It didn't succeed. Obama will spend Billions to improve our economy materially. It wont succeed. Doesn't anybody understand that people are not going to invest in any economy in which the Stock Market keeps going down,down down?

Roger--Fear causes people to withhold investment--to stop buying big ticket items--to cut back. You know, of course,that the economy is driven by the consumer. They have been frightened by Obama! Now,he must show them that there is no reason to fear>
He won't be able to do that. His pronouncements have caused the Stock Market to keep going down, down,down.

In the fine book about the Depression, "The Forgotten Man"-Amity Shlaes wrote:

"businesses decided to wait Roosevelt out, hold on to their cash and invest in future years, yet Roosevelt retaliated by introducing a tax--The Undistributed Profits Tax--to squeeze the money out of them--Such forays PREVENTED recovery and took the country into the DEPRESSION WITHIN THE DEPRESSION OF 1936 AND 1937."

Good leaders do not make their people fearful!

Without consumer confidence, the economy will continue to decline--even if Obama can walk on water--Note the latest report-

Rasmussen Consumer Index
Consumer, Investor Confidence Again Fall to Record Lows
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures consumer confidence on a daily basis, fell two points on Monday to 55.5. That’s the lowest level of confidence ever recorded in the seven-year history of the Consumer Index, and the fourth time a new low has been set this month.

roger, Of coarse it was written by congress (most of them didn't even read it), but the basic plan was formed by Obama's congressional committee after consulting with his advisers on how to develop the plan.