Where is the US economy headed?

You seem like a wise man, okie.

A lie. I've been supplying evidence to counter your idiotic allegations for years, evidence which you flat-out ignore. You never admit your opponents are right, even after you are shown to be completely and totally wrong. There stops being much point in engaging you over time.

I did not claim that jobs are a right guaranteed by the Constitution. But I think you will agree with me that the Constitution is not where our rights flow from; it only enumerates certain rights and restrictions upon the government. I personally believe that all people should have a right to affordable housing (it doesn't have to be NICE housing, just affordable) and health care.

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I realize they are nice, they do contribute to our happiness and we are free to pursue them in a free society, but sorry, they are not rights as guaranteed by the constitution, you need to go back to school and study civics, with a teacher that knows what he or she is talking about.

It's not a question of being 'free to pursue these things.' If these things do not exist, people CANNOT pursue happiness. You can't live a stable and healthy life if you cannot afford health care and lodging, because various factors outside of your control have contributed to make them unaffordable. I believe it is part of our government's mission, to keep the costs of necessities of life such as this from spiraling out of control - which is exactly the situation we find ourselves in today.

Cycloptichorn

but if you think it is a right for somebody to have the money to buy it or rent it withoug having the money to buy it or pay the rent, I'm sorry but stealing is not a right.

take us out of the stagnation and mismanagement of the past 8 years and the economy will start to bounce back, once the stimulus that will create jobs is implemented.

It’s amazing to go back and read what people were saying about Timothy Geithner in the spring. Many people said he looked terrified as the Treasury secretary, like Bambi in the headlights. The New Republic ran an essay called “The Geithner Disaster.” Portfolio magazine ran a brutal, zeitgeist-capturing profile that concluded by comparing Geithner to Robert Redford’s hollow man character in “The Candidate.”


The criticism of his plan to stabilize the financial system came from all directions. House Republicans called it radical. Many liberal economists thought the plan was the product of hapless, zombie thinking and argued that only full bank nationalization would end the crisis. The Wall Street Journal asked 49 economists to grade Geithner. They gave him an F.

Well, the evidence of the past eight months suggests that Geithner was mostly right and his critics were mostly wrong. The financial sector is in much better shape than it was then. TARP money is being repaid, and the debate now is what to do with the billions that were never needed. It now seems clear that nationalization would have been an unnecessary mistake " potentially expensive and dangerously disruptive.

The course of events has vindicated the administration’s handling of its first big challenge. Obama could have flinched when the torrent of criticism was at its peak. But the president’s support for Geithner never wavered. Geithner never lost confidence in his policy. Rahm Emanuel mobilized to improve the presentation of the policy. The political team worked hard to deflect criticism from Geithner onto themselves.

In retrospect, their performance during this trial was impressive.

Events also vindicate Geithner’s basic policy instincts. The criticism back then was that Geithner was neither bold nor visionary. He was too cautious, too much the insider and bureaucrat.

But this prudence was the key to his effectiveness. In interviews and testimony, Geithner uses the word “balance” a lot. He talks about finding the right balance point between competing priorities. He also talks like a historian who sees common tendencies in certain contexts, not a philosopher who seeks clear general principles that apply across contexts.

The sky is falling! Yeah, now, explain why and when.

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take us out of the stagnation and mismanagement of the past 8 years and the economy will start to bounce back, once the stimulus that will create jobs is implemented.

you are wildly overly optimistic, the mismanagement goes back to the 1980's with Reagan, and we have not even begun to dream about fixing what is wrong with America

once the stimulus that will create jobs is implemented.