@georgeob1,
georgeob1 wrote:
My strong impression was that at least 2/3rds of those present were committed to voting against Obama in the next election. Their expressed preoccupation was more towards how could they have been so foolish not to see the reality that has unfolded.
Don't be surprised when 95% of them vote for him. Everyone likes to grumble, but as you say - what is the alternative? A Republican who will be worse in every way? Who opposes them on pretty much every major issue? Please. You correctly identified in an earlier post that Obama's critics on the left have nowhere to go. What more, I believe that the next two years will bring Republican intransigence into much sharper relief, as Obama now pivots to attacking the Republican House on a regular basis. I believe he could have some good success with this, as people have a pretty dim view of the Republican House. The goal for Obama will be to make it clearer to the average person that the things necessary for helping our struggling economy are being held up by a bunch of ideologues on the other side of the fence.
I'll tell ya right now: a government shutdown or refusal to extend the debt limit will be disastrous for your party. You'd better hope they don't go this route.
Quote:Investing in a business is a largely irrevocable bet on a good economic outcome. Added uncertainty about the government's behavior, both in its regulatory roles and in terms of it expected tax policy are themselves disincentives to investment. When that uncertainty involves only questions about how much the government will misuse its regulatory powers to pick winners and losers in the economy and how much it will rasise taxes these effects are all very bad and highly significant. One of the key issues in our sluggish to non existent recovery from the current recession (and the recent pessimistic forecast for the coming year) is the hoarding of cash by enterprises in anticipation of worse news to come at the hands of a government that blithely writes in to the regulatory law the requirement for companies to submit 9610s to the IRS for every procurement action over $600. Folks who issue regulations such as these obviously have no concept of the cost of such regulations and the harm they will do.
Obama has already signaled his willingness to sign a bill that removes that requirement. Perhaps Republicans and Dems could work together on such a bill.
Quote:There's a big elephant in the room and its hostility to business is already evident. Moreover it has already demonstrated a certain carelessness in thinking through the consequences of the regulations it issues so prodigiously and a lack of bacic competence in drafting them. That's more than enough to convincing folks with much to lose to hunker down and wait for a better elephant.
Oh, c'mon. I can't possibly be expected to counter paragraphs which are nothing more than partisan grumbling about the other side.
Cycloptichorn
