Obama considers himself a failure

Michael Ellis

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"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ob...her-all-mutual-assured-nukes-raise-debt-ceili

And now for something completely different…
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/etrade-baby-turns-momo-blows-it-all
 
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I consider him a failure. I consider the Democrats who took power and acted like a$$hats a failure. I consider the Republicans who are trying to recast their failure as success a failure. And I consider my fellow citizens a failure for having 5 minute attention spans.

And anyone who is a 'birther' at this point is so brain-dead they would surprise me if they could walk.
 
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I guess the only successful people then are those who left the US for places like Oz!! :) Why do you think America, the so called greatest country on earth (if you believe your own hype), is such a failure then?
 
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Wasn't the US economy stellar when Clinton left office, went downwards during the Bush era, with Obama inheriting the mess?
 
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Wasn't the US economy stellar when Clinton left office, went downwards during the Bush era, with Obama inheriting the mess?

That depends on how you look at the facts, or more accurately, who is looking. For example, some people I know of "know" that the economy began its downward slide during Clinton's era, was barely stabilized by Bush, and was on its way back up again when Obama messed everything up.

Frankly, I doubt any of the popular views of just who is responsible for what ecnomic up and downturns are accurate. There is just too much at stake politically for anyone to admit to even the slightest self responsibility.
 
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Wasn't the US economy stellar when Clinton left office, went downwards during the Bush era, with Obama inheriting the mess?

That's the most simplistic description I've seen in years.

The economy grew significantly during Clinton, but it was a bubble, hence not sustainable. That bubble began to pop before the 2000 Election. Bush or Gore, would not have mattered, they were inheriting a mess. The only redeeming thing that occurred during Clinton's admin was the so called balanced budget (which wasn't really balanced, but that's another issue as it was better than what we've had the past decade).

Gore or Bush, the Fed was intent on creating another bubble to get the economy moving again, this time via housing prices. It worked for about 7 years. But like all bubbles, it crashed.

The fundamental problem is that our economy has been replacing the loss of manufacturing with a mix of consumer spending and credit for 25 years. What we see now is that credit bubble, that over arcs all the other bubbles has finally peaked and is deflating. The Fed is doing what they can to reduce the deflation of the credit bubble, but they can only do so much, and in reality they may be making it worse by trying to delay the inevitable.

And just in time for the 2012 election, the bandaid that the fed applied in 2008-2009 is getting ripped off. Americans vote their wallet and the second dip of the double dip recession is right around the corner. Obama is going to get slammed on this in the election next year. It will be very hard for him to get re-elected. Hopefully, whoever the Republicans put up will have some fiscal sense as it is the only way to right the ship.

Either way, we are going to be in pain for some time.
 
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I take it you refer to the IT bubble. Wasn't that a minor thing (except for me who've just finished a cs-degree)? I mean, any idiot could see that coming miles away. Well, except Mr. Turner. :) The housing/banking bubble seemed more serious to me since a lot of people got hurt pretty badly there, and the bank dealings was kept fairly hidden.

Also, how much does latest wars figure into this?
 
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It was definitely not minor. A LOT of jobs were lost and less jobs means less spending, and less spending, meant slower GDP growth and lower tax revenues. Not to mention the effect of so much 'wealth' destroyed that had belonged to ordinary citizens. People having to work longer to retire means less jobs for new graduates, etc.

While I agree that anyone with half a brain could see it coming, it didn't stop people from investing in the Tech stock market or throwing cash into any venture that seemed like it might end up going IPO.

I distinctly remember sitting in one of my MBA classes (I think it was our Entrepreneurial capstone class) and the prof showing the diagram of the stages of an asset bubble. We all agreed that we were near the peak of the bubble, but no one truly knew when that bubble would finally pop (turned out it was about 3 months later!).

The wars hurt, we've spent too much money on that for sure, but at the same time, they aren't a HUGE part of the overall military (or federal) budget. Additionally, the accounting for them is screwy too. Say a soldier has an annual salary of $35k and get gets $10k of 'hazard' pay when he's in a warzone. Well, when you see the accounting for the wars, you don't see the amount we are spending as $10k more, we just see it as that soldier costing us $45k. It completely ignores the sunk cost of his base pay.

So when you see something like "The Iraq war costs us $300B per year," usually that is including a large amount of sunk costs that we would be paying anyway. Could literally be more than 50% of that number.
 
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Human ignorance and greed is the cause, like always.

No individual can be blamed for what billions are doing every single day.

1. Stop blaming individuals
2. Start realising the cause - which includes yourself
3. Act on the realisation

End of story.
 
Well, as disgusting as it is.... that is an excellent way to earn money in Japan. The little machines where you put in money and get used underpants from a schoolgirl out is still there... even though it is illegal now!

It has become much more rare though so things are getting better.
 
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Well, as disgusting as it is…. that is an excellent way to earn money in Japan. The little machines where you put in money and get used underpants from a schoolgirl out is still there… even though it is illegal now!

It has become much more rare though so things are getting better.

I could taste the poor salary man tears upon finding his used underwear addiction cant be bought anymore. As for are economy its what we deserve with idiots in government only caring about self-interest and short gains. Same for the corporations all they care about is how to maximize there profits at the expense of the people. You see the problem is everywhere its world wide.
 
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Yay Wiki!

The 2010 Budget proposed by President Barack Obama projects significant debt increases. The debt is projected to nearly double to $20 trillion by 2015, but is expected to increase to nearly 100% of GDP by 2020 and remain at that level thereafter. These estimates assume real GDP growth (after inflation) ranging from 2.6% to 4.6% annually from 2010 through 2019, which exceeds Blue Chip consensus estimates.

It really is a depressing time to be an American citizen. And no amount of blame game will solve the problem that noone wants to have their programs cuts at the end of the day.
 
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