The Federal Bank of Obama, FKA Citicorp

As the Obama administration ponders whether to take over private banks the Dow is nearing to break below 7,000, if not 6.000 in time.

I think the question on everybody's mind in the US today is about Washington, DC and whether there is actually any intelligent life there.

Someone on TV just said that the stock market has lost 50% of it's value over the last 16 months. So looking at it one way not too long after the Dems took control of Congress things started going south fast. But we were told electing Obama and giving the Dems a super majority in Congress would fix the problems. From what I can see all they are doing is making things worse, not better.

So where's our salvation coming from? Nationalization of the banks? Sending $15 bil to states for Medicaid in the name of "stimulus?" I know! From all the multi $bil bailouts!!

Seems to me we are learning a national lesson that Lake County, Indiana has known for years. One party rule will be the death of us.

About the time of the closing bell I think someone said the Dow lost everything it made since May 1st or 2nd (I take it both were up days) in 1997. So roughly a decade of gains were wiped out under the control of Congress by the Democrats.

But not to worry! Obama's check is in the mail! Oh wait - no it isn't. But you get to keep an extra $13 a week from your paycheck for a while until they need it back and then some to pay down the national debt.

So how are the usual suspects going to blame the Bush Administration for the losses in the past month since Bush has been out of office for the 30 days?

mike3775 wrote:

So how are the usual suspects going to blame the Bush Administration for the losses in the past month since Bush has been out of office for the 30 days?

No just blaming the government for a lack of fiscal policy from both Bush and so far Obama. To Obama's credit, he hasent been there very long and it does take a little time to right a ship as large as our economy. The reduction of the Dow is nothing more than speculation by traders, much like the oil prices we saw this past year. Not based on fact, but feeling.

Face wrote:

mike3775 wrote:

So how are the usual suspects going to blame the Bush Administration for the losses in the past month since Bush has been out of office for the 30 days?

No just blaming the government for a lack of fiscal policy from both Bush and so far Obama. To Obama's credit, he hasent been there very long and it does take a little time to right a ship as large as our economy. The reduction of the Dow is nothing more than speculation by traders, much like the oil prices we saw this past year. Not based on fact, but feeling.

I don't really disagree with your assessment generally but with one glaring exception. Obama's whole campaign was about him being more qualified to hit the ground running with actual solutions to these problems. Well those of us who voted McCain didn't buy that for a minute. And it's not even a matter of just wait and let it take root because even Wall Street and corporate types are not seeing these initiatives as being very hopeful without at least some major revisions already right out of the gate.

But as much as I felt Obama didn't really know what he was talking about if he truly believed some of the stuff coming out of his mouth during the campaign I thought he at least knew it really was all just campaign rhetoric. But apparently not! Look at his "solutions" so far. His "plan" is he told Congress this is the type of bill he wants, then they load it up with tons of other stuff that's not related, he gets on TV to sell it, then he signs it, then a few weeks later they start the process all over with a bailout of the bailout to address the concerns they should have the first time around. It is that, and not the lack of measurable progress, that has many of us so hot under the collar about all this monkey business.

In other words, just telling Congress to get in there and put out a bipartisan bill that does X.Y,Z and to put it on his desk in 2 weeks or so is the worst running joke in DC since Obama was elected. For example Presidents started submitting their own budgets in the first place because Congress didn't trust itself to get the job right. In loose terms anyway. But Obama isn't actually wrong that it IS the job of the Congress to get the work done but the problem is that he campaigned on actually having a plan in hand to offer (after all he was a US Senator) and since when has Congress ever been quick about anything besides loading a bill up with pork to rubber stamp anyway? And especially when the Republicans feel left out in the cold already.

I heard most of Obama's press conference yesterday afternoon. The way it sounded to me he meant that the minority party needed to compromise to put out a bipartisan bill. Except the GOP is not being heard, it is the majority that has to compromise, and the way he crafted his words I took to mean by compromise only pertains in context to the things both parties already agree on. Except that is not compromise, that is submission. Much as we hate it at times the whole point of multi parties is to provide a contrasting view to consider and it was always intended that the minority be given some due consideration, which is the whole point of having cloture in the Senate after all, for example. Back at the time there were more than 2 parties so it was thought that by requiring 60 votes it would prevent the majority from stifling debate of it's own accord and yet not make it impossible to halt a single Senator from needlessly taking the Senate completely hostage just to get his way.

But by all means in the middle all of this mess let's also pour salt into an open wound and just shell out $1 bil to terrorists in Gaza so they can buy more rockets to kill Israeli woman and children with, huh?

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The reduction of the Dow is nothing more than speculation by traders,

I missed the full meaning of that part. I agree that's what drove up the price of some things, such as cruel oil. But that's not what is bringing it down. What is bringing it down is a lack of clear direction.

mike3775 wrote:

So how are the usual suspects going to blame the Bush Administration for the losses in the past month since Bush has been out of office for the 30 days?

The same way the Repubs blamed Clinton for everything that went wrong in the Bush Admin. 8 months into that debacle they were trying to pin 9/11 on Clinton,remember?

It going to take time for Obama's policies to take effect. Meanwhile,what's happening now is all Bush's fault.

It going to take time for Obama's policies to take effect.

They already are taking effect - they're very quickly making things much worse.

Say, are you coming to my golf tournament paid for by TARP bailout money? We're gonna have some real good eats there! LOL

I don't just blame Obama but the Dems in Congress, come to think of it he was one too) who passed every line of such poorly thought out legislation. And they have been in power for at least 26 months.

[quote="Artie60438"]

mike3775 wrote:

So how are the usual suspects going to blame the Bush Administration for the losses in the past month since Bush has been out of office for the 30 days?

The same way the Repubs blamed Clinton for everything that went wrong in the Bush Admin. 8 months into that debacle they were trying to pin 9/11 on Clinton,remember?

It going to take time for Obama's policies to take effect. Meanwhile,what's happening now is all Bush's fault.[/quote]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA, keep telling yourself that my friend.

Mirage wrote:

It going to take time for Obama's policies to take effect.

They already are taking effect - they're very quickly making things much worse.

Say, are you coming to my golf tournament paid for by TARP bailout money? We're gonna have some real good eats there! LOL

I don't just blame Obama but the Dems in Congress, come to think of it he was one too) who passed every line of such poorly thought out legislation. And they have been in power for at least 26 months.

Mirage,Have you noticed Congress approval ratings are up significantly? The majority of Americans are behind Obama and his policies.

Do you have a link to that? Thanks...

BigWhiteGuy wrote:

Artie60438 wrote:

Mirage,Have you noticed Congress approval ratings are up significantly? The majority of Americans are behind Obama and his policies.

Must be another NBC poll...

Even the water carrying meat puppets at Fixed News took notice.......

Congressional Approval Rating Soars ... to 31 Percent
The latest Gallup poll shows Congress' approval rating reaching a two-year high -- to 31 percent.

FOXNews.com
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The American public has just given Congress a big thumbs-up. Or at least a half-hearted acknowledgement they are improving, which is more than they usually get.

A new Gallup poll shows Congress earned a 31 percent approval rating this month, its highest score in two years.

While the number is still quite low, and makes Congress about half as popular as President Obama, it represents a 12-point uptick from last month when Congress' popularity was clocking in at 19 percent.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/18/congressional-approval-rating-soars-percent/

BigWhiteGuy wrote:

Artie60438 wrote:

Congressional Approval Rating Soars ... to 31 Percent
The latest Gallup poll shows Congress' approval rating reaching a two-year high -- to 31 percent.

Geez, that's swell. That means 69% do NOT approve. When I was in school, 69% was failing. A big fat F.

Come on BWG- the schools are run by liberals- those numbers can mean anything they want it to mean...

Congress is just swell...

You betcha they're swell...for the the Dems.

Quote :

Gallup numbers on the stimulus largely mirror those in the latest CBS News poll surveying opinions on overall favorability, with President Obama pulling in a 62 percent approval rating, Congressional Democrats earning a 48 percent favorable rating and Congressional Republicans earning just a 32 percent favorable rating. What's more, the Gallup polling finds that eight in ten voters believe the stimulus is either critically important (51 percent) or important (29 percent) -- squarely putting the Republicans on the wrong side of this issue.

Oh BTW did anyone actually get excited when the Dow went up a few hundred points today after 6 days of sell off? If you were smart you wouldn't. Look out below! I am fairly sure there's more declines in store soon.

Funny thing about that citation of Fox News. I heard them say just last night that Obama's approval remains constant with the Dems but dropped a huge amount among Republicans. So no, his approval ratings have neither increased or stayed the same. They are going down. The only real question is what will it take for the Dems to come back to reality.

Its highest score in two years?

31% is great?

Last timeI checked, anything below 51% is bad, in fact,if you use the grading scale that schools use, Congress needs toget a 70% to pass

Mirage wrote:

Funny thing about that citation of Fox News. I heard them say just last night that Obama's approval remains constant with the Dems but dropped a huge amount among Republicans. So no, his approval ratings have neither increased or stayed the same. They are going down. The only real question is what will it take for the Dems to come back to reality.

His popularity still remains high. If anyone needs a reality check it's the Repubs. They still haven't figured out that they got demolished in the last election and that Obama has a mandate.

Artie60438 wrote:

Mirage wrote:

Funny thing about that citation of Fox News. I heard them say just last night that Obama's approval remains constant with the Dems but dropped a huge amount among Republicans. So no, his approval ratings have neither increased or stayed the same. They are going down. The only real question is what will it take for the Dems to come back to reality.

His popularity still remains high. If anyone needs a reality check it's the Repubs. They still haven't figured out that they got demolished in the last election and that Obama has a mandate.

And it's not only the clowns in the Republican Congress, it looks like the Republican governors are trying mighty hard to make it three for three for the next election in 2012:

Quote :

What Part of ‘Stimulus’ Don’t They Get?
Imagine yourself jobless and struggling to feed your family while the governor of your state threatens to reject tens of millions of dollars in federal aid earmarked for the unemployed. That is precisely what is happening in poverty-ridden states like Louisiana and Mississippi where Republican governors are threatening to turn away federal aid rather than expand access to unemployment insurance programs in ways that many other states did a long time ago.

What makes these bad decisions worse is that they are little more than political posturing by rising Republican stars, like Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina. This behavior reinforces the disturbing conclusion that the Republican Party seems more interested in ideological warfare than in working on policies that get the country back on track...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/opinion/24tue1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Good Lord, are these people really THAT stupid?...sure does look like it.

Quote :

Head to head, though, Americans put far more faith in Obama than in congressional Republicans: Sixty-one percent said they trust Obama more than the GOP on economic matters; 26 percent side with the Republicans in Congress. On that question, Obama's advantage is bigger than George W. Bush, Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush ever had over the opposition party in the legislature.

Overall, Democrats maintain an edge of nearly 2 to 1 over Republicans as the party that Americans prefer to confront "the big issues" over the next few years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/23/AR2009022302176_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009022302219

BigWhiteGuy wrote:

Artie60438 wrote:

It going to take time for Obama's policies to take effect. Meanwhile,what's happening now is all Bush's fault.

Sorry Artie, George W. isn't steering this sinking ship. BHO doesn't even have GPS on this one.

BWG, kind of hard to steer a sinking ship that already had water up to it's decks when you became captain. Give him time to get the pumps running so he can control this ship again.