What is wrong with Obama?

[edge]

Why does Obama keep telling us that we are in trouble, doesn't everyone know that by now!
One thing that Obama needs to do is to get out of "campaign mode" doesn't he know that he already won! All he does is talk down the economy, and that is something a great leader does not do!
Think of FDR with "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"!
In my lifetime Ronald Reagan was the best at lifting our Nations spirits and he always had the people on his side because of it.

Personally this fake stimulus plan is only a democrats wish list.
It is a shame Obama did not have his team write a plan and send it to Pelosi to pass or modify, which might have been a bit hard for her to do given his popularity! But by letting her write it he was guaranteed a pork free for all!
Probably the worst thing is the money won't be spent for years, what is with that!!

Then his tax dodging Treasury Secretary comes up with his 2 trillion dollar cockamamie bank bailout scheme
This Geitner two trillion dollar plan seems destined for failure...IMO!
Also IMO, the problem is housing values and their effect on the value of securities.

Since their are probably 30-50 trillion in questionable securities out there, fixing 2 trillion does nothing to fix it!
Now if there was only 2 trillion of trouble securities then yes, this would solve the problem.
My analogy is if there are two banks and two investors:

Bank ONE has 2 million in bad securities that have a current value of 1 million ( but it could go much lower), and they have one depositor with 1 million dollars. This bank can't loan out any more money or risk bankruptcy.
Using the Geitner plan, the depositor sees that he could double his money and the government will guaranty against a loss.
So the depositor buys the bad loans and the bank now is out of debt and has 1 million dollars to loan...problem solved!

Bank TWO has 50 million in bad securities that have a current value of 25 million ( but it could go much lower), and they have one depositor with 1 million dollars. This bank can't loan out any more money or risk bankruptcy.
Using the Geitner plan, the depositor sees that he could double his money and the government will guaranty against a loss.
So the depositor buys 2 million dollars of bad loans BUT, the bank still has 48 million dollars of bad loans...it still can't loan a penny!

Personally, I think that the Fed needs to be the bank. Every bank in the US should write all the GOOD mortgages that they can ( using traditional borrowing standards! 28/34 ratios, good credit, minimum of 10% down, current appraisals, 30 fixed rate ONLY and at under 5%). The banks fund the loans directly from the Federal Reserve ( so they are not using their own funds ), and let the banks service these loans for a couple of years.
This gives the banks income, making them stronger, and it gets money moving TODAY!
Since the banks are not using their own funds, the money supply goes up by about 100 billion per month, and since folks are saving at an accelerated rate the banks will find that they have so much cash they will have to start loaning within a few months or they won't be able to take in deposits.

IF, I said IF that has a positive effect, then target other loans such as the business loans, venture capital, and auto loans. IMO, giving money to the banks did not work, giving money directly to the people last year did not make them spend it.
Give it out ONLY if it gets used.

That is the Edge Plan

[ozark]

I may be guilty of many sins but having money and not spending it is not one of them. If we want money spent turn it over to the wives of Americans and rest assured that they know how to put it back into circulation. We may not have a chicken in every pot but we would have shoes and purses in all the closets.

[edge]

It did not work last year!
Folks paid bills or put the money into the banks, but not much was spent on "new" spending!

edge.

[ozark]

On a more serious vein edge you plan sounds better than what I am hearing out of Washington. Obama appears to have enjoyed the campaign and is probably just running for reelection four years from now. I have been non-productive for many years now and probably should have my name changed to Government.

[edge]

Non-Productive! Good thing you don't get your Moderators salary based on post count, we would be broke by now ;D

edge.

[ozark]

My feelings are wounded. I have decided to not post again for two days. May not stick to that decision however.

[edge]

If you post in the next 15 minutes I will double your salary ;D ;D

[Buckrub]

I had lunch last Friday with a high level exec of a local bank. I asked him how much his bank had gotten out of this mess. He said "We got $150,000,000 but we don't need any of it".

I had to laugh.

I asked what they would do with the money, then?

He said "Man, I don't know".

I asked how many banks around here are in the same shape as his bank, that they don't need any stimulus, that they are doing just fine?

He said "Oh, every bank I know of is doing just fine, no money needed. We loan money, we haven't changed one thing in years".

Go figure.

Reckon this is all a scam so far over our heads we can't figure it out?

I wonder.

[ohiobuckeye]

It's only been 3 wks in the office, but I guess you all have forgotten who got us into this mess, and I know that the Dem's have had control of both houses for the last two, but the GOP had control of the last 11yrs.

[edge]

Feb 11, 2009 15:24:02 GMT -5 ohiobuckeye said:

It's only been 3 wks in the office, but I guess you all have forgotten who got us into this mess, and I know that the Dem's have had control of both houses for the last two, but the GOP had control of the last 11yrs.

1) Do you know how long FDR was in office before he started to try to pump UP the people!

ANSWER: A few MINUTES!! That line about FEAR was from his very first inaugural speech!

2) Since you are quick to say who's fault there is there is little reason to work toward the future since you ONLY look backward!

3) The Dems had control of BOTH houses of Congress for forty years!
They made rules that excluded the GOP from any power in the House.
When the GOP took control, Gingrich with his Contract with America changed the rules to allow the "out of power party" to have a voice in all of the bills the House worked on.

Do you know that on the FIRST day of this Congress that PELOSI and the Dems went back to the old rules, denying the "out of power" party any say!!
This is the Democrats version of Bi-Partisanship! You shut up, we don't need any input from you!!
Then Obama wonders why he got zero votes from the GOP in the House! GIVE ME A BREAK!

edge.

PS you probably should learn about the Community Reinvestment Act

[petev]

Ohio, I will only add that the man needs to be given a chance. He is trying and working hard.

[edge]

Feb 11, 2009 17:59:41 GMT -5 petev said:

Ohio, I will only add that the man needs to be given a chance. He is trying and working hard.

What is he TRYING to do? Forget why we are here, forget who got us here, those are for future discussions after the economy comes back!

Please answer me this question:

Why would a sitting President talk DOWN the economy?

edge.

PS IMO, it is for political gain, and that is reprehensible, since it will only make the citizens lives worse!

[whyohe]

i agree with edge that we all know the economy is BAD. so quit talking it down and get to thinking how to fix it. there are many reasons IMO that helped to get us here.

bailing out banks and auto manufactures that go and spend the bail out money to remodel executive offices that has been reported should have the money taken back and be taken over by some one(i don't know who maybe a bankruptcy court like other businesses) to try and straighten them out. lets look at some of these business that are in trouble and yet keep their corporate jets and instead of commuting when they are all based out of the same area use all their own. these companies needed to have been looking at their problems long before they got this bad. auto makers for years have seen full sized auto sales drop drastically but only cut production slightly.

now i know some will say this would have hurt jobs. well what they did killed jobs. they could have put more into the more fuel efficient cars IMO. or come up with other ideas instead of putting money where you know its not going to do any good.

IMO the gouging gas companies have alot to do with it. this country runs on fossil fuels for now. and when gas goes up that much every one hurts cause they have to cut things out just to have money to fut fuel in their tanks to get to work. so they cut extra spending and vacations and the trickle down effect is that hurts business they have to pay more to make and ship product cause of price of fuel and then people don't have money to buy and business goes bankrupt and people loose jobs and there is less money to spend AGAIN cause of no job. then people don't have the money to spend on little extras like before. i don't see why the gas company needs to make 14 BILLION dollars in profit in ONE QUARTER. especially when it effect the county as bad as it does. maybe I'm wrong on that but it is how i feel. as to Obama it is to early to see but its not looking good.

one person told me once instead of giving banks and businesses that 700 billion give it to the people so they can pay their debts and have money to pay off & remodel home and buy that new car & make purchases that could encourage the economy. i don't know how well that would work cause people like businesses need to make wise decisions in spending and that really seems to be lacking all around.

sorry for the rant.

[fowlplay]

The economy IMO can not be blamed on a Presidency unless we have socialism which IMO we are heading there. This is dangerous when government takes control. Greed is the root of all evils. The greed of the banks, and other people in power is why our economy is in bad shape. Greed is what shipped all of our jobs to another country to save a few bucks.
We pay enough taxes now. I do not want my grandkids grandkids to be paying more taxes for a stimulus plan that may not even work. The trillion dollars did not work last year. What makes people think it will work this year?
Steve

[petev]

I think, whyohe that you have stated a lot of sound ideas. The only part of the stimulus package that I agree with is spending on infrastructure. It is necessary work, and the families employed will spend their earnings, and there will be a multiplier effect. I admit that is socialism, similar to FDR's civil work projects, but it might help the economy some. I'd rather spend on infrastructure, and a increase in the military effort in Afghanistan, than the seeming endless war in Iraq. These are my opinions, and I only get into these discussions, because I enjoy the exchange of ideas with people who have interest in these topics, and it helps form opinions, for when it comes time to vote.

[Buckrub]

My idea of the proper role of a Federal Government has forever and permanently been totally destroyed.

I have no hope whatsoever for my goals of what a country should be, to ever come to fruition, regardless of who is elected.

(I admit that I do wonder what the culture is like in an area which would repeatedly elect such people as Pelosi, Schumer, Reid, Kennedy. It's very hard for me to envision the type of people that would make up the majority needed to elect them repeatedly. But in all honesty, I am not sure many of us ever have much to choose from. We are governed by the bottom of the barrel, almost always.)