Obama warns of dire consequences without stimulus

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday the recession could “linger for years” unless Congress pumps unprecedented sums from Washington into the economy, making his highest-profile case yet on an issue certain to define and dominate his early presidency.

“I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible,” Obama said in a speech set to be delivered at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., outside Washington. Excerpts from his prepared text were released in advance by his transition team.

It was the fourth day in a row that Obama has made a pitch for a huge infusion of taxpayer dollars to revive the sinking economy he will inherit from President George W. Bush.

Obama’s events have increasingly taken on the trappings and air of the presidency, with the speech - coming a full 12 days before he takes over at the White House - a particularly showy move. Presidents-elect typically stick to naming administration appointments and otherwise staying in the background during the transition period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, but Obama has clearly made the calculation that a nation anxious about its economic outlook and eager to bid farewell to Bush needs to hear from him differently and more frequently.

“A bad situation could become dramatically worse,” Obama said, painting a dire picture - including double-digit unemployment and $1 trillion in lost economic activity - that recalled the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

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Obama warns of dire consequences without stimulus

I have said this several times before but I am going to repeat it one more time, just for those that may have missed it. I am NOT a FINANCE or MONEY guy. I have a finance and money guy, and I rely on him and his expertise to keep us, and our money as safe and as profitable as possible!

That said, IF Obama can pull this nation OUT of the monetary tailspin it’s in, I WILL become an Obama believer. IF he can reverse the last 8 years of mismanagement by the Bush administration, I will become a believer. IF he can bring about a renewal of American productivity, I will become a believer. IF he can overcome the effects that we are feeling after suffering through 8 years of the worst president that this nation has experienced to date, I WILL become a believer.

Given that, personally, I believe Obama is letting his mouth write checks that his ass can’t cash!

Panel says US has been in recession since Dec. ’07

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday.

The NBER - a private, nonprofit research organization - said its group of academic economists who determine business cycles met and decided that the U.S. recession began last December.

The White House commented on the news that a second downturn has officially begun on President George W. Bush’s watch without ever actually using the word “recession,” a term the president and his aides have repeatedly avoided. Instead, spokesman Tony Fratto remarked upon the fact that NBER “determines the start and end dates of business cycles.”

“What’s important is what is being done about it,” Fratto said. “The most important things we can do for the economy right now are to return the financial and credit markets to normal, and to continue to make progress in housing, and that’s where we’ll continue to focus.”

Many economists believe the current downturn will last until the middle of 2009, and will be the most severe slump since the 1981-82 recession.

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Panel says US has been in recession since Dec. ’07

Some of us knew this, some of us KNEW that we were already in a recession. Some of us blogged it, some of us were told, by other bloggers, that we had NO idea of what we were talking about. We were told that George W. Bush had the economy well under control, were were told, during the Enron debacle, and the ensuing financial bailout, GWB knows what he’s doing and has the best money minds in the business working on this.

We have watched our finances go from pretty good in early 2001 to IN THE TANK in late 2008. So, let me ask you, WHO was the guy in charge during those years? Who inherited an amazingly healthy economy and a rather comfortable budget surplus when he took office?

Yes, I DO know that we had the attacks of Sept. 11th. Yes, I DO know that we had a military and Intel deficiency brought on by the Clinton administration. Yes, I DO know that the Bush administration had to ‘foot the bill’ to rebuild those military and Intel services, but I also know that the Bush administration has blown approximately $10B a month in Iraq for the nearly 6 years now, and so far, there is no REAL end in sight.

Let me remind the reader, Iraq had NOTHING to do with the attacks of 9-11, a fact that is substantiated by the DoD, the CIA and the U.S. Senate and House investigations, but we’re there, and will be there for a long time to come.

The Bush administration is, in MY opinion, responsible for the debacle that IS Iraq, and for the TRILLIONS of U.S. taxpayer dollars that have gone to pay for this very unnecessary war. I seem to remember in times past when war was considered to be beneficial to the economy, it created limitless jobs and opportunities. Has the Bush administration screwed up the ‘art of war’ so badly that now the American citizen goes broke? Are the major corporations going broke over this war?? Or from their own ineptness? Is Halliburton the only BIG winner here?

America is in a fix folks, the Bush administration is responsible for it. As Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here”. This happened under the Bush watch. Who else can you lay the responsibility upon?

EDIT TO ADD:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush expressed regret Monday that the global financial crisis has cost jobs and shrinking retirement accounts and said he will support more government intervention if needed to ease the recession.

“I’m sorry it’s happening, of course,” Bush said in a wide-ranging interview with ABC’s World News, which was airing Monday. “Obviously I don’t like the idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other hand, the American people got to know that we will safeguard the system. I mean, we’re in. And if we need to be in more, we will.”

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Bush to country: ‘I’m sorry’ about the economic crisis

Now I don’t know about YOU, but I feel a hell of a lot better knowing that Bush is *sorry*…

It’s too cold and windy to fish, and since I’m not ‘Nanook of the North’, I figured I’d come home and do what I do best, piss off folks that don’t like my opinions and commentary.

I wonder?? If they don’t like my opinions and commentary, why do they keep coming back?? I don’t frequent sites I don’t like.

Anyway, one of the 1st thing that hit me when I started looking over the Sunday news was this, Bush: McCain a true conservative, well by God, that settles it, if Bush says McCain is a ‘true conservative’, then McCain must be a true conservative, I mean, Bush should know, being a true ‘conservative’ himself, and we ALL know, Bush never lies, he always hits the nail on the head with his brilliant observations.

And this little blurb caught my eye too, Many Believe US Is Already in Recession, well I can understand why, gas and groceries are a lot higher, wages aren’t climbing, retirements aren’t growing, investment are yielding less returns and the housing market is hosed, but Mr. Bush is gonna save us all, depending on your 2007 tax return, the government is going to send us ALL somewhere between $300 and $1,200, and I have full confidence that this action alone will turn the American economy around almost immediately when we all go to our local gun dealers and ammunition shops to buy more guns and ammo.

Hey, at least it puts the money back into our crappy economy, and I’ve been wanting a new Springfield XD-45 for a while anyway, why miss a perfectly good opportunity to make an investment in precious metals? Steel, brass and lead, very precious metals IF things stay on their present course.

I have got to hand it to Robert Gates on his assessment of NATO in this story, Gates: NATO’s survival at stake, he’s right, we either ALL stick together equally or some folks are going to be over-run by the Muslim moonbats.

I wonder, have the Europeans forgotten who it was that saved their asses in both world wars?? They better think about this too, the USA isn’t the ultimate fighting force it once was, the Dems, (read: Clinton) stripped this nation of that capability and Bush has never fully restored it so we may not be able to come riding in like the cavalry and save the day again, with the leadership this nation has today, from the POTUS to the DoD and right down the chain, we’re doing good to save ourselves, not to mention the fact that about 50% of this nation is now a bunch of apathetic wussies that wouldn’t fight if you slapped em in the face.

An interesting story comes from a Doris Lessing, Nobel Laureate Fears For Obama If Elected, Doris believes that Hillary and Obama, being the best that the Dems can come up with, should run together, because she believes that Obama would be assassinated if he were elected.

Uh, Doris, by running with OR against Hillary, Obama stands a good chance of being assassinated already, ask Vince Foster, uh, wait, you can’t, he’s dead, ask, uh, oh hell, there’s a whole list of folks that you can’t ask, they ALL came up dead when working for or around the Clinton’s, THE CLINTON BODY COUNT, ya know, I’m starting to believe that it’s dangerous working for those folks.

One last thing, Gitmo Has Makeover to Reduce Hostilities, I have got to ask, why are we spending more of our hard earned tax dollars to make life easier for people that want to kill us?? Any thoughts on that??