The Obama Economy

[jake]

To cap off a week of terrible economic stats, the U-6 unemployment rate INCREASED 14.8% for May.

[markberwyn]

Which one of the president's policies have raised unemployment?

[markberwyn]

It's the taxes he's raised on the job creators, right? Must be all those new taxes he imposed on job creators since he came in office.

[markberwyn]

How much have taxes increased on job creators since the president took office? One hundred percent? Two hundred?

[jake]

Wow.  The Huffington Post's main page leads with "TOTAL MESS" and links to articles on the Obama economy.

[markberwyn]

How much coverage is HuffPo giving to the specific policies of the president that raised unemployment? Are there any articles about all the taxes he raised on job creators?

[markberwyn]

Did the labor force expand this time around? I remember last time people on this board talked about unemployment---hoo boy, were they all about how the labor force was shrinking. I'm sure if they're unhappy about the jobs numbers this time around, it has to do with the labor force shrinking further still, right?

That's a small point, though. I'm sure the real problem is all the taxes the president raised on job creators.

[eno]

Which one of the president's policies have raised unemployment?

For four years Obama has been telling us that government creates jobs; what went wrong?

[eno]

Which one of the president's policies have raised unemployment?

I'm thinking of starting a small business.

How many employees can I hire without having to worry about getting ensnared in ObamaCare regulations?

Will I need a lawyer to figure out all the red tape?

Also, I need a loan to open up; anyone know of a small, local bank that will work with me despite Dodd-Frank? The fewer and fewer big banks around won't give me a loan!

If I do open this small business, I'd like to make a profit (gotta eat and keep a roof over my head) but I'm not sure what President Obama would consider a "fair" as opposed to an "obscene" profit.

Oh, and speaking of taxes, there's some guy out there who keeps saying that the super-rich (those who pull in $200,000/year) need to pay their "fair share;" Can an accountant, a tax-lawyer, a financial planner, anyone at all tell me what that "fair share" will be? If I am in a position to expand next year, and President Obama raises my taxes, what will I use to pay the two, three, four new employees I'd need to help me? A loan?

I'm shocked; shocked to find that unemployment is going on here!

[OakParkSpartan]

Which one of the president's policies have raised unemployment?

I'm thinking of starting a small business.

How many employees can I hire without having to worry about getting ensnared in ObamaCare regulations?

Will I need a lawyer to figure out all the red tape?

Also, I need a loan to open up; anyone know of a small, local bank that will work with me despite Dodd-Frank? The fewer and fewer big banks around won't give me a loan!

If I do open this small business, I'd like to make a profit (gotta eat and keep a roof over my head) but I'm not sure what President Obama would consider a "fair" as opposed to an "obscene" profit.

Oh, and speaking of taxes, there's some guy out there who keeps saying that the super-rich (those who pull in $200,000/year) need to pay their "fair share;" Can an accountant, a tax-lawyer, a financial planner, anyone at all tell me what that "fair share" will be? If I am in a position to expand next year, and President Obama raises my taxes, what will I use to pay the two, three, four new employees I'd need to help me? A loan?

I'm shocked; shocked to find that unemployment is going on here!

Talk to Green Choice Bank.  They are pretty friendly to local people.

Google might help you with the other questions.

[watcher]

Which one of the president's policies have raised unemployment?

I'm thinking of starting a small business.

How many employees can I hire without having to worry about getting ensnared in ObamaCare regulations?

Will I need a lawyer to figure out all the red tape?

Also, I need a loan to open up; anyone know of a small, local bank that will work with me despite Dodd-Frank? The fewer and fewer big banks around won't give me a loan!

If I do open this small business, I'd like to make a profit (gotta eat and keep a roof over my head) but I'm not sure what President Obama would consider a "fair" as opposed to an "obscene" profit.

Oh, and speaking of taxes, there's some guy out there who keeps saying that the super-rich (those who pull in $200,000/year) need to pay their "fair share;" Can an accountant, a tax-lawyer, a financial planner, anyone at all tell me what that "fair share" will be? If I am in a position to expand next year, and President Obama raises my taxes, what will I use to pay the two, three, four new employees I'd need to help me? A loan?

I'm shocked; shocked to find that unemployment is going on here!

Anywhere in this fluff did you answer the question?
While you're not answering questions will you not answer a few more?
Who raises taxes?
Who controls the public purse?
When Medicare was created, what percentage of GDP did health care represent?
What percentage in 2012?
When medicare was passed, what percentage of hospitals were run by NPOs?
Do sick people cause soaring health care costs?
Do stock prices react to business or do businesses react to the stock market?
After being handed such a robust, vibrant, diverse and health economy built by 40 years of Reproblican, right leaning policies, how did this president destroy it as soon as he put his Muslim hand on our Christian bible?

If you want to own a small business, I suggest that you acquire a large business and just wait.
If you acquire as many as Willard, you too can be worth mega-millions.

[Boris]

The Gobsmacking Drop In Government Spending Under Obama
SAHIL KAPUR - JUNE 5, 2012, 5:04 AM

The conventional wisdom that President Obama has overseen a dramatic surge in government spending has always been shaky. But it faces perhaps its starkest rebuttal in new figures that reveal the sharpest decline of the last half-century in real federal, state and local spending during this presidency.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the new figures in the Federal Reserve Economic Data arrive just days after a lousy jobs report that has exacerbated fears that the economy may be in worse shape than expected. In recent years, state and local governments have received little federal aid to close their budget shortfalls and have therefore made large spending cuts since Obama's 2009 stimulus expired.

"That saps demand still further aggravating a downturn and inhibiting a recovery," said Chad Stone, chief economist for the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "State fiscal assistance in the 2009 recovery act was largely gone by 2011 and state spending cutbacks continued due to pressures for budget austerity in many states and at the federal level."

The government spending cuts have come about amid a mood of austerity incubated by Republicans across the country shortly after Obama took office.



For a longer-term historical perspective, the drop in overall government spending after Obama's stimulus funds expired in 2010 has been the sharpest since the 1950s, when the United States was demobilizing after the Korean War.



The new numbers provide more grist for the debate, such as it is, over whether contractionary economic policies slow growth. Conservatives say government spending is the problem, not the solution. Keynesian economists, notably Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman, have argued that pulling back on government spending while economic output remains below its potential threatens the recovery.

"Gosh, I wonder why the economy is underperforming?" Krugman wrote of the data.

[Ted]

..  I'm thinking of starting a small business....

Well,  if you're opening it in Berwyn, the local government will give you tons of money from TIF funds (courtesy of tax payer dollars) and the local government might even give you a low rate loan to pay off your mortgage in full.

[jake]

At least the left is acknowledging the terrible "rebound" under Obama.  That is a start.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the new figures in the Federal Reserve Economic Data arrive just days after a lousy jobs report that has exacerbated fears that the economy may be in worse shape than expected.

Gosh, I wonder why the economy is underperforming?"

[Boris]

At least the left is acknowledging the terrible "rebound" under Obama.  That is a start.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the new figures in the Federal Reserve Economic Data arrive just days after a lousy jobs report that has exacerbated fears that the economy may be in worse shape than expected.

Gosh, I wonder why the economy is underperforming?"

but, but but ... I thought government spending was the problem??!!?? The debt ceiling!! The 50% who pay no income tax...

"Republicans are always quick to attack Democrats for waging "class warfare" whenever they suggest that the wealthy ought to pay more taxes to help reduce the deficit and prevent the decimation of programs to aid the poor. But Republicans also engage in class warfare when they suggest that the poor are to blame for deficits because so few pay federal income taxes. Those among the wealthy who are paying no income taxes at least deserve equal time."
- - Bruce Bartlett

So, you agree with Krugman ... yes?

[jake]

Boris,

The problem is that the "recovery" under Obama is among the worst in our history. 

He had the benefit of 2 years in which his party controlled congress, and they still control the upper chamber.  The policies he put in place have failed!  The Left is finally waking up to that fact. 

IF this failure was the result of too little spending (as you and your fellow Dems now seem to claim), then that policy of holding back spending was Obama's choice.  Look no further than the games he played with the timing of the stimulus outflows.  How much was spent in years 1 and 2?  And how much was saved up for the election?

The bottom line is Obama is a failure.  Dems are finally acknowledging the stats, but still trying to place blame anywhere else.

[Boris]

Boris,

The problem is that the "recovery" under Obama is among the worst in our history. 

He had the benefit of 2 years in which his party controlled congress, and they still control the upper chamber.  The policies he put in place have failed!  The Left is finally waking up to that fact. 

IF this failure was the result of too little spending (as you and your fellow Dems now seem to claim), then that policy of holding back spending was Obama's choice.  Look no further than the games he played with the timing of the stimulus outflows.  How much was spent in years 1 and 2?  And how much was saved up for the election?

The bottom line is Obama is a failure.  Dems are finally acknowledging the stats, but still trying to place blame anywhere else.

... but WHY??