A real fix for the troubles of the banking system might help make up for the inadequate size of the stimulus plan, so it was good to hear that Mr. Obama spends at least an hour each day with his economic advisors, “talking through how we are approaching the financial markets.” But he went on to dismiss calls for decisive action as coming from “blogs” (actually, they’re coming from many other places, including at least one president of a Federal Reserve bank), and suggested that critics want to “nationalize all the banks” (something nobody is proposing). (emphasis added by me).
First off, Krugman's op-ed piece is a must read.
But, more alarming to me is the dismissal of "blogs" by Obama, just a casual throw away line. Again, call me stupid if you want, but I do believe this line of thinking still comes from Rahm Emanuel, who has the president's ear these days. And we all know how Emanuel despises the netroots.
Obama is not getting sound, credible advice on the economy. As Krugman has already pointed out, the Obama plan to create 3.5 million jobs by 2010 is just not going to cut it when we're losing 600,000 a month. All that money that the Bush administration blew on his wars only made a handful of American's wealthy at the expense of the taxpayers and off their backs. The TARP money has done nothing but continue to line the pockets of Wall Street and the banks, but has done very little to stimulate the economy or stave off the number of jobs being lost each month. Billions go to a handful of people, while millions of Americans are left holding the bill.
As Krugman and other economists have indicated, Obama's economic policies are still coming up short and will not prevent the eventual slide into a full blown, world wide, depression. As for the future, Krugman notes:
But he can’t get his new plan through Congress because approval for his economic policies has plummeted, partly because his policies are seen to have failed, partly because job-creation policies are conflated in the public mind with deeply unpopular bank bailouts. And as a result, the recession rages on, unchecked.
Oh well. I hate to see this happen on his watch because it will just feed fuel to the fire to the other, not very well intentioned, side.
1 comment:
Yep. The greater risk is doing too little, not too much. As long as the money flows back into the economy.
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