Obama says crisis is time of 'great opportunity'

Sunday 08th March, 06:32 AM JST

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Sarge at 12:33 AM JST - 9th March

Sushi - Judging by the current state of the world's economies, I don't see anything that we should be jealous of. :-)
Molenir at 03:48 AM JST - 9th March

Molenir - "The man is raising taxes during a recession." - SushiSake Um, check your facts. He is going to raise taxes on the super-rich, while lowering them for the middle class

He is claiming to be doing this, but he is repealing the Bush Tax cuts. The ones that cut the taxes of every single American taxpayer. The effect of his so called tax cuts... He gives everyone 12 to 40 dollars more in their paychecks. Bushs tax cuts gave everyone 18 to 50 dollars more. Repealing them means increasing taxes on everyone. And no, I'm not making this up. Check the facts and the math for yourself.

"Not only that, he's trying to implement socialized medicine." Sushi - And the alternative? I think it is to sit back and watch Medicare and Medicaid implode. Oops, sorry, that's already happening, and has been for years.

Do you even have a clue about how the health care system works in America? I don't think you do. If you did, you wouldn't be saying this nonsense.

Sushi, I'll simply respond by stating the facts. Previous Presidents during times of economic crisis, managed the economy by staying positive. By essentially using their pulpit to acknowledge the problems, but gloss over them. Obama however is not doing this. He is pointing out problems. He is saying the economy is in shambles over and over again. He is saying only the government can save it. Its like the man is deliberately saying these thing in order to push the US towards socialism. Rather then going out and being positive on the economy, reassuring investors, he is being pessimistic. You might say its being realistic, but really its like shouting fire in a crowded theatre. The difference being, its peoples savings thats being lost rather then their lives.

At this point its not a matter of Republicans and Democrats, its a matter of doing whats best for the country. I'm really starting to wonder if Obama really cares about the US and its economy. I can only see 3 choices here. He is either doing this deliberately, or he is a naive fool who is getting bad advice, or hes an incompetent idiot. To be honest, I don't want to believe any of the 3, but listening to what he says, and watching what he does, its getting harder and harder to think otherwise. As I said elsewhere, the next 6 months will tell.
yabits at 05:30 AM JST - 9th March

He is claiming to be doing this, but he is repealing the Bush Tax cuts.

The so-called "Bush tax cuts" were set to expire in ten years at the time they were enacted. The political rationale for extending them could only be justified if the federal budget remained in the black -- which Bush pretty much killed.
greenman99 at 06:11 AM JST - 9th March

Obama Has a real fight on his hands with the GOP and special interest groups. When it comes to energy and green stimulus programs he needs to think out of the box a bit more. We need discoveries that will creat new jobs. President Obama and Mr. Chu and the Energy Dept. are moving quickly to fund alternative energy projects. However most of what you see is the obvious and well known programs. We need to concentrate more on break thru technologies! Otherwise we will never really change the world! I recently discovered a company called Energetics Technologies. They have a process called SuperWave Fusion, which could be a possible breakthrough in cold fusion. I recently read that 2 independent labs have replicated this process, this is the type of new thinking we need
goodDonkey at 06:20 AM JST - 9th March

yabits beat me to it.

The legislation mandated the tax cuts to end. Molenir does not have a clue what "repeal" means in reference to our country's laws. Maybe he has been listening to the right wing song and dance too long or has been reading the right wing nuts blogs but Obama is not repealing the tax cuts. Molenir once again is out of his league in speaking about which he knows not of. Obama is not only not repealing Bush's tax cuts but his stimulus bill that was passed and signed into law has even more tax cuts on top of Bush's tax cuts in them. Who put them in there, the Republicans? No, they were put in the legislation by congressional Democrats at the direction of Barack Obama.

Nobody knows the countless times I have spotted Molenir's fallacious statements and not called him out on it. It just becomes so tedious and there is so much more I could be doing in life. So most of the time I try to stay positive and informative on these threads but at some point these total misrepresentations, mischaracterizations and outright lies must be brought to light.
Molenir at 07:09 AM JST - 9th March

The legislation mandated the tax cuts to end. Molenir does not have a clue what "repeal" means in reference to our country's laws. Maybe he has been listening to the right wing song and dance too long or has been reading the right wing nuts blogs but Obama is not repealing the tax cuts.

Let me explain it to in a way even you can understand. Yes, they are set to expire, and in fact are already doing so. However by choosing not to act, Obama is choosing to repeal them.

Donkey - Apart from this, Democrats have been using this precise language for years, you should understand it better then anyone.

So most of the time I try to stay positive and informative on these threads but at some point these total misrepresentations, mischaracterizations and outright lies must be brought to light.

I know I shouldn't respond to this, I really know it, but its just so hard to hear a liar claiming to be correcting lies, and let it pass. Just about all you ever hear from GoodDonkey is that the lefts latest spin. Truth doesn't matter, and has never mattered to Donkey, only if you're on the right side of his personal beliefs.
yabits at 07:54 AM JST - 9th March

Yes, they are set to expire, and in fact are already doing so. However by choosing not to act, Obama is choosing to repeal them.

Thank you for the laugh!!

When Bush signed the tax cuts into law, he was also signing a major tax increase in ten years time. That is how the cuts were sold to the American people just in case the Republicans somehow managed to run the federal budget out of the black and into the red.

Readers should recall that the tax cuts were sold against projected surpluses, and that supply side voodoo cause some to predict that the cuts would more than pay for themselves. Just like the Iraq war and reconstruction would pay for themselves.
Molenir at 08:00 AM JST - 9th March

When Bush signed the tax cuts into law, he was also signing a major tax increase in ten years time. That is how the cuts were sold to the American people just in case the Republicans somehow managed to run the federal budget out of the black and into the red.

Do you remember what was happening in 2001? The whole mini recession that Democrats blamed on Bush and Republicans blamed on Clinton? The Tax cuts directly stimulated the economy and sure enough they did pay for themselves. Regrettably Bush and the Republicans decided to throw away all the additional income the tax cuts and the booming economy generated. On Iraq, on new entitlement programs, on things the government shouldn't have done. They decided that despite their rising income, despite having had a balanced budget for a few years, to deficit spend instead.

This failure on their part does not abrogate the failure on Obama's part. If he fails to renew the Bush Tax cuts, he will in fact be choosing to repeal them. Increasing taxes in the middle of a recession won't in any way help the economy recover. Instead it will prolong the recession.
yabits at 08:50 AM JST - 9th March

The Tax cuts directly stimulated the economy and sure enough they did pay for themselves.

Another good laugh! You're on a roll.

As everyone, except for the most gullible and/or brainwashed, now knows all too well, the "booming economy" you speak of was built mainly on increasing real estate values, and the subsequent spending due to people taking out second and third mortgages to get some of that hot equity money in their hands. It was a house of cards.

The whole mini recession that Democrats blamed on Bush and Republicans blamed on Clinton?

It wasn't blamed on Bush. But the Republicans sure used it to push the need for their tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
chonglai at 11:12 AM JST - 9th March

Obama says crisis is time of 'great opportunity' as a headline needs correction.

Actually it is his chief of staff who said:"You should never waste a crisis."

prior ...Obama saying "to discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis.”

Nonetheless, inspiring. Fortune favors the bold.
rollonarte at 12:44 PM JST - 9th March

Four months since winning office and this administration still has no plan for the banking crisis, the single most important issue facing the nation.

Unfit to lead.
ca1ic0cat at 10:08 PM JST - 9th March

I think the plan is to spend money the government doesn't have (unless the Chinese lend it) to try to support a level of consumer spending that is unsustainable by giving bailouts to the banks and any other bankrupt business that comes begging.

The other thing about taxing the wealthy. The wealthy don't stuff their money in mattresses. They invest in companies, they run companies, they buy goods and services. Yeah, the goods and services are way beyond what any of us can afford but they are still spending money and that keeps people employed, even if it is making gold plated toilets.

Raising taxes is just a way of the government saying that the wealthy don't know how to spend their money properly and, therefore, the government has to step in to spend the money for them.

Of course then the government has to hire people to collect and re-allocate the money and the money often goes to people who aren't producing any goods and services. Ouch!
Sarge at 10:14 PM JST - 9th March

"Unfit to lead"

Yeah, but he won the election, so we have to put up with him.
Molenir at 01:49 AM JST - 10th March

As everyone, except for the most gullible and/or brainwashed, now knows all too well, the "booming economy" you speak of was built mainly on increasing real estate values, and the subsequent spending due to people taking out second and third mortgages to get some of that hot equity money in their hands. It was a house of cards.

What you're saying is both true and false. The booming economy was not built on the housing bubble, though that was certainly one component of it. And again, as much as you seem to want to deny it, the Bush tax cuts did stimulate the economy. You can simply look at the governments income and note an immediate jump. Of course as I said before, Bush and Congress decided to throw away all that extra money instead of maintaining a balanced budget.
johancohen at 12:03 PM JST - 12th March

CHANGE! CHANGE! CHANGE! a nickel, a dime, a quarter, hell, even a half-dollar... penny for your thoughts...