Obama tackles recession, war and ethics on day one

Thursday 22nd January, 11:00 AM JST

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ReikiZen at 10:57 PM JST - 22nd January

Oh really Sarge then what is may I ask you? Millions of people out of work. Tens of Thousands more almost on a weekly basis. Businesses closing which have been in business for decades. Banks needing another bailout which might not come. An auto industry on the verge of collapse. A stock market which is barely keeping afloat and an outlook which gets worse by the minute. I don't know what planet you are living on but this is well beyond crysis at this point. We are on the verge of not a recession of which we are currently but a depression. If that happens it will make the stock market crash of 1929 seem mild in comparison. If Obama is able to accomplish. even half of what he has set out to do it would be a miracle.
sailwind at 11:16 PM JST - 22nd January

Folks,

You do realize that they folks are gonna rot another year dont you?

Aides circulated a draft of an executive order that would close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year and halt all war crimes trials in the meantime.

So much for your 'compassion' you've displayed for them. I haven't read a single post for Obama to release them now or give them their Geneva rights.

But what the heck, let em rot another year and you all will forget about em anyway.
Madverts at 12:20 AM JST - 23rd January

". I don't know what planet you are living on "

Bush is gone but the Denial remains.

They wouldn't have it any other way.
usaexpat at 12:40 AM JST - 23rd January

sailwind: President Obama will handle this in a careful and measured manner. Once we seperate the guilty from the un-lucky we can repatriate those who are not a threat. They've been rotting there for 6 years so another year and probably less is much preferred to what the Bush administration was doing which is nothing. No one except the most ardent lefty would demand the release of these prisoners without review as we still don't know who is being held and what they have done.
Molenir at 01:42 AM JST - 23rd January

Based on some statements he and his supporters made prior to the election...

Obama has been President for more then a day, and has yet to arrange for either my rent to be paid, or to pick up my groceries. Damn, guess that makes him a liar and a failure already. Yo, Barrack, waiting on my check!
AlfGarnett at 03:27 AM JST - 23rd January

The geezer is a fruitcake, living in his own world. A bit like Bush, but a different mentality in his nut.

Mark my words, he aint going to be able to handle the job, he is a very silly boy.
adaydream at 04:27 AM JST - 23rd January

Sarge

Pffft! Obama hasn't been dumped with anything - he wanted to be president, remember? He knew what he was getting into. He jumped into it with both feet!

This one we agree on.

Just think of the enormities of everything going on. And whether it was John McCain or Barack Obama, there's a lot of crap that one of them would have gotten. So Barack Obama won and he has this menu of problems all over the country and the world.

For his first two days he's done quite a bit. Maybe everybody isn't agreeing with his actions. But this is what he said he would do and that's what got him elected. He is carring out the wishes of the majority of the country and he was given a mandate. Change the way that this country runs, open thew windows and doors for more transparancy, get rid of Gitmo, FIX THE ECONOMY and the list goes on.

So from my standpoint, Barack Obama is doing the country's business and what he was elected to do. When george bush was president we disagreed. While Barack Obama is president we'll disagree. And like you said,

He jumped into it with both feet!

Boy he's got a job to do. Go Obama!! < :-)
Sarge at 07:05 AM JST - 23rd January

51% of Americans favor closing Gitmo; 47% say it should stay open. That's a virtual split.
Sarge at 07:17 AM JST - 23rd January

"He assembled his cabinet in record time"

He should have taken more time. Some of his choices are not the best.
For example, couldn't he have picked a treasury secretary who pays his taxes on time, or a secretary of state who knows what sniper fire is, or a commerce secretary not embroiled in scandals, or...
taniwha at 09:09 AM JST - 23rd January

Sarge at 07:17 AM JST - 23rd January "He assembled his cabinet in record time" He should have taken more time. Some of his choices are not the best. For example, couldn't he have picked a treasury secretary who pays his taxes on time, or a secretary of state who knows what sniper fire is, or a commerce secretary not embroiled in scandals, or...

Hmmm, for treasury secretary we have Timothy Geithner. One of three proteges of the Clinton administration given top economic and budget positions by Obama, he was appointed by President Bush to his current position as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which conducts the day-to-day operations of the Fed on Wall Street. Geithner's first big task is to hand out $350 billion, the 2nd half of the bailout to the major surviving banks. He is also currently busy planning further bank bailouts.

Question: Since the US coffers are already hopelessly buried in debt, who ultimately will be paying for this when Asia decides it can no longer foot the bill? Answer: The American working class, the average Joes and Jaynes. Social services are soon to be put through the shredder.

Look at all the main administration jobs handed out by Obama and you will see those directly responsible for the rapidity of the inevitable financial collapse have been placed in the top jobs.

Lawrence Summers is the new director of the White House National Economic Council. It was Summer and the Clinton administration that backed the deregulation of financial markets (i.e the Republican legislation adopted during Clinton's presidency which repealed the New Deal-era Glass-Steagall Act. Summers is the likely candidate to succeed Bernanke should the latter not be reappointed as Fed Chairman.

"Change...", I don't think so.

Paul Volcker nominated as chairman of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, at 82 years of age (nothing wrong with experience in itself) is a former investment banker. He was also the key figure from the Reagan administration that led the onslaught against the working class, destroying the unions as a significant force in the US. Those interested in history will remember the mass firing of striking air traffic controllers and the complete crushing of the PATCO union. The aim was to bring inflation under control, the outcome was a Volker induced recession, when in 1982-83 the US rate of unemployment approached 10%. That was the highest then, since WW2.

Think Volcker is planning a different route this time around? I don't.

Well, that sums up the general approach this new administration intends to take to address economic and budget issues. Can't see "change" in anything substantial. Can you?
Hotbox08 at 12:02 PM JST - 23rd January

The difference between President Obama and former President Bush is that at least Obama listens to the people and thus has been building a government run by the people and for the people. Bush on the other hand, ran it his way. That's a big difference if you ask me.
sk8boarding26 at 04:27 PM JST - 24th January

Wow! This is the first time I've read JapanToday. I lived in Korea and Japan for about 4 years. I'm American and I was in the military, but it's not that big of a deal. If you have ever been "outside the wire" and know what it's like I respect your opinion. Everyone else let's see what happens to the world when the American military isn't around.
johancohen at 12:29 PM JST - 25th January

sounds like you need to get back into that military.
anyhow, who needs to complain about Bush? he was exceptional, and gifted to craft the bedrock foundation that we all superbly enjoy. Obama will be quite sorry and lackluster about his becomming the President. what's to remorsefully complain about here, and what is that?
sk8boarding26 at 08:19 AM JST - 26th January

haha you guys take this seriously!
OhioDonna at 12:30 AM JST - 28th January

"Closing the site “would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice,” read the draft prepared for the new president’s signature. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press, and an aide said privately that Obama would sign a formal order on Thursday. Some of the 245 detainees currently held at Guantanamo would be released, while others would be transferred elsewhere and later put on trial under terms to be determined."

Look out world Gitmo is closing. Who wants the prisoners?