Barack Obama to admit mistakes in first State of the Union address

**bluffmanxx** · 01-28-2010, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by spaceboy761

I think he got the message

interesting that you see it that way. i think it was pretty obvious that he did not get the message. did he not call for more of the same?? what new course correction did he propose??

**spaceboy761** · 01-28-2010, 02:47 PM

I know you hate this, but he proposed more stimulus money aimed at job creation. There's not much else he can do at this point since neither side of Congress is willing to spend any more money on anything because they're terrified of the ill-directed public backlash. Obama also proposed a bunch of tax breaks for small business and clean energy creation, if that's your thing. It sounds like more of the same since the options are fairly limited here to begin with. It's not a dictatorship where Obama can force companies to hire people... but man, that would be really convenient.

**LadyWrestler** · 01-28-2010, 03:30 PM

Unfortunately, we are stuck in the Obama Depression. I think it is highly likely that Republican presidential candidates will be running against Obama's record until about 2032! But then, what do I know? I am just a dumb lady wrestler.

**bluffmanxx** · 01-28-2010, 03:56 PM

stimulus money aimed at job creation. this all depends on how good his aim is. the last stimulus indicated that it is not very good and i've not seen much if anything to indicate that he has any new ideas.

tax breaks for small business sounds good, but again it depends on the type of tax breaks. are they really aimed at job creation or at advancing his agenda??

as for green jobs, that is a loser idea especially in a down economy. most of the jobs need huge government subsidies to exist and eliminate actual jobs that exist now. how does replacing self sustaining jobs with ones that need government subsidies help anything??

build the damn nuclear power plants, lower everyone's cost of energy and see what happens. the added bonus is that we reduce our reliance on foreign oil in the process. no brainer. but not on obama's agenda.

**billynomates** · 01-28-2010, 04:11 PM

The era of big government is upon us.

For economic historians the key passage in the speech was this: “The true engine of job creation in this country will always be America’s businesses. But government can create the conditions necessary for businesses to expand and hire more workers.”

In Europe that would be seen as common sense. In the US a decisive constituency believes any government that involves itself in job creation misunderstands its purpose and ends up shrinking the economy.

.

**spaceboy761** · 01-29-2010, 07:44 AM

Oh hai!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Econom...&asset=&ccode=

I guess Obama is doing something right to spur 5.7% GDP growth last quarter (best since 2003). I eagerly await your proclamation of the liberal bias of economic data reporting. Growth always comes before jobs, so this is a good sign.

**billynomates** · 01-29-2010, 10:37 AM

Hey Greg if you think I'm going to argue American economics with you- think again.

**spaceboy761** · 01-29-2010, 11:10 AM

Ooh, try learning about Japanese economics! It's a like a Rubik's cube inside of a combination safe thrown into quicksand.

**bluffmanxx** · 01-29-2010, 11:47 AM

my initial response is to recall the free fall of the 4th quarter of 2008 and say that almost anything looks good by comparison. i'm sure that fact crossed your mind as well. but growth compared to 2008 beats even more decline, so it's still a positive. even though there are qualifications of course....

The administration got some unexpectedly good news on the economic front this morning, although it had to be qualified almost immediately. Annualized GDP in the fourth quarter rose 5.7%, the second quarter in a row of growth in the economy, which makes the recovery official. However, almost two-thirds of it came from a slowdown in liquidation of inventories, leaving 2.2% of actual growth

But even stripping out inventories, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, accelerating from the 1.5 percent increase in the third quarter, reflecting relatively strong performance from other segments of the economy.