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Post by khankrumthebulgar on Jul 21, 2009 15:29:20 GMT -5
I'm sorry, I can't resist conflating Obama and Hoover.
Why?
This idiotic statement:
US President Barack Obama defended his administration's response to the economic crisis over the last six months, declaring: "The fire is now out."
"I think that we have stepped back from the abyss. I think we've put out the fire," he said in an interview with PBS, according to a transcript released by the TV station.
Uh huh.
Mr. President, may I direct you to the following statements?
“I am convinced that through these measures we have reestablished confidence.”
- Herbert Hoover, December 1929
And, of course, most closely-related to your comment:
“While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst — and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us.”
- Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930
Just as with the administration in 1929 and 1930, which refused to deal with the issues that had led to the crash in '29 and thus provoked The Depression of the 1930s, government has this time refused to deal with the underlying cause of the collapse in 2007 through the fall of 2008 - the irresponsible granting of credit to persons who were unable to pay.
Just as in the 1920s asset bubbles were mistaken for "economic growth" and claims that the government and Federal Reserve had headed off the oncoming train were made.
Just as in the 1920s and immediately after 1929 those who have identified the underlying cause of the problem, both before it occurred and afterward, have been repeatedly ignored and denied a seat at the table of policy debate, while those who actually caused the collapse are those who are looked to for "answers."
We know how this approach turned out in 1930.
Einstein tells us that one definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result."
Mr. President, with all due respect: Are you insane?
hxxp://market-ticker.denninger.net/
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Post by chewbacca on Jul 21, 2009 21:38:33 GMT -5
The fire is in a backdraft situation at the moment and when the window of exposure opens on the corruption that Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have perpetrated on the USA it will explode to life into a massive conflagration.
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Post by systems1082 on Jul 22, 2009 0:09:50 GMT -5
Goldman Sachs has been part of every scandel Wall Street has had over the last 40 years. Goldman Sachs pressured 3com to sell firewall technology to the Chinese. Why? To make a buck and the hell with anything that comes of it.
I believe every Dem/Rep has to be replaced starting with the VA race for governer. These people have no concept of normal every day life for the poeple of America anymore.
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Post by thousandmilemargin on Jul 22, 2009 7:58:44 GMT -5
Obama isn't an economic expert. He's just using the talking points his advisors give him.
Based on their advice, he probably believes in the magic of the sincere sound bite. If he says nice things with a reassuring smile and confident tone, they will come true. It's all about confidence.
Just close your eyes, America and think real hard about a recovery, and it will happen!
"There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."
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Post by thousandmilemargin on Jul 22, 2009 8:22:15 GMT -5
Actually, when people talk about the recovery as if it is already here, I am am tempted to ask:
What makes you think there is going to be a recovery?
Japan peaked in 1990. No sign of a recovery yet.
France peaked in 1912. That was the peak of their economic and military power. Empires come and go.
Of course the rump of a former empire can still be a nice place to live - think of Rome, Vienna or Madrid. Provided the dead empire leaves some decent architecture behind.
The complication this time round is that there is really nobody to take over from the USA. India is still a country where people shit in the street. Brazil is the country of the future - and always will be. Russia is ..well, Russia. A mass of contradictions.
China is the other half of the greatest Ponzi scheme in history. They built an economy around selling stuff to people who were actually broke, and now the cheques are starting to bounce.
People talking about China restructuring their economy to cater to domestic demand. But domestic demand is weak because Chinese workers don't have any money - they are working for $1500 a year and there is huge pool of cheap labor holding down wages. There's no real prospect of Chinese wages rising to a level that can support a consumer economy, given the huge global overcapacity the Chinese just finished creating.
This is a global mess, and we are looking at a global malaise.
Even the Germans, global gold medalists in being sensible, are having to shut down century old firms producing high quality machinery because their customers have stopped buying.
Looks to me like everyone is going to go downhill together, and suffer together, until the USA eventually wakes up and puts its house in order. Screwed up as it is, there really isn't any other country with the size, resources and political traditions to lead the world out of the mess the USA got us all into.
There could be a couple of lost decades between now and the time that happens.
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