President Obama inherited a terrible mess: a $1.3 trillion deficit, two wars, rising unemployment (8%) and unprecedented crises in our banking system. That was 18 Months ago.
A rapidly weakening economy threatens to undermine President Obama's assertion that he has set the nation on a path to prosperity and, with barely two months until congressional midterm elections, Democrats find themselves with few options for reviving the faltering recovery.
The latest sign that the economy is losing steam: Home sales fell 27 percent in July, the steepest one-month drop since figures were first compiled in 1968, according to a report released Tuesday (August 24). Analysts had expected sales to decline following the expiration of a federal tax credit for homebuyers this spring, but the drop was nearly twice as large as forecast.
The housing report punctuated a wave of bad news that has been building all summer. The number of jobless claims has risen in each of the past four weeks and last week hit its highest point in nine months. Private-sector job creation is trending well below the level needed to keep up with population growth. Retail sales have also been disappointing.
Economists generally do not expect a dip back into recession, although many say the risk has grown with each new piece of disheartening data.
Obama and congressional Democrats have been working frenetically to counter the trend, winning a series of relatively small initiatives to extend unemployment benefits, avert state layoffs and cut taxes for firms that hire unemployed workers.
But with the budget deficit soaring and polls showing deep skepticism about the impact of Obama's economic policies, even many Democrats are reluctant to support additional spending on the economy. That has left Obama with few alternatives for improving the trajectory of the recovery and reducing a stubbornly high jobless rate, which was stuck in July at 9.5 percent.
"They have played their policy hand, and they've got to hope it's good enough," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics who has been advising congressional Democrats. Given the political environment, he said, "there's nothing they can do to make a significant difference in the next six months, or even a year."
Republicans quickly sought Tuesday to capitalize on the gloomy news. Addressing the City Club of Cleveland, House GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) blamed Obama for "an economy stalled by 'stimulus' spending and hamstrung by uncertainty." Casting the the November election as a referendum on Obama's "discredited" policies, Boehner urged the president to fire his entire economic team, starting with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.
"The American people are asking 'where are the jobs?' and all the president's economic team has to offer are promises of 'green shoots' that never seem to grow," Boehner said. Noting that Obama's budget director and chief economist have already announced their resignations, Boehner said Obama "should ask for - and accept - the resignations of the remaining members of his economic team," including Geithner and Lawrence Summers, head of the National Economic Council.
Boehner offered few ideas for turning the economy around. House Republicans have not released a detailed economic agenda, and Boehner's speech - delivered amid a bus tour of battleground House districts in Rust Belt states - did little to expand on the GOP's long-standing platform of lower taxes and less federal regulation.
Vice President Biden, who stood in for a vacationing Obama, derided Boehner's economic plan as a rehash of the laissez-faire policies the led the country to the brink of a financial meltdown in the final days of the Bush administration. "Mr. Boehner is nostalgic for those good old days, but Americans are not," Biden said during an event called to showcase the success of last year's $814 billion stimulus package.
His voice dripping with sarcasm, Biden also thanked Boehner for suggesting that the president fire his top economic advisers. "Very constructive advice," he said, "and we thank the leader for that."
Later, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton defended Geithner and Summers, calling them "the people who made the tough decisions, who did the hard work to get the economy going again."
As recently as this spring, the U.S. economic recovery appeared to be accelerating. Many economists gave credit to the stimulus package and the $700 billion bailout of the banking system proposed by Bush and carried out by Obama.
On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office affirmed that view of the stimulus package, estimating that it added as many as 3.3 million jobs to the economy during the second quarter of this year and may have prevented the nation from lapsing into recession. The CBO also said the package will cost about $814 billion through 2019 - less than the $862 billion previously estimated.
But momentum is fading fast. On Friday, the Commerce Department will revise its estimate of second quarter economic growth. Forecasters expect gross domestic product to have risen at a 1.4 percent annual rate during the April through June quarter - far below the 2.4 percent rate first estimated and below the 2.5 to 3 percent level at which the U.S. economy should expand based solely on population growth and increased productivity.
Instead of gaining ground in the second quarter, the United States economy lost ground.
While many private and government forecasters still agree that growth will return to about 2.5 percent for the second half of the year, that consensus could soon change if the economy continues to deteriorate. And even a 3 percent growth rate is not strong enough to significantly bring down unemployment.
White House economist Jared Bernstein said the administration is "by no means out of bullets." He cited billions of dollars that have yet to be spent from last year's stimulus package and ticked off a list of policies the White House is pursuing, including a measure designed to encourage hiring by small businesses that has been blocked by Republicans in the Senate. Democratic leaders in the Senate say they hope to push the bill to final passage when
Congress returns after Labor Day. Congress should stay in session working 6 days a week with no vacations or holidays until the problems are solved.
Obama is also pressing for tax rebates for homeowners who invest in renewable energy projects and other green renovations, as well as for an extension of an existing tax credit for manufacturers of solar panels, wind turbines and other clean-energy equipment.
"We're continuously promoting the most effective ways to create the most jobs, and our agenda is demonstrably working to achieve that goal," Bernstein said. "The Recovery Act contributed to the turnaround from horrifying negatives to positives, and that's the momentum we are trying to build on."
He acknowledged that Congress had not approved all the stimulus money Obama had sought. But, he said, "In the world we live in, we're doing everything we can to create the conditions for greater job growth in key sectors of the economy."
If republicans are blocking measures needed to get people back to work or otherwise heal the economy the President should mount his soapbox and inform America of the republican roadblock. If spineless democrats are blocking progress the President should inform the American public of that also. The President has the soapbox but shows no interest in using it to whip his opposition into shape.
The Senate has become non functional and useless, they do nothing except run for reelection. They seem to have a desire to remain in the Senate until they die drawing the pay and benefits for nothing. This FUBAR needs to be eliminated.
ACVDN
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Dummest Quitters Excuse Ever
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News Presents
Dr. Laura and the Dummest Quitters Excuse Ever
Dr Laura Plays the Victum Card as large advertizers desert her sinking radio show and the republican half term gov and ultimate top quitter Sarah Palin tells her not to retreat but to to reload. Dr Laura spread her filth on 200 radio stations coast to coast and her audience and sponsors objected to her conduct and she cries that her first amendment rights are being restrained. The people have rejected this foul mouthed woman. Dr Laura is almost as crazy as Palin. The following comes from Taylor Marsh and starts with a direct quote from Dr Laura.
“I want to regain my First Amendment rights,” she said. “I want to be able to say what’s on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors. I’m sort of done with that.” – Dr. Laura Schlessinger to End Radio Show.
(Come on Dr Laura. You made a fool of yourself talking to one of your listeners not with a special interest group trying to silence you. Your sponsors ran away from you because you came across as a bigoted fool doing a Lenny Bruce Bit from the 1950's.)
The lady wants to be free to be as bad as her toxic self can be, free to hurl “n” word invectives into the void without being called on her vile agenda while she does it. Good riddance. Her departure cannot come soon enough.
The decaying medium of wingnut radio has shed one of its most toxic voices. After an “n” word blizzard, Dr. Laura is calling it quits when her contract ends later this year. Like Sarah Palin, who finally admitted to Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller that she just couldn’t take the media pressure, Schlessinger is running as fast as she can off the radio stage.
“This is the era of the Internet,” Dr. Laura admitted on Larry King’s show last night. A sign that whatever talk radio is today it’s long past its zenith and on the decline.
Readying to move onward, the worst “advice” talker on radio has finally been revealed for what she is. Another toxic gasbag who is lauded for opinions that have been foundational to our moralistic June Cleaverism, which should have died out with the turn of the century.
Having been tangentially involved back in the ’90s in opposing Dr. Laura’s TV show, when John Aravosis and I first crossed paths on this campaign, though we didn’t know it until years later, I took on Dr. Laura in my writings back then. Her anti-gay tirades and moralistic judgments on women as insulting as the “n” word monologue that caused her demise on radio.
This leads me to another development, this one regarding WND, who has dis-invited Ann Coulter as keynote speaker because she’s headlining “Homocon.” It’s quite a conservative collision amidst confusion that reveals the dying power of the toxic right-wing branch of the Republican Party, which doesn’t know which way to turn to stay relevant.
Don’t look now, but between the wacky Tea Party candidates and Sarah Palin, Laura leaving while Ann Coulter stands beside gay Republicans, the spineless Democratic elite and a diminished Pres. Obama, all of whom are facing a restless populace, out of these conflicts a new political landscape is going to eventually emerge. I truly hope part of it includes a vibrant Independent political wing, organized or not and wider than Crist and Bloomberg, to challenge the lumbering, corrupt big two parties.
Part of the shift will manifest this November when quite a few toxic Blue Dog Democrats are going to be defeated by card carrying Republicans, but like it or not, Tea Party candidates, no matter how few, will be part of the mix. Losing Blue Dogs would be a very good sign for the Democratic Party for reasons too numerable to mention. You movement progressives out there please opine in the comments, because I’m sure you have a lot to say on this issue.
Rep. Henry Waxman certainly did recently, though he was also cajoled into walking it back, though the verdict had already been laid. “I think a lot of the House seats we’re going to lose are those who have been the toughest for the Democrats to pull into line– the Democrats that have been the most difficult,” Waxman said. – Via Howie Klein
As an aside, the mosque fury is now pitting Republicans against their Tea Party wing, which is causing quite a fight, with so called mainstream Republicans (both of them) seeing an opening to reclaim conservatism from the way out Right. Activist wingnuts, however, are looking to use it for short-term 2010 gain.
Dr. Laura’s departure from wingnut radio leaves many other strident personalities left to rant their hatred, but any time we lose one this big it’s a sign that the decaying medium is losing out, as Dr. Laura admitted, to the era of the Internet where truth at least can be found if you search.
by Taylor Marsh who works out of DC
http://taylormarsh.com/
Now if we can find a couple of hundred spines that will fit Democrats it all might work out ok. ACVDN
Dr. Laura and the Dummest Quitters Excuse Ever
Dr Laura Plays the Victum Card as large advertizers desert her sinking radio show and the republican half term gov and ultimate top quitter Sarah Palin tells her not to retreat but to to reload. Dr Laura spread her filth on 200 radio stations coast to coast and her audience and sponsors objected to her conduct and she cries that her first amendment rights are being restrained. The people have rejected this foul mouthed woman. Dr Laura is almost as crazy as Palin. The following comes from Taylor Marsh and starts with a direct quote from Dr Laura.
“I want to regain my First Amendment rights,” she said. “I want to be able to say what’s on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors. I’m sort of done with that.” – Dr. Laura Schlessinger to End Radio Show.
(Come on Dr Laura. You made a fool of yourself talking to one of your listeners not with a special interest group trying to silence you. Your sponsors ran away from you because you came across as a bigoted fool doing a Lenny Bruce Bit from the 1950's.)
The lady wants to be free to be as bad as her toxic self can be, free to hurl “n” word invectives into the void without being called on her vile agenda while she does it. Good riddance. Her departure cannot come soon enough.
The decaying medium of wingnut radio has shed one of its most toxic voices. After an “n” word blizzard, Dr. Laura is calling it quits when her contract ends later this year. Like Sarah Palin, who finally admitted to Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller that she just couldn’t take the media pressure, Schlessinger is running as fast as she can off the radio stage.
“This is the era of the Internet,” Dr. Laura admitted on Larry King’s show last night. A sign that whatever talk radio is today it’s long past its zenith and on the decline.
Readying to move onward, the worst “advice” talker on radio has finally been revealed for what she is. Another toxic gasbag who is lauded for opinions that have been foundational to our moralistic June Cleaverism, which should have died out with the turn of the century.
Having been tangentially involved back in the ’90s in opposing Dr. Laura’s TV show, when John Aravosis and I first crossed paths on this campaign, though we didn’t know it until years later, I took on Dr. Laura in my writings back then. Her anti-gay tirades and moralistic judgments on women as insulting as the “n” word monologue that caused her demise on radio.
This leads me to another development, this one regarding WND, who has dis-invited Ann Coulter as keynote speaker because she’s headlining “Homocon.” It’s quite a conservative collision amidst confusion that reveals the dying power of the toxic right-wing branch of the Republican Party, which doesn’t know which way to turn to stay relevant.
Don’t look now, but between the wacky Tea Party candidates and Sarah Palin, Laura leaving while Ann Coulter stands beside gay Republicans, the spineless Democratic elite and a diminished Pres. Obama, all of whom are facing a restless populace, out of these conflicts a new political landscape is going to eventually emerge. I truly hope part of it includes a vibrant Independent political wing, organized or not and wider than Crist and Bloomberg, to challenge the lumbering, corrupt big two parties.
Part of the shift will manifest this November when quite a few toxic Blue Dog Democrats are going to be defeated by card carrying Republicans, but like it or not, Tea Party candidates, no matter how few, will be part of the mix. Losing Blue Dogs would be a very good sign for the Democratic Party for reasons too numerable to mention. You movement progressives out there please opine in the comments, because I’m sure you have a lot to say on this issue.
Rep. Henry Waxman certainly did recently, though he was also cajoled into walking it back, though the verdict had already been laid. “I think a lot of the House seats we’re going to lose are those who have been the toughest for the Democrats to pull into line– the Democrats that have been the most difficult,” Waxman said. – Via Howie Klein
As an aside, the mosque fury is now pitting Republicans against their Tea Party wing, which is causing quite a fight, with so called mainstream Republicans (both of them) seeing an opening to reclaim conservatism from the way out Right. Activist wingnuts, however, are looking to use it for short-term 2010 gain.
Dr. Laura’s departure from wingnut radio leaves many other strident personalities left to rant their hatred, but any time we lose one this big it’s a sign that the decaying medium is losing out, as Dr. Laura admitted, to the era of the Internet where truth at least can be found if you search.
by Taylor Marsh who works out of DC
http://taylormarsh.com/
Now if we can find a couple of hundred spines that will fit Democrats it all might work out ok. ACVDN
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Fox Donates $1 Million to RGA
Fox News Donates $1 Million To Republican Governors Association ACVDN
Now in addition to 24 hour a day, 7 day a week attacks on President Obama and the Democrats Fox seals the deal with the republican party and removes the little remaining doubt that Fox is the Media Arm of the GOP.
There's no hiding or denying it any longer, there is no fair and balanced, Fox is the media arm of the republican party and no longer needs to be treated with the respect due a news organization. Fox is a propoganda outlet for the GOP and nothing more. After all these years Fox comes out of the closet.
News America Inc. the parent company of Fox News has further confirmed their conservative stance and donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association.
Fox News, which is the home to conservative commentators like Bill O' Reilly and Sean Hannity, has always been a staunch supporter of the Republican Party.
This donation from News America has allowed the group to double its fund raising for the second quarter of the year. Filings show that the RGA raised $58 million between Jan. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010. The Democratic Governors Association raised $40 million during the same period.
News America Inc., the parent company of Fox News is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate News Corp.
Hypocrisy at its worst, it is a sad day for all who believe that an independent and impartial media is vital to our democracy. Fox and republicans are willing to destroy the American system of Media fairness to aid their political ambitions. Any way you measure it republicans and Rupert Murdoch enjoy a bottom feeders view of life.
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News
Now in addition to 24 hour a day, 7 day a week attacks on President Obama and the Democrats Fox seals the deal with the republican party and removes the little remaining doubt that Fox is the Media Arm of the GOP.
There's no hiding or denying it any longer, there is no fair and balanced, Fox is the media arm of the republican party and no longer needs to be treated with the respect due a news organization. Fox is a propoganda outlet for the GOP and nothing more. After all these years Fox comes out of the closet.
News America Inc. the parent company of Fox News has further confirmed their conservative stance and donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association.
Fox News, which is the home to conservative commentators like Bill O' Reilly and Sean Hannity, has always been a staunch supporter of the Republican Party.
This donation from News America has allowed the group to double its fund raising for the second quarter of the year. Filings show that the RGA raised $58 million between Jan. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010. The Democratic Governors Association raised $40 million during the same period.
News America Inc., the parent company of Fox News is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate News Corp.
Hypocrisy at its worst, it is a sad day for all who believe that an independent and impartial media is vital to our democracy. Fox and republicans are willing to destroy the American system of Media fairness to aid their political ambitions. Any way you measure it republicans and Rupert Murdoch enjoy a bottom feeders view of life.
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News
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