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Economy's Biggest Drag Right Now Is Government

I love it, even NBC is straying from the re elect Obama narrative. With a whole summer to go, seems like it'll be a hot one for the administration.

Government dragged down by corporate interest and lobbyists....

Who do you think really runs the House and Senate?

Come on, stop blaming the executive branch.
 
Depends on the country. In the case of the United States, the answer is: a lot more than we are currently making. Since Obama took office, the inflation rate has varied from a low of -2.1% to a high of 3.9%...and as of last month, it stood at a respectable 2.7%. Additionally, the current interest rate on 1-year treasury bills is 0.19% and the current interest rate on 30-year treasury bonds is 3.12%...nearly the lowest they have ever been. In real terms, investors are literally willing to PAY THE GOVERNMENT to hold their money. If hyperinflation is in our future, the markets sure don't seem to be freaking out about it. Why do you suppose that is?

I don't think I am smart enough to know why, or else I'd be doing something other than driving a truck...heh, heh...But I do know that these numbers, and statics being constantly cited seem fishy.


j-mac
 
We don't have a lot of options here, unfortunately. If you cut spending and/or taxes too quickly you will only succeed in sending the economy back into recession, which only makes deficits worse. This is a problem that will have to be fixed over the next 40 or 50 years -- not the next four or five years.


40 or 50 years? We'll be lucky at the pace Obama is setting if we are still a free country in another 4 years....IMHO.


j-mac
 
We'll be lucky at the pace Obama is setting if we are still a free country in another 4 years....IMHO.

Good God, the Fox News machine has really gotten to you folks. You'll believe just about anything...
 
I don't think I am smart enough to know why, or else I'd be doing something other than driving a truck...heh, heh...But I do know that these numbers, and statics being constantly cited seem fishy.

The inflation rate is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And although it's certainly possible to quibble with the way they calculate inflation, the calculation itself hasn't changed in any major way since Obama took office, so any concerns that he somehow made them "fishy" are unfounded. The last major revision to how the CPI is calculated was in 1983.

The T-bill and T-bond rate are public information; they are traded freely on the open market, so at any given point in time you can buy a US government bond for the interest rate. If investors were really expecting our currency to lose a lot of its value, then the interest rates would be much higher because people would be less willing to risk loaning the government their dollars now, only to be paid back in cheaper dollars later.

All the economic data strongly points to one conclusion: The US is at absolutely no risk for high inflation. We could (and probably should) borrow/print a lot MORE money than we currently are, without experiencing any major devaluation.
 
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Good God, the Fox News machine has really gotten to you folks. You'll believe just about anything...


Yep, cuz God forbid anyone that doesn't think that Obama is just the greatest thing since sliced bread thinks for themselves eh?

Tell you what dude, just do an honest reading through threads and compare liberal points made, and compare them to MSNBC talking points and I think you'll find if you are being truthful, that libs, including yourself are far closer to regurgitation of media blather than that of conservatives.


j-mac
 
The inflation rate is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And although it's certainly possible to quibble with the way they calculate inflation, the calculation itself hasn't changed in any major way since Obama took office, so any concerns that he somehow made them "fishy" are unfounded. The last major revision to how the CPI is calculated was in 1983.

The T-bill and T-bond rate are public information; they are traded freely on the open market, so at any given point in time you can buy a US government bond for the interest rate. If investors were really expecting our currency to lose a lot of its value, then the interest rates would be much higher because people would be less willing to risk loaning the government their dollars now, only to be paid back in cheaper dollars later.

All the economic data strongly points to one conclusion: The US is at absolutely no risk for high inflation. We could (and probably should) borrow/print a lot MORE money than we currently are, without experiencing any major devaluation.


Are there circumstances where the economic data could be skewed by factors other than calculation?


j-mac
 
Good God, the Fox News machine has really gotten to you folks. You'll believe just about anything...

Do you believe that Obama has done great things for this country?
 
Yep, cuz God forbid anyone that doesn't think that Obama is just the greatest thing since sliced bread thinks for themselves eh?

Tell you what dude, just do an honest reading through threads and compare liberal points made, and compare them to MSNBC talking points and I think you'll find if you are being truthful, that libs, including yourself are far closer to regurgitation of media blather than that of conservatives.


j-mac

I'd say there's a fair amount of grass between Obama causing the end of freedom as we know it and Obama being the best thing since sliced bread.
 
No, I did...Just now....You just read it. From me. Here. .... Ahh forget it...


j-mac

Thanks for pointing out what the President has been saying all along, slashing Govt. spending will kill our economy even the 5% cut has cut our growth. But at least his cuts are manageable and we still have the best growth in the Western world. If your side had it's way we would be back in a recssion with deficits increasing from lack of revenue. You know like Europe is.
 
Do you believe that Obama has done great things for this country?

The proof is in the pudding. A million jobs created and the fastests economic growth in the free world. If you want to see the results from your type of solutions, just look at Europe.
 
The proof is in the pudding. A million jobs created and the fastests economic growth in the free world. If you want to see the results from your type of solutions, just look at Europe.
Europe is in the condition it is because decades of welfare statism is collapsing.
 
Europe is in the condition it is because decades of welfare statism is collapsing.

Then why were they recovering until the tight money/austerity programs kicked in? What happened to that "confidence fairy" you all said would save the day?
 
Then why were they recovering until the tight money/austerity programs kicked in? What happened to that "confidence fairy" you all said would save the day?
Who was recovering? Plus, tight money/austerity were the conditions that lenders imposed as conditions for more lending. When you live on borrowed money, you dont get to make the rules.
 
I love it, even NBC is straying from the re elect Obama narrative. With a whole summer to go, seems like it'll be a hot one for the administration.


j-mac

I think this, "the federal government pulled back by 5.6 percent" is a lie. I know that you think so too.
I wonder why politicians believe they can lie to us day in and day out with no consequences.

Oh, they can. They have apologists in the media and even here in this small corner of the universe.
 
Who was recovering? Plus, tight money/austerity were the conditions that lenders imposed as conditions for more lending. When you live on borrowed money, you dont get to make the rules.

No, it was a condition that European governments imposed and it is turning out to have been a really dumb idea. By cutting spending too deeply and too quickly they pushed themselves back into recession and their debt problems are actually getting WORSE rather than better. There was a big debate a few years ago as to who was taking the wiser course: Obama/Geithner or Europe. The results are in.
 
I think this, "the federal government pulled back by 5.6 percent" is a lie. I know that you think so too.
I wonder why politicians believe they can lie to us day in and day out with no consequences.

Oh, they can. They have apologists in the media and even here in this small corner of the universe.

When the truth hurts deny it. It's like a daliy occurence in the life of a right winger lately. It is not very becoming.
 
Ok, I went back and re read...I got the article wrong. Long week I guess...Anyway, this is insane. we need to create MORE funny money out of thin air, based on increased borrowing?

I got the thread wrong no big deal...Libs are getting this all wrong and we will collapse. So yeah, let's keep poking fun at me....It's all good.


j-mac

I'm glad you saw your error, but this is what I've been saying in terms of shrinking government. Jobs will be lost. It will be painful. And while it may be something we want to do, to say Obama cut jobs, and then complain that it is his fault for losing jobs is just silly.
 
Yep, cuz God forbid anyone that doesn't think that Obama is just the greatest thing since sliced bread thinks for themselves eh?

Tell you what dude, just do an honest reading through threads and compare liberal points made, and compare them to MSNBC talking points and I think you'll find if you are being truthful, that libs, including yourself are far closer to regurgitation of media blather than that of conservatives.


j-mac

Strawman noted for future reference (just in case you need to see what one looks like).

:coffeepap
 
When the truth hurts deny it. It's like a daliy occurence in the life of a right winger lately. It is not very becoming.
Lately? I thought they started doing that about, oh, late 2002? ;)
 
No, it was a condition that European governments imposed and it is turning out to have been a really dumb idea. By cutting spending too deeply and too quickly they pushed themselves back into recession and their debt problems are actually getting WORSE rather than better. There was a big debate a few years ago as to who was taking the wiser course: Obama/Geithner or Europe. The results are in.

That's what happened alright but get ready for the flood of amnesiacs, denyers and excuse makers. It's all they have anymore.
 
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No, it was a condition that European governments imposed and it is turning out to have been a really dumb idea. By cutting spending too deeply and too quickly they pushed themselves back into recession and their debt problems are actually getting WORSE rather than better. There was a big debate a few years ago as to who was taking the wiser course: Obama/Geithner or Europe. The results are in.
Those European governments are essentially the lenders. Demanding that places like Greece alter the way they do things and to at least make an effort to live within their means was not a 'really dumb idea,' it was the only option left.
 
Those European governments are essentially the lenders. Demanding that places like Greece alter the way they do things and to at least make an effort to live within their means was not a 'really dumb idea,' it was the only option left.


What we are seeing in Europe is the end result of Keynesian economics.


j-mac
 
What we are seeing in Europe is the end result of Keynesian economics.


j-mac
As opposed to? What school of thought has the U.S. subscribed to for decades? There are far too many factors at play in Europe to lay the blame at the feet of any single ideology or particular group.
 
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