
 |
|
June 17, 2013
June 12, 2013
Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect
Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden
June 10, 2013
The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust
June 5, 2013
John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less
Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison
June 3, 2013
Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself
May 29, 2013
Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die
May 24, 2013
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 17, 2009
/ 21 Adar 5769
Obama on the Economy: Both Sides Now
By
Debra J. Saunders
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
How the tables have turned. In September 2008, when GOP presidential
nominee John McCain said "the fundamentals of our economy are strong,"
unemployment was 6.1 percent, the credit crunch had yet to reach the
point that prompted President George W. Bush to propose a bailout, and
Team Obama proclaimed that an out-of-touch McCain "just doesn't get it"
on the economy.
Now with unemployment at 8.1 percent, the $700 billion-plus Bush bailout
has been followed by the $787 billion Obama stimulus package, and some
D.C. Democrats already are arguing for another stimulus package because
the first Obama stimulus bill didn't do the trick. Yet top Obama
economic adviser Christina Romer told "Meet the Press" on Sunday, "Of
course, the fundamentals (of the U.S. economy) are sound in the sense
that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we
have good technology." (Those qualifying statements sound a lot like the
McCain explanation for his positive diagnosis of the economy "that
the workers of America are the fundamentals of the economy.")
President Obama himself said last week, "If we are keeping focused on
all the fundamentally sound aspects of our economy ... then we're going
to get through this."
If Obama is confident about the soundness of the U.S. economy, does that
mean he "just doesn't get it?" No, it means that he is president. Now he
has to pay the political price for incessant badmouthing of the U.S.
economy. Now he has to prop up the very system at which he had been
sniping for years.
And I do mean years. Of course Obama spent 2007 and 2008 talking down
the economy he was running in a Democratic primary. But as far back
as 2002, before he became a senator, Obama suggested that Bush was
waging war against Saddam Hussein "to distract us from corporate
scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month
since the Great Depression." Factually, Obama was incorrect. There had
been four bigger one-month drops since the Depression but there was
little downside to over-trashing the economy, albeit inaccurately,
during the Bush years.
Now Obama owns the economy so the economy fear-mongering must end. As
top White House economic adviser Larry Summers told the Brookings
Institution, "We need to instill the trust that allows opportunity to
overcome fear and enables families and businesses to again imagine a
brighter future." In what he called "the central paradox of financial
crisis," Summers observed "that while the problem was caused by
excessive complacency and excessive optimism, what we need today is more
optimism and more confidence."
That sounds like a column I wrote last September when I thought
Democrats were being overly pessimistic about an economy that had been
wounded by a government loan to AIG (then $85 billion), a $30 billion
bailout in May for JP Morgan to buy Bear Stearns and the pricey shoring
up of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Clearly, I was wrong
about looming damage of overly swapped bad credit and Wall Street panic.
Six months later, two Washington administrations have thrown another $2
trillion into the pit and some Democrats are arguing that more
spending is needed to stimulate the economy.
On the one hand, I think Summers is right. Fear and panic are stalling
an engine that still has plenty of kick left but it won't start
purring until the public believes again.
Now that they're on the running-things side, Obama and company are
learning that it's a lot easier to kick the economy than to jump start
it. Too bad that they were a lot better at kicking it.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders' column by clicking here.
Debra J. Saunders Archives
© 2009, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Peter Funt
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
John Kass
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Michael Reagan
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Cathy Young
Mort Zuckerman

Eric Allie
Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Nate Beeler
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
Daryl Cagle
Patrick Chappatte
John Cole
Paul Combs
J. D. Crowe
John Darkow
Bill Day
John Deering
Sean Delonas
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Randall Enos
Mallard Fillmore
David Fitzsimmons
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Mike Keefe
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Gary McCoy
Rick McKee
Jack Ohman
Jeff Parker
Milt Priggee
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Steve Sack
Bill Schorr
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
David Ray Skinner
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Christopher Weyant
Larry Wright
Dan Wasserman
Adam Zyglis

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|