Dow Jones now below 7000.

[J. J.]

Good job Obama, this economy is your baby now.  You inherited a bad situation and have made it much worse with your reckless spending, lack of detail, and anti-business rhetoric. Talking down the economy isn't looking too good now is it?  You are turning a recession into a depression you asshole.

WTF are you talking about?

What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Obama owns it now.  This is part of the reaction to his budget, the "stimulus" bill, and his actions on the bailout.  He'll own it in five months as well, and that is the real test.

[J. J.]

Good job Obama, this economy is your baby now.  You inherited a bad situation and have made it much worse with your reckless spending, lack of detail, and anti-business rhetoric. Talking down the economy isn't looking too good now is it?  You are turning a recession into a depression you asshole.

WTF are you talking about?

What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Obama owns it now.  This is part of the reaction to his budget, the "stimulus" bill, and his actions on the bailout.  He'll own it in five months as well, and that is the real test.

I don't think he owns it in the public's mind yet.  It probably takes about 6 months from inauguration in my mind, which makes me agree with your second sentence.

I think it can work, marginally, by August.  Nothing succeeds like success.  If it doesn't, you are looking at the deluge.

[J. J.]

and my mom lost retirement.

It's up by 80 points at the starting bell today though!

Now down by 19 points, off yesterday's close.

[J. J.]

Some of this stuff is deep-rooted and can't be pinned on anyone in particular. But it seems to me like both Bush and Greenspan messed up in the early years of this millennium, believing that 9/11 was causing an economic down-turn and stimulating the economy when it should really have been reined in.

In retrospect, those Bush tax-cuts sure were stupid. As was the low interest rate.

Clearly, the Bush administration must take a lot of blame for the current situation, but the Democrats didn't really do anything about it either when they had the chance.

The thing is, will Obama make it worse?

[J. J.]

I personally don't care who caused it but I do care about how it'll be fixed and how to prevent something like this from happening again.

+104 at opening bell.

In increase, but only 80-120 points off the low.

[J. J.]

I personally don't care who caused it but I do care about how it'll be fixed and how to prevent something like this from happening again.

+104 at opening bell.

In increase, but only 80-120 points off the low.

Now down 232, 233, 234, April 1997.  I'll wait to the close. 

I'm starting to feel in a vulture mood. 

[J. J.]

In the three days since this thread started, the market has dropped more than 400 points.

[J. J.]

True, but Obama needs to step it up.

As I said before, we are not in a crisis mentality, although we should be. The attitude today is far more lax than was the attitude on September 12th, 2001, when Americans universally recognized that we were 'at war', even though the damage done to the finanical system by the housing cataclysm is far worse than the damage on Sept. 11th and the human toll, over the course of many years, may be comparable or higher as well.

Take the stimulus bill, for instance, the one bill that should have been least controversial at all. It was only supported in Pennsylvania by 47% of the people, according to one poll. Sherrod Brown, the gentleman from Ohio, had to fly back from a private event so that it could pass by the skin of its teeth. It was criticized and attacked from all corners.

One shudders to think what would have happened had the Republicans controlled Congress. We probably would not even have a stimulus bill to this very day. Nor would we have a budget- the Republicans of today would probably force another government shutdown than to pass an Obama budget.

Compare that to the Emergency Banking Act of March 1933, which passed on the very first day of Congress's special session known as the 'Hundred Days':

I think you have hit on this somewhat correctly.  Obama lacks direction, so far, on the economic crisis; so do Democrats in Congress.

The poor transition, which is still ongoing, is also troubling.

The problem isn't that Obama (or Bush) created the crisis, it is the handling of it.  So far, it has not been good, but I still think it is just too early to tell.