Predict the Obama Presidency

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Good foreign policy, bad everything else.  Might get some traction on curbing spending, but with a partisan bent to the prioritization.

^^^^^^^^

I like Obama, but I think he's too tied to his party to be truly effect in the ways he might want.  Change, yes, but change bastardized by the Harry Reids and Nancy Pelosis of the world.

^^^^^^^^

Have I been posting under another login in my sleep?

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

As I have often pointed out, the solution to the economic troubles is spending - huge, costly new redistributionist government programs.  As Keynes taught us, and as history has proven, nothing else will work.

The purpose of Keynesian countercyclical deficit spending is NOT wealth redistribution.  The purpose is to place capital in the hands of consumers in order to stimulate the economy through increased demand, and to prevent individuals from being permanently ruined by economic forces they cannot control.

To call Keynesianism "redistributionist" is a gross distortion.  Outlawing wealth and success is not the way to promote economic growth.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Which brings me to a response to the above post by Frodo - you want to encourage saving in the middle of a depression?  Do you not understand what is a depression?  We need to encourage spending, not saving.

If the root of the economic crisis is a credit crunch, then increased savings (and paying off of debt) is exactly the solution.  More money on deposit = more money available as credit = more loans to businesses and investment in securities.  That money creates jobs and growth.

There are two types of economic downturns: those resulting from a lack in consumption, and those resulting from a lack of available credit and capital.  This crisis is of the second variety.