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Obama Not to Blame for the Economy’s Collapse
We can’t recall ever having spoken a kind word about Barack Obama, nor do we even imagine him capable of saying or doing something that might bring us around. However, we do not – repeat, do not – blame him for the terminal state of the economy. It was headed irretrievably into a Second Great Depression long before he took office, and the things he has tried so far to forestall a day of reckoning are, for the most part, the same things that any president, Democrat or Republican, would have tried. Nothing would have worked, of course, because the deflation that the U.S. and the rest of the world have been trying so desperately to counteract is drawing irresistible force from an imploding derivatives bubble valued notionally at nearly a quadrillion dollars. Small wonder, then, that a relatively puny stimulus effort amounting to mere trillions of dollars has bought us only time, not growth, and done so in a way that will burden future generations with more debt than they will be able to service, let alone repay.
To be sure, a solution has always lain well outside the boundaries of political discussion. The best we could have hoped for was a legislative sausage pleasing to the tastes of Harry Reid and John Boehner alike. But nothing those two could conceivably have agreed on would have brought the economy around. Nor would a change at the top have helped. Put someone else in the White House not handicapped by Mr. Obama’s timidity, incompetence and cluelessness – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is our idea of the right guy for the job – and even he would have failed to slow the country’s slide into deepest recession, let alone reverse it. For in fact we face 30% unemployment, a wave of bank failures that will rival the 1930s, and a real estate washout that will double the devastation that has already occurred. All of this is coming, and even though a President Christie, in the heat of the banking crisis of 2008-09, might have proffered the only correct answer – i.e., let the banks fail, allowing the markets to clear and the economy to right itself – it is inconceivable that he could have sold this course of non-action to Congress.
What Will Be ‘Money’?
And so, we can only wait nervously for the trigger event that will cause the economy to implode, unsanctioned. There is no predicting when this will occur, but the May 2010 Flash Crash provides strong reason to think that it will be mostly over – at least, the digital-financial part of it – in time for the evening news. The morning after, the desperate concern of nearly every American will be…money. It doesn’t take a rocket scientists to recognize that credit cards will no longer be the coin of the realm at that point. And just what might be? Silver and gold coins would be our guess, along with what little U.S. currency happens to be circulating when the music stops. If you are not prepared for something like this now, you ought to be. We’ll conclude with a link to the best book we’ve read to help you get ready, Sean Brodrick’s The Ultimate Suburban Survivalist Guide.
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From your gut feelings to god's ear. Would the last days of oil were as your wishes predict. < sigh >.
Calling oil abundant in it's liquid form, suggesting oil in it's solid form is coal and shale, is like referring to trees as paper in it's early stage.
To have to put a huge industry between the mining of coal and selling of gasoline has to be a tremendous anchor around the neck of our economic growth.
My own feeling is that we should be thankful for the days that have been given us since we learned, not that we had reached peak oil, but that the global economy had self-destructed.
And that the American Genius of the last 200 years was now revealing itself
as giving as many of us as possible as normal life as possible for as long as possible.
Obama and his democratic majority did nothing to fix the problems that caused the subprime collapse and which seem to be about to cause the coming euro-collapse. Namely, banks are still allowed to gamble in the derivatives casino and to shift risk away from the originating lender to other banks.
The subprime crisis was caused by Clinton (who removed the sensible banking limits) and Bush (who did nothing to restore them). But the euro-crisis belongs completely to Obama.
No single individual is responsible for the markets collapse. What Obama is nearly solely responsible for is being AWOL in the effort or lack of effort to take anything even close to resembling appropriate corrective action after the collapse and instead following a policy of bailing out busted counterparties and paying all outstanding obligations at par. He is as solely responsible for that as any individual human being. Therefore, if the economy collapses again for the the same reason as last time then he will be disproportionately responsible for the next collapse.
the person really really responsible is thet guy that runs a taco stand in bangldesh..
The name of the taco stand is Freds Tacos . The indian equivelent for mahendras Beans and such .
He is the counterparty on alll quadrillion in derivitive and on the hook for the whole subang ,,
pledged 20 cents for each taco sold. So no president responsible .. Just the free market at work . and an overworked crew on that busy street in town. Just down from the office of sewers inc.
I understand your point, and don't totally disagree with it, but the big O did sell himself as THE guy that knew how to fix things and turn them around. Most people should have known it was BS, but what can I say?
Was it Nixon that said "We're all Keynsians now" ? There the problem, both current parties share the same economic hymnbook with slight variations so in that sense you are likely right - they are still all true believers despite the vast and long history of evidence against it............
He has been a fairly obedient puppet so far. Not too bad. I do hope he capitalizes on the increasing civil unrest we are seeing. When the violence starts he needs to order increased and more brutal police action. And when the first shots are fired, martial law and the 2012 elections suspended. This needs to be accompanied by massive banking "reforms", at which point all of the big banks will be nationalized - or should I say the government will be fully and openly controlled by the bankers. He will get broad support for "saving America". After that it won't really matter what asshat the emotional animalistic greedy public elect to office. Things will finally move forward. We let the sheeple try and govern themselves and they failed miserably. Time to put the power back where it belongs.
I just want a new iPhone 5. Is that too much to ask for?
But...can you eat them?
It was me, I did it.
Fuck that, Obama said he had all the answers...now everyone runs around saying ' Dont blame him its not his fault!' Total bullshit, Omama came in and doubled down on sucking Wall St's dick and continued printing and bailing out criminals like mad and in general being a total yes-man for all actions that continue to bring us down. Obama might not be responsible for the recession he inherited, but he is responsible on doubling down on it and ensuring the depression. WTF wake up Rick.
I hadn't intended to exculpate Obama in a "nice" way, Sheep. As I tried to make clear, I hate the guy. What I'm saying is that he just happened to be in the Oval Office when the music stopped.
Kudos for answering comments, Rick.
Aside from a widely held disgust with President Puke, I think the friction you're getting boils down to this: This piece is political, and our problems are monetary. Obama and the rest know that the system benefits the very few. He makes the situation worse by not only ignoring the root of our problems (he never mentions the monetary system except to praise Bernanke), but pillorying the people who actually are productive and producing things of value - those the system abuses the most. In short, he's another puppet, committed to doing the bidding of his masters, so he gets just as much blame as everyone else who's doing nothing to free us - more, because he could make a difference. Farakhan understands the cartel and speaks about them frequently. President Puke is not the man Farakhan is. PP could have been a great leader, but first he'd have to be a great man, and he's already shown he is not by introducing us to the hand that's up his bony ass, making his lying lips move, incessantly.
You're pissing in the wind with that notion in this forum.
There are more Madame Defarges here than at the first printing of a "Tale of Two Cities."
BOA publicly said that higher fees are good for America yesterday.
Obama didn't counter them or remind them that is was the American public that bailed their sorry asses out and we have the bill to prove it.
Go run BO's SS through E-verify and let that sink in a bit.
Sure I know...he's nothing but an actual Manchurian Candidate for bankster policy.
Well, Let's just say, I haven't ruled anything out yet, you may be on to something?
http://wtpotus.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/obama-e-verify-orly-site.jpg
I hope he takes comfort in this absolution as he is cleaning his tar and feathers off.
Rick continues to disappoint.
Stop reading me, then, Harbour, lest mere disappointment turn into despair...
Bam had a chance to be a true "next FDR", but he squandered it back in 2008/09 when he had no clue and listened to the likes of Summers, Timmy and Bennie.
Clean house, let the TBTF fail, go through 2 gut wrenching years of restructuring and the worst would be over by now. Instead he listened to the Keynesian fools and here we are with the worst yet to play out.
He could have been skating to re-election right now. Instead he will be laughed at and vilified forever. The problems are of his own making, let him reap the consequences.
sschu
the depression in the 30's was fixable with the help of Adolph Hitler.
today nobody knows how to make crude oil out of camps full of Jews
His middle name is "Narcissus." Why do you think we still haven't seen the real birth cert?
Insiderman
His middle name is "Narcissus."
I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how he was labeled African American on the BC, since in'61 the ethnicity used was Negro.
African American did not come along for YEARS after.
And if he was, that would be a good thing?
LOL! At least a couple of folks picked up on the sarcasm about "next FDR"
Bam wanted to be a savior, too bad he failed to realize that meant putting others ahead of himself. Narcissistic should be his middle name.
sschu
Not sure what you mean by "a true 'next FDR'", but he sure seems exactly like the bookend to the New Deal socialist death trap that FDR launched the US into.
Why do folks that weren't around when FDR was prez think he did a good job?
obama surrounded himself in a circle of finance jews, discounted his 'base' support, completely and utterly disregarded the 'mandates' for his office. obama is a FDR wannabe, his grand oratories are modeled after kennedy's. like you suggested, reap what you sow
Prodded by the likes of you to seek the advice of finance gentiles, he'd have limited his options to...Herr Ackermann at Deutsche Bank?
over-representation of jews in congress, supreme court and obama's administration, is undemocratic and allows a 3% minority to rule over the majority. per your question, obama could have listened to buffet. warren buffet is no gentile but he knows how to game the financial system and he knows how to patch it up. isn't it ironic that buffet is the one yelling at the govt seeking an overhaul of derivative products?
Maybe we need affirmative action for non-Jews to make things fairer?
i don't know about that, my thoughts are as follows:
The jewish minority group in this the US, is being over-represented by liars and crooks, the most devious and underhanded jewish americans, it's like they are all from a cesspool of hypocrites. jewish over-representativeness is exacerbated by the lack of principled leaders, where are the hans litten types? there's one russ feingold but he cannot undone the damages of madoff, blankfein, fuld, greenberg, robert edward rubin, sanford sandy weill and the likes. recently a lot of rabbis are getting charged and convicted on fraud charges, and rabbi is citing their jewish omerta, their mesirah! what does it say about jewish american community at large as a minority group? if i were a jew i'd be real ashamed and do some self reflection on it. 65 years since the world established a jewish state, israel is engulfing the region, suppressing the other native populations, its people have created the highest economic gap between the rich n poor, and then there are all these crooks over-representing the jewish minority in the US. WHAT THE FCUK ARE WE THINKING? THE ACTIONS OF THESE JEWISH LEADERS ARE DENIGRATING TO JESUS, AND THEY MAKE ADOLF LOOK GOOD?! WE NEED TO PURGE THESE BLOODY HYPOCRITES ASAP!!! WE NEED DAMAGE CONTROL RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THESE CORNHOLE FCUKS DO MORE HARM TO JEWS THAN POOR PALESTINIANS EVER WILL!
Are they over-representing the jewish minority, or are they not representative of them, and in need of purging?
Since you're saying that they make other jews look bad, I guess they don't represent them. So they might as well not be jews, right? Surely you can see how people might be waiting for your screed on greedy amoral people in general, since the ones you're talking about aren't really jews. Maybe this is that screed and you just mixed up some labels.
BTW, a little editing of your final bit produces this: ... "..make Adolf look good.! We need to purge these... jews." (har har)
Seriuosly, these are just the smartest amoral assholes around. Get rid of them and we get slightly less brilliant amoral assholes. Take away the foundations of their power and you get an impotent amoral asshole, my favorite kind.
yeah i was doing some editing on this post because i don't want people to misinterpret my piece, which you just did: "Since you're saying that they make other jews look bad, I guess they don't represent them. So they might as well not be jews, right? Surely you can see how people might be waiting for your screed on greedy amoral people in general, since the ones you're talking about aren't really jews." i never said 'they make other jews look bad', your entire premise is wrong your guess is also wrong. that's all i have to say about that;
in my book the 'smartest amoral assholes' get bullets to the head, it sets a great example for 'less brilliant amoral assholes' so they be warned and it's heck of a lot easier than taking away the foundations of their power.
Wrong sequence of events. First you neuter them, then you stand ready to deal out punishment. You can't guard a power vacuum for long.
Don't want to spoil your day, Sid, but National Alliance has speculated that Buffett may have some "Jew blood" (and that so might Rupert Murdoch). Maybe those lovable lugs at National Alliance were just making a joke, but with a supposed Jew in Hitler's family tree, you can hardly blame them for being a little paranoid.
with respect rick but it seems to me that out of my entire argument you only picked up 1 word, 'jew'. while it's true that i'm disgusted by the over abundance of unscrupulous jews operating in the finance sector and its regulatory body, e.g. people who are making fraudulent bets with public funds and bailing out tards who made the wrong bets, i'm much more interested in policies that will get our economy humming again. your 'jew blood' is of no interest to me. if soros or fuld repents tomorrow and tell us how to end fraud and moral hazard on wall st. i'm all ears. and please stop all the bloody libelous rumors unless you have hard proof to back it up.
It's simpleton to look at (and judge) the economy's progress as a discrete event or even a set of them. It's about degrees/severity. Predictably, Obama has done nothing to change the vector the economy was following (unless steepening the downward angle counts). It was well within the purview of TPTB, chief among them Barry, to put into place remedial policies to soften the impact or avert certain things. He has done none of that and has only been an accelerant and antagonizing force in the depths to which we will sink.
The right question to ponder is whether he is truly as stupid as his actions or in fact wily and deliberate in bringing about and intensifying the meltdown that is simmering before us.
Selah...
I don't think he as wily as people give him credit for. He doesn't have the background. His only business experience as far as I know is running a local ACORN chapter. Most of the people here at ZH probably have far more knowledge about how the economy works, e.g., how the transportation and energy sectors interrelate, or the correlation between FED funds rate and 90 day T-bills. And certainly more knowledge when it comes to trading equities and securities. I seriously doubt O has a clue about any of that. I really don't. So this Obama qua Wile E Coyote allegory....I'm not buying it.
iNull
Step back in time.
Look who he appointed to ALL the Executive Branch positions, and Cab members.( not Wiley?).
It's like a who's who list at a Gestapo Party.
Hit the ground running with only the PROGRESSIVES agenda in mind. And has really done nothing since.
by keeping Bernank and Geithner, Obama will get some ass wooping
Obama is to blame for extending the same ol' failed big government intervention policies.
That much is true, as he is also guilty of extending our colonial wars halfway around the world. But on point 1, how much credit or blame does the president really deserve when it comes to steering the economy? I think both are overrated. As Commander In Chief however, here I think he could have made a real difference. He could at least have shut down gitmo or at least reversed Bush 2's policy that condoned/tolerated the torture of prisoners, or worked harder to extricate us from Afghanistan and Iraq. But instead of doing any of that he overextended the miltary even more and got us involved in nightly drone operations in Pakistan, Libya and who knows where else. These military goat fucks have played a significant role in growing the national deficit (and debt) far beyond our ability to ever pay it back. As the author pointed out, it doesn't matter who is elected president. You can't unfuck an economy when you are bleeding that much cash into futile occupational wars. And I'm spent...
True, iNull, the goat fucks run the military show, not the CinC. What civilian president is going to stand up to the Joint Chiefs? Clinton, Bush, Obama? Not likely.
On the other hand today's occupational wars will pay some crude oil dividends.
How about Harry Truman for standing up to the Joint Chiefs?
Harry Truman was the best president in my life time. His days are as gone from America, as Hitler's days are from Germany.
A lot of Americans would prefer a king to a President. Someone who can wipe laws, dissolve debts, deputize people, unilaterally issue proclamations and modify treaties, etc.
That's what sucks the most about democracies. Lots of people aren't prepared to live in them. Not that it matters--they don't last long.
I'll go with a benevolent tyrant or a benevolent Tyler (whichever comes first) :- ).
blunderdog
A lot of Americans would prefer a king to a President.
Excuse me, I already thought HE had assumed the role.
That said, No, you have us confused with SOME of the Brits.
You're saying Obama's acting like a king?
Sure, I could see that. He doesn't seem like a powerful one, though. He hasn't done jack shit.
I certainly agree things could be better if someone else were in the position. My preference is to prevent who sits in the White House from affecting life. That'll be *progress.*
wizards can do all that and more :o )