Well ... no. A leader is one who can inspire people and convince them to follow him. Obama's got no inspiration and no credibility.
It also helps if the leader can promote a policy that might actually work.
When Republicans have as their number one goal defeating the president -- as opposed to helping the country -- there is little chance that he will be able to inspire them to follow his lead.
Huh??? Was that not the Democrats number one goal in 2008? Not the defeating the president part, because their was no incumbent candidate, but the getting their presidential candidate elected part.
No, that was not the Democrats' number one goal. The Democrats were more interested in doing the job they were elected to do. Thus, unlike Republicans, they supported Bush's top domestic priority (immigration reform) and they supported TARP to avoid a total collapse of the financial system ... even though a total collapse probably would have benefited Obama in the election.
I do believe that you're delusional, as evidenced by the first two sentences of your quote.
... he said, conveniently failing to address the concluding sentence.
Doesn't take away from the fact that his freedom of action is rather limited. At the end of the day he can't do what he can't do, whether or not he's willing to do it.
What exactly was obama stopped from doing that would have turned this economy around? Spend even MORE money we don"t have? Go FURTHER into debt than we already are?
Eliminating the top tax cuts would bring in about $70 billion, supposedly. But that is still taking $70 billion of economic activity out of the private economy. That reduces GDP, it does not increase it.One, he was stopped from eliminating the top Bush tax cuts, which would have REDUCED the debt -- not that it would have turned the economy around. But it would have helped pay for his jobs bill, that was stopped and that would have reduced unemployment and boosted GDP.
One, he was stopped from eliminating the top Bush tax cuts, which would have REDUCED the debt -- not that it would have turned the economy around. But it would have helped pay for his jobs bill, that was stopped and that would have reduced unemployment and boosted GDP.
In an article in the August issue of the Journal of Political Economy, Ohanian and Cole blame specific anti-competition and pro-labor measures that Roosevelt promoted and signed into law June 16, 1933.
"President Roosevelt believed that excessive competition was responsible for the Depression by reducing prices and wages, and by extension reducing employment and demand for goods and services," said Cole, also a UCLA professor of economics. "So he came up with a recovery package that would be unimaginable today, allowing businesses in every industry to collude without the threat of antitrust prosecution and workers to demand salaries about 25 percent above where they ought to have been, given market forces. The economy was poised for a beautiful recovery, but that recovery was stalled by these misguided policies."
Using data collected in 1929 by the Conference Board and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Cole and Ohanian were able to establish average wages and prices across a range of industries just prior to the Depression. By adjusting for annual increases in productivity, they were able to use the 1929 benchmark to figure out what prices and wages would have been during every year of the Depression had Roosevelt's policies not gone into effect. They then compared those figures with actual prices and wages as reflected in the Conference Board data.
In the three years following the implementation of Roosevelt's policies, wages in 11 key industries averaged 25 percent higher than they otherwise would have done, the economists calculate. But unemployment was also 25 percent higher than it should have been, given gains in productivity.
Meanwhile, prices across 19 industries averaged 23 percent above where they should have been, given the state of the economy. With goods and services that much harder for consumers to afford, demand stalled and the gross national product floundered at 27 percent below where it otherwise might have been.
"High wages and high prices in an economic slump run contrary to everything we know about market forces in economic downturns," Ohanian said. "As we've seen in the past several years, salaries and prices fall when unemployment is high. By artificially inflating both, the New Deal policies short-circuited the market's self-correcting forces."
Eliminating the top tax cuts would bring in about $70 billion, supposedly. But that is still taking $70 billion of economic activity out of the private economy. That reduces GDP, it does not increase it.
Eliminating the top tax cuts would bring in about $70 billion, supposedly. But that is still taking $70 billion of economic activity out of the private economy. That reduces GDP, it does not increase it.
Pure lies and propaganda
Wealthy people do not spend 100% of their disposable income. I doubt very much that a 4% tax hike would change most of their spending habits one bit.
To be a leader, one actually needs to have people willing to follow. Congress's head is stuck so far up its own ass that the President couldn't do anything substantial if he wanted to.
Eliminating the top tax cuts would bring in about $70 billion, supposedly. But that is still taking $70 billion of economic activity out of the private economy. That reduces GDP, it does not increase it.
No, but that is because they dont oppose a wasteful and spendthrift government. Especially when that government is wasting someone elses money.have the obama apologists ever told us why we should give a wasteful and spendthrift government any more money before it can prove it can make massive massive cuts
I have to wonder if obama is still going to insist on raising taxes in an economy that is declining. The numbers were better than this when he said it would be dumb to raise taxes in times like this. Also this is yet another nail in his reelection bid. Every dark cloud has a silver lining.
"Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, rose at a 1.5 percent annual rate after a revised 2 percent gain in the prior quarter, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 1.4 percent increase. Household purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the world’s largest economy, grew at the slowest pace in a year."
Economy in U.S. Grows at 1.5% Rate - Bloomberg
We have to give Obama a second term so that he can maybe eventually have his first recovery summer. :roll:
One can only wonder why those who deride Roosevelt and claim he prolonged the depression neglect to post a shred of relevant data from said time period.Liberal ideas don't work. They didn't work during the Great Depression.
Abject stupidity. Raising revenue reduces deficits, period.
have the obama apologists ever told us why we should give a wasteful and spendthrift government any more money before it can prove it can make massive massive cuts
It was 4.1% in 2011 and it just keeps going down.
President Obama doesn't, and neither do his "advisors", know what to do. These closistered "professors" all taught how to do the job, but none had ever had to do the job. Thus the failure the country is having to deal with now.
Time for "change". Time to move "forward" without these nimwits.
Vote Romney.
“Just like we’ve tried [the Republicans'] plan, we’ve tried our plan, and it worked. That’s the difference.”
President Obama
At this point in time raising revenue does nothing but give politicians more of our money to spend, period. You are naive if you think any new funds coming into the general fund would go to reducing the deficit. Politicians would find some new program to start with it in order to get votes and keep their cushy so called jobs.
It was 4.1% in 2011 and it just keeps going down.
President Obama doesn't, and neither do his "advisors", know what to do. These closistered "professors" all taught how to do the job, but none had ever had to do the job. Thus the failure the country is having to deal with now.
Time for "change". Time to move "forward" without these nimwits.
Vote Romney.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?