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Originally Posted by pan6467
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Did Obama cause this? No. Rome had its "Barrack Room emperors" and we have had ours.Obama just inherited the mess and instead of finding ways to improve the landscape and help the PEOPLE... he has done nothing but deficit spend, allowed the tax base to shrivel up even more and bailout industries that have been causing the problems.
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What would you have proposed as a comprehensive plan to not only keep the economy from the inherited collapse in the short term, but also retooling the economy to make it more competitive in the future?
The Lost Decade
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For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different.
The past decade was the worst for the U.S. economy in modern times, a sharp reversal from a long period of prosperity that is leading economists and policymakers to fundamentally rethink the underpinnings of the nation's growth...
... There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well.
Middle-income households made less in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1999 -- and the number is sure to have declined further during a difficult 2009. The Aughts were the first decade of falling median incomes since figures were first compiled in the 1960s.
And the net worth of American households -- the value of their houses, retirement funds and other assets minus debts -- has also declined when adjusted for inflation, compared with sharp gains in every previous decade since data were initially collected in the 1950s...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...010101196.html
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There is no quick fix that I can come up with. The Libertarians say stay out of the way and the economy will fix itself. The Republicans say supply side trickle down tax cuts will work (despite the $1 trillion in tax cuts in 01 and 03 that failed on the promise of economic prosperity for the middle class).
IMO, the stimulus plan designed on two tracks makes sense, with some short-term "shovel ready" jobs funding, short term assistance to those unemployed, stabilization funds for state/local government AND long-term retooling or redirecting the economy with investments in alternative energy technology and health technology, building a national broadband network, repairing the infrastructure, etc.
It takes time and it was envisioned as a 18-24 month plan. Will it work. Who knows, but IMO, it is too soon to declare it failed.