General Discussion

SteveG

(3,109 posts)

20. When Obama became President

Sat Dec 24, 2011, 09:46 PM

Dec 2011

I thought the economy was in big, big trouble. I think his worst mistake in the early days was to say we could keep unemployment (U3) at 8% or less. I personally thought it would go to 12% even with a good stimulus package. (of course if McCain and the Sarah bird had been elected, my estimate would have been 18% or higher). I think he tried too hard early on to work with the Republicans and gave away to much in terms of tax policy, but overall I think that under the circumstances he has done about as well as anyone could. I honestly don't think Hillary would have done any better.

I think that now, as Obama has finally come to terms with the reality that if he supports something, the republican'ts are going to oppose it, so to hell with trying to work with them and really use the bully pulpit to hammer them. In my opinion the behavior of the hard core tea party types in Congress verges on Treason.

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What was your opinion of the economy when President Obama took office? [View all] kentuck Dec 2011 OP

Economic matters are not a strong point of mine but... Ohio Joe Dec 2011 #1

At that time I was doing OK. Now emilyg Dec 2011 #2

I thought we were in deep doo doo and needed to do something radical Warpy Dec 2011 #3

I hope OWS grows by millions upon millions. n/t RKP5637 Dec 2011 #4

Posted a few days ago... CrispyQ Dec 2011 #30

Not so very different from now I suppose...although gas and food were a bit cheaper back then. NorthCarolina Dec 2011 #5

it was bad, but it's worse now. DesertFlower Dec 2011 #6

In what respect is it worse now? kentuck Dec 2011 #7

because the issue that caused the meltdown: toxic derivatives, still exists, and it's worse now ixion Dec 2011 #11

And the debt is higher and will for fiscal stimulus lower... cthulu2016 Dec 2011 #14

more people have lost their jobs, DesertFlower Dec 2011 #15

I thought the economey was bad, ZombieHorde Dec 2011 #8

The economy had virtually collapsed, deep doo-doo is an understatement Motown_Johnny Dec 2011 #9

foolishly thought those who caused the crash would do jail time nt msongs Dec 2011 #10

x2 AnotherMcIntosh Dec 2011 #28

I believed that we were in a crushing non-cyclical crisis that cthulu2016 Dec 2011 #12

That it was bad and could get much worse csziggy Dec 2011 #13

the economy had crashed and I expeted Obama to make it priority number one Skittles Dec 2011 #16

Right off the bat, I decided that the economy was "fundimentally sound"... reACTIONary Dec 2011 #17

Things were desperate and the trend was down. Turbineguy Dec 2011 #18

We were speeding to hell, and Obama applied a brake. tabatha Dec 2011 #19

When Obama became President SteveG Dec 2011 #20

I was 61 and had weathered several recessions and none of them worried doc03 Dec 2011 #21

I thought it was going bad, teetering on the edge, and come toppling down on top gateley Dec 2011 #22

I think a lot of people under-estimated the gravity of the situation... kentuck Dec 2011 #24

I think we need to look further back than 2008 - our standard of living, wages, jobs, gateley Dec 2011 #27

It's a tangent, but a critical one. CrispyQ Dec 2011 #32

There are some pretty basic changes that APPEAR to me, anyway, that would gateley Dec 2011 #33

actually moodys.com war gamed the do nothing scenario... roseBudd Dec 2011 #36

I am slowly crawling out of hole I got in between 02-08 lefthandedlefty Dec 2011 #23

I didn't realize it was going down until mid 2009 treestar Dec 2011 #25

In a death spiral. n/t BlueToTheBone Dec 2011 #26

In a death spiral. Not much better now. nt bemildred Dec 2011 #29

Heading into the second Great Depression. I can link you to my statements that the economy would be Fire Walk With Me Dec 2011 #31

I thought it was a disaster. GoCubsGo Dec 2011 #34

I was petrified from Sept. 2008 on. I knew it was FUBAR, and we were staring into an abyss roseBudd Dec 2011 #35

i heard them talk about "two more years" before unemployment went down Enrique Dec 2011 #37

I cannot understand... kentuck Dec 2011 #38