A question for the forum...about the economy...

[Peacetrain]

I know the economy is in rough shape because of the mishandling by the bush administration and having giant programs with no way to pay for them. Adding on two hot wars and not funding them..The republicans just do NOT know how to run a government as large as the United States.


But the question is this.. Do, or would, the republicans and their minions on TV be so callous as to try and tank the economy from recovery because Obama would get the credit?

Would they really purposefully have a strategy to hurt the country to knee cap Obama?

[tekisui]

1. I wouldn't put it past the repukes.

They are openly embracing such a strategy, even.

[BeFree]

5. Well,

They do hate America, ya know.

The teeming masses, the immigrants, and all of Joe-sixpack society are looked down upon from their lofty perches with the knowledge that tomorrow they might have to live down here amongst us heathens.

[Uben]

2. They might have a desire.....

...but they don't have the means. their balls have been removed!

[ksoze]

3. No, they are self serving at heart and would also be hurt by a depression

Any further erosion in the economy or lack of recovery soon will create problems for all. They have kids in school and lives that will be trashed by a depression, so they will protect themselves and their family first, like normal human beings. They will maneuver around the issue and find a way to take credit for success or be distanced from any failure. They have 401K's and pensions that will become dust and in the end, money will drive them to save themselves and by linkage, everyone.

[jwirr]

4. One of the pug senators actually said they were going to try to obstruct

as much of President Obama's plan as possible. I do not have a link so hopefully someone else will have.

[theoldman]

6. They want the economy to stay in the toilet until the next election.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out. It's all about regaining the majority in congress.

[4lbs]

7. When the economy recovers, they'll make up something to marginalize President Obama's efforts.

Something along the lines of:

"The economy recovered because businesses and Wall Street fixed themselves, in spite of the President's attempts to limit the recovery through suffocating regulation and higher taxes."

[FreakinDJ]

8. ABSOLUTELY - they'll try to tank the economy

[alsame]

9. Yes. It's their only hope to take back the White House in 2012. n/t

[firedupdem]

10. yes, I think they are and they would....

Most of the players are rich and don't give a shit. I think they would rather things continue to go to hell so they can get back in power with their "fiscal responsibility" meme. They are that slimy and nasty. Look at Sanford. He cares nothing about his constituents. How can you deny your state stimulus funds?

[madmom]

11. Yes, I absolutely think they would.

[cutlassmama]

15. agree

[lunatica]

12. They truly despise the poor and think of them as welfare queens

Sucking off the tit of the important people like themselves who God obviously prefers. And the middle class are just greedy money grubbers who want way more than they deserve and who would ruin them if we had the chance because they would make this country a Communist country.

Their mindset is that if you start helping everyone who needs help then they'll end up with nothing.

[Still Sensible]

13. They already are

From governors not taking unemployment extension money, to bankers balking at bailout funds, to Rush and his minions publicly hoping for failure.

While the burst housing bubble, the collapsed derivatives market, the skyrocketing defaults on credit obligations and the resulting unemployment are very real, the way forward is most challenged by a crisis in confidence. The greed-fed causes of this calamity, from deregulation to the blatant exploitation of the public, was at its core a confidence game. The bubble was grown not by rational market growth, but by irrational and unregulated greed--which was only made possible by the atmosphere of over confidence created and fostered by the easy credit and hyper consumerism that took hold in the 80s.

Unfortunately, the recovery is dependent on the return to a rational level of consumer and business confidence. Getting to that place is easier said than done, what with 4.4 million more unemployed in the last year, record foreclosure rates, and devastated 401-k and other retirement plans. The republicans know it is an uphill fight and, in order to keep some level of political relevance many of them are taking every action they can to impede progress.

The "hard" RW, of Limbaugh, Coulter, and their CPAC worshipers are blatantly pushing for failure. The governors are a little more subtle in coming up with rational-sounding reasons to eschew the unemployment extension funds. The bankers, who received a wholly unregulated and un-accounted for $350 billion in TARP funds in the waning days of Bush, are now reporting profitability--true or not they don't want to take additional money if someone is going to be looking over their shoulder knowing what they are doing with it.

But it is consumer confidence that will ultimately determine the speed at which America recovers. The administration knows this. The republicans know this. That is why Bill Clinton (who should not have done it publicly) was right to advise the President to be more positive in his public statements.

If the GOP can "Keep-America-Scared" on the economic front--a strategy that worked wonders for them politically after 9/11 on non-economic issues--they have a chance to convince enough moderates of Obama's and the democrats' failure to avoid a total collapse in the next two election cycles. If there is significant recovery, the GOPers will very likely find themselves in the kind of multi-generational wilderness they endured for nearly a half century following the Great Depression.

They already are trying to tank the economy, working hard to undermine public confidence, and taking actions to impede the progress of any administration economic policy--because it is all they have left.

[Top Cat]

14. The repukes hate America and would do anything to hurt the majority and President Obama

[masuki bance]

16. They want to, but we have the Presidency and both Houses of Congress. nt

[Fire1]

17. Yep. The sad part is, if they do come back in 2012, dems

will cooperate with everything.

[rasputin1952]

18. They are already trying...

"Spending Freeze" is a good start. But their view on taxation is just as bad.

Virtually every economic "plan" they have is designed to ensure wealth gushes upward as opposed to the much vaunted "trickle down" ideology.

This is not the fiscally responsible party of Barry Goldwater; the GOP has turned into nothing more than gangsters that ensure that those who maintain a financial chokehold on the US maintain said chokehold. They have zilch in any form ethics, it's all about greed and gain. They would sacrifice this nation in a heartbeat in an attempt to regain power.

To be sure, not all GOP'ers are evil and selfish, but those that hold the power in the party left any ethical behavior far behind and long ago. This is not the party of Lincoln, TR or Eisenhower, it is little more than a group of thieves and miscreants leading some pretty good people down the road to destruction.

[uponit7771]

19. At this point it would seem naive to be shocked or surpised at the GOP's vileness

[uponit7771]

20. At this point it would seem naive to be shocked or surpised at the GOP's vileness

[quakerboy]

21. Yes. Those that have padded nests

May not do well in the current economy, but they will not be substantially harmed.

Then there are those just following orders because they are as up shit creek as we are, and thats their only way to pay the bills.

And then there are the "true believers" who would rather see us all dead than give an inch on their pet topic.

[anonymous171]

22. Yes. I have no doubt in my mind that they would.

Although I think they would prefer it if they found a way to fix it with their shit ideas so they could take all the credit.

[Waiting For Everyman]

23. Do you think they wrecked us by accident?

They had 20 years to think it over and change course but did not one iota. They're still pushing for the exact same things, even after seeing that their policies caused this global catastrophe.

So YES... they would do it, they have done it, and they are doing it.

It's their agenda. It's what they do. They want a Third World America, pure and simple. Would they block any attempts to fix that? Of course.