My open letter to the President

[Briantime]

Dear President Obama,



Please, please, please...stop talking down the economy. Your speech last night erased the gains made in the market by the decidedly more optimistic words of Mr. Bernake. The entire world is looking to you for hope but are instead getting an espresso of crisis, doubt and disastrous expectations.

By now, I am hoping you have realized that the single greatest issue facing our economy is a lack of consumer confidence. The economy will never recover unless our citizens have the confidence to return to creating commerce. No government spending stimulus, regardless of size or no matter how well intentioned will have any impact until this confidence is restored. This restoration begins with you.

There is no arguing that you inherited a big mess, but it's time to start making it better, not worse.

[grifscoots]

What slays me is consumer spending equivocates supporting foreign manufacturing.

[simoncharles]

Chicken and the egg ??

[meese]

So you would rather be lied to, and just told everything is gonna be alright? Or would you rather be treated as an adult, and told the hard truth? It took a very long time to get us into this mess, and its gonna take a long time to get us out. Sugar-coating it isn't going to make that any easier.

And while consumer confidence does play a role, it is not the biggest factor here. The simple fact is, there is less "money" floating around now than there used to be, period. Whether is is a lack of credit available for folks to spend, or the effect of billions of US dollars being sent overseas, or the fact that the billion-dollar bailout money has simply disappeared into the banks and not made it back into the market. There is simply less money greasing the economic wheels now.

Consumer confidence is fine, if you still have a job. But for more and more folks every day, that just isn't the case.

All the experts have proven is that they don't have a clue. So yeah, that's not great news overall. But it is the truth, which is more than we could get out of the last bunch of crooks.

[Briantime]

So you would rather be lied to, and just told everything is gonna be alright? Or would you rather be treated as an adult, and told the hard truth? It took a very long time to get us into this mess, and its gonna take a long time to get us out. Sugar-coating it isn't going to make that any easier.

And while consumer confidence does play a role, it is not the biggest factor here. The simple fact is, there is less "money" floating around now than there used to be, period. Whether is is a lack of credit available for folks to spend, or the effect of billions of US dollars being sent overseas, or the fact that the billion-dollar bailout money has simply disappeared into the banks and not made it back into the market. There is simply less money greasing the economic wheels now.

Consumer confidence is fine, if you still have a job. But for more and more folks every day, that just isn't the case.

All the experts have proven is that they don't have a clue. So yeah, that's not great news overall. But it is the truth, which is more than we could get out of the last bunch of crooks.


I could not disagree more. When Obama says, " We may go from crisis to catastrophe". He is not telling us the truth. He is purposely choosing to project doom. It's his opinion, nothing more and specifically phrased so as to cause panic.

Consumer confidence is a huge factor. No one will spend money to generate business or make investments to provide jobs when the president is telling them we could be in a recession that will last a decade. He is the leader of the free world and people are looking to him. If that is what he is putting out there, that is what people will go with, to the detrement of our entire economy.

I fear you are so partisan in this matter, you will not admit an obvious truth. In fact you contradict your own argument. If the experts do not have a clue, what makes the presidents claims the truth? At most it is his opinion. He is paralyzing our economy by trying to scare people. For the "Hope" guy, it's certainly been a let down.

[WildBil]

We all lived through 8 years of fear mongering from the Oval Office. Like it or not, Obama's speech was nothing like that. If you had listened to any of the financial reports this morning or wsj.com, the market concern was about the lack of details. With the exception of one CNBC reporter, who is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame, most analysts were positive. I don't think the speech was the place for what must be 300 pages of details. But they need to be published soon. They should have been there already.

Unfortunately, there is some truth to both sides of the posts in this thread. The market is a confidence game, perhaps the ultimate one. And the tough talk, which was proper f for the majority of the country did help to pull down the market, but not as much as the lack of details about controls and amounts. The markets are extremely sensitive now.

Lke it or not, no large company or money center bank can survive without cash flow, and if consumers are unable or unwilling to provide it, there is no alternative the bridge loans from the government. Most banks expect to pay back the funds in 3-4 years. So does Ford. GM, well, they do have bigger problems there. But what is the alternative. Bankrupt Michigan, the FDIC and put millions on unemployment? Do you really want to see not only GM, its vendors, and your local dealers fold up? As big an a$$ as GM's CEO is, he is not wrong about the impact. He and a few others are the ones I would not mind seeing in the unemployment line, if that was only possible. Oh, did you want to only have a choice of imports? Do you somehow imagine that would be good for the economy?

I don't know what the final solution will be, or what the Country will be like in a year. I am pretty sure I have not read it on this forum either. But I am betting it will still be here, will be stronger and eventually, better for it. Maybe the government will stop making it cheaper to move manufacturing overseas. Maybe the will see domestic employment as a valuable enough ideal to pursue. I hope so, because I hate every local store closing I see. I suspect we all do. They make this mess personal.

Bil

[jayjacobson]

Dear President Obama,

Please, please, please...stop talking down the economy. Your speech last night erased the gains made in the market by the decidedly more optimistic words of Mr. Bernake. The entire world is looking to you for hope but are instead getting an espresso of crisis, doubt and disastrous expectations.

By now, I am hoping you have realized that the single greatest issue facing our economy is a lack of consumer confidence. The economy will never recover unless our citizens have the confidence to return to creating commerce. No government spending stimulus, regardless of size or no matter how well intentioned will have any impact until this confidence is restored. This restoration begins with you.

There is no arguing that you inherited a big mess, but it's time to start making it better, not worse.
:rotf: Oh sweet Jesus--er--Hesus, Brian! You're actually asking the same worthless hack(s) that F'D our children over with $$TRILLIONS in porkulus to stop sabotaging the economy?! :wtf: :confused: So we've crossed from just plain absurd to bipolar?!
:histerica

How about the clown, Bernake? Let me translate his remarks from the other night: "the economy will get better when it gets better." Also, the sun WILL come out in the morning! :confused: :wtf: :rotf:
....which is more than we could get out of the last bunch of crooks.
You mean the SAME as the last bunch of crooks?! Except this bunch of crooks spends money even FASTER! :wack: :(
....When Obama says, " We may go from crisis to catastrophe". He is not telling us the truth. He is purposely choosing to project doom....
Actually he has a very high chance of being right. When we spend $$TRILLIONS on pork--which only makes the problem worse--it is certainly inviting "catastrophe." During the great depression, we tried throwing money at the problem for 8 years. Only to make things worse, of course. The war came along just in time.
....Do you really want to see not only GM, its vendors, and your local dealers fold up?....
Yes I do! All these toxic companies and their toxic debt need to be purged from the economy. We can prolong the toxicity, or we can deal with it upfront. If we choose to prolong it, the next time we have a recession--and there will be a next time--we'll have to bail them out again.

[beartooth]

Jay,
You said;
"How about the clown, Bernake? Let me translate his remarks from the other night: "the economy will get better when it gets better." Also, the sun WILL come out in the morning! :confused: :wtf: :rotf: "

I don't think you get it Jay; your ranting and raving is part of the problem not the solution. Have you tried an anger management course? It's Bernanke by the way, and he is considered by many to be one of the most influential individuals in the world today (see Wikipedia).
I'm betting on his intelligent analysis before I believe anything I've heard from you. Stick to topics that you know something about.

Bruce :mad:

[hoog62]

Jay,
It's Bernanke by the way, and he is considered by many to be one of the most influential individuals in the world today (see Wikipedia).


Honestly Bruce, you could put Boo Boo the Fool in charge of the Fed and he would still be one of the most influential people in the world. The previous Fed Chair held that distinction, got lots of praise and accolades, and then had to admit he F'd up when the house of cards fell in. I believe the phrase he actually used was "overestimated".

[grifscoots]

Just slays me. These powerful folks can mess up all day long, still get paid, get their pensions and bonuses up the ying, but let the common make one leetle mistake.....

[beartooth]

Dave you are correct that the position has the prestige and power rather than the individual. But, what we are overlooking here is that the Fed is a group of highly educated, intelligent people doing on going research day after day. Bernanke has a BA from Harvard, PhD from MIT and taught at Princeton for years. He's considered to have special expertise regarding the "Great Depression". No one thinks they have all the answers; we wouldn't be in this mess if the solution were simple.

Fed researchers meet with their international cohorts from other countries at international conferences. We in the US are not trying to "go it alone". I believe only two auto companies in the world had positive 4th quarters comparing 2007 to 2008. Do we believe that all chairs of automotive firms, world wide, are idiots and that's why auto sales are tanking? Of course that can't be true. Economics is like medicine, some approaches to cure yield negative outcomes. Many scientific fields do not have totally black and white solutions.

We're lucky that the Fed has been generally free of political pressure from Congress or the President. After appointment and approval, the Chairman of the Fed reports to and advises Congress. We'd have hell to pay if the "pork barrelers" could influence the banks (12?) who vote independently to set policy on interest rates for example. Let's hope for everyone's sake that we on the right track to recovery. No one knows for certain; least of all the Congress men and women who have started to run for re-election already.

Take care,

Bruce :)

[c00k1e]

Too right THIS (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7911532.stm)criminal lost us $34.2bn and still gets his pension of £650,000 a year!!!

Just slays me. These powerful folks can mess up all day long, still get paid, get their pensions and bonuses up the ying, but let the common make one leetle mistake.....

[simoncharles]

Too right, and with the British taxpayers money as well.

He should be stripped of his honour and sent to work trying to fix the mess he got his bank into, on an average salary, using his previous experience in similar cases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Goodwin


I wonder if the fact that he and Gordon Brown are both Scottish that I doubt if this will happen ( the same Gordon Brown that sold all of the UK´s gold reserves at 250 when they are now over a 1000 )

Bring back Margaret Thatcher.

[jayjacobson]

....I don't think you get it Jay; your ranting and raving is part of the problem not the solution. Have you tried an anger management course? It's Bernanke by the way, and he is considered by many to be one of the most influential individuals in the world today (see Wikipedia).
I'm betting on his intelligent analysis before I believe anything I've heard from you. Stick to topics that you know something about....
You're are right, Bruce, I DO NOT get it! AND I say that quite proudly! My rebuttal to the tom foolery of BERNANKE--like it makes a F'G difference--is NOT about ranting and raving or anger. It's about the raping of our wallets and the selling of our children into economic slavery.

If Bernanke is considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the world today, AND you're betting on his intelligent analysis, we'll both be waiting for tomorrow AND STILL won't be getting any analysis--much less intelligent. AND I still have a shit-eating grin on my face! :) :D

[meese]

AND I still have a shit-eating grin on my face! :) :DThat's easy for you to say, Jay. :D

You've simply taken the position that everything is shite, and we're all screwed no matter what we do. So yeah, that makes it easy to keep parroting on and on and on with nothing new to say, and no responsibility no matter what happens, except to say "I told you so."

In fact, I'd guess that you have a total of three responses that you simply keep cutting and pasting into various threads. 'Cause it sure all sounds the same to me.

Hell, anybody can take that line, as it requires no thought or effort whatsoever. But it's a damn good thing that more people don't, or we really would be screwed.

[Morley]

There is no arguing that you inherited a big mess,
No he didn't. He knew full well what he was getting into. He volunteered for this and now it is kicking his ass.
What the market has done is basically given him a vote of no confidence as have the people.

[jayjacobson]

That's easy for you to say, Jay. :D

You've simply taken the position that everything is shite, and we're all screwed no matter what we do. So yeah, that makes it easy to keep parroting on and on and on with nothing new to say, and no responsibility no matter what happens, except to say "I told you so."

In fact, I'd guess that you have a total of three responses that you simply keep cutting and pasting into various threads. 'Cause it sure all sounds the same to me.

Hell, anybody can take that line, as it requires no thought or effort whatsoever. But it's a damn good thing that more people don't, or we really would be screwed.
As usual, Ken, you couldn't be more WRONG--which is what YOU do best! :D Like I always say, and I'll say it again now--speaking of "cutting and paste"--if the shoe fits, Cinderfella....Far from requiring no thought or effort, what I talk about--taking back our lives from the nanny-state hacks--requires the ultimate in though, effort and sacrifice. But I wouldn't expect a socialist/lib like you to understand any of that personal responsibility stuff. ;) :) STILL with a shit-eating grin on my face....:D

[beartooth]

Jay,

My friend, I sense that you strongly feel that people like Ken and I "just don't get it" when listening to your "personal agenda" or point of view.

Reminds me of an old joke. Wife calls elderly husband on his car phone; "Honey, be very careful driving home today on I-5, they are reporting on TV that there is a nut out there going the wrong way in the westbound lane. Husband says, dear there's not just one but a whole bunch of idiots driving in the wrong lane."

Jay you're marching to a different drummer and really don't have any positive, constructive, ideas toward solving our US and world economic problems. I can accept that fact and will cease any explanations of other points of view.

Before I retired, we had an unwritten rule that we didn't discuss politics and religion in the office; those topics were much too inflammatory for the customer who was keeping the business alive. However, our country was founded on freedom of speech and press and it's a cornerstone of our democracy. Some topics are just not too pertinent to having a good motorcycle forum.

Let's never forget that; "You can't ever change opinions with facts". Simple but true.

Bruce :)

[trainingwheelz]

Dear Briantime,

Not sure if you noticed, but I can do whatever the hell I want, people think I am the second coming. In fact, I could go on all three major television networks and eat live babies, wipe my mouth with the American flag, take a shit and wipe my ass with the actual United States Constitution, and still have more brainless people swooning over me than the combined audiences of every living Pop music artist, religious icon, and alternative drug culture. If you think this is bad, wait until you see what I have in store for the next 3 years and 11 months.

Thanks for your opinion,


Barack

[jayjacobson]

....I sense that you strongly feel that people like Ken and I "just don't get it" when listening to your "personal agenda" or point of view....
Bruce, much like Ken, you're confused all--er--most of the time! :confused: I think you're entitled to your opinion just as everyone else is. As a matter of fact, I think your opinion or Ken's is probably worth more than a lot of these worthless hacks appointed to high positions--while being legends in their own minds. At least I know I'm just a pee-on. :D
Reminds me of an old joke. Wife calls elderly husband on his car phone; "Honey, be very careful driving home today on I-5, they are reporting on TV that there is a nut out there going the wrong way in the westbound lane. Husband says, dear there's not just one but a whole bunch of idiots driving in the wrong lane."....
Well if we're gonna report "an old joke," we might as well get the "joke" right. It was the Santa Monica freeway, and a police lieutenant was W/B, on his way to work. His wife called him and told him that a single vehicle was E/B, traveling in the W/B lanes. The lieutenant called her paranoid! Told her not to worry and that he'll be just fine. Well he never made it to work--much less home. The wrong way driver hit him head on and killed him! DRT--tits up! :eek: :( Lesson of the story: there may or may not have been numerous wrong way drivers. Does it make a difference when one is all that it takes? :confused:
Jay you're marching to a different drummer and really don't have any positive, constructive, ideas toward solving our US and world economic problems. I can accept that fact and will cease any explanations of other points of view....
Ever since the beginning of the great depression, we have been marching to the beat of the same old "drummer." How long do we allow said drummer to carry on before we throw his worthless ass out and get a new "drummer?" :deadhorse :think: So Bruce, you tell me: what do you call someone that does the same thing(s) over and over expecting different results? :confused: :o I can not imagine what could be LESS positive or constructive! ;)

While explanations are always nice, DEMONSTRATIONS carry a lot more weight. Think of it as the opposite of the old proverbial worthless hacks "do as I say, not as I do! :D Now, who wants to join in and demonstrate some leadership? :eek: :kaboom:
....Not sure if you noticed, but I can do whatever the hell I want, people think I am the second coming. In fact, I could go on all three major television networks and eat live babies, wipe my mouth with the American flag, take a shit and wipe my ass with the actual United States Constitution, and still have more brainless people swooning over me than the combined audiences of every living Pop music artist, religious icon, and alternative drug culture. If you think this is bad, wait until you see what I have in store for the next 3 years and 11 months....

Thanks for your opinion,


Barack
:rotf: :histerica :kaboom: