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Let's Hope Joe Biden's Grasp of the Economy Is Better than His and His Boss's Reading Skills
Remember back during last fall's election, when Barack Obama and Joe Biden barely went a sentence without reminding everyone that we were in the worst economic situation since the Great Depression?
Well, they didn't apparently mean it. Or something. Here's a quote from Vice President Biden, the man who is charged with overseeing stimulus spending (by the way, how's that going, chief?):
"We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package," Biden said on ABC's "This Week." "The truth of the matter was, no one anticipated, no one expected that that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having distributed the bulk of the money."...
Meanwhile, liberal economists such as Paul Krugman have argued for more public spending now, just as the stimulus money begins trickling into the economy.
Not to worry, though, America.
"And so this is just starting," Biden said. "The pace of the ball is now going to increase."
Given that little of the stimulus money has been spent so far, and indeed is mostly supposed to happen next fiscal year, when skies will be blue and clear again, it's a great time to start talking about a second stimulus, right? A smaller, more-targeted one?
"The economy took away everything they put on the table," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-leaning economic think tank.
"We strongly believe we need another stimulus, and we need it now," added Thea Lee, the policy director for the AFL-CIO.
Sounds even better with more details!
I like the idea of a fourth stimulus, one that could happen right now! Or at least tomorrow. And it includes a John Holmes joke for free! First proposed even before the first Obama stimulus plan swung into ill-advised action like former House Speaker Denny Hastert at a pancake breakfast:
Xeones|7.6.09 @ 9:12AM|#
Johnny Fivers | July 6, 2009, 8:57am |
#
Tongue-in-cheek pop culture machine-becomes-aware reference?
Anonymity Bot has now officially surpassed Lefiti, joe, et al. in
both intelligence AND relevance. I suppose we should be grateful
that the Singularity seems to have a soft spot for libertarian
ideas.
Ben Kenobi|7.6.09 @ 9:19AM|#
Obama/Biden: "It was imperative that we pass the stimulus bill because the economy was the worst its been since the Great Depression, except we didn't think it was that bad at the time, except it was that bad and we think that now it is that bad, but the stimulus hasn't even started to take effect yet, but it was imperative we pass it quickly because everything was shovel ready and the economy was the worst its been since the Great Depression, except we didn't realize it was that bad and the stimulus hasn't even taken effect yet so give it time...Hey look over there, health care reform!"
Tricky Prickears|7.6.09 @ 9:29AM|#
If only it were that simple. What the government needs to do is:
restore everyone's 401(k)s to the levels they were at before the
crash, eliminate everyone's credit card debt, and inflate property
values to the same upward trend they were at. Yeah, right! Nobody,
and I mean nobody is spending money. And add to the reasons I
stated that people are afraid of losing their jobs.
A quarterly consumer survey conducted for Fairleigh Dickinson University's Silberman College of Business found nearly two-thirds of New Jerseyans have a friend or relative who have lost their job, up nine points from January. As a result, more Garden State consumers are increasing their savings, especially younger workers.
- by The Associated Press
Monday July 06, 2009, 5:30 AM
It's great that people are saving more money, but it sure as shit
doesn't help my, or many other, small businesses that rely on
individual spending. And a tax cut doesn't help anyone if they are
not making any money to begin with. In my 30 years of being in the
construction trades, I have never seen it this
bad. Stimulus and/or tax cuts are not going to help a damned thing.
Break up these "too big to fail" banks, once and for all, and sell
off their assets to the smaller community banks. You know, the ones
that actually know what the fuck they are doing.
Tomcat1066|7.6.09 @ 9:38AM|#
Remember, this was the same stimulus plan that had to be passed
or else unemployment would reach 8.5%!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course, the fact that it's currently 9.5% is probably not
relevant to anyone in Washington since they've "saved" so many jobs
that they can't actually prove they saved.
So...uh...what was the point of that stimulus again? Oh yeah, to
screw me and my kids future. Gotcha.
|7.6.09 @ 9:47AM|#
Joe Biden is a Goddamn retard.
Don't forget, Joe Biden suffered at least one brain aneurysm, and
thus has suffered non-trivial brain damage.
Show a little compassion, folks!
Kyle Jordan|7.6.09 @ 9:59AM|#
"Don't forget, Joe Biden suffered at least one brain aneurysm,
and thus has suffered non-trivial brain damage."
I didn't know that.
This my friends, is exactly what's wrong with this country.
Yeah, I'm just looking for stuff to be mad at this morning...
Xeones|7.6.09 @ 10:02AM|#
Don't forget, Joe Biden suffered at least one brain
aneurysm, and thus has suffered non-trivial brain
damage.
Yeah, i was using "retard" as a technical term. The man should be
in a home in Delaware playing with model trains, not next in line
for the presidency.
|7.6.09 @ 10:18AM|#
My mind reads, "We misrepresented how bad the economy was, and
we had hoped the stimulus funds would be fully dispersed a lot
faster. But instead, the economy is trudging along without much of
our help and we got caught with our pants down."
Am I wrong?
Art-P.O.G.|7.6.09 @ 10:23AM|#
Am I wrong?
You're right, but Krugman seems to assume a second stimulus package would be spent quicker than the first, which is moderately confusing.
Kevin|7.6.09 @ 10:33AM|#
Anyone who writes or comments on this web site (trolls excepted)
saw this coming. Yet the entire administration, and the, like, 3 or
4 economists they talk to (aka "EVERYONE") thought it wouldn't be
this bad. I-d-i-o-t-s. Even more so are the people who buy this
bullshit.
I still think we would have been better off spending all that money
on eliminating the income tax altogether, permanently. Imagine the
stimulus of everyone earning a paycheck getting a 25%+ raise. We
could afford to save, AND spend more, AND pay our mortgages.
Starting immediately.
|7.6.09 @ 10:50AM|#
It's obvious the "stimulus" isn't really about stimulus, it's about supporting the Democrats by putting a ton of money out during the 2010 mid-term elections. The timing of the spending is to too suspicious to be coincidence.
alan|7.6.09 @ 11:04AM|#
It's great that people are saving more money, but it sure as
shit doesn't help my, or many other, small businesses that rely on
individual spending. And a tax cut doesn't help anyone if they are
not making any money to begin with. In my 30 years of being in the
construction trades
On net, you are likely right. I would add though that the high rate
of savings is likely the only factor that has a chance of keeping
inflation in check under current conditions.
. Stimulus and/or tax cuts are not going to help a damned
thing. Break up these "too big to fail" banks, once and for all,
and sell off their assets to the smaller community banks. You know,
the ones that actually know what the fuck they are
doing.
Quite right, that is exactly what should have been done in October
of last year. With those smaller banks being spread out far and
wide, Boston, Charlotte, San Fransisco and other banking oriented
towns there would have been a massive power shift from Wall Street
to a more diffused financial sector from all across the country.
Which from a political economy standpoint is much more in our
interest than a few firms on Wall Street pulling the strings.
However, that was a little more radical than the establishment and
its peons would allow.
|7.6.09 @ 11:20AM|#
Why is it, that when Bush spent money we didn't have, it was called debt spending, but now that Obama is spending 4 times as much, it is called stimulus?
Rich|7.6.09 @ 11:26AM|#
"What the government needs to do is: restore everyone's 401(k)s
to the levels they were at before the crash, eliminate everyone's
credit card debt, and inflate property values to the same upward
trend they were at."
Tricky, have you considered running in 2012? Your plan is so much
better than the usual "I'll just raise wages and lower prices"
crap. Throw in "Pay off everyone's mortgage [only primary, of
course -- for fairness]" and you've got *my* vote.
|7.6.09 @ 11:28AM|#
"We misrepresented how bad the economy was, and we had hoped the stimulus funds would be fully dispersed a lot faster. But instead, the economy is trudging along without much of our help and we got caught with our pants down."
brotherben, look at Biden's quote: "[N]o one expected that that
recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of
having distributed the bulk of the money."
That's the opposite of what you're saying. He's saying that
everybody knew that the stimulus package would be this slow at
spending the money. Indeed, that was the main criticism by the
Republicans and others, having conceded the idea of a stimulus. The
alternative packages included things like payroll tax cuts that
could take place immediately, but Biden and his party insisted on
spending that would take a long time.
And now he's saying that everyone knew all along that the
criticisms were correct, that the preferred stimulus (government
spending as opposed to tax cuts or sending out checks) would take a
long time. The money from the stimulus that has been spent is
mostly sending out welfarish checks and/or tax cuts. So he's saying
that "We knew it would take too long, but we thought it was
sufficiently important that the government get to spend it on this
instead of tax cuts."
|7.6.09 @ 11:31AM|#
"The truth of the matter was, no one anticipated, no one expected that that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having distributed the bulk of the money."
The truth of the matter was, they knew that criticisms of the
stimulus for not spending fast enough were dead-on, but they
really, really wanted to make sure that the money was spent by the
government instead of in tax cuts or letting welfare recipients and
the unemployed decide where to spend their money.
I don't see how you can read this as other than, "We thought it
wouldn't be so bad, so that we would have time to spend money on
our pet projects instead of doing the fastest thing."
DADIOADDY|7.6.09 @ 11:40AM|#
Give everyone $500,000 on the condition that they
1) reduce their mortgage or renovate their home
2) buy a new Ford, GM or Chrysler product
3) put a % into their IRA
4) pay down their credit card debts
5) buy something or take a vacation in the US
assume 200 million folks that's a trillion but all plowed back in
and not a funky program/project in sight
|7.6.09 @ 11:49AM|#
Remember, here at H & R we don't use the C-word, we use the
T-word:
Biden is the fucking Stimulus CZAR
TARD!
Tricky Prickears|7.6.09 @ 12:47PM|#
However, that was a little more radical than the
establishment and its peons would allow.
Of course. It wasn't in the "best interest" of the
politicians to cut off their own financial backing. Two people,
both women, FDIC Chairperson Sheila Bair (Chair Bair) and a woman
by the name of Terry Jorde, Chair of Independent Community Bankers
of America ICBA
[pdf] proposed this.
Jorde's testimony before House Committee on Financial Services.
[pdf]
hmm|7.6.09 @ 1:51PM|#
Joe Biden is a Goddamn retard.
Game.
Set.
Match.
Lets go get a beer.
Here's a great idea for stimulus, don't collect income tax for two
years. Imagine all the stimulus that would by. I could would have
enough for hookers and coke through at least 5 week long Vegas
stimulus binges. And some left over for a medical detox.
alan|7.6.09 @ 2:20PM|#
Helping both the hospitality industry and health care industry nearly simultaneously, Hmm, I say that would make you a Gawddanged patriot if you went through with your plan.
Tricky Prickears|7.6.09 @ 4:29PM|#
Here's a quote from Vice President Biden, the man who is
charged with overseeing stimulus spending
Did I miss something somewhere. In all fairness to VP
Biden, I thought he was chosen for his foreign policy experience,
not his economic knowledge. Oh, I forgot. With Ms. Clinton running
foreign policy affairs, there isn't any room for someone who
actually has foreign policy experience. My
bad.
*|7.6.09 @ 7:35PM|#
R C Dean | July 6, 2009, 11:49am | #
Remember, here at H & R we don't use the C-word, we use the
T-word:
Biden is the fucking Stimulus CZAR TARD!
Hmm. Didn't get any laughs on the other thread, either. Guess we'll
just put it down to old folks repeating themselves.
|7.6.09 @ 9:15PM|#
Give everyone $500,000...assume 200 million folks that's a
trillion
Do you know how much a trillion is?
DADIODADDY|7.6.09 @ 9:44PM|#
Abject apologies, I dropped a couple of 0's. I was using my democrat calculator...you know where in reality it's always more expensive than you think or wish or hope.
|7.7.09 @ 8:58AM|#
Hey look, Nick's wearing the leather jacket again! He's a
Rebel©.
Nick is actually wearing the skin of a vanquished enemy. He has to
rotate them around, so he's stuck wearing one pretty much all the
time.
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