Obama Proposes to Make Economy Worse

My goodness, these are stupid proposals.

Democrat Barack Obama proposed more immediate steps Monday to heal the nation’s ailing economy including a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures…

What will that do, exactly?  People who can’t afford their homes are not likely to be able to afford them any better in three months.  They are being foreclosed on because they can’t pay their mortgage.  All this will do is allow people to live for free in a house that they can’t afford for 90 days, then all of those houses will be foreclosed on and put on the market to create even more of a housing glut thus driving down home prices even further. 

...at some banks and a two-year tax break for businesses that create new jobs…

He also called for a $3,000 tax credit for each additional full-time job a business creates. That means a business that adds five jobs would get a $15,000 break. That would end after 2010 and would cost $40 billion, the campaign estimates.

Um, OK.  If a company can’t afford to create a new job now, how will offering them $3k in tax credits help them?  It’s not nearly enough to justify the expense of adding a full time job.  All this will do is had cash out to companies that are already creating jobs.  It’s great for those companies, but does nothing to help the economy.

With the economic turmoil weighing down his Republican presidential rival, Obama also proposed allowing people to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without any penalty this year and next.

Isn’t this precisely what we should NOT do?  First off, Americans should be saving for their retirement - now more than ever.  We should encourage people to save, not encourage them to spend beyond their means.  Second, where does Obama think that the money in those retirement accounts is?  It’s in the stock market!  Can you imagine the negative impact on the markets if 100 million people cash out $10k of their investments?  It will further depress the market. 

Obama’s plans are economically naive.  It wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that he might be our next president. 

1. My fondest hope is that the idiocy being spewed by both candidates regarding economics will disappear on November 5th.

   Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1542 hrs




2. Might? Will. You can bet your house on it. I’ll bet mine.

   The Messiah’s anointment is as much a lock as the Detroit Lions having a losing season.

   Posted by Peter on October 13, 2008 at 1557 hrs




3. I fear the “we have to do something” mentality which has already taken over.

   Watching politicians lately has been like watching a bunch of high schoolers experimenting with alcohol for the first time when one of them gets drunk and everyones running around with their ‘remedy’.  “give em coffee, give em something to eat, give em water, go walk around the block, lie down, stand up, sleep it off, don’t let them sleep, jam your finger down their throat, make em puke, no don’t make em puke. blah blah blah blah...”

   clueless

   Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1603 hrs




4. Let the economy and the normal market forces work like they should. Yes there will be some short term pain. But after that - things correct and we’ll be back on track.

   He’s basically just trying to buy votes by promising everyone something.

   Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1640 hrs




5. I am appalled!!!!  I just watched a clip of NObama announcing this plan.  In the background were three flags.  In the middle was an American Flag, and to the left and right were two Obama Flags.  The Obama Flags had red and white stripes.  However, instead of the stars on the blue background, there was a large O.  What the hell, is this sob changing our flag now too?  This guy comes up with his own presidential seal, now has his own American Flag?

   Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1802 hrs




6. Hey Bryan - I can’t stand Obama as much as you.  I think if he wins, we will experience the second coming of the Carter Administration with his co-pilots Reid and Pelosi.  High taxes, high unemployement, high interest rates, high inflation.

   But…

   Those are the flags of the State of Ohio.

   Sorry Dude.

   Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1813 hrs




7. It has already been “deemed” that Bush is the worst President in the history of the US - (it took almost 8 years).  I think Obama will accomplish that distinction in half that time.

   Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1820 hrs




8. OK...I stand corrected....but
   NObama still sucks....

   Where the hell is the damn Buckeye on the flag?

   Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1843 hrs




9. Owen, you are already allowed to withdrawal from your retirement without penalty in case of medical hardship and with only a 10% penalty for financial hardships. So, I don’t really see a major issue with this. I don’t think the current $1000 dollars (10%) is going to currently dissuade people if they truly need the money.
   http://www.zero2rich.com/401k-withdrawl-rules.html

   The $3K dollar tax break is nice, but I agree, it doesn’t really help create new jobs for struggling companies.

   And I would only support a 90 day moratorium if the person was making efforts with the bank to renegotiate their mortgages at current rates. I feel the federal gov’t should oversee things and give incentives to banks that renegotiate mortgages to people that can afford them at current rates (5.5 - 6.5%). If you can’t afford your current mortgage at the market’s current rates then you shouldn’t get to keep your home. This is all stream of consciousness and I am not an economy major (I am an IT nerd), but I think that would help more than just prolonging things.

   Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1923 hrs




10. So Obama offers some tax breaks to individuals and small businesses and he’s naive.  McCain rolls out plans to socialize the home mortgage industry and you all are going to vote for him.  Interesting.

    You know what else is interesting?  This…

    http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystor y.cfm?STORY_ID=12342127

    Keep telling yourselves Obama is naive.  But you might want to put some stock in the opinions of the 114 out of 142 economists who said Obama would pick a better economic team and has a better grasp of the economy.

    Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 1956 hrs




11. Check out the audio from last week’s Week in Review on WPR to hear what I think about McCain’s mortgage plan.  No, I don’t like it.

    Posted by Owen on October 13, 2008 at 2002 hrs




12. Check out the audio from last week’s Week in Review on WPR to hear what I think about McCain’s mortgage plan.  No, I don’t like it.

    But you would still vote for McCain?  And you still believe McCain and Palin are the more fiscally conservative ticket?

    Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 2012 hrs




13. When did I say that I was going to vote for McCain? 

    But yes, I believe that McCain and Palin are more fiscally conservative than Obama and Biden.

    Posted by Owen on October 13, 2008 at 2030 hrs




14. That would be Democratic academic economists, lefty.  Had an interesting discussion elsewhere on how the economist has become very left leaning since an editorial change a while ago.

    Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 2059 hrs




15. I’m not sure you have explicitly.  But a few days ago you linked an article, and endorsed its message, where it argued you should vote for McCain because Obama is so bad.  I also saw an entry by Wendy about someone stealing a McCain/Palin sign from your lawn.  I’ve also seen entries from you and an article by you speaking highly of Palin.  So I guess I assumed.  If you are undecided, or thinking of going off the GOP ticket I find that interesting to say the least.

    Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 2102 hrs




16. As of right now, I’ll probably vote for McCain.  But it’s a “hold your nose” vote.  While I detest many of the man’s stances on issues, I think that Obama’s stances are worse. 

    If Wisconsin is in play, I’ll most likely vote for McCain.  If Obama has a 10 point lead in Wisconsin going into the election, I’ll probably write in someone. 

    Look, I like McCain better than Obama, but that’s not saying much.

    Posted by Owen on October 13, 2008 at 2108 hrs




17. McCain is no Ronald Reagan-- but he looked out for the future of the GOP by naming Sarah VP!!!!  Obama would be nothing less than the First Premier of the USSRUS.....Scary stuff to say the least. 

    I talked to a 21-year old guy tonight while picking up my carry-out dinner.  He said that Obama has no clue...His business made $250K in the first year of his trucking business- which would implied that this young businessman would have paid big-time for the Obama business tax. 

    Obama has no clue--he knows only what was dished out to him by Sol Alinsky, Reverend Wright, Pentagon Bombers Bill Ayers and Bernandine Dorn that helped Comrade Obama develop his Socialist philosophy.

    WAKE UP AMERICA!!!

    Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 2127 hrs




18. Bryan,

    With all due respect, your voting rights would be revoked if I were in charge.

    Good lord.

    Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 2322 hrs




19. Bob from Salem,

    Loved you at the rally telling McCain to be quiet because you weren’t done.

    Posted by on October 13, 2008 at 2324 hrs




20. Scratch a “progressive”, find a fascist.

    Posted by HeatherRadish on October 14, 2008 at 0754 hrs




21. Thank you for pointing out the absurdity of these proposals. I couldn’t believe it when I saw them announced yesterday.

    Obama seemed to justify the 90-day moratorium on the notion that it would give people time to find jobs. What planet is he on?  Job recovery will lag behind the stock market by much more than that.  People aren’t defaulting because they lost their jobs, but because they can’t afford the increased rates. As others pointed out, a moratorium is useless without refinancing.

    Encouraging people to withdraw from their 401k is a really bad idea - this business of taking easy credit from your home, your retirement, and anywhere else is what created this crisis in the first place. If anything, they should increase the penalty to discourage withdrawals. Interesting that a Democrat, instead of offering government aid, should advise people to plunder their pension. Not so socialist after all?

    Interesting take on the job tax credit - it would seem that it works more to reward those already creating jobs than to provide an incentive for others.

    I’m not surprised that most economists favor Obama, since his team supports the Keynesian nonsense that got us in this mess. I would like to know how many of the economists surveyed were praising Greenspan’s monetary policy several years ago.

    Posted by on October 14, 2008 at 1218 hrs




22. DC,

    the Keynesian nonsense that got us in this mess.

    Really?

    Greenspan, Bernanke and Paulson (he’s just for yuks) are Keynesians?

    Please go on.

    Posted by on October 14, 2008 at 1404 hrs




23. Greenspan’s policies were a strange mix of Monetarism and Keynes.  It would be difficult to call Bernanke and Paulson anything, other than maybe Monetary Keynesians.  Their indifference to fiscal policy makes it difficult to call them pure Keynesians.  Their use of monetary policy as a driver of growth with indifference to inflation makes it diffcult to label them monetarists.

    Posted by on October 14, 2008 at 1422 hrs




24. On the other hand........

    Posted by on October 14, 2008 at 1740 hrs




25. All he’s trying to do actually is buy votes by promising things to the people. Without even thinking if he’s making any sense!
    -M from Mexico

    Posted by Bahia de Kino on October 15, 2008 at 0131 hrs