Barack Obama

[TracyCoxx]

Looks like the love fest is ending between the rest of the world and Obama.

STRASBOURG, France - A top European Union politician on Wednesday slammed U.S. plans to spend its way out of recession as "a way to hell."

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the European Parliament that President Barack Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

And regarding why it is "brilliant" that a black man gets the presidency? Not only is that in itself of immense historical value for all non-whites (in the whole world), but it is a break with former times inherent racism and is very true to the original American spirit of no judgement based on any thing but talent. Aside from that, I belive his policy is promising. He is a bridge builder and can hopefully mend some of the terrible wounds that your friend George Bush amBUSHED this world with.

Yes. He may be tossing our economy, along with the global economy into the crapper, but at least he's black! Wohoo!

I think in 4 years (I can't see it lasting more than 4) we'll all be saying:

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

He has in general made it considerably harder to be a Westener anywhere in the world.... He's merely a dumb guy who never should have been elected... and now he'll laugh his ass off and ride into the sunshine to collect his fat pension, apparently totally unaware of the fact that he has left the world so much worse off than [four] years ago.

[TGirl lover]

I had high hopes for Obama. Especially since we finally got rid of that dumbass Bush, but now I'm very disappointed. Obama is driving this economy even farther into the ground. Should have voted for McCain. Just hope he is only a 1 term pres.

[hankhavelock]

Originally Posted by TGirl lover

I had high hopes for Obama. Especially since we finally got rid of that dumbass Bush, but now I'm very disappointed. Obama is driving this economy even farther into the ground. Should have voted for McCain. Just hope he is only a 1 term pres.

Well, what did you expect? Give the man a chance, please. He has to clean up 8 years' mess after the most horribly incompetent socalled president that America ever had... Barack's task is tuff... but he'll do it. Don't worry. But he still has Republicans and even Democrats against him in Congress, and the financial crisis is so severe that it cannot be undone in three months...

So be glad you didn't vote for McCain or any other Republican, for that matter. Give Barack a chance to get his plan in motion. Read his book "The Audacity of Hope" - that's well written reading and will give you a better knowledge of Barack's plan. Trust me, Barack is a thoroughly good guy and talented above measure!

H

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

Well, what did you expect? Give the man a chance, please. He has to clean up 8 years' mess after the most horribly incompetent socalled president that America ever had...

As a non-US citizen, I don't expect you to know the ins and outs of the cause of our financial meltdown, and all you have to fall back on is your trusty "Bush Did It" mantra, but it's not anywhere near that simple. I don't know how much you know about the US government, but you may be surprised to hear that it's not made up of only one person. There's a congress too, made up of a house and senate. That's the legislative branch. There's also a judiciary branch.

You're focusing on the guy who has, for 7 of his 8 years in office, been warning congress about the financial instability of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. His last year in office, he warned them 17 times. Youtube is full of videos of congressmen insisting that Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae were financially sound. The main culprits are Carter, Clinton, and Congress for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), and Alan Greenspan for artificially creating the housing bubble. btw, you can't just blame Bush for Greenspan. He was in office during the terms of several presidents. I think most of this has already been discussed several times in this thread. I know... it's not as trendy as saying it's that idiot Bush, but you know those pesky facts. They keep rearing their ugly heads.

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

Barack's task is tuff... but he'll do it. Don't worry. But he still has Republicans and even Democrats against him in Congress, and the financial crisis is so severe that it cannot be undone in three months...

I certainly don't expect him to turn the crisis around in three months, or even a year. But call me crazy, if our problem is the collapse of mortgage companies who lent money to uncreditworthy people, let's NOT give $3.5 billion to the group who led the push for CRA. (BTW, since that same group is being charged in 14 states for voter fraud, let's NOT have them working on the census either.)

You want me to give Obama a chance, when his strategy is Carter's failed financial policy on steroids. That strategy has already had a chance. It didn't work. The republicans are getting a lot of blame by the conservatives in this country for not being conservative. Yes, they did rack up some debt when they had control of congress, but in one month, Obama and the democratic congress has racked up 2.5 times the amount of debt raised during all 8 years of Bush's presidency, including debt from Bush's wall street bailout. And they're still talking about more trillion dollar bailouts to come. The world isn't going to keep buying our debt, and when we had a debt of $10 trillion, Obama had the NERVE to expect the world to fork up another $2.5 trillion. Like the top european union official said, Obama's policies will undermine the stability of the global market. That's not Sean Hanity talking. That's the Czech prime minister. And it's also China's central bank governor. But I know you'll go right a head and tell me that the best way out of debt is borrow another $2.5 trillion. Makes perfect sense for an enlightened person such as yourself.

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

So be glad you didn't vote for McCain or any other Republican, for that matter. Give Barack a chance to get his plan in motion. Read his book "The Audacity of Hope" - that's well written reading and will give you a better knowledge of Barack's plan. Trust me, Barack is a thoroughly good guy and talented above measure!

He may very well be a good guy, but he's in way over his head. McCain isn't on the top of most republican's list, but I know he wouldn't implement strategies like Obama has that would put the country and the world economy in this much danger. I'm not going to read about the audacity of a community organizer who thinks he can be president. I'm reading about how to stay afloat when the dollar collapses.

[sesame]

Originally Posted by Tracycoxx

Originally Posted by Wall Street Journal
China Takes Aim at Dollar
BEIJING -- China called for the creation of a new currency to eventually replace the dollar as the world's standard, proposing a sweeping overhaul of global finance that reflects developing nations' growing unhappiness with the U.S. rolesuck. in the world economy.

History will show that while the problem has been growing for decades, it was Obama's administration that delivered the crushing blow to America. Hang on people... this is going to suck

Did you not read this from the wall st. Journal, Tracy?

However, the technical and political hurdles to implementing China's recommendation are enormous, so even if backed by other nations, the proposal is unlikely to change the dollar's role in the short term. Central banks around the world hold more U.S. dollars and dollar securities than they do assets denominated in any other individual foreign currency.

Tracycoxx: "we're a nation of consumers rather than producers"

Prove, sister, prove! Please provide logic and facts to back up your statements. It sounds interesting though! Does the US produce nothing? Does it not add anything to the world economy, but only consume? Thats ridiculous!

[CreativeMind]

Originally Posted by sesame

Did you not read this from the wall st. Journal, Tracy?

Quote:However, the technical and political hurdles to implementing China's recommendation are enormous, so even if backed by other nations, the proposal is unlikely to change the dollar's role in the short term. Central banks around the world hold more U.S. dollars and dollar securities than they do assets denominated in any other individual foreign currency.

Sesame, I think you might be missing the point of the article relative to Tracy's post.

The REASON that China -- as well as Russia and other now-vocal countries like Brazil among others -- are calling for an all-new "global currency" (as Tracy pointed out) is BECAUSE they are "holding more U.S. dollars and dollar securities than they do assets dominated in any other individual foreign currency" (to re-quote the article). They want to GET RID of all those dollar-based securities they're currently holding in their own banks. They want to DUMP them and no longer be tied to U.S. economics or market fluctuations. The problem is they can't do it now because of the crisis and the fact that so much of the world economy...including their own...is centered ON the dollar. Hence, they want to break FROM the dollar as soon as possible and create an all-new currency that they CAN control on their own terms.

The result being that Tracy's post is completely accurate in terms of the point she was trying to make. Things ARE going to get A LOT rougher in the days and years ahead as these countries do whatever they can to start dumping their dollars and dollar-based securities. And things will get A LOT rougher for America as these same countries likewise refuse to buy up our outstanding debt loads -- which again, is the cornerstone of our own system and it's what Obama desperately needs and is literally PRAYING will happen (ie. countries buying OUR debt) in order to keep our own economy afloat.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by sesame

Did you not read this from the wall st. Journal, Tracy?

China and other countries who hold our debt would certainly rather they did not have to abandon the dollar because they have so much of their wealth tied into the dollar. The fact remains though, the US will never be able to pay down its debt. Politicians have convinced the American people that they are entitled to so much from the government that we won't be able to decrease the amount we spend. Obama's administration now tells us we are entitled to succeed. Otherwise we'll get a bailout.

So while China and other countries would dearly love for us to pay back our debt, they will come to the realization that we will not. Maybe they have already come to this realization. It will certainly be painful for them to switch currencies, but more and more their economy, and the world's economy is based on trading US IOUs that they will realize is worthless. That cannot continue forever. Because of our recession and decreased demand for products from China, they are laying off millions. Meanwhile, the international community is wanting them to put environmental regulations in place while they produce for us. They have said they want us to foot that bill since we're the ones benefiting from it. So in the future, whether or not they decouple their economy from the dollar, they will agree to take on less and less of our debt.

Originally Posted by sesame

Tracycoxx: "we're a nation of consumers rather than producers"

Prove, sister, prove! Please provide logic and facts to back up your statements. It sounds interesting though! Does the US produce nothing? Does it not add anything to the world economy, but only consume? Thats ridiculous!

If we add to the world economy, why is our debt increasing? If we can't produce tangible products, we're not going to lower our debt. We used to have a huge manufacturing base. Bit by bit companies have called on international companies to produce those products for tax reasons, fewer regulations, cheaper labor, etc. Just about everything you own has "Made in China" or somewhere stamped on it.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by TGirl lover

I had high hopes for Obama. Especially since we finally got rid of that dumbass Bush, but now I'm very disappointed. Obama is driving this economy even farther into the ground. Should have voted for McCain. Just hope he is only a 1 term pres.

Democrats should have picked Hilary as their candidate. Right now, I would love to have her as president. And she's not even on my top 500 list.

[sesame]

Ok, Creativemind, lets assume for a moment that America's economy is shaking right now;and lets also assume that this group of other countries including China buys US debt!! And then in one strategic sweep they cause a controlled meltdown of US economy, just like what happened to USSR! Is that possible? China is very ambitious now and its not a friend of America. If US falls as a superpower, guess who will be the next Big Boss? Do I sound like a conspiracy theorist? Ridiculous, or should I say, Riddiqulous? :D

Are the American politicians playing nine pins with the fate of their own country? Have the Democrats gone mad overnight with Obama on the lead? And are the "sharp witted & patriotic" Republicans watching everything sucking thumbs? Is Obama hell bent on a meltdown of the US? Or Is he keen on fixing the already tattered economy presented to him by Bush? Is the media trying to frame him by making the public misunderstand his plan with distorted facts and figures?

[franalexes]

the answers are within.

Originally Posted by sesame

Are the American politicians playing nine pins with the fate of their own country? YESHave the Democrats gone mad overnight with Obama on the lead? YESAnd are the "sharp witted & patriotic" Republicans watching everything sucking thumbs? Being out numbered they are not much helpIs Obama hell bent on a meltdown of the US? No, but his policies AREOr Is he keen on fixing the already tattered economy presented to him by Bush? START WITH BARNEY homophobeless FRANKIs the media trying to frame him and making the public misunderstand with distorted facts and figures? The public is already aware of how the figures are distorted. AND THEY ARE RIGHTFULLY CAUTIOUS>

[sesame]

Ok, lets watch the NY house race and see who can draw the ball in his court!

Democrat Scott Murphy strongly supports Obama and the stimulus plan that would funnel $24.6 billion into New York to fund construction projects and help fill gaps in state education costs, among other things.

Recent Siena College poll found the Democratic president had a 65 percent approval rating in the traditionally Republican district. It was even higher ie, 72 % in Warren, Washington and Essex counties, which are strongly Republican.

Risk factors:

The district has more than 196,000 registered Republicans compared to about 125,000 registered Democrats. There are more than 118,000 voters who aren't affiliated with either party.

Also, Republican Jim Tedisco, says the stimulus plan has a serious flaw _ the protection of bonuses to executives of bailed out companies like American International Group. That means sticking taxpayers with $165 million in lavish bonuses for failed executives at AIG! Well, thats what Jim Tedisco is bickering about.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by sesame

Is Obama hell bent on a meltdown of the US? Or Is he keen on fixing the already tattered economy presented to him by Bush?

Alright, enough of this BS. The cause of the financial meltdown has been explain enough in this thread for whoever will read it. YOU prove that Bush caused the financial mess.

[sesame]

I know something that the US is expert in producing in huge quantities; but I am sure they would'nt like to share this kind of technology with other rivals. Can you guess?

Weapons of mass destruction, nuclear technology (I dont know where the raw materials come from) and stealth aircrafts. :D Yeah, the Nighthawks! Not many countries have such hi-tech toys. Frisbees, Wobblin Goblins, otherwise known as F117A! They have retired this model last year.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

Alright, enough of this BS. The cause of the financial meltdown has been explain enough in this thread for whoever will read it. YOU prove that Bush caused the financial mess.

Sesame?? Are you there?

[hankhavelock]

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

Looks like the love fest is ending between the rest of the world and Obama.

STRASBOURG, France — A top European Union politician on Wednesday slammed U.S. plans to spend its way out of recession as "a way to hell."

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the European Parliament that President Barack Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."

Yes. He may be tossing our economy, along with the global economy into the crapper, but at least he's black! Wohoo!

I think in 4 years (I can't see it lasting more than 4) we'll all be saying:

Honey, you lovely thingy, why don't you flirt up Sean Hannity... I'm sure you'd have TONS in common... ;-)

And it's ironic, that a Republican talks about ANYONE "tossing our economy". You had 8 years, baby - 8 blissful years of war mongering and stupidity and a total anti-branding of the whole f****** Western world thanks to your "lovely" joke of a president. So excuse me, darling, but you had your shots and BLEW it.

Now let's get serious and get rid of the incompetents.

At least give Barack a chance, ok? I know you hate his liberal politics from deep within you - the same way I thoroughly detest the neanderthal politics of the right wing... but now you have a new president. At least give him a chance to clean up the MESS that your beloved Geo Bush made.

Be decent here.

You guys love so much to do the theatrical socalled patriotism with hands over heart and "My fellow Americans..." and all that shit...

Now PROVE it, baby! Prove that you ARE a fellow American, and not only to the ultra right wing of your great country, but to the whole world...

Be decent and fair. And support your president in his difficult task.

Peace!

H

[CreativeMind]

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

And it's ironic, that a Republican talks about ANYONE "tossing our economy". You had 8 years, baby - 8 blissful years of war mongering and stupidity and a total anti-branding of the whole f****** Western world thanks to your "lovely" joke of a president. So excuse me, darling, but you had your shots and BLEW it. Now let's get serious and get rid of the incompetents.

At least give Barack a chance, ok? I know you hate his liberal politics from deep within you - the same way I thoroughly detest the neanderthal politics of the right wing...but now you have a new president. At least give him a chance to clean up the MESS that your beloved Geo Bush made.

The IRONY to Hank's Euro-centric vision of how Americans should feel or treat Obama being that it's actually opposite to how most Americans feel at this point.

First, for all of Hank's labeling Bush as a "joke of president", its fascinating that Obama's job approval rating has literally plummeted over his first 60 days in office. In fact, he now ranks LOWER than Bush did at this same point in time when Bush had been elected. Not to mention, Obama's disapproval numbers are soaring -- in fact, one poll has him at 46% which means he's now a mere 4 points away from literally having HALF of the country officially regretting his election and wishing McCain was in the Oval Office instead.

The second irony -- again in direct contrast to Hank's view as a non-American -- is that he somehow thinks Republicans are "war mongers" or "stupid" and no one wants them back in power. Yet again, that's the irony of him being the outsider and having a viewpoint ON America versus the rest of us actually living here and BEING Americans where we see things much differently. Case in point (which I'm sure is going to make Hank's jaw drop since he seems to blame Bush and the Republicans for everything) is that right now the Republicans are actually TIED with the Democrats in overall public opinion ratings. And in fact, in upcoming key elections the Republicans are now actually taking LEADS in the polls because Americans have come to realize "Oh no! What the FUCK were we thinking electing a Democratic president and putting him together with an ALL Democratic Congress so they could do whatever they wanted, no questions asked? We have to get more Republicans elected FAST or the Democrats are going to shit this country up big time!"

Case in point: here we are in the midst of a global economic meltdown, and yet Chris Dodd is up for re-election as Connecticut's Senator. He's the head of the Senate banking committee, so you'd think the average person would want to be SURE he was re-elected to have a consistent voice in power, not to mention that since he's a staunch democrat he'd obviously be a key supporter of Obama...

...And yet as of today, a virtual no-name unknown whom the Republicans are putting up against Dodd is LEADING in the polls.

Oh! And as for Hank's view that Bush was a joke of a president who "blew it", even IF you want to blame Bush for walking out of the White House and leaving behind $1 trillion deficit, it's laughable that you think Obama is somehow better when he's now officially TRIPLED that same number in a mere 60 days -- even worse, some estimates put the number at a NINE TRILLION DEFICIT several years out and once Obama is out of office, at which point our kids and our grandkids will be stuck paying for his idiotic socialist dreams and his buffoonish financial decisions.

[CreativeMind]

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

Honey, you lovely thingy, why don't you flirt up Sean Hannity. I'm sure you'd have TONS in common... ;-)
Now let's get serious and get rid of the incompetents.

At least give Barack a chance, ok? I know you hate his liberal politics from deep within you - the same way I thoroughly detest the neanderthal politics of the right wing... but now you have a new president. At least give him a chance to clean up the MESS that your beloved Geo Bush made.

Here's the bottom line truth, regardless of how Hank and other Euros feel AS outsiders.
Truth be told, this how AMERICANS now are starting to feel and I'll use a blunt analogy so there's NO mistaking my point.

People ALWAYS wake up from the bender they were on the night before. They may be hungover a bit, but there's that infamous moment when they suddenly realize "Oh shit! Who's that laying there asleep in the bed next to me? What the hell did I DO last night?!?"

The point being that while Euros may love him, here at home Americans are quickly realizing that Obama -- who now can't even speak coherent sentences unless a teleprompter is feeding them to him -- won the election for the simple reason that he was the "feel good" candidate of the moment. He was the slick looking and talking politician that people picked up at the bar, got drunk with, took to bed, and thus he got elected for the most ridiculous of reasons ("Look he's young and cute! What a smile! Look he's black! If we elect him, we can say we're not racists once and for all!"). The only problem is, now Americans are waking up from their bender, they're looking at the person still asleep in bed next to them -- most of all, they're seeing their taxes going UP, their savings going DOWN, and Obama talking about social changes they DON'T believe in...

...And they're now realizing Obama really did dupe them. He really was the equivalent of that hotty who LET YOU pick her up in a bar on election night, when you were in a drunken stupor, and suddenly now...when you're awake and consciously thinking about what you've done...you're suddenly worried and wondering if you stupidly caught an STD while screwing around carelessly the night before. In short, now that "fun time" and your bender is over, you realize you're back to real life and the serious issues that life involves.

Worst of all, as Obama soars our deficit, he's now on the verge of becoming Jimmy Carter Part 2 -- and yes, even in recent polls Americans STILL think Carter was a WORSE president than Bush ever was. That's pretty telling when you consider where Obama may end up on the historical ladder, if he does become another Carter.

Here in Hollywood -- which is certainly Democratic territory and extremely left-leaning -- lately I've seen a bumper sticker on several cars while I've been out driving. I'm not sure where it comes from, but I've run across it several times now. But because this is SUCH the democratic territory, it made me raise an eye brow and laugh. It simply says: Yeah, I voted for him. I'm sorry, America -- where the "o" in "sorry" is the famous Obama "o" from his campaign posters (where you saw the American flag flowing inside).

In other words, even here in democratic territory, the point of the sticker is:
"I'm sorry I fell for it! The rest of you were right!"