The Great Financial Meltdown of '08

[smc]

Two questions are posed by the OP. The first is:

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

So how has Obama done?

The second:

Originally Posted by TracyCoxx

And more importantly, have we done anything to prevent another financial meltdown like in 2008?

No honest answer can be given by anyone without first acknowledging that presidents, on their own, cannot direct the economy to the degree necessary to halt a recession. The U.S. system is not set up for presidents to rule by fiat. So, how Obama has done has to be answered in terms of what he has proposed to do, not what he has necessarily been able to bring to pass.

This would be the same for ANY president, of any party, unless the United States fundamentally changed how law and policy is enacted.

So, to answer how Obama has done: in general, the trend toward a worse recession that could have turned into a depression was halted. Obama ensured that the wealthiest Americans, who he and all politicians of the Democratic and Republican parties ultimately serve, were protected from complete meltdown. His Justice Department took a not-unexpected (by me) pass on prosecuting the people who put the country in this position as they played "casino" with the economy.

Obama failed to take advantage of his majority in Congress to push through a much larger stimulus that would have reduced unemployment.

All in all, I think Obama failed. A Republican would have failed, too, and the only difference might have been whether we were mired in recession rather than in a full-blown depression.

I think the cartoon below, involving fire, sums up the Obama approach. It is the same approach McCain would have taken.

The way in which the the second question is posed is rather shocking. I am not sure who TracyCoxx means by "we." Given the OP's history on this site, it is difficult to wrap my brain around the possibility that TracyCoxx means the U.S. government, which implies an acknowledgment that Congressional action, for instance, is about governing and not some zero-sum game.

Nevertheless, I will answer, and the answer is NO. The U.S. has done little to ensure there will not be another meltdown. To do so requires a massive stimulus, government creation of public works jobs, and massive regulation of the financial sector to ensure that the criminals who run the banks cannot get away with their casino games again. Obama will not do that, nor will Congress. Those criminals own the government.