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Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
WASHINGTON (Reuters)- President Barack Obama's aides warned Americans on Sunday not to expect instant miracles from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill he will sign this week, but said it would help eventually.
Obama is due to sign the bill passed last week by Congress in Denver on Tuesday. It was the first major legislative victory of his young presidency, which could rise or fall with its success or failure.
"There will be signs of activity very quickly," David Axelrod, the White House senior adviser, said on "Fox News Sunday." "But it's going to take time for that to show up in the statistics. The president has said it's likely to get worse before it gets better."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs used similar language on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"I don't think there's any doubt that we've seen this economy has gotten worse just in the last few months. The acceleration in job loss probably means that this economy is going to get worse before it gets better," he said.
Obama himself said last week that if he failed to heal the economy, he would be out of a job by 2012, when he faces re-election.
The White House hopes the package will save or create 3.5 million jobs. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, said on "Fox News Sunday" that was likely too optimistic.
"By my estimate, it will add 2 to 2.5 million jobs, more than would be the case without stimulus, by the end of 2010. That translates into a lower unemployment rate of about a point to a point and a half," he said.
Only three Republican senators supported the bill and no Republicans in the House of Representatives backed it. They kept up their criticism on the Sunday television talk shows.
"This bill was not bipartisan. It is incredibly expensive. It has hundreds of billions of dollars in projects which will not yield in jobs," said John McCain, whom Obama defeated in last year's presidential election, said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Gibbs said Obama's team had crafted a stimulus bill to produce jobs as quickly as possible in an economy that lost 3.6 million in the past year.
BALANCED APPROACH
"The urgency to get something done was very important," he said. "What we have here is a very balanced approach that's going to put people to work."
Obama faces a new potential flashpoint next week when two Detroit automakers, General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, must reach agreements with the United Auto Workers labor union to restructure themselves.
Talks between GM and the union broke down on Saturday. Chrysler's negotiations with the UAW are also deadlocked.
Axelrod made it clear the White House would not intervene in the situation until after Tuesday.
"Obviously, this is a difficult situation and everyone's going to have to continue to work toward a solution. We're going to wait and see what the automakers have to say on Tuesday and we'll go from there," he said.
On a third front, Obama plans to issue a plan to tackle the housing crisis next week, hoping to stem a flood of home foreclosures that has weakened the banking system and frozen credit markets while continuing to depress house prices.
Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
Hundreds of billions in useless wasteful spending and more outsourcing of jobs? Why is he lowering expectations? 
While I don't agree with the way republicans turned this into a game by stalling and begging for more tax cuts, I wouldn't have voted yes on this bill either. It does nothing. It's just more Bush like spending with Obama's name attached. I'm actually a bit surprised they opposed it so much when they've been compulsive spenders for years.
This package is being spun many ways, and in some of the projections it actually outsources more jobs than it creates here. Oh well, I guess Wal Mart needs to stay in business so we can save that ever elusive nickel.
Obama himself said last week that if he failed to heal the economy, he would be out of a job by 2012
No shit.
Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
Aladdin's Genie couldn't heal the economy right now
That's actually not far from the truth. Even Russian prez Putin is predicting the US breaks up into 3 different countries with massive civil unrest at some point in the coming decade.
I believe him.
Both republicans and democrats are to blame for our destruction. It started on Clinton's watch(the fake real estate boom and selling us to China), and Bush took us over the cliff.
At some point we're gonna have to walk into Africa, start annexing huge chunks of land, and start depleting their resources. We might even have to nuke China's major cities(including Taiwan) to erase some of our debt.
No, I am not joking.
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
Neemo wrote:Aladdin's Genie couldn't heal the economy right now
That's actually not far from the truth. Even Russian prez Putin is predicting the US breaks up into 3 different countries with massive civil unrest at some point in the coming decade.
I believe him.
Both republicans and democrats are to blame for our destruction. It started on Clinton's watch(the fake real estate boom and selling us to China), and Bush took us over the cliff.
At some point we're gonna have to walk into Africa, start annexing huge chunks of land, and start depleting their resources. We might even have to nuke China's major cities(including Taiwan) to erase some of our debt.
No, I am not joking.
I know you're not joking, but that post still made me laugh out loud.
Nuke China's economic capitals in order to wipe out our own debt. Scary shit but actually pretty smart at the same time...funny too.
- jimmythegent
- Rep: 30
Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
whoa! steady on there James 
rather an extreme solution dontcha think?
Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
Our debt is unsustainable. It was unsustainable during the Reagan years at 2 to 4 trillion. The massive economic boom(which was a real boom) was able to mask this debt from reality. That's where the infamous Cheney quote "deficits don't matter" comes from. Back then, they didn't.
Now we are at 10 trillion, and it will go up at least a trillion a year on Obama's watch. So we are looking at a 14 to 16 trillion dollar debt when he comes up for re-election.
The cherry on top of that is our house of cards has collapsed. The dollar is edging close to worthless, there's zero cash flow, credit lines are non existent, banks are about to be a thing of the past, the house you live in regardless of how much you paid for it is worth close to nothing, and shopping malls that our service economy depends on are becoming empty.
Obama's solution is to pump trillions into this mess, which is one of the things that got us into this mess in the first place. He's basically pouring gasoline on a five alarm fire, and doing it with a big grin on his face while yelling "change".
It's change alright, and you better have food stockpiled along with a few shotguns.
Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
Ladies and gentlemen... James Lofton.
I actually agree with Putin too. I don't think it'll happen in the coming DECADE, but maybe 2 or 3. This country seems to get further and further set apart, not on financial decisions, but on how government is run, how involved it is in people's lives, and what exactly is considered 'moral'.
I could see the West being it's own country, the mid-West and South being it's own country, and the northeast it's own country. Easily, actually.
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
Our debt is unsustainable. It was unsustainable during the Reagan years at 2 to 4 trillion. The massive economic boom(which was a real boom) was able to mask this debt from reality. That's where the infamous Cheney quote "deficits don't matter" comes from. Back then, they didn't.
Now we are at 10 trillion, and it will go up at least a trillion a year on Obama's watch. So we are looking at a 14 to 16 trillion dollar debt when he comes up for re-election.
The cherry on top of that is our house of cards has collapsed. The dollar is edging close to worthless, there's zero cash flow, credit lines are non existent, banks are about to be a thing of the past, the house you live in regardless of how much you paid for it is worth close to nothing, and shopping malls that our service economy depends on are becoming empty.
Obama's solution is to pump trillions into this mess, which is one of the things that got us into this mess in the first place. He's basically pouring gasoline on a five alarm fire, and doing it with a big grin on his face while yelling "change".
It's change alright, and you better have food stockpiled along with a few shotguns.
I agree with everything except your last sentence.
Re: White House dampens stimulus expectations
polluxlm wrote:No need to worry. You might be knee deep in debt, but hell, who isn't? The banks won't turn their backs on their biggest cashcow.
You will probably go broke though, like you did in the 1780s, 1860s and 1930s. Not the end of the world, you just have to turn over some more freedoms to the IMF.
And nobody's going to nuke anyone. All that real estate? Viruses are much more cost effective, they just gets rid of all the useless eaters, and will boost the pharmaceutical industry to new heights in the west. I guess that's what the bankers call a win-win situation.
In the end we will all be more secure and tranquilized. Embrace it. Independent thought can be such a drag anyway 
