Use access key #2 to skip to page content.

alstry (35.47)

Finally....an HONEST President????

Recs

10

December 07, 2008 – Comments (14)

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama braced the country for more tough times Sunday, saying twice in an interview that the nation’s already dismal economy would continue to worsen in the months ahead.

Obama, speaking to Tom Brokaw on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” used some of his starkest language yet to underscore the severity of the challenge he’ll face upon taking office next month.

Later in the interview Obama reiterated his downbeat projection, saying, “Things are going to get worse before they get better.”

No kidding Mr. Almost President.  You didn't need to go to Harvard to make that assessment.  Now what the heck are you going to do about it????.....devalue the dollar so we are all broke?  or face the pain and restructure so we can be competitive once again.

It seems Mr. Obama is honest in describing the current economic issues facing our nation.....only time will tell if he approaches the problem with fairness, integrity and competence.

14 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On December 07, 2008 at 5:15 PM, RonChapmanJr (98.54) wrote:

the title of this post has question marks in it so i'll pretend like it is a question. 

the answer is "no".

Report this comment
#2) On December 07, 2008 at 5:34 PM, alstry (35.47) wrote:

Finally, A Democrat who talks like what Republicans are supposed to....

Discussing the Big Three:

Obama said he wants assistance to be conditioned on restructuring. "That means we're going to have to figure out how to put the pressure in the same way a bankruptcy court would ... but do so in a way that allows them to keep their factory doors open," he said.

The auto industry doesn't have a sustainable business model and needs to develop more fuel-efficient cars, he said, adding that such changes should have been made decades ago.

He said taxpayers want accountability and that it would be a mistake for the Big Three to receive federal assistance only to come back later to ask for more money.

Is this guy for real?  If this guy walks the talk.......wow!!!!  

In case you don't get it in fool speak, I wouldn't run out tomorrow morning and green thumb the auto makers on the above language.

But don't count your chickens......just yet.  There is a big difference between rhetoric and results.

Report this comment
#3) On December 07, 2008 at 5:43 PM, alissaw (88.76) wrote:

What's he going to do about it? Seems like from what he's saying, he's not going to worry about deficit spending and he's going to spearhead programs that create money and print trillions of dollars. This may not be able to reverse the housing market but it may prevent a downward spiral of deflation which is what economists fear most. It seems likely to cause serious inflation down the road (which is what Warren Buffett and Jim Rogers are also expecting). What does it mean for investing? My guess would be, if we expect a devaluation of the dollar, we might long precious metals, long infrastructure (low materials cost, low labor cost, and the government is the only group with money to spend and this is where they'll be spending). Therefore I'm thinking long flr, amn, maybe slw, and auy. Also for internet infrastructure we might want to consider akam or brcm. IMHO

Report this comment
#4) On December 07, 2008 at 5:53 PM, starbucks4ever (99.53) wrote:

Obama is very frank and honest about admitting the mistakes made by Bush.

Report this comment
#5) On December 07, 2008 at 6:09 PM, Mary953 (38.56) wrote:

First rule when taking over a business/government position/etc, from a rival - find every possible deficiency, problem, concern, error of commission or omission and bring them very publically to light.  Then whether you fix them or not you can say, "I didn't do it. Not my fault. That fire was already burning when I got here."

Just how exactly is another "tax and spend" administration going to help a situation where the population is already this gun-shy about everything financial?

Report this comment
#6) On December 07, 2008 at 6:10 PM, alstry (35.47) wrote:

At this point, instead of focusing on being Democrat or Republican.....my suggestion is focus on saving our economy.  The below is just the beginning in a very very long long long parade.

The following is from the WSJ:

Tribune Co. is preparing for a possible bankruptcy-protection filing as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, opening a new front of trouble for the newspaper industry.

As Tribune continues discussions with its lenders to rework its debt load, the newspaper-and-television concern in recent days has hired Lazard Ltd. as its financial adviser and a legal counsel for a possible trip through bankruptcy court, according to people familiar with the matter.

A Tribune spokesman said the company doesn't comment on rumors or speculation. A Lazard spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The appointments underscore the deepening distress for Tribune and other publishers. Newspaper businesses are being battered by dwindling advertising sales and carrying debt loads that are unmanageable in current market conditions. People in the industry expect some papers will need to seek bankruptcy protection or fold in coming months.

Autos, Airlines, Banks, Builders, Construction, Commercial Real Estate, Drugs, Development.....the ABCD's of restructuring......and now media companies.

Report this comment
#7) On December 07, 2008 at 6:29 PM, devoish (98.77) wrote:

Obama is very frank and honest about admitting the mistakes made by Bush.

Typical of a new CEO. He has one chance to sweep clean at his predecessors expense.

Report this comment
#8) On December 07, 2008 at 8:45 PM, jgseattle (39.08) wrote:

So you think you can trust the government officials? Treasury, Fed, Elected politicos, nope. They have to more or less say everything is good or it may become a self fulfilling prophesy and someone would need to take the blame with the electorate.

So look for Obama to start really hammering on how bad things are now to set the expectations and to point the blame on Bush, true enough.

From my post on November 22. Mary 953 is correct Obama must talk down the economy to set up for the blame game.

Honest? Maybe, but only because it serves his purpose.

Report this comment
#9) On December 07, 2008 at 9:40 PM, jegr5347 (< 20) wrote:

Why would anyone want to associate or make himself responsible for mistakes made by a prior administration? It is plain stupid to think or not let others know otherwise. I would find him foolish not to lower expectations and distance himself from the disaster that is unbundling before our eyes, and that will continue to worsen. This is not a matter of honesty.

Assuming his programs are immediately successful, you will not see them bear fruit at least until the second year if his term. He better let the country know who created the mess in his first year.

Report this comment
#10) On December 07, 2008 at 9:46 PM, semper77 (37.27) wrote:

Wow, this is a tough crowd. 

Wouldn't everyone on this list do the same thing that Obama is doing right now?

Ask yourself, if you were elected and were inheriting the single greatest economic crisis of our generation, wouldn't you want to make sure that Americans were prepared for the coming depth and breadth of it?

Wouldn't you want to be straight with the public instead of telling them that "the subprime issue is contained" and "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" when they so obviously weren't?

When Obama makes mistakes (which he will), we'll all be the first to take him to task for it, but let's not cast aspersions on the guy for the sort of forthrightness we should have been getting all along.

Report this comment
#11) On December 07, 2008 at 10:32 PM, abitarePERFECT (29.68) wrote:

Obama just keeps it cool.

SNL has it here:

 

http://www.hulu.com/watch/47605/saturday-night-live-obama-plays-it-cool#s-p1-st-i1 

Report this comment
#12) On December 07, 2008 at 11:03 PM, hall9999 (99.55) wrote:

  Of COURSE he's going to say that things will continue to get worse over the next few months.  Do you think he wants people to believe the economy has begun improving before he's had a chance to do anything?

  That being said... I keep hearing that same phrase, " Things will get worse before they get better."  I heard it nine months ago... I heard it six months ago... I heard it three months ago...  At this point it probably still is true.  But will people continue saying it up until it is no longer true?

Report this comment
#13) On December 08, 2008 at 12:44 AM, uclayoda87 (29.82) wrote:

President-elect Obama is just managing expectations.  To say anything but the obvious would make him look foolish and naive.  His Democratic buddies in the Congress want him to start performing the miracles that he promised during the campaign.  I guess they didn't get the text message that he really isn't the Democratic Messiah.  President Bush is only too happy to set the stage for the Great Obama's first impossible feat, to save the little three auto makers.  What are his options?  Keep feeding money to Detroit and lose 49 states in the next election or toss the unions under the bus and create targeted job programs for MI and OH.  He will probably do to the latter, but he would have preferred that Congress fumble the short term bail out package, so that he would only have to have to deal with Ford and what remained of the UAW after his inauguration.

Report this comment
#14) On December 08, 2008 at 6:57 AM, Mary953 (38.56) wrote:

First, this is not to be taken as pointing toward the current situation or the President-elect.  We chose him.  He is the result of a hard-fought election played by the rules that are set forth in our Constitution.  The gentleman won and now he deserves our full support as he attempts to tackle this difficult task.  Do not pillory the man before he has a chance to even take office. 

John Kennedy ran against Nixon in 1960 and Bill Clinton ran against George Bush, Sr in 1988 on the platform that we were in impossible economic shape..Both times we were in extremely good shape, but the numbers did not come out until after the election.  I do not believe Mr. Obama is so fortunate, however I am aware that it is always more appropriate to paint a grimmer picture on entering office, just in case.

As Ben Franklin said, "Revolution is always illegal in the third person, such as 'their revolution'.  It is only in the first person, such as 'our revolution' that it is correct."

Let us hope that at least a portion of what we are hearing from Washington is merely politically correct and in the third person, as in  'their handling of the economy'.

Report this comment

Featured Broker Partners


Advertisement