Obama, Like Bush, Keeps Steady the Push Toward Hyperinflation

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I think the easiest thing to do... is stick your head in the sand, and wait for your prom...

come on, really people?... has everyone lost their minds? think about this question for a few minutes... Name one (1) person involved in politics, that is "flaw-less"?

the moral fiber of mankind has been rotting away for longer than any one alive, it has been since the beginning of recorded history.

this world will always be in some kind of turmoil until a time, when each one of us, myself included, can and does honestly live, helping others when able (instead of looking the other way and think that someone else will take care of that person, place or thing). everyone has to get up off their fat asses and do something! anything that helps! that is how things get done.

we have become a bunch of candy-asses.. thinking that we should have everything handed to us and spoon fed...

I can say this will some fact (personal) the poor are not the one who are going to suffer the most. they already do without. really, how can you lose something you don't have...

so all you money whores... go ahead save those dollars... hide 'em away (safer if not in a bank)... its not gonna matter... those little pieces of paper and little coins... are going to be worthless. Better learn how to grow some food now.

An American Peasant of WI 6:01PM April 20, 2009

ty @ PhoenicianLady

@ Collin, if you're going to advise people to go out and read books, perhaps you ought to actually learn to read yourself instead of watching Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity all day. Just an idea.

Smooth Jazz of NY 10:51AM April 13, 2009

@ Collin, you show that you have no knowledge of the subprime financial crisis and you believe that your right wing propaganda actually helps you to understand the crisis. It's only made you more ignorant and foolish enough to believe that you actually know something.

You refer to "a law" (which you cannot even name) that supposedly requires banks to lend to low income home buyers. The law is called the Community Reinvestment Act. Only commercial banks have to follow the CRA, investment banks and non-bank lenders do not. Those investment banks and non-bank lenders underwrote most of the subprime loans, so your rightwing talking point was based on a complete lie and you foolishly guzzled the Koolaid without doing any research.

Let's poke some more holes in your talking point. The CRA has been around since 1977, if it's to blame, then why only after 30 years did it cause a collapse? Here's another. UK, France, Spain, Ireland, Australia have no CRA or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, yet they also had a housing boom and participated in ours. Iceland's banks over-leveraged by 3 times the country's GDP and its banks had to be nationalized? What's your explanation for that? I'll give you an hour to call into your mentor college drop out Rush Limbaugh to get some more Koolaid.

Smooth Jazz of NY 10:47AM April 13, 2009

There is nothing we can do to end the current economic slump. It is part of something called a business cycle, an unavoidable series of highs and lows that come with our economic system.

@Smooth Jazz. Obviously your understanding of economics and what has happened lately is quite low. You see, the reason that the housing crisis came about was because the banks were forced, through a law, to provide loans to those without the assets to afford said loans. As such, when these people defaulted, the banks were stuck with the loss. Creating laws hurts a free market system, and as such we should stick with a more basic set of laws.

@Phoenician Lady. If you are being sarcastic, it hasn't traveled over the internet. If you are being sincere, read the above section and then go read a book. Our current mess is the fault (well, we'd be in a trough anyway, bad laws and such have just made it far worse) of bad laws, to high of taxes and stupid fiscal policies starting in the mid-to-late nineties.

Collin Dow of OR 10:05AM April 13, 2009

Thank you Smooth Jazz, for injecting a little truth and common sense into this "Sky is Falling" diatribe. Americans need to slow down and be more analytical, not more reactionary.

Phoenician Lady of AZ 10:40PM April 12, 2009

"*snicker* No. The keys are to free up markets, end nationalization, slash federal spending and power, drain the bureaucratic swamps - not a return to insane amounts of taxation to finish the destruction of the economy that Fannie/Freddie began."

Pathetic. The keys are to build up the middle class by providing universal healthcare, higher wages through increased unionization, better public education, and manufacturing our own energy rather than spending half a trillion of it on foreign oil every year, as well as creating laws so that Wall Street cannot make such risky loans, since obviously they do not know how to handle the risks they take.

Smooth Jazz of NY 3:11AM April 12, 2009

"The key is a return to the income taxation model that existed in the 50's, 60's and 70's."

*snicker* No. The keys are to free up markets, end nationalization, slash federal spending and power, drain the bureaucratic swamps - not a return to insane amounts of taxation to finish the destruction of the economy that Fannie/Freddie began.

jdb of SC 8:48PM April 11, 2009

Problem number one is the state of the banking system/the lack of liquidity that we have built our economy on. Problem number two is deflation. Put hyperinflation at number three; it will arise after we start to grow again. Problem number four is the jobs that have disappeared and will not return. Problem number five is that the US and the world will have a fundamentally different economy when the recession ends; we will probably never go back to a system where the US over-consumes and the rest of the world makes its living by selling us goods. Problem number six is that we keep increasing our medical spending at an unsustainable rate. Problem number seven is that we are aging and the number of people who will want to start collecting the money that we have been using to make the deficit look smaller for the last 25 years, money that they were told was being saved for their retirement. Problem number eight is the deficit itself and our ability to manage it.

Welcome to new times. I'm thinking that those of us who are not out of work will be working just as hard or harder and aren't going to enjoy the prosperity that we have grown used to having. I also think we'll have an easier time than the rest of the world.

Thomas Fiore of CO 8:33PM April 11, 2009

When Bush II overspent, he also cut taxes which stimulated the economy and resulted in greater tax revenues. When Obama overspends, he's also increasing taxes in a time of recession. The recession is resulting in less tax revenues, and increasing taxes will also result in less tax revenues. Add that to overspending, and what do you get?

luagha of CA 7:10PM April 11, 2009

Where are the numbers Bonnie? Are you another innumerate liberal? Borrowing since the inauguration has skyrocketed. We aren't seeing inflation now because the velocity of money is low - we are in a potentially deflationary depression. That's why Helicopter Ben Bernanke is willing to run the risk of severe inflation. The pols are still focused on passing taxpayer dollars to their Wall Street cronies as they bankrupt the nation. I wish they would get serious and in time they'll regret it. Watch and see...

The entire defense budget runs at about $650 billion most of which is spent with or without a war. You say Bush spent a lot of money on the war, but Congress makes budgets and appropriates funds n ot teh President. The Democrats took over Congress in 2007, Bonnie. Did you know that? Did the war funding change? No it did not. Are you pretending the Democrats are anti-war? Gore, Lieberman, Kerry and Edwards all voted for the war. Obama didn't have to vote because he wasn't in the Senate yet (His short tenure didn't keep him from being the 2nd largest recipient of Fannie Mae campaign contributions after Sen. Dodd, however) but Obama chose Biden for VP and Clinton for State both of whom voted for the war. Will the new President stop the war? Well, he promises to escalate the war in Afghanistan while pulling all of the troops out of Iraq in a couple years (except for the 50,000 or so who'll still be there-haha!). The Democrats were never against the war - they were just on the other side as long as the Republicans were in charge.

Remember the Clinton administration, Democrats. Once again, to show your loyalty, you'll be required to pretend to believe and even to repeat obvious lies.

bean counter of OH 4:50PM April 11, 2009

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Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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