http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08...udget-plan.html?_r=0

David Stockman, who was a major player in the Reagan era says that Romney/Ryan are lunatics.

Stop citing Reagan as evidence that Romney/Ryan's plan works.

Bush failed.  The limited growth which ocurred happened because Americans (the govt, financial sector, and consumers) over leveraged.  It was debt fueled growth, and once that bubble burst there was nothing to replace it.

Like u gat a crystal ball. How u know Romney can't swing the economy.

Last night's pow wow-Romney was bored-he just cannot come out and sey, "Who the hell cares about non-Americans. Suh, he plays along with the greatest(hoaxster) gaffer.  

Israel is going to be attacked and no American president or Nat en Yahoo can stop it. The Bible say so. They are a sinful country who places more trust in America than in their God. Obama is part of their demise-he endorses buggahring and smiting of the embryo. The Jewish God doan like such things.

Now, who u think is going to attack Israel? It is Al-quada(sp). Every country that has muslims will join the war against Israel. The Bible seys, "all nations shall assemble on the plain of Meggdo to do battle."

And what is Obama's middle name?

And when come President, where did he go to impress the muslims-He went to Eygpt. And there is a prophesy on that as well. And the false message gave rise to the Arab spring. And the emergence of Al-quada in those countries.

The muslim world is happy that once again, there is Renaissance of the muslim way of life.

Watch Turkey and CLOSELY. Their attack on Syria, is not a mistake. Once upon a time all the troubled regions in Middle-East were part of their empire.

The Ottaman's are eyeing their prize.

Elect Romney and save the non-muslim world.    

The US was viciously attacked under Bush yet he held it together until the end.  Obama focused on the wrong agenda and is paying the price.  I doubt he will be any different than in his first term.

Yea, the Clinton miracle was based on that leveraging.

1.  What has Romney dsaid to prove that he can improve the economy.  His pathetic squeals that he can balance the budget?  Well as CEO he can do what he wants and damn the consequences.  As a President he must face a Senate, a House, and ultimately the electorate.

2.  Romney refuses to disclose what exactly he will do.  He says he will balance the budget but then on some days he says that he will cut taxes, resulting in an ADDITIONAL $5T deficit over the next ten years, and an additional $2T on defsnse, even though they arent asking for it. 

3.  The most successful GOP president within recent years, Reagain INCREASED taxes when he had to figure out how to reduce the deficits that his earlier tax cuts caused.

4.  His Budget Director, David Stockman, has condemned the Romney/Ryan team as lunatics and implied that Obama's strategy is more reasonable.

5.  Romney endorsed Obama's foreign policy last night. IN NO SITUATION DID HE CLAIM THAT WHAT OBAMA DID was wrong.

It took Obama four years to develop a 20 page jobs plan.

Baseman when Bush left office, the US economy was near collapse with major financial institutions on the brink of failure, capital markets frozen, job losses of 800k PER MONTH, and an extremely frightened population.

Obama apparently has done such a good job that you forgot about where the USA was in October 2008.

Furthermore Bush didnt give one iota about bin Laden.  His intent wa sto attack Saddam so he LIED about weapons of mass destruction.

What did he do.   Murder several hundrerd thousands of Iraqis and Americans.  Destroy the Christian religion in Iraq.  hand Iraq over to teh Shiities, rendering it a satellite of IRAN....and I can go on.

On the day of the attack Bush was HIDING.  It was Giuliani who rose to the occasion and gave Americans the assurance that some one was trying to stablize the situation.  I hate Giuliani but I will give him credit that day.

The person who avenged 9/11 was Obama when he killed bin Ladden, and many who lost family members that day have said that they can finally get closure...and these include undecided voters.

As to leverage under Clinton.  There was a dot com bubble but that had NOTHING to do with Clinton.  We had budget SURPLUSES when Clinton left and LOW unemployment.

It took Bush 8 years to completely destroy the US economy.  He has had to hide in shame since then.

Even the GOP do not want to hear from him.

In the interest of his legacy as the first Afro prezzy, hope he is not given the chance to be pelted out of office in a second term.  He could go out and have a lot of excuses why he was not that great.  Historians will have a lot to pontificate and keep his name on the front pages of US history books.  A second term might just relegate him to the 2nd half of the book.

Put it this way. Obama created jobs...not enough and I have said that many times.

Bush DESTROYED jobs.

That is all that needs to be said as no other President left office with so many jobs being lost per month, with an imploding economy, and a panicked population who literally ran to Obama to save them...putting aside  their racist attitudes in some cases.

I was at an event sponsored by JP Morgan today.  They showed indicators taht the economy is not only improving, but that we are doing better than any other developed economy.

Obama has created 125k jobs counting from in swearing in.  Obama wasted precious time and political currency fighting for Obamacare and green tech while the real economy faltered.

Your IQ just dropped from 10 to where the GOP Congress approval rating is - 7

Your are entitled to your opinions but not to your own facts.  Since the economy bottomed out millions of jobs have been created.  You cannot blame Obama for job losses in the first few months of his term as these losses had started under Bush.

Further the USA is attracted manufacturing jobs BACK from overseas and not shipping them out, as they have for several decades.

I do agree with you that time was wasted on Obamacare.  Though the GOP have very dangerous plans for Americans.

Now how do you think that most Americans will react if told by their employers that effective 2014 they will no longer pay for health insurance as Romney is no longer allowing them to deduict premiums as a business expense.  Start with the fact that for most families we are talking about an additional $2,000/month if they have to buy their own coverage. 

Dont babble about "increased competition" reducing premiums.  Before Obamacare there was no competition and there will still be none with or without Obamacare.

Obama has created 125k jobs counting from in swearing in

Like yuh dealing in binary numbers here ar wah?

Yuh shure yuze not de lil ABC dunce drap-out??

Kari baseman is playing games.  He is blaming Obama for the job losses in the first ten months of his term, and them claiming that since only 125K more people are working that this is all Obama has done.Clearly it would have taken some time for the measures implemented by a new administration to take effect.  So the initial job losses reflected a panicked economy which Bush left us.

I can understand the plight of these GOP. So embarrassed are they by Bush that they have tried to erase him out of global history.  Unfortunately that

C- dunce of a man, alcoholic, drunkard and a source of shame to his parents, did so much damage that the world wiill not forget him.

Now of course had Obama given more focus to the economy and less to Obamacare, he would not be in this mess today where there remains the prospect of this country falling into the hands of two people, who even some former Reagan officials call lunatics.

Focus on the economy at the start of the Obama Presidency meant that you solidify a shaky financial sector. Lehman was gone. Citi shares were selling for less than a pack of chewing gum. Nobody knew how much liabilities existed at AIG. Banks all over the nation were evaporating. So Obama continued with TARP signed under Bush and got the Treasury Secretary to enact stricter reserve requirements and to do a stress test. Score this in your column as Obama focusing on the economy.

Obama realized that with a drop in the global demand for American products due to the effects of the credit crisis worldwide (except China) he had to renew his efforts early to stick to his campaign promise to double US exports by the end of his term. He has done so. Score this one for Obama on focusing on the economy.

The President knew that with global demand and indeed the personal debt hole of consumers, the foreclosures, the drop in housing equity, the loss of stock and mutual fund values held by consumers, that someone had to pick up the slack. Compounding this is the steep drop in US commercial activity and investments. So Obama tacked the Keynesian route of pump priming the economy. Conservatives wanted a shake out - long soup lines, etc. and survival of the fittest. In the modern era this swash buckling capitalism is a foreign phenomena. The President of the US and the Democratic Party in Congress together decided that the most they could get in a stimulus package was $786 billion and not the $1½ trillion people like Christine Rohmer was calling for. Most of the stimuls were for "tax spending" - a bunch of credits and unemployment assistance ans States assistance to keep essential single-payer industries going like Firemen and police and teachers. So give Obama a hal-score on focusing on the economy.

The auto industry saw car demand plunged from an annualized demand rate of 15 million to 7 million. Good Lord, all the inefficiencies and the albatross pension deals were coming home to roost. Obama took the bold step of intervening. Score one for Obama on focusing on the economy.

Obama went about tackling the human capital supply side - here was one asset that was degraded over the last decade before he took office. Score one for the man on race to the top which is showing results in Maths and Science. Yeah, I know WH talking points.

Obama decided that he will force some changes in energy consumption, including gas mileage. Score one here for him too.

He decided to tackle the greatest threat to the US economy - the growing share of medical expenditure in the GDP as a whole and in Government expenditures. We got Obama Care which is just a start - not perfect, but a start that eluded Presidents over the last 5 decades. Score one for Obama here.

I can go on and on, but the optics seem to be that Black unemployment is so high that you have to blame Obama. The man is honest when he said those iPhone jobs and other manufacturing jobs ain't coming back. H's fighting to get more high-tech manufacturing jobs here, and you will see in Black depressed areas in years to come- there is always a lag in these "investments".

So how do I begin top answer CaribJ. Help!

America under Obama, today, is just a bigger version of Guyana. The leadership lack the vision of job creation.

Hi-tech jobs seems to be the word that Obama uses to fool the American public. Those are very few jobs.

Obama do not have the right ppl around him to make any job creation a reality in his Presidency. He lacks the leadership qualities to try for something new. 

Just about every steel mill in America is closed-and the consumption of steel is a measure of a country's progress.

The worse is yet come if he is elected. He has done nothing over the last 4 years. And every business magnate seys so.

Kari there is now a distinct possibility that Obama will lose the election.  He most definitely will lose the popular vote as turnout in hard Red states will be higher than in hard Blue states.

Why is this, given the failure of the GOP? The pathetic state that they were in after the Bush defeat in 2008 (Americans rejected Bush, not McCain) and the fact that Romney is one of the worst presidential candidates, flipping and flopping all over the place.

These days I watch MSNBC almost exclusively.  Even on that source there is increasing concern being voiced.  Just this morning in the 7 remaining swing states (NC is now being given to Romney, and NV to Obama) there is a tightening.  VA and FL have now gone to Romney, CO is leaning Romney as well.  Even in IA and WI Romney is making inroads, though Obama will most likely win WI.  NH doesnt matter, too small. 

Here is the deal.  You can raise all the points that you wish and you are about 80% correct.  However Americans elected Obama to fix the problem, not to have an anemic recovery 4 years later, with 23 million unemployed or under employed, household incomes dropping by $4,000 since 2008, and large numbers now depending on food stamps.

Had Obama maintained 100% focus on the economy, not wasting time with Green and with Obamacare, even if we were no better off most people would have said that he tried his best and that presidents only have limited power to shape the economy. 

But as soon as his initial actions began to pay off in late 2009 and the economic recoivery began, he switched his focus to health care and to green economy.  He forgot all about shovel ready projects and the Infrastructure Bank.

 I told you TWO years ago that Obama took his eyes off the ball, forgot that Americans vote based on their PERCEIVED self interest, not on the larger good, so that a president with unemployment over 7% will have a tough time.

So you can have 200 excuses for Obama, but if Americans remain fearful of their future, and that of their kids, and if Obama fails to convince them that the next 4 years will see more rapid economic growth than the last 4, it doesnt matter what else he does, or plans to do.

We will see what happens but I suggest that neither you, nor Rev Al start to pop your champagne corks until Nov 6 evening, or maybe even later than that.

Tell me what concrete steps will Romney take to create jobs.

Dont say tax cuts because Bush tried that and we saw what happened.

Dont say deregulations because we saw where that led us.

Dont say balancing the budget because Reagan's Budget Director David Stockman calls them lunatics and says that Obama is closer to the mark.  And indeed when Reagan saw budget deficits he BOTH cut spending and raised income and capital gains taxes.

You, Rev AL and Kari need to stop regurgitating propaganda and realize that we have two weak candidates.  The winner will be detemined by who in the remaining 7 swing states is seen as being less bad.

And you also need to stop babbling nonsense.  For reasons, probably having nothing to do with Obama, Boehner or Romney, there is recovery in the manufacturing sector.  For the first time we are seeing consistent job growth. 

Reasons?   High fuel prices driving up the cost of shipping.  Increasing labor costs in China and a strengthening of the Chinese currency).  Both of which have made certain functions more profitable in the USA again.

CaribJ,

McCain lost not because of just a rejection of Bush, though that played a part. A Black man as the US President was still an unknown and a novelty. It was when McCain said let's suspend the campaign and he had no clue of the financial meltdown.

While Obama was elected to FIX the economic meltdown, a large portion of the voters know now that he can't be held accountable for the slow recovery. They saw what the GOP Congress did.

I will state this again HEALTH CARE WAS and IS a key economic focus. Do the other things and leave health care alone and you can't FIX the economy. What kind of economist are you to ignore 23% of Federal spending and over 20% of the GDP of the USA? Stop this Republican BULLSHIT about Obama wasting time with Health Care and not focusing on the economy. Health Care IS the economy.

Kari Obamacare is irrelevant if Americans perceive Obama unable to stimulate the economy and so the GOP wins.  The first thing that an Obama/Boehner administration will do is drop Obamacare.  In light of that what wa sthe point of spending so much time on it when the economic recovery was seen as weak and when most Americans considered the nation to be still in recession.

.

Now Kari you can come up with 200 excuses for Obama, 150 of which might actually be correct.  History however indicates that presidents in power during periods of high unemployment since FDR have always been voted out.  The only thing in Obama's favor is that romney is such a hopelessly weak candidate who is flip  flopping all over the place that many dont trust him.

., and FL joining NC in the Romney camp.  This morning MSNBC reported that CO is leaning Romney and that OH is now a dead heat.

Kari you continue to ignore the black vote.  As for as you are concerned if blacks remain worse off under Obama than they were even under Bush it doesnt matter.  Kari it does, because its the record high turnouts in this group and among young college educated whites that provided Obama the margin of victory last time.  Now that there has been a drop in enthusiasm in gthis group, and indications are that Hispanics do support Obama but arent sure whether they will vote, Obama's supportg seems soft whenm measured by those who actually do plan to vote.

So Kari if blacks stay home in OH, Obama loses because he stands no chance to get a majority of the white vote in that state...not when every poll shows a dead heat...and not when MSNBC reports a Romney lead among the 50% of those who are yet to cast their vote.

Kari as much as you do not like Romney, and neither do I, you must admit that he has way more credibility in terms of his understanding of the economy that McCain had.

So using your argument he wins, especially as  no poll shows that Americans are impressed with Obama's handling of the economy over the past 3+ years.

Obama lost focus on the economy from late 2009 when it began to recover.   Because of this he might well lose.

Now you can wail and rant if on November 7,8, or 9th we find out that he lost.  I think that it will be a very close election and with shenanigans definitely planned for OH and FL there might be demands for recounts.

If Obama does lose just remember that I told you so.  Obama inherited a USA where the GOP had no credibility.  In the early post election period he enjoyed the support of the majority of the Republican voters, even if their representatives in DC were determined to thwart him. 

Why did he mess that up?