Does anyone really know sensible reforms that would make our economy work better?

Sounds a lot like the utopian ideas of the smart growth crowd around Portland that have screwed up the whole region.

The last thing we need are more untested "sensible" reforms.

Thanks
JK

I think the "sensible reforms" would include letting the Bush tax cuts expire. But Obama didn't do that, even though he could have. So I'm not sure what he's talking about this time.

Gafetti:

Obama Thanks “Mark” Shirley For $35,800-a-Couple Dinner ~

The president told a $35,800-a-couple Medina fundraiser that the 2012 election will be “especially hard because a lot of people are discouraged” but vowed he will “keep drawing a clear contrast” between his vision of America and that of the Republicans.

The fundraiser was held in the 27,000-square toot, art-draped home of former Microsoft chief operating officer Jon Shirley. Obama deemed the art collection unforgettable. But he could not remember the name of his host.

“I was saying to Mark that I wish I had time to just roam around because this is as beautiful a collection as I’ve ever seen. I want to thank Mark . . .” Obama said.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/09/25/obama-gusts-gaffes-and-basketball-greats/

I think the "sensible reforms" would include letting the Bush tax cuts expire.
Yes, but a lot of people are saying the worst thing to do is to raise taxes. And Bush did that to the yachet industry and darn near killed it off.

I wish I had studied more econ, but even the best experts argue about this. (Raising taxes, changing government policies and big borrowing did not get us out of the 1930s depression - Tojo did when he returned all that scrap metal we sold him.)

Thanks
JK

WW2 brought us out of the Great Depression because it resulted in hugely increased government spending, taxes, borrowing, and changed policy.

The quote making the rounds is Obama's comment early in his term:

...you don't raise taxes during a recession...

So I guess he'll soon be declaring the recession/depression "over"!

I think Obama is like one our own Oregon saps.

I see him as a President Burkholder, President Kulongoski or a President Bluemenuer. Or any other. Take your pick.

Completely out of his mind and league hoping somehow he can pretend he has a grip on the job just long enough to get through it.

Then as a former president he can dally about giving profound advise for a fee while pretending he was a misjudged president who could have been great were it not for our lingering racism?

I can't imagine what letting the Bush tax cuts expire would have accomplished.

We'd be in the exact same spot with the goverment spending and chaos mimicking the PDC, Portland and TriMet madness on a grand scale.
Or California style mega-insanity.

Sample:
Tenessee reports ObamaCare will purge 700,000 people from workplace healthcare coverage onto the state's system and cost $1 billion.

The global warming charade is the ultimate demonstration of unhinged government gone wild. From Sam Adams to the EPA it is a historial time of reckless abandonment of all common sense.

Pushing Solyndra flops and soaring energy prices will kill any and all chances of economic recovery. Period.

As energy goes, so goes the country.

Unfortunately we have multitudes of lunatics at every level of policy making who are oblivious to the effects of high energy cost on everything.

That isn't somethign that doesn't matter.
Or that giving the government more money can offset.

It's time to admit we got colossally flim-flammed in 2008 and that things aren't going to get any better till he's out of there.

Not ideological here -- maybe his policies, whatever they are this week, are exactly what the country needs. But nobody's buying and nobody's going to buy, despite his increasingly shrill sales pitch.

Even the Washington Post, no bastion of conservative thought, said last week's bridge speech was just political theater -- that even if the project were fast-tracked, it would be two years before anything there is shovel-ready.

We plan to simply hunker down for the next 13-16 months and hope the next guy can improve things. As it stands now, Republicans need only point to the state of the nation and ask voters: "Is this the best we can do?"

Bankerman,

That is a myth and misconception.

WWII was responsible for DELAYING our recovery, not causing it.

War is not good for the economy. If it was then Iraq and Afghanistan would be boosting us right now.

Contrary to popular belief, the “public works program” known as World War II did not end the Great Depression; it ended the New Deal.

After the war we had massive tax cuts, increases in the money supply, huge reductions in federal spending and the repeal of the Smoot-Hawley tariffs. All these changes (and international competitors in ruins) combined to pull the nation’s economy out of its long and painful slide, and all could have been made without the war. Most of these things could have been done in the early 1930's avoiding lots of suffering.

If any of you think this is ever going to get better, think again. The uber rich don't want it to get better so it's not going to. Get over it or realize that we need a whole new paradigm.

Obama is nothing more than a puppet for the kinds of ultra-wealthy corporate elites who attended that fundraiser. How can he accept $18,000 from each of them and turn around and vote against their interests? It's not going to happen. We have the best government corporate America can buy.

"My dog has created more shovel-ready jobs than Obama."

Sensible reforms like:

Reenacting Glass-Steagall?

OR

Repealing NAFTA

OR

Forcing the banks to mark-to-market?

OR

Stop the war machine

OR

End the "war" on drugs

OR .....

JK, speaking of the yacht industry and the government's policy affects, consider this.

Recently a friends boat sold here in Portland to a purchaser back in Cape Cod, Mass. The purchaser planned on shipping the large boat by one of those floating dry dock large ships. The agent for the large ship when contacted laughed and said:

"we haven't had enough business from the west coast to the east to warrant a shipment since Obama came into office three years ago. All of this industry has dried up with all the uncertainty and such."

We can laugh and make derogatory remarks about the "rich", but think of all the jobs lost from the local shipyard, the transit jobs, and the jobs on the east coast. Plus, the selling price of the boat for our local former owner was severely decreased because of this shipping option being lost.

What sensible reforms has the Obama administration enacted or even tried to? I do agree with those such as Republicans David Stockman and Howard Davidowitz that the Bush tax cuts should expire.

I think he is in the early phases of Alzheimers. Or the later phases of narcissistic personality disorder. Or the middle phase of a spectacular flaming-out.

But seriously, the other option was Palin. What could we have done differently? I guess we could have had super low expectations in order to avoid disappointment, instead of buying all the BS, and being furious later that the guy can't even put a medal of honor around a soldier's neck without forgetting his name.

Why isn't anyone upset with Corporate America these days? Those are the Captains of Industry who are supposed to lead us out of these problems. But no, they keep all the cash inhouse, complain about regulations that are mostly necessary to make them behave, and say they are too worried about paying taxes to actually invest in anything new. We should open our immigration doors to Chinese, Indian and German business leaders to show us how to make it when the going gets tough.

Here is an interesting article about the recession:

Like Obama today, FDR blamed the country's economic problems on his predecessor, making Hoover a pariah. Yet, 6 years after Hoover was gone, and nearly a decade after the stock market crash, unemployment hit 20 percent again in the spring of 1939.

Doing nothing may have a better track record in the economy but government intervention has a better political record in getting presidents re-elected.

read the whole article at: http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell091411.php3

Thanks
JK

Pete Farrell Why isn't anyone upset with Corporate America these days? Those are the Captains of Industry who are supposed to lead us out of these problems. But no, they keep all the cash inhouse, complain about regulations
JK: Because the regulations are increasing their costs AND adding uncertainty. Would you gamble you life savings when the rules may change mid game?

Pete Farrell that are mostly necessary to make them behave,
JK: You mean like the mandate that employers spend unknown amounts on money providing health care? Sorry to be a rightie here, but since when is health care the employer’s responsibility? How about providing groceries? How about providing a car? How about providing a house (or a Homer’s hole)? How about providing a spouse?

What is wrong with a nice clean, simple transaction - one works x hours for $y. Then said worker is completely free to spend $y in any way they wish? Instead of having the employer/government allocate this income for him among various alleged good causes. (Keep in mind that employers do not look only at the employee’s paycheck, instead the crucial thing is ALL money spent by the employer on behalf of the employee - that is the cost of the employee.)

Pete Farrell and say they are too worried about paying taxes to actually invest in anything new.
JK: Maybe the taxes will take away any potential profits, or make profits less valuable. Then keeping money in the bank may be the most profitable option.

Thanks
JK