Obama

[TheRoof]

What's your opinion about obama and his stimulus package?
I was just reading comments on this news website,
and a lot of people seems to HATE obama and his stimulus package.
well, in a way, i kinda understand what they're saying b/c basically people
who paid their mortgages responsibly are going to pay for those who didn't-which is unfair in a way.
on the other hand, i think something SHOULD be done, otherwise how are we going to fix this bad situation...however, it doesnt seem to be working at this moment...
idk, this one person even said that he hopes obama fails miserably b/c when obama wins, america wins.-really nasty comment if u ask me.
so what's ur opinion about this whole situation?

[Janvier]

I think people are too selfish, where are the times when we helped each other?
And people who want him to fail are IDIOTS !!

A quote from Lincoln goes something like this :"When you are in a position of power you have the people that want to take your place that are against you, your opponents are against you but most of all, the people who do absolutely nothing are against you too."

So it's not really surprising people want him to fail but if he does then things will be 10x worse !! Why would anybody want to see him fail?

[Jeimuzu]

I hate the stimulus package because it's designed to damage free trade (NAFTA is going out of the window for example, which was put in place during Bill Clinton, who frankly was a fantastic president), and hence while fixing their own economy is basically shafting everyone else's - where Britain have been making so many promises to avoid protectionism, America's doing exactly the opposite. And that'll damage the global economy. Despite this largely being initiated in America with the likes of Lehmann brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and so on, this is a global problem. Obama's putting out the fuse after the bomb's already gone off. =/

Really, though, just make some new jobs; if you can find $800 000 000 000, then I'm sure you can find something on a civil level to do with it. Let's say we'd give an average salary out of $40 000 pa to each person hired, that means that that stimulus package would cover the wages of 20 million people for a year. Considering in England it's newsworthy when a company makes another 5 000 jobs, 20 000 000 would go a long way. I'd also ban banks from giving out bonuses until further notice, because right now it'd not be their money they're spending. I'd have federal investigators check out the financial records of all the banks that're all or partly government owned, and basically work out who at the top has a high salary and cut it; after all, incompetence is a good reason to lower a salary, and if this crisis isn't due to incompetent bankers I don't know whose fault it is (besides the people who're meant to monitor all this, but y'know).

This problem wouldn't be that hard to solve if people could just get drastic about the whole thing. =/ Too much bureaucracy in the way though.

[Swamp56]

Above poster takes the words out of my mouth.

[beckyg]

I'm no expert and I'm sure its got its flaws. There are some slackers who are going to take advantage of this however there are tons of good people who can't pay their mortgages because of lost jobs who DO need help. I see no reason why those people have to lose their homes because of a bad economy when they have really tried.

[Jeimuzu]

Originally Posted by beckyg

I'm no expert and I'm sure its got its flaws. There are some slackers who are going to take advantage of this however there are tons of good people who can't pay their mortgages because of lost jobs who DO need help. I see no reason why those people have to lose their homes because of a bad economy when they have really tried.

Thing is, that's not my problem with the stimulus package. I ALL about helping everyone. But I think that Obama seems to be throwing money at it, and worse - he's not throwing it in the right direction. It seems like a big panic move, and if that sort of money had been thrown at this when it was just starting off, it would have calmed the fears, the stock market would've breathed a huge sigh of relief, and money would have flowed again. Instead, they've left it too long to just throw huge sums of cash at it, and now it needs to be a million times better thought out.

[TheRoof]

i dont really know what to say about this.
i really do believe that some kind of stimulus is needed BUT
the thing is that we, the younger generation, are going to have to
pay the gigantic debts....
of course, we all need to sacrifice something to make things right but still....
i just hope that this stimulus does its job and make things better

[Lexington]

I think Obama (and Congress) is caught in a bind. They can do some good with the money, but that would mean sitting down and arguing where all of it would go. And, if you know how these things work, this could take...oh, a year or so. And people don't want help in a year. They want help NOW. So they know they're going to have to rush it through, without really giving it too much oversight.

Will there be waste there? Guaranteed.
Will it stimulate the economy? Probably a bit.
Will we be back to good times soon? Don't bet on it.

Lex

[Mirko]

I don't think the stimulus package is going to get the US economy going again. A stimulus package would have been a lot more effective if it would have been introduced a year ago or so. They are trying to help but in order for it to be effective the fundamental problems facing the US economy would need to be addressed first. Fixing them could take a while. But politicians don't last long if they don't address (or at least are seen to be trying doing something about) the concerns of citizens.

[EM68]

I am not sure if the Stimulus Package will work and to be honest I think the politicians don't know either. I think the only way the economy will pick up again if banks start to lend again. The government should have done what they said they were going to do originally and buy the bad assets off the books of the banks. Once they do that he banks will have more liquidity so they can start lending. Also when they do, they need to realize that some people were never in the position to buy a home. Only the ones that can but money down and have verified income should be able to get a mortgage.

Also someone needs to tell the treasury secretary to come up with a plan to save the banks. He can not have a big press conference and say details to follow. The day he did the stock market went down huge. He needs to show confidence and direction. Right now he is not.