By TRS

March 4, 2009 10:40 PM | Link to this

RAW - well said. The founding fathers did not fear private enterprise; rather, they feared the “King” or government. No question greed got us into trouble. Everyone wants bipartisanship. Well it was bipartisanship which got us here with the Dems promoting bad underwriting of loans so “everyone can own a home” and the Republicans who didn’t have the courage to stand up even though they were aware of the situation. These same folks are now trying to solve the problem. As for the rich paying for it, if you confiscated all the money of those considered rich, it would amount to about 1.2 Trillion, give or take a billion, not even enough to make a dent. A recent advocacy ad noted the if a person spent 1 million dollars a day since the birth of Christ, they still wouldn’t have spent the money allocated in the spending bill. Chuckie Schumer said the “chattering class doesn’t care about porky or excessive spending”. Obama tells us not to worry about the the “fits and starts” of the stock market. So, this is supposed to be change we can believe in?

By Fedup

March 4, 2009 6:48 PM | Link to this

“Divide and conquer”While all of us(well probabaly most of us)working class type sit around and argue about who screwed and who is now screwing up the Country.These scoundrels in DC(most of them)from both parties are having a big laugh at the fighting we are doing amongst us.Keep your eye on the apple.These crooks are selling and giving away our country,jobs,standard of living and our freedoms.Can any one honestly think that either bush or obama have done or plan on doing anything for you and I.Oh by the way some where there is a list of all the promises obama made on the capaign trail and the ones he has broken so far.george w. set us up for the kill and now obama and his leftist gang are going to finish us off.good bye life as we knew it.And all the time we were too busy fighting each other to see what was going on.

By mwm

March 4, 2009 4:25 PM | Link to this

We ALL will fix the economy. Yes, government will help create jobs. And yes, we are starting a new deal. Our country has been ignored by past domestic and foreign policy errors. Bush, is an example of someone who should have NEVER been president. He was inept. His whole goal in life was to be a two term president at the expense of our great country. In lives and money. The republicans are a no deal party whose only concern is their lobbyists. That has come to an end. Halliburton and Blackwater’s days are numbered. In the next few years, our country will abolish the terrible past and start anew. The republicans, under the leadership of Limbaugh, will continue their rants but, in the end, it is us that will prevail. We now have true leadership in the White House in Obama. Bush was just a pawn, controlled and manipulated by the neocon agenda. The torch has been passed. And to you republicans, just remember that your form of mismanagement will be remembered.

By Pete

March 4, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this

greatcitizen…. I’m not so stupid as to not know those services are paid for by you & I. But if those services are so prevalent, explain to me why people in those professions have been losing their jobs since the Dems took control (exception may be roads — but those haven’t actually been in the greatest of shape in this area until recently). And yeah, that includes the military — I know, I’m retired military. Historically, the defense budget takes huge slashes under the Dems. I watched people get forced out because of defense budget cuts under Clinton & Carter. Don’t think it’s happening just because we’re at war? Guess what, dude. Many Air Force folks have been forced out if they don’t change technical jobs or retrain. If you’re not aware of Reagan’s 600 ship Navy, many ships commissioned in the 1980’s (which are supposed to have a lifespan of 30 years) are now no longer in service or are scheduled for decommissioning. Blame that on Bush, huh? And if you’re so up to date on the stats / percents I listed, point me in the right direction & prove me wrong.

By RM25483

March 4, 2009 2:36 PM | Link to this

That post-link should read: 9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260 Saying Bush is to blame gives him way too much credit. This is far too large of a craphole for just him. This is clearly a bipartisan f-up.

By RM25483

March 4, 2009 2:33 PM | Link to this

I do not remember Bush being in office in 1999: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260

By greatcitizens

March 4, 2009 2:26 PM | Link to this

Pete if your going to try spouting statistics and percentages, at least look them up so you know what you are talking about. As for socialism, many of the programs that you and I enjoy and take for granted are social programs such as ems, fire fighters, public schools teachers, police, military, and departments of transportation(they fix the roads, bridges, etc.). Without these publicly funded programs our society would be in absolute chaos. None of these things can be funded without the help of American citizens.

By Pete

March 4, 2009 1:23 PM | Link to this

You morons who continue to bash Bush for the economy haven’t paid much attention to how the recession actually came about, have ya? In Sep 2007, the national debt wasn’t even an issue. Unemployment nationwide wasn’t over 1%. The housing market wasn’t in the crapper. The stock market was around 14K. When the Democrats got control of the House & Senate after the Nov 2007 election, things changed. The recession “OFFICIALLY” started & you saw the housing marking tank. More & more jobs went bye-bye as unemployment’s now over 5% nationally. Private businesses went belly up. & then came the stimulus crap, which your fool Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, et al, have piled on more & more debt to sink this country’s economy even more. The stock market doesn’t lie. Investors aren’t selling off on emotion. They’re paying attention to what this piece of Socialistic dung & his cronies are doing to the country. The continued blaming of Bush is unwarranted & those pointing the finger at him are clueless. You wanted change? You got it! Hope you enjoy choking on the Socialism you wanted as it’s crammed down your throats. Hope you enjoy not being able to even land a job flipping burgers. Hope you enjoy watching your take home pay become less & less. Hope you enjoy watching your energy bills go thru the roof. Hope you enjoy paying for all of the worthless rocking chair money grabbers on welfare. Hope you enjoy socialized medicine when you can’t get that operation you may need. You got your change, A$$H**ES! Enjoy it!

By cleanupAmerica

March 4, 2009 1:13 PM | Link to this

For readers information. The Democrats for “control” of the senate by one person or two years. Not exactly a majority. It is amazing to me that people actually defend the Bush administration after they ran our country into the ground. All of his life someone has had to go behind him and clean up his mess. This shouldn’t surprise us at all.

By Fed Up

March 4, 2009 12:43 PM | Link to this

Again, more Bush “bashing”. DO people forget that in his last 4 years there was a democratic congress? Now onto what I think about Obama’s handling of our country’s situation;President Obama simply does not get it. Rather than put forward a plan that puts Americans back to work by letting Americans choose how to best stimulate the economy — i.e., across the board tax cuts — he believes government should be in control. The Obama plan is to inject government into more aspects of our lives and have a select few people — the rich — pay for it. Question, if the people who actually hire workers are forced to pay even higher taxes, do you really think they will hire as many workers? On Tuesday, Obama proved that he was truly out of touch with the American people. In meetings with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Obama took the time to address the ongoing plunge in the stock market. Despite the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is at its lowest level since 1997, Obama compared the “day-to-day gyration” as similar to a campaign tracking poll.

By forthesolution

March 4, 2009 12:39 PM | Link to this

The Bush administration got America into this mess by allowing Wall street to cheat. Their absolute greed and disregard for our country and it’s citizens is the very reason that people are losing their jobs, life savings, and homes. To blame someone that inherited this mess is ignorant. It took years to get to this point and it will take years to get back to the surplus of the Clinton administration. The naysayers better hope this works. Unlike Rush I am for America’s solution working.

By Jack

March 4, 2009 12:29 PM | Link to this

Wow! What a pack of idiots! If you think Bush caused the current problems, we are doomed from mass stupidity. It was the gov’t forcing banks to loosen credit standards to give loans to politically correct dead beats! You can blame Dodd, Frank and several other Dumbocrats!

By Socialist - Barry Hussein Santoro

March 4, 2009 11:45 AM | Link to this

Savanation - Your math is awful Dow high 13191 and Jan 19 close 8281 doesn’t equal 5500 loss. You must be working on the Obama budget. You are Sick! Rate of decline is increasing.

By Jim

March 4, 2009 11:32 AM | Link to this

Obama has been in office a little over a month and can’t undo all the damage Bush did overnight. Obama is well aware of deficit spending and has stated that he intends to eventually balance the budget. There’s a story out today about Obama and McCain working together to reform no bid government contracts, which will save 40 billion a year. Clinton left Bush a budget surplus only to it go up in smoke. At least we have someone with intelligence running the country.

By Howie

March 4, 2009 11:25 AM | Link to this

Party lines is pretty much how we got to this point in the first place. Nobody is thinking about what we should do for the countery, just what our party should do to stay in power. Drop the party lines and work together to fix this mess,and if that means we pay more now, so be it.

By robert

March 4, 2009 11:18 AM | Link to this

Give the man a break, we had an idiot in there the last 8yrs and he drove this country in the ground. so it is going to take twice as long to fix it!

By Stressed out

March 4, 2009 11:17 AM | Link to this

I thought OBAMA was to work on job reform and all I see is spend spend spend more of tax payers money while the unemployment rate keeps growing and the stock market keeps dropping??? I cant even watch the news it makes me sick to my stomach that our wonderful government is more concerned with their jobs and spending more of our money that we dont even have.

By Savanation

March 4, 2009 11:08 AM | Link to this

“wall street obviously doesn’t think to much of the Obama plan considering it has dropped 1000’s of points since he took office.” The market dropped 5500 points during the last six months of the BUsh Administration, The market continues to slide thanks to the policies Mr. Bush and his friends put into place over the last eight years. No one know how much damage Bush and the Republicans have done, but we are learning more and more everyday. Interesting that “teacher” didn’t care in the least about deficit spending during the eight years the Republicans created the most massive debt in world history. While at the same time borrowing from China and our grandchildren to wage a totally unnecessary war(to the tune of about 3 Trillion dollars). Now since these clowns have ruined the economy, President Obama has to save their sorry asses while they remain too dumb to know what is happening. Now Deficit Spending is not good, but is what has to be done to salvage what remains of our country after eight years of morons in control. Talk about not having a clue - trying to kick the person who is trying to keep your miserable head above water. What is it with you people? Ruining the country isn’t good enough for you, you have to make sure it never gets fixed? Sick!

By Yo MTV Raps

March 4, 2009 10:57 AM | Link to this

Obama is a disaster. Dow down 25% in two months. The recession is more than 14 months old and should be recovering soon. However, the Obama anti capitalist agenda has reversed the recovery and deepen the recession. Obama keeps blaming Bush but the market is forward looking and blaming Bush will only work for short time. The WSJ says” Obmama has chosen to spend his scarce resources on income transfers rather than growth promotion. Most of his “stimulus” spending was devoted to social programs, rather than public works, and nearly all of the tax cuts were devoted to income maintenance rather than to improving incentives to work or invest.” Praise be to Obama

By RAW

March 4, 2009 10:56 AM | Link to this

I agree with Fedup, based on the information reported in the story. We were not privvy to the entire list of questions. Access to the results of the entire poll would have been more useful, but this is a sign that the bliss of the first month is over. The American economy is a complex in inter-connected entity unto itself. To presume that any body of government can do anything to fix the downturn is arrogant and proof that government is serving only its own interests. The most recent bill that passed had spending from both parties that could be termed as wasteful. The government needs to back out of the economy, reduce itself in size and focus on its core responsibilities, as determined by the voting public, not some lobbyist group serving their own interests. Throughout history, civilizations that have allowed government to rule economic development have failed and been replaced, i.e. The Romans, coutless monarchies, English and French Revolution, Colonial England, Soviet Union, even China has backed off of the complete control of their economy to allow private ownership. The majority if not all third world nations are not free-market societies which perpetuates their situation. The tax increases and salary caps proposed by this administration will perpetuate this recession and likely lead to depression as the bulk of employers (small businesses) will not be able to grow their business as revenue will will be taken from them at an increased rate. This revenue could have been used to hire addtiional employees to expand the business. The salary caps will inhibit the growth of business. We have only seen the start of government control on salaries. If there is no reward for initiative, why take the initiative. I for one would be finding ways to keep my pay below the treshold of increased taxes. This would include reducing the scope and size of operations to keep my income below these levels. Rather than encouraging growth government interference has encour stagnation at best, but likely shinkage of the economy in terms of wealth generation. This is why the stocks continue to fall, investors see these policies as threatening to growth and therefore continue to divest thaemselves out of the market. The ultimate end-game is a society livig solely of government subsistence. Business will stagnate and rely on government stimulus to produce product that the population buy using money either directly or indirectly provided by the government. As Americans, we must stand for free-markets as the only way to return to prosperity. We must acknowledge the abuses of the past adn the fraudulent schemes to create wealth to the detriment and at the expense of society (the mortgage crisis). We must then move forward using government as it was intended, the protection from these abuses of power. At its core this country is supported by small businesses. It is the foundation of our economy for employment and for many goods and services we as consumers purchase. Allowing these businesses to grow and create wealth will be the only stimulus the national and the world economy will need.

By teacher

March 4, 2009 10:51 AM | Link to this

During the campaign, deficit spending be BAD. Now, we have deficiet spending (called economic stimulus) and it be GOOD. Bring back the literacy tests for voters - the democrats would be extinct in 6 years.

By Jim

March 4, 2009 10:48 AM | Link to this

Right On Fedup!!

By Go Obama!

March 4, 2009 10:47 AM | Link to this

Obama WILL fix it. It may take longer than two years. He has eight years of damage to fix. Obama is doing great so far, and will continue to do so.

By P David

March 4, 2009 10:36 AM | Link to this

Obama doesn’t have a clue. He needs to respect Wall Street and be business friendly. We were all hoping for a good change, but his ideas of governing from the left aren’t “good”. I will keep my “Guns and Money” and you keep the “Change”. Hooray for FairTax but this President wouldn’t even consider something so helpful. It will be a painful and destructive four years.

By Roger

March 4, 2009 10:01 AM | Link to this

At this point I think the only thing that could help the economy is to repeal the income tax and replace it with something that would actually grow government revenue and encourage business to spend money here like a national retail sales tax. There is such a bill in the House and Senate right now called the Fair Tax Act (H.R. 25/S. 296). I’ve notified congressman Turner that this is something I’d like him to support and he responded with interest, but seemed reluctant without the concern being voiced by more of his constituents. You can find contact info for him at http://turner.house.gov/. More info on the Fair Tax Act at http://www.fairtax.org/.

By Scott

March 4, 2009 9:58 AM | Link to this

He insists on making it worse with all of this wasteful spending. We will know when things are getting better when the market starts to rebound. This is where it all starts and so far wall street obviously doesn’t think to much of the Obama plan considering it has dropped 1000’s of points since he took office.

By Fedup

March 4, 2009 9:37 AM | Link to this

not much options on this poll.you left out the “i dont think obama can ever fix the economy or do you think we as a country are in huge trouble with obama trying to fix our economy” that would be better polling questions.