Most Americans Don’t Blame Obama for Economy

Most Americans Don’t Blame Obama for Economy, Poll Finds – washingtonpost.com:

“The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack Obama’s election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.”

Poll Results

(Via The Washington Post.)

It looks like the public is still in a realistic mood. Still, Obama’s plan needs to start having some effects soon or the public will turn on him.

Built It and They Came

Netbooks killing off sickly Windows PC sales — RoughlyDrafted Magazine:

“That has hit Microsoft particularly hard, resulting in an 11% drop in profits over its year ago quarter and plans to cut 5,000 jobs over the next year and a half. On the other hand, Apple posted its best quarterly results ever, with 9% growth in its Mac sales over the previous year.”

(Via RoughlyDrafted Magazine.)

This what happens when you have to focus on making great products in order to survive.

Throwing in Their 2¢

Obama Campaigns Outside Washington to Win Insiders on Stimulus – Yahoo! News:

“While the president’s approval ratings are close to 70 percent, much of the public has been persuaded by arguments from congressional Republicans that the stimulus package is loaded with projects that won’t spur economic growth, according to Charles Jones, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

Why I have not no respect for the GOP. Party comes before country. Fully 2% of this package is what they’ve been harping about. That’s 2¢ out of every dollar. The rest everyone agrees will stimulate the economy. Typical.

Krugman Goes Medieval

A Dark Age of macroeconomics (wonkish) – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com:

“There’s no ambiguity in either case: both Fama and Cochrane are asserting that desired savings are automatically converted into investment spending, and that any government borrowing must come at the expense of investment – period.

What’s so mind-boggling about this is that it commits one of the most basic fallacies in economics: interpreting an accounting identity as a behavioral relationship…

S + T = I + G

After a change in desired savings or investment something happens to make the accounting identity hold. And if interest rates are fixed, what happens is that GDP changes to make S and I equal.

That’s actually the point of one of the ways multiplier analysis is often presented to freshmen.”

(Via NY Times Blogs.)

Ouch. Fama and Cochrane made a freshman mistake. That’s why political ideology is soft-think.

Obama Takes ’em to the “Chuch”


Part 1 Top Quote:

No, seriously…that’s the point!


Part 2 Top Quote:

Let’s put Americans to work doing the work that America needs done.

PREACH!

Salary Caps hit Wall Street

Obama’s cap on CEO pay strives to end era of excess | csmonitor.com:

“‘This is America. We don’t disparage wealth. And we believe that success should be rewarded,’ Obama said. ‘But what gets people upset – and rightfully so – are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by US taxpayers.’
The cap on compensation marks a sharp pay cut for executives of some of the largest banks, such as Citigroup and Bank of America.
‘If these executives receive any additional compensation, it will come in the form of stock that can’t be paid up until taxpayers are paid back for their assistance,’ Obama said.”

(Via Christian Science Monitor.)

Contrary to conservative noises about communism, this is quintessentially American capitalist. Now if only corporate boards were actually independent of the executives they are supposed to oversee, we’d have this kind of check and balance all the time.

Obama on Anderson Cooper 360

Video – Breaking News Videos from CNN.com:

(Via CNN Video.)

Will the Stimulus Work?

Will the Stimulus Work? | The FactCheck Wire:

“In the meantime, if you want to keep up with the experts and their (sometimes quite technical) arguments for and against the stimulus plan, we suggest Krugman and former Clinton Treasury official Brad DeLong on the pro side and Becker and George Mason’s Tyler Cowen on the con side. The Atlantic’s new Atlantic Business page helpfully breaks down the experts’ arguments for the layperson.”

(Via FactCheck Wire.)

Check out both sides before arriving at an opinion.

Stimulate the Economy

Obama stimulus plan faces changes in Senate – Yahoo! News:

“WASHINGTON – A top Republican called for more mortgage relief and additional tax cuts in President Barack Obama’s massive economic stimulus package as Democrats conceded privately they will drop items that have drawn bipartisan criticism.”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

Finally, some sense from the Congress. I’ve been suspicious of them since the TARP fiasco. Whatever happened to good governance? Apparently, once you are in power, it fades into the background. I’ve seen tortured logic trying to justify “pork” projects that don’t stimulate the economy. These projects are to vary degrees laudable and worthy of legislation all on their own, but let’s get real here. Tax cuts and government spending that creates jobs is what is needed. Condoms are not stimulative in the proper sense!

The Audacity of Nope

Colbertnation | The Colbert Report Official Site | Comedy Central:

(Via The Colbert Nation.)

Genius critique on the House vote.

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