The first journalist busted Obama straight away.

[TooFarTampa]

He actually fubared on that one a bit. I think he was just searching for something to say and ended up falling back on his populist roots. He stated that the root problem was not consumer debt, it was the banks investing in risky assets. Funny thing is those risky assets were mortgage backed securities based on consumer debt. He also kind of messed up on Japan's lost decade by claiming the problem there was the fact that they didn't react fast enough. In reality over a period of three or four years Japan spent something like 2.2 trillion on infrastructure, jacking their debt level up to around 180% of GDP. They are still trying to pay that off, and are in worse shape today because of it. At the end of Japan's spending spree all the workers were left unemployed and Japan only had a 100 or so "bridges to nowhere" to show for it. We ultimately pulled them out of it through our economic growth. Something tells me nobody is going to pull us out of this one.

Overall, he did a good job though. He's kind of long winded which saves him from a lot of questions. These press briefings are all just a big stone wall. He and everybody else out there don't have a clue if any of this is going to work or not. Save or preserve 4 million jobs? Can someone give me a definition of a 'preserved job'? We are in uncharted waters here, and there's a storm a brewin' on the horizon.

I agree with you. I don't agree that it was a "gotcha" moment by a reporter -- Obama is very consistent and he more than likely will end up being known as our "explainer in chief." What he said was actually consistent with what he said at the town hall meeting; the reporter mischaracterized it a bit (it happens).

Generally, I am on Obama's side because I get him completely. His entire job right now is problem solving, and he has embraced it. I understand what he is trying to say, and if he sounds professorial -- oh well, he is trying to be complete. I really don't think he is trying to avoid questions! I say this because being long winded and precise comes much more naturally to me than being snappy.

But you are right -- nobody has any idea whether this will work. But I agree that doing nothing is not an option, and the time has passed for doing the typical (tax cuts). At any rate we have him for four years, and I am grateful that he is less of a partisan Democrat than a progressive searching for creative solutions. Who was it that said the greatest curse was "may you live in interesting times?"

 

[hnooe]

Well, all I have to say is wasn't it nice to see a Presidential news conference where the President actually involved you and me, the citizenry, in his unscripted thought processes as a problem is looked at from 360 degrees, and done so intelligently.

An American 12 year old is now getting a great education via a Presidential news conference, and, for the first time in 8 years, might now actually understand how a real President methodically solves problems. And solving problems is not necessarily done by "staying the course" now is it?

Refreshing. I prefer not to go "back to horse trading," or the horse and buggy for that matter to solve this huge problem, per Ms. Linnie, and I am not really sure that "Cash is King !!," especially when it is frozen solid to the core.

 

[rapunzel]

May you live in interesting times is a Chinese proverb. Well....these certainly are interesting times.

When we start nit-picking and whining about unspecified earmarks and blaming Clinton's initiative to increase home ownership (and correct me if I'm wrong, but the people who are upside down bought 2003 or later, right? when Bush pushed for low interest rates to keep us out of a recession after 2001? A supply-side stimulus that had a rather unfortunate consequence, but I digress...), I just hope we can all think of that job loss image...and how at some point a correction becomes a panic...and think how nice it would be if we could just be focused not on strategy for 2010, but how to turn this thing around and spare the American people a great deal of unnecessary pain.

I still haven't seen a better plan....

 

[Lake View Too]

I agree with both of you. It's refreshing to hear a man just come out and try to explain a very trying and complex problem without all the glib, defensive, snide remarks we got for the last eight years.

 

[30ashopper]

May you live in interesting times is a Chinese proverb. Well....these certainly are interesting times.

When we start nit-picking and whining about unspecified earmarks and blaming Clinton's initiative to increase home ownership (and correct me if I'm wrong, but the people who are upside down bought 2003 or later, right? when Bush pushed for low interest rates to keep us out of a recession after 2001? A supply-side stimulus that had a rather unfortunate consequence, but I digress...), I just hope we can all think of that job loss image...and how at some point a correction becomes a panic...and think how nice it would be if we could just be focused not on strategy for 2010, but how to turn this thing around and spare the American people a great deal of unnecessary pain.

I still haven't seen a better plan....

What is a better vs. worse plan? Search around for top economist blogs and start reading. There's quite a bit of discussion and various ideas being tossed around. Obama has clearly chosen his one solution.. it isn't the only one out there.

Here's another nice graph in line with your's repunzel which helps put things in perspective -

The orange line in the middle is "us".

 

[GoodWitch58]

I agree with both of you. It's refreshing to hear a man just come out and try to explain a very trying and complex problem without all the glib, defensive, snide remarks we got for the last eight years.

Yes, and it's nice to see a President and White House hold a town hall meeting without screening the attendees; to give out tickets on a "first come, first served" basis; and to actually answer questions from people who did not vote for him.

It is a refreshing change.

 

[Lake View Too]

I'd rather not see the graphs...

 

[TooFarTampa]

Yes, and it's nice to see a President and White House hold a town hall meeting without screening the attendees; to give out tickets on a "first come, first served" basis; and to actually answer questions from people who did not vote for him.

It is a refreshing change.

In that vein, this is from the transcript of the town hall meeting today in Indiana. It is a little thing but I appreciated it so much:

Q Thank you. My question is, you have -- my name is Tara. You have come to our county and asked us to trust you, but those that you have appointed to your Cabinet are not trustworthy and can't handle their own budget and taxes.

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no, this is a legitimate -- this is a legitimate question.

Q So I'm one of those that thinks you need to have a beer with Sean Hannity. So tell me why, from my side, we can understand --

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: No, that's okay. That's okay. No, no, look, I think it was a perfectly legitimate question.

First of all, I appoint -- I've appointed hundreds of people, all of whom are outstanding Americans who are doing a great job. There are a couple who had problems before they came into my administration in terms of -- in terms of their taxes. Look -- and I think this is a legitimate criticism that people have made, because you can't expect one set of folks to not pay their taxes when everybody else is paying theirs. So I think that's a legitimate concern. (Applause.)

I will tell you that the individuals at issue here, I know them personally, and I think these were honest mistakes. And I made sure they were honest mistakes beforehand. And one of the things I discovered is if you're not going to appoint anybody whose ever made a mistake in your [sic] life, then you're not going to have anybody taking your job. So -- (applause) --

But having said that, what I did acknowledge -- and I said it publicly on just about every TV station -- is something that you probably sometimes don't hear from politicians, which is: I made a mistake. (Applause.) And that, because I don't want to send the signal that they're two sets of rules.

And he does go on from there. :roll: but you get the drift ...

 

[Bob]

He actually fubared on that one a bit. I think he was just searching for something to say and ended up falling back on his populist roots. He stated that the root problem was not consumer debt, it was the banks investing in risky assets. Funny thing is those risky assets were mortgage backed securities based on consumer debt. He also kind of messed up on Japan's lost decade by claiming the problem there was the fact that they didn't react fast enough. In reality over a period of three or four years Japan spent something like 2.2 trillion on infrastructure, jacking their debt level up to around 180% of GDP. They are still trying to pay that off, and are in worse shape today because of it. At the end of Japan's spending spree all the workers were left unemployed and Japan only had a 100 or so "bridges to nowhere" to show for it. We ultimately pulled them out of it through our economic growth. Something tells me nobody is going to pull us out of this one.

Overall, he did a good job though. He's kind of long winded which saves him from a lot of questions. These press briefings are all just a big stone wall. He and everybody else out there don't have a clue if any of this is going to work or not. Save or preserve 4 million jobs? Can someone give me a definition of a 'preserved job'? We are in uncharted waters here, and there's a storm a brewin' on the horizon.

japan is as large as how many of our states?

 

[30ashopper]

I'd rather not see the graphs...

This may sound rather sick and twisted but I am finding this whole thing incredibly fascinating to experience. How many people can say they lived through a world economic depression? Plus, think of the upside once we come out of it. Who would pass up the opportunity to have a boat load of cash on the sidelines in 1945? You gotta think positive, like the President.