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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

It's Not Going Over Well

I can't figure out whether Obama thinks people are stupider than they are or whether Obama is stupider than I think he is. This is incredibly like some passages in his second book (yes, I have already forgotten both titles) in which he accurately lays out the ramifications of an issue and then completely ignores all of them in taking his position. What does he really think education and higher energy costs is going to do to redress the problem of a country and a population overloaded with debt?

Transcript at NY Times.

Calculated Risk posted a link to the feed with a notice about the press conference, and the comments on that post are extremely funny. Jas Jain is ranting on again about corruption, and everyone's agreeing with him. In response to the question by one commenter as to who is listening to this, another commenter replies "The Dopes of Hope". Another commenter "When was the last time the US was this far in the tank? Watching this made me ask that question."

Yet another commenter:
I liked this:
"So yes, the government can create demand temporarily, but that can't fill the export gap forever."

If no one is buying then none of this is going to work!!!!!!
What do we produce?
Where is the average citizen going to get the money to buy it? None of this addresses that." Then he or she posts a link to the latest news about Japan's exports - down almost 50% YoY.

Another commenter posts a link to a Reuters article detailing Moody's projections about the cost of US energy under Obama's cap and trade proposal, and ends with a succinct "Bend over, Bubba":
U.S. electricity prices are likely to rise 15 to 30 percent if a national cap on carbon dioxide emissions is instituted, according to a report by Moody's Investors Service.
And "the vast majority" of the burden of those higher costs will be borne by residents as large industrial users are likely to be successful in lobbying U.S. lawmakers for special rates and tariffs, the report dated March showed.
If carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are priced at $20 per metric ton, it would add about $48 billion in costs for the electric utility sector, Moody's said.
But on a brighter note, apparently Obama did succeed in changing some people's minds. One commenter writes:
Just got DH to agree, we start moving our money out of the U.S. tomorrow.
I'm not sure that is what Obama hoped to accomplish.

I'm wondering what Geithner thought was going to happen? People were willing to accept very low returns on Treasuries in order to preserve capital during a time of global economic disruption, but once you make it clear you are going to deflate your currency, no. This will end in dollar flight and an inability to sell our debt internationally. REALLY.

An actual debate broke out on DU yesterday over Geithner. Obama is losing his base over this.


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