Obama's Cloud Economy

[jgaffney]

Daniel Henninger explains Obama's economy:

Mr. Obama's McCain moment—raising expectations of economic seriousness and then dropping them over the cliff—was his hyperpartisan deficit speech at George Washington University in April.

The day before that speech, all Washington expected Mr. Obama to make a major policy statement about the big deficit-reduction debate then unfolding. Agree or disagree, Paul Ryan's budget released the week before was all about policy. The Republicans were actually offering to take part-ownership of the economy by spending the year in dense discussions about the deficit and spending.

Expectations raised, the president contributed nothing. Instead he dumped ridicule and derision on the Republican leadership seated before him. With that speech, Mr. Obama kicked off his 2012 presidential campaign, and in so doing politicized the economy.

The timing was not good. Whether it's this week's report that consumer confidence has fallen to a six-month low or anecdotal conversation ("So what do you think happens when QE2 ends?"), the sense grows that people are starting to freak out over the economy—over persistently high unemployment and persistently weak growth.

The answer is that Obama and the Democrats don't have any ideas about how to revive the economy. The recession officially ended in 2009 with 3 quarters of positive GDP growth. However, in previous recoveries, the economy came roaring back, posing growth numbers of 5+% several quarters in a row. In the Obama recovery, the economy is still limping along at less than 2% growth, despite all of the cheerleading from the media.

Last Sunday, the SFChron had an article about how the US auto industry was roaring back from the government bailout. The article said that the Chevy Cruze was the top selling compact, "except for the Honda Civic." Except for the Civic? Puhleese! Honda is blowing Chevy and Ford away because the US manufacturers are still churning out trucks!

The answer to the recovery dilemma is, of course, to cut taxes. However, with the current demagoguery from the Left about "the rich" (said with a snarl), we don't stand a chance of seeing any kind of tax cut making it through the Congress.

This is Obama's economy - no gettin' around it, Mink!

[jgaffney]

The Republicans in Congress are keeping the heat on the Dems and the singular failure to lead on the economy. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) sent a letter to President Obama, demanding that he respond to the dismal report on medicare produced by the Trustees. It seems that the law requires the President to submit a plan to the Congress if the Trustees project that the Trust Fund will be running a deficit.

Ranking Member Sessions stated: “Faced with an approaching debt crisis, the president’s priority should be to meet his legal and financial obligations as the country’s chief executive. Failing to do so only further undermines economic confidence, worsens the conditions for job creation, and accelerates the bankrupting of Medicare. A big part of the reason we are in this mess is because of Washington’s failure to budget honestly and play by the rules. It’s time for a change. I hope the president will finally meet his legal duty to respond to the Medicare warning. The requirement is critically important because it recognizes that presidential leadership is necessary when Medicare is at risk. The Medicare trustees have sent their warning—will the president take action? The House of Republicans have set forth a plan for reform—should the president not provide his plan?”

Chairman Ryan added: “The Medicare Trustees continue to ring the alarm bell, and for the third year in a row, President Obama has failed to respond. Seniors, working families, and future generations cannot afford such irresponsible leadership. Republicans in Congress continue their efforts to save Medicare—offering solutions that protect those in or near retirement from any changes, while offering a strengthened, personalized Medicare program that future generations can count on when they retire. It is time that President Obama and his party’s leaders upheld their legal obligation to offer solutions and their moral obligation to protect the health and economic security of America’s seniors.”

The short answer, again, is that the Democrats don't have a plan that they care to share with the electorate, especially this close to an election. They would rather demagogue any plan that the Republicans put forth, and hope to ride the fear and panic through the election cycle. Then, they'll drop the A-bomb on us!