Obama is "Gratified" by GDP Growth

[amoeba15]

President Obama is "Gratified" by GDP Growth, Commends House Democrats for Rolling Out Health Care Bill

President Obama said this morning that he was "gratified" with the new GDP figures announced today but cautioned that the economy still has a long way to go before a full recovery.

Mr. Obama tied his administration's push for health care reform to strengthening small businesses to an audience that included members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (which has been sparring with the Obama Administration recently on issues like health care and climate change), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), and small business owners and organizations from across the country.

"We've come a long way since the first three months of 2009, when our economy shrunk by an alarming 6.4 percent," Mr. Obama said. "In fact, the 3.5 percent growth in the third quarter is the largest three-month gain we have seen in two years."

The president said this data was "an affirmation that this recession is abating and the steps we've taken have made a difference."

But Mr. Obama also struck a cautious tone and said there is a "long way to go" still.

"While this report today represents real progress, the benchmark I use to measure the strength of our economy is not just whether our GDP is growing, but whether we are creating jobs, whether families are having an easier time paying their bills, whether our businesses are hiring and doing well," he said.

blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/10/president-obama-is-gratified-by-gdp-growth-commends-house-democrats-for-rolling-out-health-care-bill.html

[packerconvert]

Like C4C and job growth, I am sure these numbers are overstated as well.

He can be gratified all he d**n well pleases. We have a recovery with no job growth.

[amoeba15]

Economy grows by 3.5 percent, signals recession may have ended

The U.S. economy roared to life in late summer, as gross domestic product rose at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July through September period. It was the best quarter for growth in two years though analysts warned that it was fueled largely by government recovery programs.

The new data on GDP, which the Commerce Department released Thursday morning, is strong evidence that the recession that began in December 2007 ended sometime this summer. A formal determination will be made by a committee of economists based on a wider range of data, once more complete information is available.

President Obama, addressing small-business owners at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building Thursday morning, said the quarterly GDP figures are "obviously welcome news and an affirmation that this recession is abating and the steps we've taken have made a difference."

GDP is the broadest measure of economic activity, capturing the value of goods and services made within U.S. borders during a given period. It was boosted in the third quarter by, among other factors, a jump in government spending driven in part by the federal stimulus bill passed in February, a rise in consumer spending following a year of steep declines, a steadying in the housing market, and businesses ramping up production to replace inventories that had become exceptionally low.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102900196.html?hpid=topnews

[packerconvert]

Big whoop. Americans are hurting worse than they did when he took office so big whoopty doo.

[amoeba15]

Oct 29, 2009 12:41:22 GMT -5 packerconvert said:

Big whoop. Americans are hurting worse than they did when he took office so big whoopty doo.

Perhaps, but then again after EIGHT awful years of the worst US President EVER, such continued fallout was expected.

Please remember, it took 8 years of Bush ineptness and the Borg consistent non free-thinking metality to turn a Clinton surplus economy into one of the worst recessions which the US has not experienced in 80 freakin years.

Exhibit A: The Bush Budget Deficit Death Spiral

Friday, October 22, 2004

Lenders talk about a �debtor�s death spiral.� It occurs when borrowers get so far in over their heads they begin borrowing money just to cover the interest payments on past borrowings. The borrowers have to do this to keep the lending flowing but they can no longer plausibly pay down the principal. As new debt compounds on old, bankruptcy becomes imminent. Further lending is foolhardy. Foreclosure is only a matter of time.

The U.S. is starting to look like it is entering just such a death spiral. It is foretold not simply by the large and growing deficits, nor by the fact that their carrying costs will rise quickly as interest rates rise. Rather, it is the fact that these trends are becoming irreversible, a structural part of the U.S. economy.

When the ultimate collapse will occur, whether it comes with a bang or a whimper, how it will be triggered, and how severe it will be are as yet unknown. But as Herbert Stein, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Richard Nixon was fond of saying, �Things that can�t go on forever, don�t.�

The first signs of impending trouble are the exploding budget deficits themselves. They began, of course, under the parlous economic stewardship of Ronald Reagan. Reagan cut the marginal tax rate on the wealthiest of Americans from 70% to 38%. He promised it would spur an orgy of investment and rocket the economy to new levels of production and prosperity. Instead, his �supply side economics� did the exact opposite. It produced the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

Output fell 2.2% in 1982 while budget deficits soared. When Reagan took office in 1981, the national debt stood at $995 billion. Twelve years later, by the end of George H.W. Bush�s presidency, it had exploded to $4 trillion. Reagan was a �B� grade movie actor and a doddering, probably clinically senile president, but he was a sheer genius at rewarding his friends by saddling other people with debts.

Bill Clinton reversed Reagan�s course, raising taxes on the wealthy, and lowering them for the working and middle classes. This produced the longest sustained economic expansion in American history. Importantly, it also produced budgetary surpluses allowing the government to begin paying down the crippling debt begun under Reagan. In 2000, Clinton�s last year, the surplus amounted to $236 billion. The forecast ten year surplus stood at $5.6 trillion. It was the last black ink America would see for decades, perhaps forever.

George W. Bush immediately reversed Clinton�s policy in order to revive Reagan�s, once again showering an embarrassment of riches on the already most embarrassingly rich, his �base� as he calls them. He ladled out some $630 billion in tax cuts to the top 1% of income earners. In true Republican fashion, they returned the favor by investing over $200 million to ensure Bush�s re-election. Do the math. A $630 billion return on a $200 million investment: $3,160 for $1. I�ll give you $3,160. All I ask is that you give me $1 back so I can keep the goodness flowing. Do we have a deal? Republicans know return on investment.

www.commondreams.org/views04/1022-26.htm

[packerconvert]

Let me put this in simpler terms.

Obama was elected to clean up Bush's vomit.

So far, Obama has only used Bush's vomit for finger painting.

Sure, he may have moved the vomit around to make it look more palatable, but it's still a pile of vomit.

Obama has done nothing but plunge this nation into further debt for pseudo successes. Nothing he has done will strengthen the long-term viability of this free nation.

[packerconvert]

Go figure. Half of the GDP growth attributed to the failed CRC program.

Guess we will see a nice dip in GDP next Quarter along with a greater defict.

YAY!!! Go Obama Go!