“It’s Working,” “It’s Healthy;” Administration Economic Rhetoric Takes Sudden Rosy Turn
July 12, 2009 by Patrick
Filed under News & Politics
The Obama administration appears to be changing its rhetoric on the economy as Democratic nerves begin to fray and bad economic news threatens to stall President Obama’s ambitious agenda.
Last week Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged that the economy was not improving as quickly as the administration had hoped because, he said, their economic estimates were wrong and another member of the Obama administration suggested America needs a second stimulus package.
But toward the end of the week and over the weekend Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and even President Obama himself attempted to envelope the economy in a rosier glow.
“What the economy is going through is a very necessary and very health adjustment as families and the United States government goes back to living within their means,” stated Geithner in testimony before a joint House Agriculture and Financial Services hearing on the regulation of derivatives on Friday. Geithner predicted a “slower” recovery due to the “healthy dynamics” of the contraction of credit and increased personal savings.
Likewise, President Obama claimed the $787 billion stimulus act “has worked as intended,” during his weekly radio and web address on Saturday.
“It has already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have lost their jobs in this recession,” Obama said. “It has delivered $43 billion in tax relief to American working families and business.”
Their approach is in sharp contrast the message being delivered earlier in the week by Vice President Biden. Last Sunday on ABC’s The Week, Biden appeared to lower expectations that the administration’s policies would turn the economy around anytime soon.
“We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package,” he said. “The truth of the matter was, no one anticipated, no one expected that that recovery package would in fact be in a position at this point of having to distribute the bulk of money.”
Also last week, Obama, economic adviser Laura D’Andrea Tyson, said, ‘[w]e should be planning on a contingency basis for a second round of stimulus. The stimulus is performing close to expectations but not in timing.”
Presidents must walk a delicate balance during a recession; they want to “talk up the economy” without appearing to be out of touch with the everyday reality of American families. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton urged Americans to be optimistic during the recessions of the early-eighties and nineties. Their optimism was ultimately rewarded, but not until after their parties took on heavy losses in off-year elections. Conversely, President George H. W. Bush was seen by many as out of touch and aloof to the plight of working families. He lost his reelection in 1992.
Also:
Freedom is Slavery
War is Peace
Ignorance is Strength
Big pile of Newspeak if I’ve ever seen one.
Geithner is a hack. He nearly ruined Asia when he “helped” them when a Director at the International Monetary Fund – Asia won’t ever borrow from IMF again. He has no scruples. He should have headed off the Mortgage Crises when was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY AT AGE 42!
Obama hires brilliant people who lie, cheat, steal and yet sound like they are your best friend. A template of himself.
We must defeat Obama before he ruins America.
Conduct your own economic boycott – don’t buy anything unless its necessary.
If you by an auto – buy foreign, avoid Union Goods at all costs. Delay paying taxes.
If you’re a small business HIRE NO ONE until he is GONE, no matter how “good” the economy gets.
Tax receipts are in the Toilet. Obama owns this recession and we are going to make sure he knows it. Defeat HIM and ALL LIBERAL PROGRESSIVES who are enablers (98% are DEMOCRATS)in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
Cancel your TV and newpapers – they are nothing but OBAMA progaganda machines.
Attend TEA PARTIES. Attend local and state political meetings. Tell them to NOT ACCEPT stimulus funds or Federal Money of any kind. Its your money. We don’t want it spent foolishly.
Donate to organizations trying to defeat Reid, Pelosi, Schumer, Franks, Dodd, Waxman and SENATOR Boxer. Join The Heritage Foundation and NRA.
“Presidents must walk a delicate balance during a recession”
Actually, if the media likes them they always succeed at attaining this balance. If the media does not like them, they always fail.
Why is that?
Word on the street says Obama is planning to change his middle name to another name starting with an “H”–Barack Hoover Obama.
“Prosperity is just around the corner.”
The US Government is going back to living within its means? Since when?
Lies.
How can we live within means with nothing to support them?
Is Geithner for real? His statements may explain why the stimulus package isn’t working. He tells the American people the stimulus package caused them to start living within their means, while at the same time, tries to spend more tax dollars in Washington than all other administrations combined in our country’s history. Does Geithner realize Washington is spending trillions of dollars they don’t have? Wake up Geithner! Is Geithner really that stupid or does he think we aren’t listening? Geithner could take a little of his own advice and explain to Washington that government is not living within it’s means and that out of control spending should be completely put under control and the duty of Congress is to create jobs, not destroy them. I mean how parks, roads or buildings do we need? If democrats aren’t careful they are going down in history as the party that destroyed the best healthcare system in the world and destroyed more jobs than any other party in the United States. If Obama thinks the stimulus money is working as planned, then where are the jobs? If unemployment is higher than it has been in over 30 years, please explain how it is working and where the money went? If Washington is already in debt, then how in the world can they consider increasing the debt load so high it cannot be paid back? The American people should know firsthand where each and every tax dollar goes just like Obama promised on the campagin trail. Maybe Geithner should tell Congress to take a day or two to actually read the stimulus package before they release more money and also they need to read the Cap and Trade Bill before they destroy the whole country. That might help them understand it a little better, but most importantly, don’t mock the American people.
Words matter–especially lies…