If the US isn't triple-rated, then no country in the world is. it just rings hollow when people complain about deficits in a partisan fashion...particularly since the last president to balance a budget was bill clinton....the last president spent like freaking crazy all while handing out tax cuts....and we're pulling out of a recession. of course you're going to have deficit spending during a recession.
Of course Obama could be the next Carter but its too early to tell. Also there are some key differences between Obama and Carter. Carter on domestic and economic policy was more conservative than Obama and looked to limit government spending. Carter also had Volker has chairman of the Fed who was determined to stamp out inflation with tight monetary policy. Also Obama's oratorical skills and personal charisma matters. On the economy there isn't much directly that the executive can do but the bully pulpit of the presidency is a powerful tool for raising public confidence. Many of Roosevelts programs were failures and the even Reagan's programs didn't bear immediate fruit but the power of those presidencies oratory did help to maintain public confidence in the economy.
Even ignoring the Bush follies it's hard to imagine any president, Dem or Rep, not doing pretty much what Obama has done with regards to shovelling money out the door in the name of stimulus. It's been all the rage globally, and I have a tough time believing any politician in the current climate not joining the party. The cries of 'tax and spend' will have to wait until Obama introduces programs that the other party would have rejected.
The printing press that the government became under Bush has not slowed down under Obama. If we do not get a grip on this within the next few years. it will become a big problem.
I still trust the ability of the United States to pay on its debt more than the Rating agencies to rate an investment.
Higher than what, 4.00 a gallon gasoline? Opps, we already had that. What about going from a surplus to a trillion dollar deficit, umm no W. beat us to that one too. How about getting us into another war we can't win and killing thousands of American troops. Yeah, I want to go back to bush right now.
And the ever popular, if the Republicans knew how to solve this, why didn't they? I mean just give it a freak rest. Your party has done nothing but play the blame game and it's just a broken record. Give it a rest.
it already is a big problem but you're going to deficit spend during a recession. republicans and democrats alike are going to do that, goofy tea parties nothwithstanding.
Very true, and history shows that. The problem is that the Congress right now is spending like a drunken sailor. It is not entirely Obama's fault, but he will take the blame should this blows up. For instance, rather than passing the mortgage modification amendment to the Bankruptcy Code (which would have not cost the government a dime), the government has opted to spend billions to entice mortgage servicers into loan mods that may or may not get done in enough time to stop the foreclosure. You have to look at the level of deficit spending in historical terms. How much is this administration spending compared to previous administrations during a recession. I have not seen those figures, but I can tell you that this recession was based, in part on deficit spending and the devaluation of the dollar. At what point does deficit spending stop being a help and start being gasoline on the fire?
OK I hate to break it to you but I've already had enough of non-sense talking by students in my biz finance class. All your points are moot because: 1) The federal funds rate is currently at 0 - 0.25%, therefore it's mathematically impossible for interest rate to NOT go any higher, because the fed is NOT going to give you money for borrowing; 2) Supply-demand determines that it's impossible for energy prices to NOT go higher, particularly after the current economic crisis has taken commodity prices to artificial lows; 3) We're in a deflationary era, not an inflationary one, and this brings up two points. a, even if we're to have inflation in the future, we're not to have HIGHER inflation because we don't have a lower one to begin with; and b, see 1) -- we're at the rock bottom of prices therefore there's nowhere else for prices to go but up. I'm not trying to diss you personally. As a matter of fact I have lots of good friends who're republicans. But this newly developed nay-saying business among republicans to every and all things done by democrats is getting annoying quickly, even to foreigners like me. Behaving destructively rather than constructively is rather cultural-revolutionaryish.
9/11, 4,000+ soldiers dead because of lies, huge bailouts to unregulated wall street firms, torture, patriot act, voter suppression, $4.00 a gallon gas...yeah, bush was so much better. geez.
Now this is an excellent troll job. Is this your first week in your finance class, son? "It's impossible for energy prices not to go higher.....we're at the rock bottom of prices". Those are opinion statements, son. Most folks like to deal in facts. Ever heard of real interest rates? That might be in your next homework assignment. my favorite, "we're not to have HIGHER inflation because we don't have a lower one to begin with". That's rich.
