By Wolf Blitzer, CNN
(CNN) - I know that lots of critics accuse President Obama of being anti-big business. Some go so far as to suggest he’s borderline socialist.
The criticism stems from some of his own rhetoric against Wall Street, which occasionally has been over the top – as many of his own big-business Democratic fund-raisers acknowledge.
The critics also point to his desire for more intense oversight and regulation of the big banks and brokerage and investment firms.
Finally, they charge he engages in “class warfare” by insisting that “millionaires and billionaires” should see their tax rates go up. That, the critics say, will merely undermine the “job creators” and weaken the overall economy. They don’t like his efforts to promote greater “wealth distribution.”
I fully understand all the criticism. But here’s my question: If President Obama’s policies have been so anti-big business, why has Wall Street done so well since he took office?
On January 20, 2009, when he was sworn in, the Dow Jones closed at 7,949. Now, it hovers around 12,000. That’s a pretty impressive increase.
In the past year, the value of the U.S. dollar has gone up as well, although the euro crisis has certainly played a significant role in that.
Finally, so many major American corporations are raking in record profits and sitting on trillions of dollars.
In short, big business is doing well even though the overall economy is still sluggish and unemployment is still way too high.
And those latter factors are key to his re-election prospects – not the state of big business.
Follow Wolf Blitzer on Twitter: @WolfBlitzerCNN
 |
Post by: Filed under: President Obama • Wall Street • Wolf Blitzer |
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is the command center for breaking news, politics and extraordinary reports from around the world. Tune in weeknights from 5-7pm ET and Saturdays from 6-7pm ET on CNN.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
Republicans just want to spin Obama as anti-business, just as they would spin him as, say, weak on immigration, even though 1.1 million immigrants have been deported under Obama in his three years of office, compared to 1.57 million in Bush's EIGHT years in office
Give it up Wolf! I saw your interview with Donald Trump that CNN took down because he tore you to shreds, the only Obama achievement you could dig up was his killing of Bin Laden and even that is pretty hokey considering our troops did all the dirty work while our president just gave the "go ahead". Admit it this guy has broken promise after promise and his policies are an abject failure and he's taking you and all his liberal damage control automatons down with him.
I guess if somebody gave me a trillion dollars, I'd be doing pretty well also.
Newsflash Wolf....businesses have stayed afloat by laying-off record numbers of employees, millions over the past 3-4 years, cutting inventory, raising prices, shrinking product size (have you seen the size of a biscuit sandwich at McDonald's these days), 12oz tuna cans now with 11ozs but at the same price, and so on. And keep in mind Wolf, most businesses aren't public and Wall Street ups/downs of the DOW/S&P/NASDAQ have little impact on them. And the DOW was at 14,000 in 2007....so we've got a ways to go even on that measure.
The Bush-era tax cuts have been untouched and corporate profits are at an all-time high, even using a percentage measurement, inflation adjusted. There is no shortage of money out there; it's simply in the pockets of a very few.
Those few, amusingly referred to as "job creators", will never create a job they don't absolutely have to. And why would they?
If I can make a widget in Bangladesh for $0.30 and The Great Wall-mart will order 200,000, why on Earth would I pay American workers to make one for $2.00? No wealthy person is THAT much of a patriot!
Companies are doing well because once they pulled out of the recession, they kept employee wages low, and after laying off thousands of people and making other people do the work of 2 people (without extra pay), they decided to just keep it that way. Americans are more overworked than ever. Look at our productivity vs other countries. So the rich's profits are soaring on the backs of their employees, and instead of hiring more to take the load off, or rewarding the people that got them to where they are, they let wages stagnate and decrease benefits.
the stock mkt rise is a direct response to federal monetary easing causing stock mkt speculation. Fed easing also weakend the dollar causing huge inflation. So long story short- stock mkt manipulation and consumers feeling the negative effect with higher energy, food cost.
Dont be fooled by this Liberal loving Wolf Blitzer ( think Glen beck) post
President Obama is not against the capitalistic economic system..but he's a decent human being who also cares about the overall well- being of the American people (like providing basic health care etc). People in America don't need to live in constant fear and insecurity – financial well-being is worthless unless the average American family knows the government is there to help with jobs, education, health care (without the insurance companies)..we need to create a sense of security in this country.
By the way socialism is not a bad word. Let's forget the remnants of the cold war already..President Obama is my hero. Thanks
Wow. Talk about a false choice. I have seen many criticisms of Obama being anti-business, but I'm not sure I have ever seen a specific "anti-big business" claim. I usually see the opposite–"crony capitalism" toward the big guys (esp the banks) and democratic contributors. So, Blitzer decides to deflect criticism the same way Obama does. Make a (mostly) false claim, then refute it. That doesn't take much effort, as Obama proves over and over. Make a straw man and shout it down. And we wonder why there is no intelligent discussion from either side.
The fact that you ask the question speaks volumes. Lumping Wall Street in with the 20+ million other businesses in this country is exactly why the media and Obama just don't get it...Wall Street is not main street...and $250K a year isn't much money when you own a small business...particularly the LLC's who sometimes show significantly more than that on their books but not in their wallets. You reporters believe that because you do a story on something that you somehow have perspective and you don't. As a lifelong reporter, I wouldn't expect you to get it Wolf so go own a local business, be responsible for rent, payroll, insurance and taxes and then come back after you understand a what a small business P&L actually looks and feels like. Once you do that you might just be able to accurately report on it instead of comparing Wall Streets success with Obama's belief in the free market system. This piece is quite simply not worth the time it took to read it.
Unemployment up 85.7% under Bush
Unemployment up 10.2% under Obama
Debt up 87% under Bush
Debt up 29% under Obama but 87% of that is paying for Bush policies.
I live in Latin America. I have lived in Latin America for 33 years. Wolf, I am not sure which country you are referring to when you speak of the dollar evaluating. However, from personal experience I can speak about losing between 13 and 18% in comparison to the dollar and national currencies in Latin America... during Mr. Obama's presidency! If you are doing business in Latin America please be aware that the dollar is NOT the currency in which you want to make your business contract. In fact, could I be so bold as to suggest the "weak" Euro?
It is a Republican myth that the country is worse off under Obama. Helps 'em sleep better at night to believe that. The facts are far different. We were losing a half million jobs a month under Bush, 700,000 jobs lost his last month in office alone. We have now had 21 consecutive months of private sector job growth. We were in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. We have now had at least 6 consecutive quarters of economic expansion. The stock market is up over 75% since March of 09 a few weeks after Obama took office, but the market generally does better under Democratic leadership, look it up. None of this will change the rigid mindset of many that Obama has been bad for the country but that says more about people's closed mindedness and willingness to be spoon fed talking points than about the truth.
It's not fear of Obama's policies holding business back right now it's the uncertainty regarding everything congress has failed to address. Businesses will continue to thrive whether we assess 35% tax or 15% tax but when congress has repeatedly failed to provide us with long term budget and fiscal policies businesses just don't want to take unnecessary risks regarding investment. Extended time however will require that reinvestment occur at some point simply through replacement of equipment. The bigger issue is we need to resolve the schism that has occurred within congress and the general public so that progress of some sort can be made. 2012 will be an interesting year.
ALL...PLEASE READ! Let's be very clear, most (including Wolf) have no background in finance or economics. The market is over-inflated due to QE123. If u don't know what that is or have no intention to research it, please move on. Direct Fed manipulation is responsible for the Dow being at its current level, not pro-growth economic policy. As far as large corporations being flush with cash, in the financial industry...IT'S THE LAW! Basel 2/3 requires institutions to hoard cash to prepare for worst case scenarios...i.e. EUROPE, MF Global, another LehmanBros. In other industries, it's pure economics. Out the outset of a recession, businesses contract and as sales drop they cut expenses to survive. Employees are the largest expense. In a severe recession, losses are unavoidable, regardless of the expense reduction efforts, and accounting rules allow a business to spread those losses over a five year period. Once the economy stabilizes, businesses are leaner and post higher profits. The tax liability on those profits is reduced by the prior year loses...GE. Typically, pro-growth policies assist in recovering from a recession and businesses feel confident, expand, and hire. This is not the case now, which has led to a lingering unemployment issue. A severe lack of leadership and gridlock has persisted. It has gone on long enough and businesses are now apt at doing more with less. Industry surveys bear all this out. Your elected officials, including the president, have flat let this country down! A rising tide raises all boats. 84% of the entire workforce is employed by private firms. 50% are employed by small businesses. It is not the job of the federal government to create jobs, only to provide and protect an environment that fosters creativity and RESPONSIBLE risk taking. You can't expect robust hiring if uncertainty bounds, and you provide no real leadership...just rhetoric. The federal government has gone from playing an important role in ensuring the playing field is as level as possible (something they struggled mightily to do in the best of political times) to mass manipulation of things they aren't competent to tinker with. All with (perhaps) good intentions with a desired social outcome in mind...the outcome has been disastrous! Example...Please research HUDs enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and the ridiculous enforcement of Disparate Impact. It was the largest single cause of the housing bubble and collapse. The banks have blood on their hands, but the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government plunged a knife into the back of this economy...and did it again by failing to address Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and Health Care reform in a remotely logical or fiscally coherent manner! Unfunded liabilities...get used to the term!!!
"Early' President Obama was great for big business, following in the steps of President Bush and TARP, to rescue banking and big business because of their threat that things might 'explode' into another Great Depression. If anything he was too much under the sway of his business-friendly advisers, and too trusting that bailed out Wall Street and big business doing relatively well a year or two later would feel an obligation to help in turn the American taxpayers who put up massive taxpayer dollars to rescue them.
'Late Obama has realized that big business and Wall Street betrayed both him and the American taxpayers by turning on and slandering the very person who helped rescue them, fighting against all regulation rather than helping create regulations for a more stable system. As they have turned on him and labeled him enemy rather than savior, of course he has pushed back with criticisms of their excesses and their selfishness, so now people label Obama an enemy of big business.
He's not an enemy of business but trying to set down some rules so that so-called 'free market' capitalism is less corrupt and less out-of-control. Ultimately I think he may be pissed that many in banking and big business are betraying America by their own selfishness, but he's not an enemy so much as the 'angry parent' someone mentioned earlier.
Obama knows the importance of business, but he also understand the necessity of regulation. In fact, a failure to regulate the financial industry led us into a near depression at the end of George Bush's second term. Obama has had a huge amount of unfair criticism from the right for being a socialist but policies he has support have generally been quite mainstream. I'm sure a lot of business would prefer not to be regulated, and regulation must be applied with intelligence, but favoring regulation does not make Obama anti-business.
Obama from day one was in their hip pocket just like Bush was. Which is why he held onto so many of Bush's people after he left office.
It is more the TPers and GOP are anti-middle class and people like Newt make it look as though being poor is a crime. Until, people see that one day they also will be affected by the GOP's corporate-leaning attitude, this situation will continue. Before, someone on the right label me as "parasite", I want to say "I have a well-paying job and in all my 30+ years of working, I have never been on unemployed".
Mr Blitz is a funny. Obama is not anti-big but is anti-small business. Big boys are his cheddar feeders...
Maybe Wallstreet's doing so well because of the massive taxpayer funded bailouts. Although, technically, all the bailout $$ is going to go back to him in donations for his re-election campaign. That means taxpayers will be paying for his failed bid for president in 2012. Obama is a waste of $$ and a waste of space.
Obama's administration has bent over backward to make sure that no one is prosecuted for the housing mess. He might as well be GOP. And, make no mistake, there is nothing socialist about believing that there has to be some regulation and sanity guiding how businesses operate.
Banks and corporations are flush with cash. The are not creating jobs (or lending money, in the case of banks), because CEOs are not job creators. The middle class is the job creator. Business owners try to cut costs, not create jobs (that raise costs) for no reason. They create jobs only to meet demand, but there is little demand right now, because the middle class is tapped out. Trickle down economics is a farce.
All the legitimate, bi-partisan research I've seen says that business owners are NOT citing regulation and taxes as the main obstacle to job creation. They are citing lack of demand. And – honestly – it doesn't matter if we lower taxes. Businesses will STILL relocate overseas, because Americans won't work for $1 per hour. There is no legitimate reason we should be allowing corporations and banks to walk all over us and ignore common decency, and thinking that doesn't make me or anyone else a socialist.
Obama is not anti buig business, those are his buddies. He is anti mom and pop mainstreet business.
After the FinReg bill regulations are fully written, Wall Street will not be doing good. THe banks are already suffering from the new regulations. Obama uses business as the bad boys to get the votes of those who don't understand how a business runs. He expects them to be charities because Obama never understood business. From the time he was sworn in, business has been the enemy and big government has been the good guys, savior of all. Obama's policies are strangling this country. FIn REG should be repealed and no more regulations written until we get rid of the waste and duplication in regulations and government.
Hey, Blitz, when you take into account the DOW high of 2007 as compared to the present, the lost earnings over time, the devalued dollar, and prospects for the future, the market sucks. Thanks to all of the dunces in DC for killing the goose that formerly laid the golden eggs for all of us.
Wall Street has done well because they love gridlock. Is Obama anti-business? Of course he is.
Blizter Great Blog,
However, please elaborate a little further so everyone can see a clearer picture. Specifically, let everyone know what the DOW closed at when Clinton was elected and when he left office and the same when Bush was in office. I'll bet you $10,000.00 these facts will never be debated during a Republican Presidential Debate. You can provide the same analysis of the national debt from the Clinton through the Bush eras. You should bring this up if you moderate another debate.
It is wrong to brand President Obama as Anti-Business when GOP is the real one working against Business & Industry. Obama recovered the American economy from sinking after takeover from GW Bush in 2007 & bailed out Wall Street, AIG, Banking Industry, Auto Industry & even small business. It is GOP who are encouraging & working for outsources industries leaving American jobless as well technology less which has been exported by them under threat of China or others. Besides this GOP & Tea Party continue to support industrial lawlessness under the garb of freedom of enterprise denying the same rights to American on American soil to own citizens. GOP also want deprive working class from Social Security, Healthcare & other pensioner benefits with strong support to kill all regulations for industrial capitalists. Even pipeline is proposed not for jobs but for Oil industry so than they can get higher margin of profit to reduced costs in transportation & setting free without jobs thousands of transporters & drivers.
obama is anti US business, end of story
unless he can get a re-election contribution
Any nincompoop with only a basic education in business can tell you when the big bad government starts picking on us rich folks just because we have more money than well, anyone else we have to start cutting back. Instead of owning six Mercedes 560 L classes maybe we have got to cut it down to four.
That puts people out of work. 2 fewer mercedes-Benz beeing built for all of the fatcat executives means some poor middle-class factory worker is going to lose his job, just because some big shot politician wants to spread my money around a little bit, hey I've got my money spread all over the place in secret little offshore accounts that Uncle Sam doesn't even know about, so leave us rich folks alone!
Wolf, did you ever consider the tax cuts that are still in place for the wealthiest 1%? Maybe that is why the stock market has been up and companies have been cash flush, but that's just a thought.
I think the President is doing a fine job. However, I think we put too much emphasis on the power of one individual to affect change. The system was broken a long time before Obama was elected and, unfortunately, it will be around a long time after he's out of office. Greed is to blame and it will take more than four more years to eradicate it from the human and corporate soul. An even distribution of wealth will only enslave us. Allowing our futures to be dictated by corporations which are 'too big to fail', will also enslave us. But, we're pretty durable and 'It's a Wonderful Life' is still the most popular movie this time of year. Here's to the future and hoping next year we'll see a more positive and lasting change.
Wolf, OF COURSE big business says Obama is anti-business – they don't OWN him and he won't give them EVERYTHING they want, so he is therefore anti-business! Wolf, you and the other media outlets ought to stop being worried about being "fair", at least to the extent thst you can call a spade a spade! Conservative want to re-write history and blame the financial meltdown of 2008 on the government – they say fannie and freddie caused the problem, while the FACTS, if anyone bothers to look (yes Wolf, this means you!), clearly show that the BANKS caused this mess. And it's the deregulation of banks and the financial industry – not coincidentally pushed by republicans – that allowed the banks to do it. I say bring back the Glass-Steagal act and sane capitalization rules!
Wolf,
Can we chalk up your fallacious argument to a novice understanding of equity capital markets? Knowing that the market is forward-looking makes the selection of Inauguration Day as a nonsensical date to choose for the starting value of the market. In other words, it would be more appropriate to use the starting value for an Obama presidency as the day Wall Street "figured out" he was going to be elected (look back to September of 2008 when the market was roughly the same level as today and Obama was likely to win the presidency). The Dow dropped like a rock through election day, when it was confirmed he won and continued to drop like a rock through Inauguration Day.
Maybe the market has risen since then because corporate profits are strong DESPITE the bad economic policies advocated by this President???
If Wall Street has done well on Obama's largesse, it's a bit like a bass does well when it chomps down on the fisherman's fat, juicy nightcrawler. The situation is temporary and intended to force a transition. granite sentry cot com.
As Wolf pointed out, President's policies have tremendously helped business over last three years. Asking those who benefitted most from resource utilization to contribute their fair share is neither anti-business nor class warfare – those are right wing languages. Saving the automobile industry from going bankrupt is not anti-business. Saving the big banks from collapsing is not anti-business.
Wolf, your Obama cheerleading pom poms are showing, though some of what you say is the truth. Obama is a realist and he obviously can't afford to completely alienate Wall Street. Campaigns cost money and he gets his fair share of WS contributions. The stock market gains have come at the expense of jobs. Obamacare has been one cause of that, Uncertainty on more regulations, another. The Dems want to blame what happened in 2008 on lack of regulations and add more rather than find government employees culpable for not doing their jobs by enforcing what they have,
He nixed the pipeline with not other reason other than wanting to wait until after the election – why such a particular date as that? He didn't seem to want to wait for more analysis before rushing through Solyndra loans. Also, the main job killer, ObamaCare, has not fully gone into effect across-the-board, and there have been many waivers granted. Obama is anti-success – unless it is he who is successful. Why don't you go back and look at all of GW Bush's numbers, too, and let's compare them to Obama's numbers – then look at GW's numbers (economic) after the Democrats took complete control of Congress. If u are suddenly into numbers to gage success and pro-business environments, how about studying and writing about GW? I'd love to see your unbiased account of that, Wolf.
Companies balance sheets look great and will stay like that, businesses need not expand anymore to supply the masses with low cost food/goods/services.
The people with money are their customers and who will simply pay what is asked, the poor or those that have little disposable income are no longer needed by big business.
Why build bigger plants, hire more people to what drive your costs up and your margins down?
We have reached peak consumer-isim. A saturation if you will of enough well off buyers to keep industry happy healthy and highly profitable.
They don't need poor peoples money or their whining for a discounted or sale price all the time.
Its no longer about unit sales, its all about stable profit margins made off people who have money.
I don't think conservatives have been well served by their echo chambers of Talk Radio, Fox News, and Blahgs. You try to read their comments on this story for example, and its nothing but sound and fury signifying nothing. Their Obama derangement syndrome seems to have a terrible effect on their reasoning and critical thinking. The cognitive dissonance is amazing! I don't agree with everything Obama does, but he's not a socialist, not a fascist, but more of a centrist really.
I don't think he's anti-business. The problem is 2 fold. He thinks he knows more than he does, and he has an agenda that won't work financially. Pretty simple really.
"If President Obama’s policies have been so anti-big business, why has Wall Street done so well since he took office?", Well Wolf, since so many corporations make their big bucks off shore, the stock market is not a true indication of how well business is doing in the US.
Wall street did so good is because the stock market can't always go down. And after the panic was over the stock market started the way it always does goes up and after every bear market comes a bull market.
Yes the dollar is very strong but the question is against what against other currencies because all are in a much worse shape then us just look at the price of gold and other commodities you will see the real value of our Dollar.
And at last that our companies are sitting with over 1 trillion dollars. I never knew its a good thing? Since when do we want they should have money in bank earning .25% we want them to invest in new products and ideas and the reason they aren't doing it is because they are afraid if there will be any demand on the new item.
So sure our economy is getting better (to slow) but Obama has nothing what to celebrate.
it doesn't rain forever and the economy doesn't fall forever
So we now should be abel to tell people how to spend the money we make so we can redistribute it to everyone. Stay out of my pockets Gov.
Another cogent point for all to hear: Wolf Blitzer asks why Wall Street is doing so well; how can this be if BO is so anti-business?! Why is the market up 50% since he took office? The two answers are very different: Wall Street doesn't actually employ that many people – what happens on Wall Street stays on Wall Street. The fact that the banks are making tons of money based on loose Fed policy has very little to do with economy for the average Joe. There may be tons of money to lend, but the average citizen is still trying deleverage themselves based on portfolio losses (stocks, homes, reduction in income) so the WS boom is meaningless. Businesses are doing well in that they are stable, and cut their costs, but lots aren't hiring to grow. Seperate address to why the market is up 50% – even dead counts bounce, and since the DOW isn't indexed to inflation, all the fed printing can do a lot boost asset prices. If you divided the DOW by the M3 money supply, you'd see different picture.
It seems that the people on the left and the right relish fighting with each other. The success of America has been due to the art of compromise. The extremism on both the left and the right has led to stalemate and division. The media has picked up on this and has joined the fray. They earn more ratings by fanning the flames of division. It is sad that you can not get an unbiased honest discussion out of the mainstream media. I am a moderate. The people with common sense, the "moderate middle" are having to suffer the consequences of this extremism. The reality is that Obama says one thing, but his political appointees do something else. I unfortunately do business, or try to do business, with the US government. His political appointees are academics and bureaucrats, they do not understand business and they have no desire to understand business. They have a socialistic perspective and don't even realize it. They are driving regulation changes which drive more cost, and less competition. They will put US business at a disadvantage and reduce employment, not grow it. The Republicans are so fixated on appealing to their base that they are ignoring the realities of our deficit and that it will take a combination of spending cuts and taxation to resolve this problem. Their is no compromise in Washington and the moderate middle is fed up. I fear for my childrens future.
Wall Street is going long and short, along with rummors to make the market go up on day and down the next. There are still no laws to even the odds with a long term invester. The lobbists and campaign contributions to both parties means that we have Las Vegas in New York City. Ken Krieger Cape Coral, Florida
American's love to misuse words all the time and when it comes to socialism its often confused with forms of fascism and state capitalism which are much closer to Obama's views then socialism. The interesting thing is that a good many republicans are cut from the same cloth as well, although favoring different methods. At the end of the day, both sides are shades of progressivism and what both sides fail to realize is that you cannot have a progressive government without the horrible side effects of corporatism and cronyism. Take a look at Europe if you want to see where extreme progressivism takes you. Their financial sector in Europe is way more corrupt then ours has ever been becuase it has always been able to rely on an implicit guarantee from the state to bail it out should it run into trouble. Until recently, Euro banks were considered capitalized at 3% and now 1%. In the US I don't think we ever got close to even 8%. Why do you think MF Global, AIG etc moved their riskiest operations to the UK?
What a nice pro-Obama piece. BHO is a divider...he's seperated this country like no other president in history. By definition, that makes him a terrible leader. If he wants to champion for the poor, by all means I support him. But his job as president of the US is to champion for all americans equally. He's failed and divided this country.
People who say Obama is a socialist have absolutely no clue what a socialist is. Obama is a bought and paid for Wall Street Capitalist just like any Republican. He might spout out progressive speeches to try to coral liberals but his policies do not match his speeches. He has continued wars of aggression overseas and financed the bank bailout while gutting social program just like the Republicans. His most "liberal" policy was a health care policy that forced millions to pay for health insurance. This is a boondoggle for the health care insurance industry who pretty much wrote the bill.
It is too bad the socialism is so demonized in America because if you read Marx you will find a much better explanation for the crisis in our society than any given by an economist.
Interesting take on the income disparity. The Dow Jones has nothing to do with the kitchen table or my kids' shoes. Politicians from both parties protect their big donors: the 1%. Working Americans get shafted by both parties. The question I have never heard answered; If we can't tax the 'job creators', well, where are the jobs? If you aren't creating jobs, how can you be a job creator? Corporations have huge profits – those profits are not being used to create jobs, or wealth. Why would additional profits from lower tax rates make our job situation any better?
Wall Street is doing well in spite of obama and his failed presidency! Companies laid off many workers and are working ultra lean accounting for some profits. They will not invest and hire again until he is gone. So, while the market may be doing fine the average American is NOT.
Laid off workers were largely outsourced and will never come back
Imagine what businesses could do with a "pro-business" President in office. Or the jobs that would be created. Barrack Hussein needs to go!
By not hiring now will weaken Obama's re-election chances & then the Republican/Tea Party candidate that they are lobbying to will get in & reward them with more bailouts on the taxpayer's dime.
Of course they will try not to hire anyone until after Obama has left office. Then they can credit the incoming president with the increase in employment & blame everything else on Obama.
Yeah, and I guess the economy tanked after Bush IN SPITE OF BUSH, too, right? Get a life. You conservatives have already declared that your number one priority is, not to work to fix the problems this country faces (created by bizarre voodoo conservative policies designed to favor the haves and screw the have nots), but to defeat Obama. You will recognize nothing positive Obama has done and you will attribute all that is evil to him. Just like you're doing now. I think we're all pretty tired of your baloney at this point.
Dwayne get in touch with reality, fool. If you want to talk about failure, no one has failed more than the Republicans whos agenda contrary to their efforts, will almost guarantee a second term for our great President.
Its all about the OIL. When oil goes up like it did to a 140.00 abarrel the economy went sour Senator Chuck Shummer was right in saying we can not and should not allow afew oil companies run the entire world economy.HE SAID WE HAVE TO BREAK THEM UP LIKE WE DID WITH AT&T. UNTIL WE DO NOTING WILL CHANGE
That is a flawed argument. Many companies are laying off due to greed. Many are overworking salaried people and taking advantage of a bad job market. The truth is if the rich can get richer at the expense of others, they will do what they can no matter who is President. I don't believe the 1% have to share the wealth but after millions of dollars how much more do they need before they decide to hire another person? They won't hire unless they need to and in the mean time will reap the profits.
he may have a failed presidency in your books, but your opinion is just that. He succeeded in bringing this country back from the brink...watch him get re-elected. Obama 2012
Corporations laid off American workers so they could send those jobs to cheap slave labor countries, such as China, India, Vietnam and Asia in general in order to increase their bottom line. Jobs will not return to this country until we start adding import tariffs to the price of imports.
That is ridiculous reasoning. Obama is the figurehead of the biggest economy in the world. The economy reacts with him. Just look at Bush. He was a bad president and the Stock Market crashed mercilessly year after year.
As much as the GOP bloggers would like to see this "quiet growth" go away, it just ain't happening...Projected 4th quarter GDP growth is projected at 2.5%, the highest in 4 years, North Dakota oil is exploding, and private sector jobs are coming back....many government jobs are going away, as needed, so the overall growth is not great, but private sector jobs are coming back strong. Holiday sales are up 7% over prior year...the economy is starting to "rock and roll", quarterly reports are solid and that is why the market is up 7 trillion since Obama came to office...Good News!
Dwaynel, you know better. The conservative right wing obstructionist has done just about everything to stop the growth of the economy but to no avail. Just think where we would be if you people would just get out of the way of the Obama train and the American people. Obama has done well on foreign policy because people like you can't under mind his effort on the foreign front. So if you don't have anything to contribute, sit down and shut up. Period.
Dude, they will not invest and re-hire untill there is MORE DEMAND for their products and services! Do you really think that if there was more money to be made by ramping up production that businesses would sit on the sidelines and just not make that extra profit?? Of course not! We need massive stimulus – the first round was kept anemic in a misguided attempt to get some republicans to sign on – it was just too small. And even so, it DID create jobs and improve things – really it kept things from getting much worse. Stimulus doesn't mean waste – you spend on things that you need anyway, like infrastructure, research, innovation – green energy. We need to get moving – by having the government become the spender of last resort! Interest on US bonds is so low now, it's rediculous NOT to borrow and spend to get ourselves out of this hole!
agree, first Obama gone, next economy good
Very well put. The most anti-business President in my lifetime and I've survived under 13 different presidents. He bashes the "fat cats" and then asks their help with unemployment, then bashes them again. Even the founder of Home Depot says in the unfriendly climate today and with all the bureaucratic regulations, that business could not be started today and survive.
You might want to stop watching Fox Notnews and checkout a few truths. You and all your Republican friends should take a laxative and relax.
More like GOP is anti-middle class and in the pocket of corporations.
The more Republicans try to tarnish Obama's name the more destruction for GOP. We need to give him one more chance to clean up the mess G. Bush created.
They won't invest and hire again until there is demand. There won't be demand until there is more money in the hands of the middle class. Businesses don't create jobs unless they are absolutely forced to by demand. It has nothing to do with Obama.
YET ANOTHER LYING conservative who can't accept facts
You sound like a clown.
Well I do agree that companies in the US will not hire, at least not easily; however that is a fact with or without President Obama. The USA has become a leading exporter in jobs and the largest importer of products. For as long as Big Business is only valued on higher profits over the year before, production has to move where cost of production is the lowest; overseas. This fact will assure less costly products and higher unemployment back home.
You've been drinking too much of the Faux news Kool Aid!
What a bunch of hooey @DwayneL. My small business is doing great. Our sales and profits are up by 12% for the year and projected to be up over 25% for q4. I've been hiring for over over 13 months now and we're getting ready to spend over $500K on new equipment and warehouse build-out. So, thanks President Obama. Keep up the good work. This Businessman is on your side.
Wall St. AND the major corporations are doing VERY well. Yes, they got lean – and now that they realize they can continue to make a good profit (in some cases record profit) while 'running lean' (off of the increased productivity of their workers and an expanded global market) – there is no motivation for them to hire more employees. Any 'smart' business does not hire more people (or invest in other resources) unless there is a greater need for such.
In other words... Business are not NOT hiring because Obama is in office. They are not hiring because they do not need to. And they won't hire until they need to.
So the question is... How can we create even greater demand for the goods and services of the major corporations?
But is that REALLY the question?
No.
We should be asking how we grow demand for the goods and services of our nations SMALL businesses. They – small business – are the majority employers of our nation.
Failed presidency? 21 consecutive months of private sector job growth, 6 consecutive quarters of economic expansion after Bush left us losing a half million jobs a month. Let me guess, you voted for Bush. Twice.
Your partisan ignorance is showing...
S, DwayneL, what you're saying is that Big Business owns this country, correct? Great! Thanks for making my 2012 decision easier.
Very typical republican response. If something is good, it is despite President Obama, and if something is bad it is because of President Obama. You find it hard to acknowledge that the President's policies have help stop a complete collapse of the US economy, reverse the trend and improve the overall state of the economy. Compared to the last few years of Bush period, Obama has helped create over 2 million jobs, additng about 155,000 every month on an average. The media has played right along with the Republicans by painting the economy as being in bad shape when in reality everyone is doing well.
It is because GOP won't let him raise taxes on the millionaires. Look at 2010. Look at the payroll tax issue right now. GOP just can't be more pro-rich than this.
Yeah, I'm sure they will hire again, non-Americans overseas, and undocumented ones here. You cannot blame Obama for the "All powerful dollar is the bottom line" mentality that is prevalent here in America, just as it is in so much of the world today. When profit $$$$ is your number one guiding light, then you aren't going to let the question of somebody's nationality do anything to influence whether or no you hire him or her. Country doesn't matter anymore. An American business owner is not bound by any kind of patriotic duty or feeling of national unity, or anything other than if or if not something will make them profit. So you always here that more Americans spending, buying more consumer stuff is gonna bring more jobs to more Americans and help the economy because the businesses will hire more Americans because they will need more labor and will have more money to hire more labor. Well that is a lie, because all that money will go to hiring more non-Americans, and bribing any local officials who might be aware, to keep quiet about it. But HEY, we always can just blame Obama.
@DwayneL– Clear that you have not educated yourself on the Obama Admin. but not clear with how/what you said– the market(you called it) won't invest or give jobs until Obama is out and the market is doing fine but Americans are not– Are you saying you understand how the market is controlling Americans and will continue to make Americans suffer unless we vote in their favor ( the market) or how they want us to..... meaning Obama out or they'll continue to make Americans suffer? Or do I understand you? Because that says a lot and just how controlled Americans are by the market. Makes one wonder why so many Americans are upset with the market and fighting against control.
@DwayneL- clear that you have not researched Obama Admin. for yourself but not clear on how/what you said – the market ( you called it) won't invest or hire people until Obama is out– are you saying you understand that the market is controlling America and if the people don't vote in their ( the market) favor or do what they want, which is Obama out, they will continue to make Americans suffer? Because that says a lot about control and would make sense why some Americans have and are fighting out against control going on in Wall Street or you said the market.
Obama and his DOJ are corrupt that's why. And we have a complicit news organization who continues to carry the water for the man and his minions. Time will shine the light on all the illegal loans, back room deals, illegal gun running, jobs for campaign contributions even if CNN refuses to discuss it or report it. There is a reason that even with all the support from the main street media, Obama is now the least like President of all time. He now has lower approval ratings than Jimmy Carter. It takes a complete failure to accomplish that given that he had two years to get anything he wanted without needing a single republican vote.
Thanks Wolf for stating (yet again) the obvious, which our conservative friends so often ignore in their haste to condemn the president. What about this, cons? Businesses are flush with cash and making giant profits, Wall Street is just fine, thank you, and real corporate taxes, what corporations actually pay, are historically low. Yeah, that's a real anti-business track record for Obama, isn't it? One more time, putting the lie to the conservative narrative.
Corproate tax rates are historically low because companies have gamed the system to the breaking point. The reason companies are flush with cash is that they are not spending it. The reason that they are not spending it (at least domestically) is that there concerned about health care and other legislations both enacted and proposed that make the business future highly uncertain. Individual tax rates are also high, and going higher, and while you want to act like corporate taxes are all that matter, many business owners do not pay corporate taxes, they pay taxes at their individual income bracket. I also speculate another reason taxes on corporations are historically low (I'm guessing based on EDITDA versus tax or gross versus tax) is that many large companies are booking huge upfront "costs' associated with the new healthcare legistation, which they draw off their reported earnings, and probably their tax filings as well.
Spot on.. The DOW has been fine now for a long time. Not to mention look at all the donations Obama gets from big business.. if he was so anti-business why would they donate to him?
Its not that Obama is anti-business; Big Business is anti-Obama.
You are right wolf is a trying to elect newt.
You said it, Mike H. My question is why can't the rich pay more taxes since they are earning record profits but not hiring people. If they aren't paying for jobs, then they can pay the taxes. Pay the taxes OR create the jobs. Take your pick.
Anyone who uses a phrase like "the conservative narrative" is a political pro of some kind, presumably blogging for the Dems here. Please define "giant profits." Is that 5% of sales, 10% of sales, exactly what is "giant profits?" Businesses are hoarding cash because they fear for the future, they think credit may dry up, and they have no idea what to expect from a President who is not so much anti-business as totally clueless as to how business works, having never been involved in one.
you are flush with ignorance
Mike H is probably an employee of the government....not really seeing the big picture and does not really understand how the real world exists as he has a job for life with no expectations of rising to higher achievements. The reason companies in America are flush with cash is because;
* They are scared stiff to invest in capital expenditures or new employee hires are they are frightened of what new taxes or ridiculous rules that Obama will impose upon them next.
* They are sitting on cash as they can't get loans from banks as the Obama edicts have interrupted normal business operations in the USA and they are having to "loan themselves" funds that they would normally secure from banks.
* Cash beats debt in today's world of upheaval and left leaning values.
Remember, the great thermometer of a society is business. If society is sick, then business reflects and reacts to the illness. If all is right, then business flourishes and expands. Capitalistic societies, down thru history, are the most efficient, equal, and perfect dividers of resources among peoples...it is only when the greedy want socialism or communism that reveals man's weakness and downfall.
Just not true. Name the companies that are making record profits? If that was the case for most companies, the DOW would be back up near 14,000 (where it was in 2007) or at least trending up up up...but it isn't....we have just as good a chance of hitting 11k as we do 13k over the coming year. And for those companies that are doing well, it's because they're cutting labor, laying off 10's of thousands, outsourcing offshore more and not just entry level mfg and service, but technical and mgmt jobs to Ireland where they lowered their Corp Tax rate to 11%. Google the 60 mins report they did on outsourcing white collar jobs to Ireland...that's how companies are surviving. Raising prices, reducing inventories, selection, reducing product size. Note at the supermarket the ozs in certain products that used to be 12 oz are now 11 oz and the price stayed the same...and so on. Things are not good, I don't know what planet you're on....Obamaville I guess. Wolf is clueless or a liberal who likes Obama, or both.
Gee Wolf.....I believe Wall Street had a few bounces during those quantitative easing sessions headed by Bernanke and the Federal Reserve. Yep...it's as simple as that. You buy treasury's aka print money and flood the world with credit in hopes of spurring growth with lower interest rates. So what happens? Well businesses refinance loans and operate with lower interest rates WITHOUT HIRING ANY NEW PEOPLE and produce a higher profit. Banks loan to big business but not individuals as big business is safer loan risk. THUS, large cap stocks go Up Up Up and middle guy can't refinance his house. The anti-business mentality you mention is perpetuated by a few things. First, the healthcare legislation will increase cost to businesses. Plan and simple. By forcing banks to recapitalize beyond that of any other point in history he has indirectly deterred loans as banks face penalties or down grades should they step over the imaginary line. Thus, banks don't make loans to the small guy as historically they are riskier bets. He also stopped all oil production and completely sealed up all oil deposit applications for over two years. Furthermore, fracking shale oil, which is considered GREEN and is 1/10 the cost of solar and wind power has been postponed for political reasons. To be honest, it caught everyone off guard. It's cheaper and just as clean as the renewable sources and it's all over the US. The US could be the largest oil producer in the WORLD, even more so than Saudi Arabia, in ten years if he would let the pipeline be built. Thus, there's no reason for us to be over there in wars protecting the middle east so that our economy doesn't collapse when some radical blows up 40% of the worlds oil production. Finally, he wants to raise taxes during the second worst economic era in US history. The only way out of a recession is through growth. There is no other remedy and anyone who denies this is wrong. So at the very least we should keep our tax rates the same as to not deter our own job creators and international investors. In conclusion, it's not that Obama is anti-business. It's that he doesn't understand how his actions negatively impact growth, which is one of the fundamental goals of most businesses.
Mike you're pretty stupid aren't you. If he was not so anti-business, class warfare, left leaning, wealth distributin idiot, both Wall Street would be doing well and the unemployment would be at 4.6%. But because he leans to the left of you, only WS is doing well with less.
I agree. Conservative repubs would rather totally crash the economy than to admit that Obama's policies are working. That's pretty un-American, if you ask me.
if everyone thinks oblama and his democrap stooges are doing such a great job why is the economy falling apart u are all blind wake up and smell the coffeie when this idiot took office gas was one dolar and seventy seven cents unemployment was five point one percent and the deficet was in the billions not trillons wake up people iam not defending the rep buy no means but four more years with this guy and america wont survie
I dont know where you come from, but when Obama took office gas around here was 3 bucks a gallon. I havent seen 1.77 gas since The Bush reign. When he took office, bush had just left office with a recession in place, and a burst economy. To try to lay any of that at Obamas feet is just simple false.
When Dubya left office... the national debt was 10 Trillion Dollars. The reason it has gone up under President Obama is because he chose to do what Dubya would not... he's paying for the 2 wars Dubya started. Dubya put it on a credit card to be paid for later. Never ONCE did the Bush/Cheney Crime families every consider paying for a war to avenge the attempted assisnation of his Dubya's father. THEY are the criminals. THEY are the reason that the economy is in the dumps. President Obama has made every effort to keep this country out of a depression that Bush and Cheney set up for him. The sooner you uneducated inbred morons understand economics... the sooner you will get it. Oh wait... they don't teach economics in your Sister Mamma's home school do they.
Idiots
Well, first of all, the economy started falling apart before Obama took office—du-uh! Obama's bailout of the banks was an enormous success. The taxpayer got their money back with interest, and thousands of jobs were saved. Why did the economy collapse? Because of deregulation and other laws started by Reagan and championed by every Republican administration since (all were Republican except Clinton who gave us true prosperity) that favored the rich while screwing the middle class. Many highly reputable economists–conservative and liberal alike–have said that we were very close to a Great Depression. It was thanks to Obama that we avoided one. You guys did such a bang up job messing this country up, and now you’re doing an even better job of thwarting Obama’s efforts that we continue mired in your mess. And God help us if another Republican gets elected and makes things worse beyond doing what they’ve done in the past 3 years: blocking Obama’s very sensible efforts to put things back on track. Republicans lack either the brains, the courage, or both to realize that their policies were a miserable disaster. You idiuhts tanked the economy and now refuse to allow anyone to fix it. So save your Obama bashing for your idiuht friends. The rest of us are getting fed up with that baloney.
it may be falling apart in your house....I am doing just fine as are most of my friends, acquaintances and customers. Don't know anyone falling "apart".
Check your numbers. They are wrong.
Why do you right wing nuts always seem to be on the wronge side of reality. Lets make it real easy for you to understand. Have you thought of the possibility that the previous President left the economy in such bad shape that maybe it will take longer than three years to correct it? I would bet you're more interested in relying on what you hear on FOX tv and the lies coming from the GOP candidates. Shame on you.
Spoken and punctuation like a true scholar. It appears you don't have any understanding of history,economics and just parrot of untruths which you hear in the name of conservatism. I actually felt sorry for whoever won the Presidential election in 2000 as the economy was going down. I just didn't realize the false housing boom of lies would hold up the economy for 8 years knowing every year it held on the downside would be worse. Now the downside is hear and we have 8 years of debt economy to be corrected. There is no quick fix no matter who is the President.
Your numbers are pure fabrications ! The economy was already ruined before Obama took office. The Bush administration were the people that pushed TARP ( the bank bailout )through. There is a lot about Obama that I do not like. The facts are the though – the Republicans Trashed the economy under the Bush administration.
Not roadwarrior but more like road-rage of lies and you know better. If you can't tell the truth, sit down and take your meds.
Is that you Ms Bachmann? You should know that the President doesn't control the price of oil. In fact, the President has zero control over the price of oil, which is determined by the laws of supply and demand. Basic capitalism friend, which I am sure you espout the virtues of, but have no idea what it actually is.
you are correct
You would be more believable if 50% of your statement was spelled correctly.
OMG, you are so ignorant. Rush called and said to tell you to take your meds!
Dunno what planet you were living on in 2008 but gas was $2.85 a gallon when Bush Jr. left office! It was $1.38 a gallon when Bush Jr. was elected in 2000, I still have receipts from a trip to Ohio from NC in 2000 and one in 2006 when gas was almost $4 a gallon. Every comment here against our President smacks of racism.
FYI... I am an independent voter with conservative values, with the exception of racism.
Ever heard of a WORLD economy. Obama doesn't have a darn thing to do with the price of gas. Also, most bipartisan sources agree that his policies averted a depression. Research – again, bipartisan research – suggests that it takes at least 10 years to recover from the type of economic hole we were already in GLOBALLY before Obama was elected. You have totally unreasonable expectations.
YET ANOTHER conservative who lies and can't accept facts
It's not, but Bush ruined the country if you don't remember.
Your spelling and grammer is indicative of a quality republican education.
Obama is not responsible for gas prices. OPEC is. OPEC has way too much control and no president, democratic or republican can bring down the gas prices without OPEC seeling it to us cheaper. OEC will not go down because more and more cars are being sold in Europe and Asia. This is causing a significantly higher demand for gas internationally, not just our own nation. Obama is NOT responsible for gas prices, nor is any president. Who is responsible is in fact people that consume more than the needed amount of gas (ie All Americans) and China for wanting more and more of their share of the gas market.
Notsure how accurate hour figures are. The big reason the deficit for budget purposes has been inflated as to previous years has todo with several things, first the costs of the wars is actually now a line item. The second item is the extension of the tax cuts from the bush administration. Revenues are way way down and spending has not gone down. While I donot think Obama has been very convincing, the entire establishment in dc is to blame. U till real change is influenced we will continue to see the middle class deteriorate into nothing. We must remember that the middle class is a direct indicator of the economy and where it will head in the coming months and years. Right now it is not looking good. Until we start demanding American made goods we will continue to see our country teetering on the brink. We should punish big corporations for outsourcing and reward them for hiring the best of the best.... American workers. Also not sure gas was 1.77 when he took office,or even shortly before. I remember gas in the winter of 2008 being close to 4 bucks in the northeast. It may have gone down in the high 2's but not lower than that.
roadwarrior: First, I recommend you learn to either type or spell. Second, it is true that we are in bigger debt than before, but the increased spending and the bailouts were necessary in order to prevent a total meltdown of our economy. Nobody should expect our economy to recover so fast from the crisis, but at least it is recovering slowly.
This argument is very weak: the effects of a weak economy do not show up immediately in the indicators. Right before Obama took office, Bush created the TARP bailout - the largest monetary measure in U.S. history - to bail out banks that were supposedly too strong to ever collapse. Bush's argument was that worse was yet to come, and if we did not act fast, it would be utter disaster. Clearly, everyone (except perhaps you) understood at the time that things would get much worse even if we acted.
roadwarrior – FYI, at the point in time when Obama took office in 1/09 the national unemployment rate hit 7.6%. At 1/08 the rate was 4.9% so during the last year of the Bush administration the unemployment rate rose a whopping 2.7%. I believe the majority of these are private sector jobs and NO ONE can wave a magic wand to turn around hiring. We live in a demand generated economy. I suggest you look into the laws of Supply & Demand as the price of gas is also not controlled by the White House. Big Corporations have one goal in mine and that is remaining profitable to their shareholders and in many cases they decide that this requires massive layoffs and other cost cutting measures. Funny thing is that that do have lots of cash, remain to be profitable but are not hiring. What kind of arm-twisting measures does anyone expect from the Government to change this fact. Lower corporate taxes...yeah right!!
The only way for government to create jobs directly and quickly is to rebuild infrastructure and public works and look towards those new jobs to help stimulate the economy and create residual tax revenues.
Let's face it trickle down economics is not working. More people in our nation need more disposable income to boost the economy.
And regards to the price of gas this is also largely due to speculation, supply and demand (actually supply of oil reserves is up bring prices down recently). Once again out of the Governments control in the short term unless National reserves are released, but those actions have minor effect.
Please, Learn the basics of spelling in the English language before you decide to post to a blog.
roadwarrior: You have both wrong figures and a short memory. When Obama took over the country was about to go over the cliff because of Bush and his stooges. They (Bush et al) were the first to panic into a bail out that was almost entirely wasted. You can't blame increased gas prices on POTUS; do you know that supplies of oil are "owned" by over 30 speculators before it gets to end users, with prices rising with each speculative transaction. This administration has accomplished more than any other going pretty far back, including getting Ben Laden and ending the Irag war. If you are a Republican and make less than $200,000 a year, you are voting against your own self interest. And those who make the big bucks are delighted with such self deception.
Continue to listen to fox news. I can tell by your comment.
Yes, when he took office, gas prices were half of what they are now, thats because of we were in a recession when he took office. Gas prices work on supply and demand and the demand was an all time low since the recession. hence the low prices. The unemployment skyrocketed up to 9.8 percent in his first year, now it is 8.6 percent, confirming that the recession is no more here. When he took office, the deficit was more than 9 trillion accounting for all the free money Bush has given. It is close to 14 trillion now and I agree he has missed the boat on this.
But when people like you comment on sites without any understanding of what you hear on FOX, you need to think twice and start thinking.
because the repubs crashed it, and even Bush Sr. and Reagans top economic advisors said it would take about 15 years for full recovery – and of course the GOP's in congress and the senate have hindered growth.
you seem to forget that republican administration has been the root for the bad economy. four years is not enough time to fix an economy that has been ruined by republican agenda. duh
Your version of reality is not even worth replying too.
Enough said already
I really hope you're kidding. Gas hasn't been 1.75 in AGES. Where do you get these figures, oh wait Fox News Right?
I always tell people, if ypu want to argue with me bring your A game because I argue with FACTS. Anyone can sit on tv, make up stories and some idiot too lazy to do research will believe it. You know what that's called: fiction. Pick up some Steinbeck if your itching for a good read that could POSSIBLY be true, if you squint at it right.
roadwarrior, where did you get your information from?! AND do you not remember the worst president we have ever had, George W. Bush?! in December 2008, the deficit was 10.6 trillion dollars!!! He started at 5.7 trillion in January of 2001. he doubled it! The last time gas was $1.70/gallon was when Clinton was in office. The current debt is 15 trillion dollars, but thats only because Obama had to continue the 2 wars that, George W. Bush started! plus our really weak economy and poor economic policies from the bush administration that allowed for it's collapse. go read a book.
Please go ahead and defend the Reps...your definately their kind of guy...completely misinformed and totally oblivious to how stupid you are...custom made lackey!
@roadwarrior– understand that 8 years of Bush took America to its highest debt in our history. Bush had a surplus when he took Office and left us with the highest debt this Country has ever seen. A mess like this( by Bush) doesn't get fixed in a short time it's going to take many years and all of government working together to find solutions and start learning how to play well with others for the people.
You need to get your history right. I never understood why a conservative is wrong on facts and history.. It must the lack education.. or ....
Look at the facts before you post.
This person literally has no idea what is going on. The grammar is hardly readable and every statistic he throws out there is a complete and utter lie.
..Just for the TP/gop.............if O is so anti business, why has Obama garnered MORE Wall Street and business fund raising than any other candidate?
Blackmail is a powerful fundraising tool. He's publically scapegoated them, but done little to hurt the majority of bankers, besides, bankers don't produce anything, just like lawyers. This means WS and Obama have a great deal in common, so of course he's their man.
Because they are all paying to be on the winning side of the legislation. It is "Pay to Play" politics.
Their corporate agents, officers, or industry lobbyists pay money or curry other favors to get the politicians' attention so they can feed them "information" about how stuff works so they can influence the politicians into crafting laws that would minimize the damage to themselves.
That's why Congress has yet to meet a regulation they don't love, because each time they get to write laws regulating something, it's pay day for them.
He gave them a trillion dollars! jeesh!.... are you serious?
because Bernake of the Federal Reserve, who Obama appointed, helps wall street through QE1 an QE2. Simple as that. WALL STREET WOULD HAVE GONE OUT OF BUSINESS IF IT WASN'T FOR OBAMA. Yeah......let that sink in. Obama and the FED feed them through treasury buy backs. Banks get lower interest rates. Businesses refinance at lower interest rates to run business. Don't hire people and still make more profit because of lower interest cost. Funny....thought that was a GOP thing? Do some research!
he bailed them out!
I'll give you a perfect example. SOLYNDRA.
"I fully understand all the criticism.".. That must put Wolf (AKA the redundant speaker) in the group of 1%. Wall Street is making money, that has nothing to do with business! Business is the process of adding value, if you are not adding value you are not a business, but rather a parasite!
Amen to that. The USA rarely produces anything anymore since the "job creators" started looking out for #1 and shipping all manufacturing overseas. Example- Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. Hallmark has not produced (printed) a single card in the USA for decades. Everything has been outsourced to overseas vendors. Most recently the have been laying off their entire creative staff and sending those jobs out of the USA as well. Result? The CEO's and higher ups get fat bonuses and paychecks while the area (and USA) continues to hemorrhage jobs.
Obama anti-business? How in the heck do you think America is going to grow. We cannot grow and put people back to work by the government hiring and spending policies. We have to have incentives for people to start up new businesses and hire-that is the only way to save our economy folks, like it or not!
Well, there are only two incentives to create business and jobs: One is to increase the demand for goods. Demand goes up when the middle class has money to spend, but how does the middle class get more money with no jobs? Government intervention.
Without demand going up spontaneously, you're looking at – guess what – government intervention to create incentives. So... um... what's your point again?
Incentives? Companies have a lot of money to spend, but are sitting on it because they are a bit afraid. Everyone needs to chip in (the rich) to help our unemployment situation improve. It's not class warfare, just class JUSTICE! Also, companies need to start thinking about American workers and not about how they can make an extra 20 bucks by sending jobs abroad.
Yeah why should business suffer just because thier mortgage back security stock were worthless and they knew it when they sold them...not to mention the 6 trillion dollar "war for profit" in Iraq. Let the poor pay to clean up thier mess with the blood of thier children and the shirts off thier backs. NO sense investing in a fair game when lackies like you will likely give them back total control of the government so they can rape us again in at most 4 more years and at best in less than one. Sooo sad...stupidity...100% curable with the remote control of your tv or radio but you almost never see it.
Good job Wolf! I agree, what would the Chamber of Commerce, CEO's, and all those businesses that oppose Obama's regulations and taxes know anyway... They are just being greedy! These businesses should be more than willing to help Obama out, even at their own peril.
people out of work (that want to work) might not agree with you
Easy one...CoC and CEO's know that if they just hold on to the obscene profits for a year or maybe five then idiots like you will eventually vote back in the party that keeps on giving to the wealthy...the GOP. Then they can go back to the "good ole days" when they can take us for another 14 TRILLION dollars like they did at the end of Bush Jr.'s administration. After all...it only cost then less than a billion to rebrand conservatives as "tea partiers" and you were stupid enough to buy that once right?
Wolf – Thanks for the comments. The problem with the analysis though of the stock market increasing from 8000 to 12000 since President Obamo took office is that is misses the fact that the market crashed from about 12000 in Sept 2008 right before Obama got elected President. Also, corporations are doing well largely because they have cut their expenses which is why our unemployment rate is so high. Trying to make the case that the Obama administationi has helped business in America by your statements here is not convincing. Please add more complete analysis in you next blog entries. I see lots of cheerleading for your comments here but I do not see an accurate economic reality in them. Thanks again.
Yes, Obama is anti-business, but Wall Street doesn't create the lion's share of jobs as You, Wolf, likely know. It's small business that really creates jobs and Obama has driven a stake of the heart of small business in the following ways;
ObamaCare – creates wayyyy too much confusion and cost for small business
OverRegulation – Look at banking and the energy industries in particular....what Regulations are next
DEBT – everyone with any brains is worried/concerned about US Debt and how we'll survive this build up
No Leadership – If Obama were a Leader, he'd be Leading on the Debt, Deficits, Bal. Bud Amendment, Term Limits...
Class Warfare instead of Leadership....i won't go on.
As a small business owner, i like most are sitting by waiting for Real Leadership to tackle the difficult problems in America.... and that's either 1 year or 5 years, God forbid, if This Dearth of Leadership persists
You explained the real point right off in your comment. The Economy crashed under the Bush administration. Before Obama took office. Republicans denial is a complete Joke. Bill Clinton turned over a Robust economy to George W Bush and in short order the Republicans destroyed it !
You are sooo right! Corporations are making big profits because they are cutting expenses....like employees. These are the job creators that all you ignorant Republicants talk about. If the big corporation and the banks have so much money and have had the Bush tax cuts, where are the jobs they supposedly created. The opposite is true. The only people they care about are themselves and their stockholders. Wake up!
another moron
So... the market was at about 12000 before the crash, and it returned to 12000 under Obama? That suggests Obama's policy worked to at least restore business to pre-crash levels. That may not be utterly pro-business, but it certainly isn't anti-business.
I cannot see how you or anyone else at CNN can come to the conclusion that this president is big business, or for that matter mom and pop shop friendly. His agenda is clear, he wants to dismantle the business and finacial infrastructure of this country brick by brick, and re-build it so that it looks like something that belongs in Europe. What I find sickening is that you and your network give this guy and those that are like minded with him a platform to speak from. I really do question your fairness and genuine concern for the greater good and well being of the country.
Where do you get your info from? Rush, Fox? You couldn't be more wrong or more ignorant!!!!!
I totally agree
You provide no evidence to support your belief Obama is anti-business, just sound bites and slogans. Blitzer provided evidence.
When one person gives facts and the other merely restates rhetoric, the one with the facts is probably correct.
Seriously?
You make it sound like Obama is Dr. Evil and has the grand plan to "dismantle the business and finacial infrastructure of this country brick by brick, and re-build it so that it looks like something that belongs in Europe."
And he is going to do all that in 4 years – Doing so against a party that has attempted (and done a good job succeeding in) stopping ALL his efforts.
I suppose you believe we should go back – as quickly and as extremely as possible – to the leadership and policies that over they span of a couple decades – starting with Reagan (deregulation) that got us to this point.
Big business / The big financial firms / The wealthy... Are all still doing great. As good as ever! Yet the Middle Class is struggling as much as ever. And you attempt to say that all that has come about in just the last 3 years of Obama's presidency.
Seriously?
So your position is that things were going so well during the last administration that nothing should be changed except to make the country MORE BIG BUSINESS friendly? HOW the hell do you propose doing that. They gave them a blank sheet of paper and said to them write down whatever you want and we'll give it to you and they did. Are you so historically ignorant that you actually believe Big Business in this country has ANY mercy to throw ourselves on? Crashing the entire free worlds economy and leaving us on the brink of the next great depression wasn't enough to at least give you a HINT of how much they really care about anything but how much money they can steal from you? Delusional people are pitying you right now...so sad. Self induced stupidity...100% curable but usually fatal.
yes, I love that. No more "too big to fail". No more chain stores.
It will be only small businesses, mom and pop stores.
How about an equal story on Republican's? Seems like your using your celebrity to promote Obama. In my opinion the Occupy phenomenon is caused by Obama. His comments are causing people to revolt. He is a leader. He should be careful what he says. This might build into civil unrest if he is not careful. Is he only the President for middle class and the poor? No! He serves us All. His policies should be Fair for everyone. I believe he carries his values and attitudes with him to his Presidency. He should be neutral. Thank You
The majority of intelligent people support Obama. But alas, Obama will never win Texas or Kansas. Take a guess why.
Obama did not cause Occupy. His administration is going out of its way to coddle banks and make sure no one is brought to justice for actions that were grossly negligent at best and sometimes outright fraudulent. How is it possible for people to not understand why people are angry? That baffles me.
You're kidding right? Do you think the Republican Congressmen/Respresentatives n that have admitted to refusing to vote yes for anything Obama wants in order to keep him a one term president. Their denial to work together across the aisle is unprecedented.
Never ever has there been such a worthless bunch of Republicans. They refuse to get anything done except to shorten their workweek and hours and try to pass anti-abortion laws and reverse healthy school lunches. Really? This while the middle-class lose their homes, jobs and dignity. Oh yeah, more money for the rich you say?
Even if obama is a marxist the checks and balances in our system of government stopped him from implementing his economic ideologies- so capitalism continued inspite of him. Government bail outs helped the markets to recover- so it might just be another bubble. The market is just about where it was just before the financial crisis. what part does offshore investments play in the profits of these companies?
Capitalism in america is corrupt and flawed to its core. The real of america is walking around oblivious to the raping , pillaging, blundering of their eroding american dream of which has been replaced with the equivalence of crack and it's unwavering addiction to credit dependency in order to purchase unneeded items that is manufactured abroad and sold to the very ones who at one time had that job. I say, storm the embassy (congress) and throw the bums out but keep this President.
Exactly!
Well articulated...
from a complete moron
Wolf, you better stop asking this kind of reasonable question because you would be labeled a Liberal in no time. My question is why the media isn’t telling the public that economy is better than it was before President Obama came into office, because the fact is that United States economy is in better place right now than it was 3 years ago. All the data are out there for anyone who cares or want see them.
Please name the indicators that show our economy is better than when he entered office. Aside from anemic GDP growth, unemployment is up, true unemployment is up, % of labor participation is down from 64% to 62% and falling like a rock. U.S. Debt is up 4T in 3 years, Bush raised Debt 5T in 8 years, both are bad, Obama's doing it twice as fast. We've spent a lot of money to move the needle very little and have a deeper hole to dig out of.
HUH???!!! Data to prove your point??? Are you KIDDING? OK, big business is profitable because it's doing with less people,(see Dow Jones avg) but small business, you know: the job creators, AKA "millionaires and billionaires", are not doing worth a hoot. Don't lump all "business" into one pot. Other than the really big businesses that are creating the high unemployment (and I'm not blaming them at all here, just stating the facts) there is no other good business growth ocurring. Where in the world do you find this "data" that proves otherwise???!!!
Actually the facts are misleading. Unemployment is less because there is 2.5 million less jobs. Thus when calculating the percentage of unemployed the job variable is smaller thus leading to a smaller percentage of the unemployed. Plus the statistics don't take into account people who are no longer collecting unemployment benefits or those who currently are but are only working part time. Thus, if you did a true statistical analysis the unemployment rate is much much higher than reported and the overall amount of jobs has decreased significantly in the past three years. That's why they don't report it. B/c the news would quickly be disputed.
If what your saying is true, how come we still have high unempolyment, people losing home ownerships and increase in poverty among americans? Could this be because that "economic gain" you are talking about is only felt by the upper rich? The same group of people always protected by the present administration because they are able to provide financial cash for their election and re-election.Stop being naive.
Obama has tried from day one to start the U.S.A. on it`s way to prosper, but Republicans banded together under the leadership of a senator from Kentucky to use a tactic of stopping any and all things that would help America just because they simply want a republican as president.Simply put the republicans stopped everything possible to make it appear Obama is not doing a good job when what is really happening is republicans playing a blame game for years playing a blame game.It actually amounts to high treason.A lot have fell for the ploy.The problem is our republicans in congress and the senate and other offices are simply crooks who have made it into government.Get them out and the country will prosper.If not blame yourself and reap what you sow.
That is the straight facts.
Kinda funny since the dems had control of congress for 2 of the 3 years that obama has been president.
So what about the Dems and the President threatening the pipeline even though the Republicans have said that they wanted the tax extension as long as that pipeline got built? President has threatened to veto it even though it would produce thousands of jobs, but oh, then the enviromentalists don't want it built so he is going to put it off while people are in need of jobs. Where are all those "shovel ready" jobs he claimed were out there? My brother in law can't find a construction job because there AREN"T any!! where are all the jobs this guy said was going to be created by that so called stimulus bill?
Big ups Aacon S.!
LOL.....you obviously don't run a business nor are you responsible for any employees and their families lively hood. Embargo on Oil for two years. QE1 and QE2 by Fed. Shale Oil pipeline delayed despite being cheaper by 1/10 than solar and wind and consider green. Whole healthcare thing that significantly raised my cost to provide healthcare to my employees starting in 2014. Also cost just adjusting. Guess what....I'm just passing it through to the my customers. Get ready for inflation peeps. Lower purchasing power and higher interest rates. Straight Facts Playa!
That's a great story Aacon........except he had a Super majority in both the house and the senate for two full years and could do whatever he wanted......so your story doesn't make any sense at all
That's odd...I could've sworn that for his first 2 years both the House and Senate were dominated by Dems. And in those 2 years there were virtually no improvements. I don't like either party, but to put blame on either one is asinine, as they are both completely inept and bought off by lobbyists.
The STRAIGHT FACT is that Obama lacks leadership and intelligence to handle this crisis. When he got the presidency, the democrats controlled both houses and he was able to dispose of billions of money to prevent unemployment from getting to 7+%. Why aren't foreign investors in Europe running to the US to invest? Europe's economy is not doing well, but why can't we see them moving their investments to the US? Just a thought.
The stock market increase and business profits are DESPITE Obama's policies.
What's absurd is that people don't understand why businesses hold their cash/profits due to fear from uncertainty. Obama's administration creates a nightmare for any self-employed person.
I'm not spending as much myself b/c I have no idea what my own taxes, health insurance, and so on will cost due to this presidential loser and the radicals he hires.
And if the stock market drops, Obama gets the blame. Paul, Alabama, please sit down.
Then how come everything was far worse under Bush?
So how did the last group of radicals work out for you? Not too well for the majority of us. But what the heck, lets just give in to our bias beliefs and whine and complain about any and every recommended change from this "strange" new guy.
We are discovering the wolf in sheep clothing. The first give-away was extending the Bush tax-cuts benefiting the well to do.
Its a corporation's mission to make money. If they have to do it by moving manufuacturing overseas and or firing people because of oppressive gov't regulation... that doesn't make the gov't pro-business. Really, thats just awful logic there Mr. Blitzer.
This is a blatant case of revisionist history. You may recall that the DJIA reached its peak of over 14,000 on 10/12/2007, and was still about 11,400 as late as September 2008. It suffered a precipitous drop after Bush's relief plan was voted down, and has been trying to get back to pre-Obama levels ever since. By the way, it dropped 131 points today – Are you attributing that to Bush or Obama?
Only someone as clueless as a cueball would think a single day's movement in the DJIA is relevant to anything! Our economy, investments, credit availability, and private sector job increases suggest Obama is pro-economic growth.
hear hear, someone who actually knows what he's talking about
Now don't go confusing people with the facts.
.
Maybe because Obama's cabinet is full of wall street insiders? Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, Michael Froman, Thomas E. Donilon, Louis Caldera, David Stevens, Neal Wolin etc etc.. Kinda hard to be anti wall street when you hire 1/2 of wall street.
Businesses may be doing great but the average person is still feeling the effects of the recession. It's a long way from turning around out here in the real world...
Your statement depends on so many factors it is not a helpful conclusion. For example, retails sals both in-store and online are at record levels this holiday season. This might not ne as true in Detroit as in Connecticut, but on average the economy is doing rather well...
what effects are you still feeling?? gas has went down and you probably still have the job you have before the recession so any other problem you've had is because of mismanaging of money!! obama don't make laws!! when will ppl get that threw there head!!
No democrats support big business just like the repubs. The only difference is that they managed to convince their zombie-like followers that somehow they are anti-business. Pelosi, feinstein, frank, etc all make money hand over fist from large businesses.
No Dems has ever stated and no Dem follower believes Obama is anti business – it's made up fake Fox News propaganda.
Borderline socialist? There's no borderline about it.
If a borderline socialist, why a 7 trillion increase in market cap value since he came to office, 9 straight quarters of private sector GDP growth, including a robust 2.5% projected growth in Q4, and holiday sales 7% ahead of prior year?..this sounds very capitalistic, rather than socialistic to me. (unless capitalism prefers socialism).
Obama is for business only when he raises fund for re-election from walls street with a $ 30,000 dinner and when he campaigns for corrupted billionaires like former Gov. Jon Corzine of NJ. Look like we are stuck with him without any way out!!!
The accusation has never been that Obama is anti-big business. He is anti-small business. He loves big businesses. Big businesses own both parties after all, because they donate the most money to their campaigns.
Obama has done all that's humanely possible to turn things around. He took over command of the Titanic from GWB, the failed skipper who struck a financial iceberg while operting as the "war President"..
Wall Street has always primarily supported Democrats and Obama's policies have strongly supported the financial firms at the expense of main street. Obama's chief or staff, his former chief of staff, his treasury secretary etc. are all Wall Street figures. The Republican party has been the one party that has supported small business which Obama and the Democratic party have worked against the interests of small business. Obama has worked for the interest of Wall Street. There are financial firms. Obama has done little for non wall street big business. His "help" for the GM and Chrysler was to help out the auto unions. While he has talked about reforming Wall Street in effect he has transfered a large amount of the government treasury to Wall Street and has not instituted any restructuring or reform. Contrast this to what the automakers were forced into. We would have all been better off if the same approach had been taken to the big banks and they were forced to go basing their business on taking in money on saving deposits and lending it out in home and auto loans which they kept, instead of gambling with the publics money.
Really???????? So now your listening to the junk coming out of the white house too??????? Listen, this economy is no any better, it is actually way worse off. In the middle of over 10% unemployment, the biggest recession since the 30's, and he decides to ignore it all and double the white house fleet of limos on the taxpayer's dime, him and his wife take several expensive trips on the taxpayer's dime, spend millions on Czars who are really just buddies who donated to his campaign, a bailout plan that only gave projects to his buddies in big business that didnt do jack squat for our economy except help him get more reelection campaign dollars (which in the private sector is called laudering money, but in his case is ok for some reason), he has opened the borders and allowed million of illegal immigrant into this country and stopped deporting them so they can sit back and collect entitlements that the working class is forced to pay for, he forced state laws to be stopped when the citizens of those states voted for those laws overwhelmingly (I guess he thinks he is king and we dont live in a democracy anymore so he knows best and we must follow his personal laws, not the laws on the books) and force universal health care for the non working while feeing the private insurance companies so us working class has to pay double our family premiums. So, here we are three years into his horrible legacy, and all we can do is still see 9% unemployment and foreclosures out of control. Tell me again how this is better than three years ago???? Atl least we had hope three years ago and lived in a free country, not a place run by an out of control king who thinks he knows "what is best for us".
So where are all the jobs he promised? What about the stimulus money given to BIG BUSINESS to create jobs? Money, TAX PAYER money, was given to "green" companies who turned around, fired people, and then went bankrupt after this administrations financiers approved reorganizing the company in favor of STOCK HOLDERS and not the TAX PAYERS. He has not done one thing to help create jobs. Don't be blaming the Republicans for this guys big promises he made campaigning for hope and change. People have lost hope, and the only change is a governement that can't even work together because he keeps blaming everyone else but not taking any of it himself. I am in the military and if my subordinates do somehting, or don't do something after told to do it, or I fail to follow up, then I am the first to step up and take responsibility. It's called LEADERSHIP. He has none. He tells people what to do and then goes out and campaigns and then blames others when what he wants doesn't happen because he doesn't follow through. He has done nothing but tear this country apart. it's time to stop freaking blaming George Bush for this presidents not doing his job. He had not leadership skills going in, and he has yet to gain any. He needs to quit campaigning and get to work. I will not be surprised if he leaves at Christmas when Congress is still there working.
Wake up.
Good question considering that Wall Street IS anti Obama.
The simple explanation is that since Wall Street and BIG business are strongly ANTI Obama life must go on.. at least for now. Sure these economic entities would like to see a puppet like president like G. W. Bush but Wall Street must at least give the appearance that everything is fine and dandy otherwise investors would not invest and without trades Wall Street will suffer. Remember Eddie Murphy's Trading places movie? 'The good part, William, is that, no matter whether our clients make money or lose money, Duke & Duke get the commissions. '
So yes they hate Obama but love money and trades and today they are not prepared to sacrifice their livelihood at this point of the game. Just wait a few moths before the 2012 election for these guys to start sabotaging this president.
Yes, Obama points out the transgressions of Wall St and Big Business and the need for reasonable regulations to protect American consumers and the economy from their excesses.
This makes him about as anti-business as a parent disciplining a spoiled, out of control child is "anti-child"
Big business and even middle market companies are making money...but quess why they are keeping it?
If Obama would create an environment where these entities were not scared to death of his regulations and thought that they had a market to raise capital(banks), you would see them do tremendous capital expansions. Right now unless you are in the commodity business, you are not spending money until Obama is gone.
Why a business succeeds is not a simple matter of "Who is the current President and is he pro- or anti-business". Businesses will seek to be successful independent of who is in the White House.
However, Obama's sentiments are definitely anti-wealth accumulation. Further, most business is small business and is typically subiject to the impact fiscal policy has on 1040s as opposed to 1120C's. The issue at hand really is: does the government still respect the core element of indpendent financial freedom: property rights. If you abrograte property rights, you restrict freedom. People who are angry with just the EXISTENCE of the "rich" (primarily because they contrast it with their own financial situation) should really be more interested in whether or not they have opportinuties available to them and if they have made the effort to take advantage of those opportunities.
That's what all the rich folks say!
johnny – you nailed it.
VERY well said.
Obama Cares and things are improving.
Obama "Cares???" Oh yeah...this narcissist cares about ONE THING primarily–himself. Right from the start of his tenure he was ALWAYS in campaign mode. Whatever the issue, he had to inject some sense of self-importance, as if he had anything to do with solving America's problems. The truth is that he is a failed President. But then, I am almost embarrassed to call him America's "president" as he has almost been a figurehead of those who pull his strings. I call him "The Cardboard Candidate." Hopefully, he will get his next job delivering rhetoric somewhere, preferably where he can do no damage. Electing this guy has been a disaster for the nation. The supposed "Great Uniter" never lost an opportunity to create the most divided America I can ever recall. It took Bush 3 days to get down to Katrina and the press was all over him. It took Obama something like 13 days during the Gulf oil spill and the politicians down in New Orleans were crying for his help. The press? Indifferent. Obama had a photo op sifting sand on a beach, with rolled up sleeves and battleships in the background. He visited a Coast Guard station and never even saw an oil slick. He immediately returned home and flew to a $17,500 dollar a plate Democratic fundraiser at the home of Gordon Getty (heir to the Getty Oil fortune). While thrashing BP for the spill, BP had been one of Obama's BIGGEST campaign contributors. Go figure.....
Only in Robg-ville.
Gee. he wants more oversight of banks and brokerages. Why would that be necessary - I mean it's not like they've caused us any problems lately, have they?
His policies have been so similar to George W Bush, that the only people who could possibly think he is anti-business are those fools who only pay attention to what the lying pundits are saying today: "He's a SOCIALIST!!!" or "He's the greatest foe of corporate greed ever and stands up for the little guy!" - I don't know which side is more full of bull. Unfortunately, since we live in a time of deplorable short-sighted greed, being pro-business is not the same thing as fixing the economy or helping main street America. It just means he'll dependably deliver for those businesses that grease his campaign chest, and he has.
Correlation always equals causation. No definition of wall street or big business. I suppose we should equate the sun coming up in the morning to Obama as well. I mean it's come up everyday since he was elected.
Only a pure Liberal site like CNN and WOLF could ask a question that everyone knows the answer to. OF COURSE he is anti business! Just look at the real record. It is not rocket science. Obama is anti business by any sane review of his record.
the perception is so biased by party view. if clinton had been a republican he would have been a republican hero. same with obama. its all about the party now, not the viewpoint (except maybe during the primaries...)
So tell us... What is the "real" record?
Honestly I think that Obama is doing a good job however there are some parts of the government that won't let him do his best. Companies are greedy and don't want to hire nobody, I mean to many experts said that money is there within the companies but they don't want to spend. I think that the citizen's expectations where high too, I mean they thought that money will flow the second day obama is in. office.. I wish it was that easy we would've been way far from the crisis now lol.
I think Obama is for all america. You have to bring america back from the bottom up. We need a strong foundation and an investment in america. I can't understand what the GOP is thinking and their track record is not so good.
The foundation of America is it's people. It is us who make this country. It is the people that start the businesses that keep it going. All this started years ago. I mean, look at the 50s through the 90s. People had nativity scenes out all over the country and no one ever complained because it was not that big of a deal. But now people are all about throwing their beliefs around, taking offense to the stupid things. Back then small business was where it was at. Mom and Pop stores on Main street. Privately run barbershops, yes, the Mayberry's of America. But no more. Now it's all about greed, and not only on the big business level. Look at Black Friday. People hurting other people over a stupid computer game or whatever. America is not the America it used to be because people have become apathetic to doing things for themselves because the government is there to take care of them. It's all about hand outs. Government needs to step in and TELL people to give someone a job. Don't want to work? That's cool, government will pay for me to sit on my fat backside, giving me money that someone else earned and paid taxes on. HA! This is the president that talks about people doing their fair share yet people can dress like a baby and collect social security because he has a problem and likes to dress like a baby and have people feed him and put him in diapers when he is fully capable of working. Government needs to get out of our lives and let America get back to what it once was, where people could walk down the street without worrying about getting shot, and people can set up nativity scenes without someone taking offense.
Cindy, Is there a reason that you don't capitalize America?
Wow! Stick to politics and leave finance to others! "wall st" as u put it has gone up because it was so far down and companies cut costs (people) like crazy along with dividends and research & development. They are sitting on thar cash and not outing to work cause hay have no clue what to expect on regulation around compliance and taxes.
the two events are not related. Obama views the world from the narrow perspective of someone who has never worked in the business world, has never had to meet a payroll, has never tried to make a profit. the greatness of America is founded on our economic power. Obama does not understand that. He has focused his attention on "spreading the wealth around" and increasing government oversight of business. that the stock market has rebounded from its lows is in spite of him.
As opposed to Bush who bankrupted four business and then the US economy?
and you tell me what president that has?? who clinton??regan?? the only president that would fall in that line is the bushes and we had recessions while both bushes were president!
Wolf you could ask the same question a dozen ways:
If Obama is pro labor, why is the unemployment rate so high?
If Obama is for bipartisan cooperation, why do we have so much gridlock in DC?
If Obama is for transparency, why did he pass Obamacare with NO GOP input or participation?
If Obama is pro illegal immigration, why is there no immigration reform?
If Obama is for a balanced budget and fiscal discipline (as he campaigned for in the Senate and when he ran), why does he now shun a balanced budget amendment and why has he increased our debt by $5 rillion – which i smorethan all prior Presidents combined?
If Obama wants to be energy independent and wants to create energy jobs, why is he blocking the gas pipeline from canada to Texas?
Even after they made the course correction to save some animal or wetland. An extra 40 miles to the pipeline I believe. Yea I've been wondering about that myself.
DC Insider has it right. Pres Obama is comfortable being an outsider, his policies have failed. Obamacare is under attack, his presidency is seemingly in the pits, I want to see him respected and I want to see the middle class grow. America impovished I am for the working class why can't Pres Obama just say that? Please stand up for Unions, this is gateway to improved economics. We fought this battle years ago, it seems we are going backwards. Stand up for an improved standard of living for everyone, because we can and because we have Unions. Why can't Pres Obama keep to what works. Business, Unions and working Americans!
Look to your right for your answer . . . Mr. DC Insider. Can you see the Republican saboteurs? We stumble upon the truth and get up like it never happened but it did. The republican leadership is killing this great country. Period.
Answer to all you questions – GOP obstructionism.
This sounds almost reasonable, until you consider that it was the fear of Barack Obama and complete democrat control of congress that drove the Dow down to 7,949 in the first place, and the reason business have so much cash is because they are afraiid to start hiring, because they don't know how much their employees are going to cost them. It's time for Blitz and the other so called "Journalists" to stop covering for this complete failure in the White House, and admit that it's time for a true pro-growth, pro-American to take control of the reins.
That's because Obama is actually a moderate Republican. But you can't convince people of that for some reason. They really hate Obamacare, which is costly so they've labeled him Socialist. Well hopefully the DOW going up means that unemployment will go down.
When Obama is voted out, we'll see the biggest jump in the Dow in history.
Obviously he won't be and why is it so much higher then when he took office? Another dopey right winger.
The Federal Reserve has tripled the US money supply since 2008. All prices are up. It's inflation, and stock appreciation to 12000 is fully expected with this much money (over $2.2T) in circulation.
Business is not doing well. Companies are not investing in expanding because the return is low. The value of stock is up only because the return of CDs, treasuries are so low by Obama's need to keep interest rates low to finance deficits. If companies were doing well at this interest rate the DJI would be above 30,000. Finallyabout those companies with trillions of cash–the majority of it is overseas. If it returned the US, it would be taxed at 40%. Those companies that do invest in expanding, do it overseas because using that money there does not lead to immediate taxation of 40%. Obama insists on keeping the taxation of overseas profits that occurs ONLY if it is brought to the states. This is in effect mandating the outsourcing of more US jobs.
They answer is easy, and pretty well know.......The Market over sold during the panic in late '08, early '09. Notice is was back above 10,000 within a few months, and well before any new policy had taken affect.
Those "critics" Blitzer referred to are Republicans who try to have it both ways. They will say Obama is "in the pocket" of Wall Street in one breath and then criticize his "antagonism" toward Wall Street in the next. No President in the last 8 decades has presided over faster growth in stock prices, and corporations are earning record profits, so the business community has nothing to complain about.
You left out the very backbone of the economic puzzle; small business, the Mom and Pop operations. The overregulation of Obama's bureaucrats and the total uncertainty of the cost of doing business with Obamacare, big increases in state and local taxes to cover for the mandated costs of Medicaid and whatever else a bloated government decides to levy has everyone hunkered down and just trying to hang on.
Here's another example of a person lumping business into one pot. Listen to this primer: There is big business and it's doing fairly well because "it" has reduced the largest expense – people – and the lower demand hasn't hurt them so much since they are on a very low expense level now. And they aren't hiring not because they are anti people, or anti growth, they are not hiring because they are waiting for demand to pick up plus they often can't grow because of increasing regulations now and the fear there will be more tomorow. Now, let's go to the real job creators in our economy, small business. They are in terrible shape because of the economy. And the best way for the government to help them is to get out of their way. Stop the federal, state and local regulations/rules/laws/etc that prevent them from starting up and growing. If and when that happens, they grow, hire and demand picks up for them and the big boys. Government can do more to hurt than it can to help. If you don't believe that just look at Europe to see how much government "help" can do to an economy. Or Cuba, or Venezuela, or USSR (oops, can't look there anymore). The few successes in Europe are in non-diverse, small countries whose people all want to work. Oh, and look at the ex-USSR countries in eastern Europe, the ones who are now fanatical capitalists, they're doing well, thank you very much. Lesson over. Now go start a business, or work hard where you are now.
Wolf,
You are correct in that stock prices and profits are up for large corporations. However, you overlook the fact that these companies have global operations and derive their sales from countries outside the US. Europe is struggling, certainly, but a weaker dollar versus the euro has helped US exporters, and with China's economy growing at about 8% per year, the big corporations are doing fine.
My general problem with Obama is that he does not talk like someone who believes that private enterprise and innovation is what made this country great. Personally I think we all got duped in 2008, and I voted for him.
Will
Are you kidding? He's been promoting innovation since long before his presidency. Stop reading the papers from the bottom of the pile, when Bush was president.
You'll be duped again if you will vote Republican.
Blitzer perhaps you should actually talk to CEOs who are OUTSOURCING and have outright said the US right now is NOT business friendly.
Obama is more public sector man always has been. Obama's OWN Jobs Czar Jeff Immelt CEO of GE is shipping jobs to China.
Obama's so called green investments have gone bust.
This is very shoddy reporting Blitzer, but I am not surprised. It is a denialism.
ONE of his green investments went bust. You are really uniformed.