Democrats try to lower economic expectations

[OhioChick]

Source: AP

They say despite bailout, stimulus, downturn may last for a while

4:09 p.m. ET, Sun., Jan. 25, 2009
WASHINGTON - The White House warned Sunday that the country could face a long and painful financial recovery, even with major government intervention to stimulate the economy and save financial institutions.

“We’re off and running, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” said Vice President Joe Biden, taking the lead on a theme echoed by other Democratic officials on the Sunday talk shows.

At the end of the Obama administration’s first week, the party in power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue sought to lower expectations for a quick fix despite legislation expected to pass by next month that would pump billions of dollars into the economy. Democrats also opened the door for even more government aid to struggling banks beyond the $700 billion bailout already in the pipeline.

Congress has given President Barack Obama permission to spend the second $350 billion of a Wall Street bailout package even though lawmakers have criticized the Bush administration for the way it spent the first half. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she is open to additional government rescue money for banks and financial institutions. But she said taxpayers must get an ownership stake in return.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28842027

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People need jobs NOW. I want to see all the promises of "closing tax loopholes for companies that outsource", and the renegotiation of NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO, H-1B's, L-1's, etc., etc., etc.

Green jobs are great, so are infrastructure jobs, however we all need jobs yesterday. Those infrastructure jobs aren't going to last forever, either. From what I understand, not enough money is even allocated for them.

Time for tariffs and tax penalities....enough of these tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas!

As I picked up from an editorial..."No Jobs Equal No Recovery."

[Coyote_Bandit]

1. Translation

If you are unemployed or under-employed then you are fucked.

And there is no bailout for you.

[Baby Snooks]

2. And may not be employed...

The reality is things are going to get worse. Adding trillions of dollars to the national debt, which the taxpayers will have to pay for, has done nothing to help the American people and won't help the American people. All Congress is doing is helping the people who caused all of this to begin with. Maybe Congress believes a CEO using the money to redecorate his office to the tune of a million dollars is good for the economy? It might be good for the economy of the decorator. But not good for the economy of the American people.

Let the banks fail. They will probably fail anyway. Let the corporations file for bankrupcty. They probably will anyway.

Save the money to help the people. Or do the people simply not matter at all? It seems we do not.

If the American people are being forced to sacrifice then everyone should be forced to sacrifice. And not everyone is being forced to sacrifice.

[closeupready]

3. If it seems that the people don't matter to Congress, that's because we don't.

Those who matter are the wealthy, powerful, influential - the kind of people Congress critters, of both the GOP and Dems, will socialize with and with whose families their own families will form bonds. Pretty obvious the people are dead last on Congress' list of priorities.

[tonycinla]

6. Yes

Truer words were never written! As George Bernard Shaw said many years ago "All professions are conspiracies against the people".

[jkappy]

13. beautiful----so true! (way to go George)

[OhioChick]

10. Agreed and well said. n/t

[PSPS]

4. One thing that's of no help for sure is more tax breaks for the rich

Despite the "trickle down" canard being fully discredited long ago, I hear Obama singing that same tired tune.

We need to go back to the pre-Reagan tax rates where the rich paid a 70% tax on any income over what would be $2 million today. Nobody needs more than $2 million a year in income. (Before Kennedy, the top tax bracket was 90%, and we had a screaming economy back then.)

[closeupready]

5. Amen.

n/t

[Xenotime]

11. Agreed. This would stop these FAT CEOs from getting their Obscene pay raises.

[slipslidingaway]

7. K&R...

"...Democrats also opened the door for even more government aid to struggling banks beyond the $700 billion bailout already in the pipeline..."

[Azlady]

8. LET THE BIG BOYS GO BYE BYE - Small Business is what makes our Country Strong

Here is a great article, published in 2006, Small Businesses Represent 99.7 Percent Of All Businesses, Employ 57.4 Million -
This country, OUR country can survive just FINE without all those BIG CORPORATIONS! It is all smoke and mirrors! No more bailing them out! Put that money in the hands of American Workers, American Small businesses, TAX those Corporations into dust as far as I am concerned!

http://www.sba.gov/advo/press/06-17.html

[Amonester]

9. You cannot tax big corporations that are registered in offshore...

tax havens.

(Well, not yet anyway... and it looks like it's not gonna be tomorrow, or anytime soon.)

Why not tax all capital gains (and by all, I mean, stock market gains included) to begin with?

I guess there ain't gonna be 'change' nor 'hope' until Regulated Public Financing of political orgs will be the law of the land.

[closeupready]

12. If they do business here, though, you can.

n/t