Hypothetical: What would your candidate do? What would you do?

[JDPriestly]

Bernanke stated today that he will continue to lower the interest rate. Obviously, his strategy is to try to delay the pain of the current recession until after the election.

How do you think your candidate will respond?

How do you think he or she should respond?

What would you do now if you were running?

What would you do once you are elected and the recession really hits hard?

Passions aside (if possible at this point), which candidate do you think is best equipped to handle the economic chaos that will descend upon the next president?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Here's my take

President Kucinich would confer with Bernanke and look at the overall picture to determine if he would encourage this move or not. Meanwhile, President Kucinich would be starting his Green WPA, employing citizens to work on infrastructure and renewable energy projects. He would address the nation and tell us the truth; we are in a bad way. But going for renewable energy and working on our infrastructure, we should be in a better economic position soon.

Don't know that I would run for President-but what I'm planning to do is to continue with our plans to set up our solar panels and wind generator and to build our house out of recycled materials and to help my husband build our air car. Right now we are starting our hydroponic garden, and will garden in soil come spring, using heirloom seeds so we can save the seeds.

[JDPriestly]

2. Great answer.

I think Edwards would get outside the White House and tell the American people the truth about the economy and propose a plan similar to the plan Kucinich would propose -- to recharge the American economy by ending our dependence on foreign oil. Edwards would end all subsidies and tax advantages for corporate outsources and impose taxes on that 1% of Americans that is allegedly getting 22% of the income and ownership. And Edwards would go straight to the American people about the whole deal. He would not argue with the politicians. He would get the American people on his side first.

[Warpy]

3. I know how the economy will respond

He runs the danger of lowering the rate so far that foreign central banks start looking for ways to dump US debt. The dollar, already slightly undervalued, will plunge. That creates the most dangerous situation of all, that of China allowing the yuan to float against the dollar. That will mean that inflation will be in double digits overnight on nearly all the things we used to make here but are now made by near slave labor in shiny new factories in China.

Bernanke is a fool who can't see that he should be raising rates, making the dollar look more attractive instead of less attractive. He is wedded to a party who thinks low wages are great and doesn't have a clue about where customers for all the shit made in China are supposed to come from.

While the GOP is in charge, the economy will worsen because everything they try will worsen it. Their core economic ideology is 100% wrong. There is no way they will be able to deal with the coming fiscal crisis.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. I agree with your analysis

What makes this even more insane is that it's an election year and the economy is the number one issue (per polling) on voters minds.

While his lowering of rates will stimulate the stock market for a short time again. Which I admit gives an illusion of economic strength to some who know nothing about economics. Even that isn't going to be enough to fool the average American for long because many of them are feeling the strains of inflation coupled with stagnate wages. Which will only get worse if he lowers rates thus devaluing the dollar further. The falling dollar will cause oil prices to rise further which will cause inflation to rise. Which will hit the voters in their pocketbooks even harder.

[JDPriestly]

6. I hope that we DUers can get the candidates to tell us what

they will do and respond to my hypothetical or some version of it.

I noticed that McCain stated in his victory speech that his is the party that creates the jobs. The candidates should be destroying that myth now. They should be pointing out that the jobs that were "created" in the past seven years pay peanuts and don't offer advancement or opportunity. The good jobs are being outsourced. Pretty soon, India will be sending people here to learn law so that they can outsource lawyers.

[JDPriestly]

5. Amazing post. Thanks so much.

We need to think about the issues right now.