CNN Poll - 48% of Americans feel Great Depression "very or somewhat likely" to occur within the year

[Amerigo Vespucci]

June 10, 2011 09:00 AM
CNN Poll: Americans Worried About A Depression. When Will President Obama Have His 'Aha!' Moment?

By Susie Madrak

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/when-will-president-obama-have-his-ah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_5aIZDj5Zk&feature=player_embedded

People are openly using the "D" word, yet the president and his pal Tim Geithner still seem to think there's going to be a second Obama term if they only make the bankers happy. Go figure:

Some economists might be worried about a double-dip recession, but a large number of Americans have an even worse scenario in mind.

Approximately 48 percent of Americans say they think that a Great Depression is either very or somewhat likely to occur within the year, according to a CNN Opinion Research Poll, the highest percentage of respondents that have stated that level of certainty since CNN first started asking the question in October 2008.

Respondents' fear that they would soon become unemployed also spiked to an all-time high of 30 percent. That stands in contrast another post-recession low: the 18 percent that said they either recently became unemployed or are related to someone who recently became unemployed. The seeming contradiction might be explained by the average length of unemployment now hitting an all-time high, as The New York Times recently reported.

[Avant Guardian]

1. No recovery until the Bush tax cuts go away

And regulations are put in place to stop speculators and banksters.

[JDPriestly]

4. Right. I think Obama should have taken getting rid of the Bush tax cuts

over extending unemployment benefits. The Bush tax cuts are destroying our economy. The unemployment benefits will not go on forever anyway, and they don't really build the economy. They are just a stopgap. We need much more than that now.

[Avant Guardian]

8. Extending the tax cuts for two years extended the depression for two more years

He should have retroactively gotten rid of them upon taking office. Had he done so, we would be in primary balance next year. That is essentially what Bill Clinton did with his 1993 economic plan.

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. An economic depression has long since arrived

in my long-term unemployed world.

Sadly, the politicians lack the will, the intelligence and the guts to do what is necessary to rebuild a strong, productive, healthy economy. They much prefer to try to patch an ultimately unsustainable consumer economy back together - and then brag about the "accomplishment." Eventually, they won't be able to do that. Especially given increasing levels of unemployment, underemployment and both declining wages and available credit.

[Lifelong Protester]

3. We need more REVENUE. TAX THE RICH!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. But they need that money so they can use it to create jobs and...

...oh. Right. They have the money and haven't done that.

Still sounds good, though. It's almost like I can hear George W. talkin' about how all of them have-mores was gonna invest them tax cuts into small business.

Miss him yet?

[Lionessa]

5. "Will occur"? I wonder how many think it "already is" occurring?

I know I do. I'm visiting with people on-line in the place I'll be sort of moving to, and also had been doing so in other places across the US so I could decide where to go. I'm just amazed at the number of people in there 50s like me, who have had to file bankruptcy in the past year due to losing job and then being insufficiently hired to part time or menial jobs, or not being able to find one at all.

[david_vincent]

7. Some people with a LOT of savvy

say that we're already in a depression, or worse. If Immanuel Wallerstein (and others who agree with him) is to be believed, it's never going to get better, because what we've been going through is nothing less than the death of capitalism.

[TBF]

9. Krugman laid this out in his column last week -

"But the reality is just the opposite: creditor-friendly policies are crippling the economy. This is a negative-sum game, in which the attempt to protect the rentiers from any losses is inflicting much larger losses on everyone else. And the only way to get a real recovery is to stop playing that game."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/opinion/10krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

He is speaking directly to Obama here, and telling him to stop propping up the big banks and worry about jobs. Unfortunately Obama (and his many supporters on this website) are ignoring his advice at their peril. I don't think it's going to be pretty for dems on election day if this behavior continues. Labor unions are already justifiably pissed off, and that leaves Mr. Obama to rely on moderates for votes. I don't think that's a winning strategy in this economy.

The decision to continue the tax breaks for our very wealthiest citizens, along with favoring the banks (long a trait of Joe Biden so I'm not surprised at all) was simply not the right decision.