Oh God, not you too

E says:

04:37pm | 30/09/10

the global left recycle everything, espessially their best slogans.
Its a sad testament to the death of their ideology that this slogan is the best they can do…

James1 says:

02:27pm | 30/09/10

Indeed.  Given the state of the Republicans since about 2002, what hope is there for America?

Rosie says:

12:52pm | 30/09/10

nosthow - give it away we are not talking about Tony Abbott’s slogan it is Obama’s Moving America Forward same same as your Gillard’s Moving Australia Forward. Same Same but different countries if you didn’t comprehend.

Eric says:

02:39pm | 30/09/10

Yeah, and they (ALP) lost 18 seats.  Now that is moving forward!

Super D says:

08:11pm | 30/09/10

I think you’d find that Sarah Palin promising “Real Action” would resonate with certain demographics.

Adam says:

02:33pm | 30/09/10

You get home cooked scones? We merely get performance indicators and some gibberish called Emotional Inteligence. Not so much as a Scotch Finger Biscuit in sight

Sven Gali says:

06:35pm | 30/09/10

Excellent. I’d like to see him serve a second term too, St. Michael.

Paul Horn says:

12:54pm | 30/09/10

Military spending is nothing fool! This man’s addiction to massive trillion dollar stimulus spending coupled with huge increases in the health and welfare budgets are threatening to send the US into eternal bankruptcy. The only stimulus accomplished by this socialist fool of a President is i the size of the unemployment queues. And I fear and hope that the situation will deteriorate into a complete catastrophe until they elect someone that understands how the markets work and cares for thier country.

Let’s face it he was criminally negligent in supporting and defending the Government backed financial institutions (Freddie Mac, Fannie May - remember?) that precipitated the so called financial hickup a few years back and he will be instrumental in laying the foundations for complete collapse of a once great and proud nation. Damn the press!

Bobster says:

02:09pm | 30/09/10

@ Paul Horn

I thought this might help you in forming future opinions.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/socialism

Tell your friends.

St. Michael says:

02:27pm | 30/09/10

Give it roughly 5-10 years more, depending on the fear/greed continuum of US bond buyers.  The 2009-2010 US unfunded national debt is running about $7 trillion per year, and the entire US Federal tax system only brings in roughly $2 trillion per year.

As a result, it is no longer a wise saw, it is the truth: the US government continues to exist solely at the pleasure of the bond markets.

If that bond market as a whole says “Sorry, but your debt levels are too high to give us any faith that you’ll actually pay out on your bonds when they fall due,”—which could happen on a run of bad news, in the same way that stock markets crash—America’s financial system collapses completely: either by the US defaulting on the national debt (as Greece did - but unlike Greece, the IMF is simply not big enough to bail out the US) or by the US government “buying back’ its bonds - i.e. printing roughly $5 trillion worth of US dollars, which will kick off Weimar-republic style hyperinflation.

There are no other alternatives.  They can’t raise tax levels sufficiently to pay the debt, and they won’t cut Federal spending by the 40% across the board to control the debt: that’s a Greece-style solution, and Greece is an economic basket case even with those measures in place.

It’s already starting.  Benanke is already talking about injecting $1 trillion in further “buyback’ of US bonds in the next year.

It would be funny and a fine demonstration of karma if they weren’t going to take down the rest of the Western world (and significant portions of the Eastern world) with them.

James1 says:

02:33pm | 30/09/10

Despite the fact that your unbalanced approach to things might preclude such considerations, Paul, the Republicans are doing their absolute best - and have been since Bush I, do lay those foundations as well.  The US hasn’t had a half decent leader since the 1980s.  Also, Bush II was the one that initiated the $700 billion spending package known as the stimulus.  Your lack of knowledge is more astounding than Fred’s.  In fact, everything Fred said is absolutely true, whereas your displays a startling inability to divorce fact from political opinion.

Shane From Melbourne says:

03:01pm | 30/09/10

@ Paul Horn- FY 2009: Defense Budget- 23% (782 Billion), Social Security-20% (678 Billion), Medicare and Medicaid-19% (676 Billion), TARP-4% (151 Billion). Does not include Department of Veterans Affairs or Department of Homeland Security which brings military related spending closer to $1 Trillion a year. By the way the bailout of TARP, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae happened on George W. Bush’s watch. You are blaming the wrong president.

Bobster says:

02:14pm | 30/09/10

So it’s safe to say you’ve only been paying attention to American politics for about the past three years then, Paul?

I think you’ll find a succession of presidents contributed to this mess based on American businesses long term pluralism when it comes to economic and politics philosophies (i.e, capitalise profits, socialise losses).

It’s the free market that got us into the mess and if you had even the most basic understanding of capitalism you would know that this situation is the necessary circuit breaker upon which capitalism survives (a quick look at Wikipedia on the concept of inflation could help you there).

But, it’s probably the media’s fault for failing to shine a light on whichever half-arsed educational institution you originally hailed from.

St. Michael says:

02:35pm | 30/09/10

“Singlehandedly” is probably a bit harsh.  Both the Democrats and the Republicans in the White House and in Congress dug deep into the national deficit trough while in power; neither of them can claim any moral high ground on that score.  That’s why the Tea Party isn’t solely an arm of the Republican movement: the economists and accountants in their numbers know the Republicans have screwed the US national debt as much as, if not more than, the Democrats.

James1 says:

02:36pm | 30/09/10

So are we to assume that you think the economy was all smiles and happiness before Obama?  Are we to ignore the fact that Bush did set deficit records?  That he took Clinton’s successive surpluses and turned them into deficits?  Are we to assume that you are not just as much of a hypcrite as your opposite numbers, and the same for Fox News?

Eric says:

03:11pm | 30/09/10

True, Paul.

Anyone who relies on Australian media coverage of American politics is likely to be surprised come November. They have no idea how unpopular Obama is after his disastrous first two years.

Bob H says:

03:51pm | 30/09/10

Do you really think politicians can do anything useful? seems most countries have millions of minions beavering away regardless of and carrying, a ruling elite who have no particular skills, other than a big mouth. Please can we move on from the idea that governments lead us to our destinies, its as childish as the slogans.

Dan says:

04:26pm | 30/09/10

Horn, as well as looking up the word socialist (calling Obama a socialist is absurd), as well as the term lefty, you may need to consider the fact that the economic crisis was not started by Obama.

As for being hypocritical, it really amuses me when right-wingers acuse the left of being hypocritical. You are the masters of hypocricy.

Not Amused says:

02:32pm | 01/10/10

Amusing Bobster, that you think it was the “free market” that got the USA into this mess [and the West at large], whilst ignoring the fact that U.S. currency has been monopolised under government control since 1913, (quibble though you may over the quasi-private, quasi-public nature of the Fed; it’s existence depends entirely on government legislation).

Currency is by definition a ‘means of exchange’. It facilitates ALL economic activity and production, it binds all market activity and markets together; it is the single most important aspect of a free economy (and a free society) that you could possibly screw up.

Monopolised control of currency is NOT the free market. I do not accept that a ‘free market’ equates to debasing the currency with billions, then trillions, of unbacked pieces of toilet paper.

So in conclusion it was socialism that destroyed the U.S. economy:
“The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debase the currency” - Lenin

So Bob, attacking another person’s level of education?? Pot, kettle, black.

JG says:

01:53pm | 30/09/10

Ah, of course, the reason Obama is so impotent is because of Bush.

Nothing to do with the fact that he’s big on rhetoric and small on action.

James1 says:

02:39pm | 30/09/10

U.S. Grant was way worse than Bush.  Although it is true that Bush couldn’t manage the economy as well.  And, it seems, neither can Obama now.  As I say above, there seems little hope for the US, with the Democrats promising more of the same, and the Republicans living in a dream world where you can cut taxes and have a surplus…

DocBud says:

02:51pm | 30/09/10

People who can’t spell imbecile really shouldn’t use it as an insult against someone with an MBA from Harvard.

Obama wanted the job because he is a shallow, vain, power hungry politician like his big mate Kevin Rudd, and he has proven equally inept.

hot tub political machine says:

04:05pm | 30/09/10

Amazing,

Yes its tought to walk into a massive federal defecit, but the kind of people who have the guts to take on that job are the kind of people needed.

I respect both Obama and McCain that they were willing to put their hand up considering the economic mess they knew they would have.

Patrick says:

06:30pm | 30/09/10

James, on fiscal year 2009, as far as I understand it, it takes in the later half of 2008, which covers the dramatic downturn after Lehman bros collapsed, before Obama took office. I could be wrong about that, but there’s some devil in the details there.

Further to that, projections are just projections. In 2000 it was expected there would be an 800 billion dollar budget surplus by 2010.