"Obama’s Economic Triumph" Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast aka why the GOP is pushing scandals

[Botany]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/04/obama-s-economic-triumph.html


It’s increasingly clear that the president has steered the country back from the brink—and, in the process, exposed (yet again) the central lie of conservative economics.

This Friday morning will bring the new jobs numbers. If recent months and indicators are any sign, the news will be at least pretty good, and maybe really good—remember, the last several months have all been revised upward by significant amounts after the initial estimates. Yes, there is still a ways to go. But everything is moving in the right direction. The president and his people jumped the gun pretty badly in 2010 with their talk of “Recovery Summer.” But 2013 might finally be Recovery Summer. And by next summer, most experts say, the unemployment rate really will be back down to the normal range. In other words, the Republicans are about out of chances to do what they’ve been trying to do since Barack Obama took office—i.e., wreck the economy. Now more than ever, Obama has to ignore these people and get through the next three-plus years just trying to make sure they can’t screw up the economy any worse than they already have.

snip

Many economists believe that things would be going even better right now without the austerity imposed on us by the Republicans who run the House of Representatives. It is true—and this is one point on which liberals, me included, haven’t been entirely consistent—that “austerity” also includes the higher taxes on the rich achieved through the fiscal-cliff deal, and the end of the 2 percent payroll tax holiday. So Obama does bear some responsibility for those particular forms of austerity, although the budget cuts the GOP insisted on have had considerably more negative impact on the economy than the tax increases.

snip

So let’s review. The only thing the Republicans have done to the economy since 2001 is make it worse. The tax cuts did not generate the great surge of activity that was predicted. Against Republican predictions and conservative economic belief, they drained the treasury. Later, GOP-led deregulation nearly destroyed the global economy. Then, when the new guy tried to rescue the economy, they opposed everything he tried. Today, with indicators clearly on the right track and clearly suggesting that more stimulus would help the recovery, they of course oppose that, too.

*******

A must read ...... BTW to all lurkers and freepers please go and double check the facts in the article.

[Myrina]

1. I thought they were pushing scandals because Heritage Group told them to.

Or was it one of the other GOP "think tanks" (sic)?

[Botany]

2. The Heritage group told the GOP to not cooperate on anything and push scandals and

..... investigations. My guess is they know what the economic data shows and
want to change the subject. The real scandals are the GOP trying to tank the
economy and Issa & Graham's "investigations" into the Obama administration.

[Myrina]

3. Yup. A different shiny object.

[Botany]

4. Yep, Jim DeMint's new home, the Heritage Foundation which hates the America people.

From DeMint's Wiki page

<On December 6, 2012, he announced he will resign from the Senate before the new
113th Congress begins in early January 2013 to become president of The Heritage
Foundation.>

After Obama won in a landslide Jim DeMint one of the real leaders on the right, saw
his duty as to try to obstruct the President 24/7 and he could do that better by
using the Heritage Foundation as cover. I have little doubt about the source of the
Heritage Foundation's funding.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. If the GOP only does bad, then why does Obama always want to negotiate on their terms?

[Parable Arable]

6. In my view?

Because he frequently underestimates the GOP's capacity to spew bullshit.

[yellowcanine]

7. None of these "scandals" amounts to a pile of ripe dung.

That is why 2014 is going to be a Republican blood bath just like 1998. Overplaying the scandal investigations is a losing strategy. You would think Republicans would have learned that.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. Coincidence?

Whenever the Republicans are in office, the economy either sours or, in the case of George W. Bush, implodes and whenever the Democrats get back into office, the economy improves. Can't possibly be a coincidence can it???

[Parable Arable]

9. BUT BUT REAGAN!!111

TEH ECONOMY SKYROCKETED WHILE HE WAS IN OFFICE BECAUSE HE SAVED IT FROM THAT COMMUFACIST CARTER!!!!1111

[Cha]

10. K&R thanks Botany

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. The Rich Have Gained $5.6 Trillion in the 'Recovery,' While the Rest of Us Have Lost $669 Billion

http://www.alternet.org/economy/rich-have-gained-56-trillion-recovery-while-rest-us-have-lost-669-billion

May 3, 2013 |

Oh, are we getting ripped off. And now we've got the data to prove it. From 2009 to 2011, the richest 8 million families (the top 7%) on average saw their wealth rise from $1.7 million to $2.5 million each. Meanwhile the rest of us -- the bottom 93% (that's 111 million families) -- suffered on average a decline of $6,000 each.

Do the math and you'll discover that the top 7% gained a whopping $5.6 trillion in net worth (assets minus liabilities) while the rest of lost $669 billion. Their wealth went up by 28% while ours went down by 4 percent.

It's as if the entire economic recovery is going into the pockets of the rich. And that's no accident. Here's why.

And: