Now You Tell Us

One of President Obama's former top economic advisers has had a change of heart about one of their economic "stimulus" programs. Austan Goolsbee, who served as the chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, now says the Cash for Clunkers program was a mistake. He makes this statement $3 billion later.

According to Politico.com:

"[He] said Thursday that if given a second chance he would not have backed the Cash for Clunkers program or the home buyer tax credit passed in 2009 to stave off further economic distress.

""Because we didn't know if [economic recovery was] going to be short or long," the Obama administration tried measures to address both scenarios, Goolsbee explained on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

""If you look at Cash for Clunkers or the first home buyer tax credit, they were geared to trying to shift [recovery] from 2010 into 2009. Given it's taken this long [to recover], I don't think you would do that short-run stuff," Goolsbee added."

To paraphrase Adam Sandler in "The Wedding Singer:" this is information that could have been useful YESTERDAY!

Goolsbee stands by the nearly trillion dollar "stimulus" but is cutting the lesser stimuli loose. Why is he doing this now? 1. He's out of the administration so he doesn't have to lie to cover for them anymore, and 2. It's painfully clear that none of their stimuli worked to improve the economy.

At the time these Keynesian policies were being teed up, conservatives were screaming about this point: all the short-term programs like cash for clunkers and the first-time home buyers' credit did was move up demand; they did not create it. So when the programs ended, so did the economic activity. They were temporary, cosmetic actions that did nothing but warp the market.

Today, Obama's former economic adviser throws cash for clunkers under the bus. How much longer before he and others throw the Big Stimulus under the bus? Or ObamaCare? Or Obama himself? A sinking ship has no rats aboard.

Comments

[thebuckstopshere]

Monica, I believe you believe what you post & most likely read prior to posting; however, do you do anything with posted comments?

WONDERING IN CYBERWORLD

[thebuckstopshere]

as for cash for clunkers did all the instructed dealers ever get full reimbursement? as well, the pt was not made regarding good used cars DESTROYED in the process that put a real hurt on used car sales & those potential consumers........

another pt:
WHERE DID ALL THAT SCRAP STEEL GO? HMMMMMMMM

[gringoman]

Monica, I believe you believe what you post & most likely read prior to posting; however, do you do anything with posted comments?

WONDERING IN CYBERWORLD

Posted by: thebuckstopshere | October 20, 2011 at 05:06 PM

Buck,

Are you asking our Princess for Republican straight talk? We wait with baited breath. Buen suerte! EL COMMANDANTE

[gringoman]

////Austan Goolsbee, who served as the chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, now says the Cash for Clunkers program was a mistake. He makes this statement $3 billion later/////

Yes, Obama's elite Faculty Lounge running the US economy has been, uh, kind of problematic. Not even Professor Karl Marx, let alone Barry, ever managed anything.

However, was his Cash From Wall Street Clunkers a mistake in 2008? Did it not springboard him into the White House?

"But look at it three years later," you say?

Spoil sport.

[Jay]

Agree! The irregular troll trash should be removed. We have tried for months.

--------------------------------------------
At the time these Keynesian policies were being teed up, conservatives were screaming about this point:
Monica

monica, it's Reagan's Trickle Down economics that has been shown to be a lie.

Bush's TARP was a big mistake. Everyone knows that.

[Jay]

WHERE DID ALL THAT SCRAP STEEL GO? HMMMMMMMM

Posted by: thebuckstopshere | October 20, 2011 at 05:10 PM

Where all scrap steel goes. Refrigerators,new cars, anything that's made of steel. That was true with the WW2 tanks and ships that were melted down. Will be true years from now.
I knew that when I was a kid!

[Jay]

Today, Obama's former economic adviser throws cash for clunkers under the bus. How much longer before he and others throw the Big Stimulus under the bus? Or ObamaCare? Or Obama himself? A sinking ship has no rats aboard.---Monica

Sounds like Reagan's budget director throwing TRICKLE DOWN ubder the bus.
And, the stimulus bill. The CBO said it created as much as 2.9 million jobs. No less than 1 million. It's on THEIR WEBSITE!

Conservatives response," There he goes again! Telling facts we have tried for along time to keep hidden. Doesn't he know that we make up facts?"

Also, helped the economy. Not as much as people wanted. But, it did help some.

[xbjllb]

NOT A WORD ABOUT KHADAFFY!!! ROLFLMAO.

Pay no attention to the enraged scheming offense contractors and their Congressional crony partners-in-crime behind the curtain.

Oh Lookie!! Over here!!!

Sad. Really sad.

[xbjllb]

And now we learn why Romney picked Christie as veep instead of pandering to Hispanics via El Marko Rubio... he got wind that El Marko would soon be dealing with a scandal of his own lying about being the son of Cuban expatriates.

Seems his family moved two YEARS BEFORE Gringwhore (oops, sorry, I mean CASTRO) took over Cuba.

Ouch!! Sorry GOP. Have to find another hispanic yardsman.

[xbjllb]

Any day a war FINALLY ends is a good day. Even a six month war.

For most people. Not for the human excrement who make money off war though.

God WILL get you.... ever last one of you.

[xbjllb]

"WHERE DID ALL THAT SCRAP STEEL GO? HMMMMMMMM" - TBSH

Let's guess... where Giuliani made sure all the radioactive WTC steel went ASAP... to China, with love.

[gringoman]

STEVE JOBS TO OBAMA: You're A One-Term President
Matt Lynley | Oct. 20, 2011,

Obama's unions and Obama's regulations are killing us.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-told-president-obama-regulations-and-teachers-unions-were-killing-america-2011-10#ixzz1bN9Vl5bJ

[John]

This is what we get for electing an incompetent to the presidency. Barry is a GREAT campaigner. Unfortunately, that's all he knows how to do.

[xbjllb]

Let's see. Fascist child-labor meister Herr Jobs is as dead as the GOP WILL be after 2012.

Massive fail. Again.

[gringoman]

Are the Dems really dumb enough to fault Rubio's parents for leaving Cuba before 'we' (Castro) took over?

Now will the Dumbocrats start attacking children of Jews who got out of Germany before Auschwitz?

Judging by their cheers for the end of Kaddafi and the missing thousands of ground-to-air missiles, yes, the Dumbocrats are indeed dumb enough.

But their SLIME media will "forget" for its Dumbocrats as soon as some of Kaddafi's missiles do what they never did under Kaddafi---land and destroy and kill in Israel.

[xbjllb]

Rubio is finished, and so is the GOP.

Watch.

[xbjllb]

"Unfortunately, that's all he knows how to do." - John

Would have agreed with you awhile ago.

But this time, it's PERSONAL. And there is a slight chance his balls might just stick around after January 2013.

Especially with Hillary around as veep instead of jetting around the globe doing the dirty work.

[xbjllb]

"Are the Dems really dumb enough to fault Rubio's parents for leaving Cuba before 'we' (Castro) took over?" - Gringwhore

No. They are smart enough to fault him for LYING ABOUT HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

If he can lie about that, what else is he lying about?

The GOP is no longer interested in finding out, especially since Rubio was never going to get a single Tea Party vote anyway due to its rampant xenophobia.

[xbjllb]

One would think that the smart money in town would be leaving the GOP in droves.

Or if not that, leaving THE UNITED STATES.

Some people never read the writing on the wall.

[xbjllb]

I mean, look at Khaddaffy, the top .01% of Libya.

Had he had the smarts to leave and take his ill-gotten gains with him soon enough, he wouldn't have ended up a bloody mess dragged out of a sewer pipe by the people HE oppressed.

SOME people are stupid enough to believe money makes them invincible.

News flash: It doesn't. Just makes you more hated and a bigger target.

Of course, Khadaffi was certifiable.

Is the 1% of the US?

THAT'S the million-dollar question.

[xbjllb]

One look at the 1%'s whores, the GOP, would scream a resounding "Oh, HELL yes!"

[xbjllb]

Cain, West, now Rubio?

Just NO longevity in being a plantation house slave these days.

Just ask any Jewish collaborator in the camps. Oh that's right, you can't; they shot them last.

[xbjllb]

They never did give those Jewish collaborators the key to the Nazi country club, either.

Fiends.

[xbjllb]

Does having money make people crazy?

Or do just crazy people seek more wealth than they and their heirs can possibly spend in ten lifetimes?

Another chicken and egg question for the sages.

[xbjllb]

Just think, by now I'd have 10,000,000 followers on Twitter.

[gringoman]

Fascism and Obamunism

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) started his political life as a socialist and in 1912, was appointed editor of Avanti, a leading socialist newspaper. During the Great War, Mussolini was expelled from the Socialist Party for advocating Italy’s entrance into battle. He organized the Fascist Party immediately following the war. By exploiting general fears of labor unrest and communism, Mussolini gained his followers among war veterans and the middle class. Mussolini organized his March on Rome in 1922 in order to bring down the government. King Victor Emmanuel, fearful of a civil war, appointed Benito Mussolini prime minister.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.asp

gringoNOTE: Stupid lying weasels will still try to hide the kinship between socialism and fascism. This is not to say that a socialist fascist like Benito Mussolini was just like a Barack Obama. Not at all.

Mussolini, for example, unlike Obama, rejected the Marxism and Class War of his socialist past. Obama, OTOH, manages to practice classic Marxian Class War ('the 1% vs the 99%') while enjoying the classic fascist tactic of being funded by the wealthy and crony capitalists.

Obama just displayed another classic fascist tactic: Full support for the grab-and-kill of a national leader, Moamar Kaddafi in Libya, no detention, no trial, no questions asked. Mussolini would have approved. Hitler too. The Duce and the Fuerher might even have been jealous, as the mangled body of an upstart opponent was shown to millions. In fact, Mussplini and his pupil Hitler might have been impressed enough to rank Barack Obama as a potential National Socialist.

It's clear to all but stupid lying weasels.

[gringoman]

FROM MUSSOLINI TO OBAMA

Mussolini’s fascism was a state socialism that was explicitly anti-Marx and aggressively nationalistic.

Hitler’s National Socialism was state socialism at its worse. It not only shared the socialism of fascism, but was explicitly racist.

http://democraticpeace.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/hitler-was-a-socialist/

gringoNOTE: Obama's socialism: the collaboration of parasite socialists with crony capitalists--i.e. a neo-fascism.

[gringoman]

Is there any cure for the condition known as Stupid Lying Weasel? Regard the following:

Many conservatives insist that the Nazis were an example of a 'socialist' government as part of their effort to discredit socialism and leftist policies in general. This is rather like using the example of East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, to discredit democracy: it demonstrates the speaker's inability to comprehend reality.

"Silent Bob" explains how and why the Nazi party was not particularly socialist:

The idea that workers controlled the means of production in Nazi Germany is a bitter joke. It was actually a combination of aristocracy and capitalism.

gringoNOTE: To "Silent Bob." What is even a more bitter joke? In all the socialist countries that have been around longer than Nazi Germany, like North Korea, China, the Soviet Union, Castro's Cuba etc, where do "the workers control the means of production"?

Conclusion: "Silent Bob" needs to stay silent more and use the time for thinking. Otherwise, he can be mistaken, easily, for just another stupid lying weasel. This could be unfortunate. Maybe he's not lying.

[Jay]

It's clear to all but stupid lying weasels.

Posted by: gringoman | October 20, 2011 at 10:03 PM

You're the one who seems to love Castro!

------------------------------------------------------

Looks like the GOP is still critisizing Obama and will not give him any credit for Khadaffy. Just like they didn't for Bin Laden.

Seems the GOP isn't man enough to give anyone ,(other than themselves) credit for anything!

----------------------------------------------
gringoNOTE: Obama's socialism: the collaboration of parasite socialists with crony capitalists--i.e. a neo-fascism.

Posted by: gringoman | October 20, 2011 at 10:23 PM

We learned long ago that those notes are very conservative slanted.
And, therefore best ignored.

-----------------------------------------------------

Obama's unions and Obama's regulations are killing us.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-told-president-obama-regulations-and-teachers-unions-were-killing-america-2011-10#ixzz1bN9Vl5bJ

Posted by: gringoman | October 20, 2011 at 08:47 PM

If unions ARE killing america. Then why was the Ford company able to survive without a bailout?
They are faced with the SAME regulations, laws that the other 2 are.

[gringoman]

The 'Occupy' that LibWorld and Romney-endorsing Governor"Doughnuts" Christie compares to the Tea Party.....

October 20, 2011

FROM HOPE-AND-CHANGE TO RAPE-AND-CHANGE? Occupy Baltimore to sex assault victims: We support you in reporting the abuse, but we don’t encourage the involvement of police in our community. “The news here isn’t really that they’d rather have a ‘Security Committee’ deal with alleged rapists than the local P.D. The whole point of starting a utopian commune is that it’s as insular as possible. No, the news here is that there’s apparently enough of a problem that they felt obliged to publish a pamphlet dealing with the subject at all. I confess, I haven’t been to any tea-party rallies so you’ll have to tell me: Are there a lot of ‘here’s what to do if you’re raped today’ fliers circulating at those too?”

This seems to be a problem a lot of places, not just Baltimore. It’s almost as if they’re attracting a different sort of people than the Tea Parties do.

Posted at 9:56 pm by Glenn Reynolds

[Jay]

This is what we get for electing an incompetent to the presidency. Barry is a GREAT campaigner. Unfortunately, that's all he knows how to do.

Posted by: John | October 20, 2011 at 08:59 PM

Under Obama, many corporations have record pofits.
Has had i million illegals deported,(which IS WHY he lost much favoritism with hispanics.) And, under his watch has had several dozen top terrorists killed. Bush had very few if any.

seems Obama has had more done than Bush.

[Jay]

And, Obama has had to deal with a DO NOTHING Republican House.
-----------------------------------------------
This seems to be a problem a lot of places, not just Baltimore. It’s almost as if they’re attracting a different sort of people than the Tea Parties do.

Posted at 9:56 pm by Glenn Reynolds

Posted by: gringoman | October 20, 2011 at 10:47 PM

The tea party is going the way of the old Copperhead party--Going-Going-Gone!

Seems that OWS has MORE support than the tea baggers.
Which is liked less than Muslims. Bet, that tees the irregulars off!

[Jay]

Conclusion: "Silent Bob" needs to stay silent more and use the time for thinking. Otherwise, he can be mistaken, easily, for just another stupid lying weasel. This could be unfortunate. Maybe he's not lying.

Posted by: gringoman | October 20, 2011 at 10:38 PM

Then, we have the typical conservative, TEA BAGGERS especially.
Who deny what others know are truths.
That, Nazism is RIGHT -WING! That, the Nazis used socialist because that was a popular word at the time.
And, in the conservatives attempt to deny these truths.
MAKES THEM, the stupid lying weasels!

The world applaudes the truth being spoken!

[thebuckstopshere]

Gman, the only fliers referencing rape at a tea party might be for the government to stop raping the taxpayer.........particularily with programs that have nothing to do with forefathers thoughts on governing.....but I don't think they would use the word rape, maybe screw, but not rape....come to think of it I have never seen the word rape, or printed literature on what to do in case of rape.....those terrorist teapartiers, not thinking of a woman's plight at one of their rally's........(SARC, in case the slow one's don't get it)

PERRY/WEST 2012

[Jay]

Obama just displayed another classic fascist tactic: Full support for the grab-and-kill of a national leader, Moamar Kaddafi in Libya, no detention, no trial, no questions asked. Mussolini would have approved. Hitler too. The Duce and the Fuerher might even have been jealous, as the mangled body of an upstart opponent was shown to millions. In fact, Mussplini and his pupil Hitler might have been impressed enough to rank Barack Obama as a potential National Socialist.

It's clear to all but stupid lying weasels.

Posted by: gringoman | October 20, 2011 at 10:03 PM

The mindset of a conservative tea bagger is unique, to say it in a kind way.
They have their own little world,
own rules, own facts.

[Jay]

If a republican president had gotten Bin laden or Khadaffy, the conservative party would be patting themselves on the back.Just shows that conservatives don't know how to give praise to anyone but themselves.

[gringoman]

WHY LIBWORLD WANTS GOP TO RUN ROMNEYCARE

K2K

I am a disillusioned democrat who wants to vote FOR someone, just once, who gives me confidence that he* can stand his ground as CinC.

I have been astonished at the Romney fan club amongst the right-leaning punditocracy. What makes you think voters like me want to vote for Romney, whose sole purpose in life seems to be wanting to be president? Who personifies the private equity/big idea consultant MBA+lawyers who have destroyed the American economy since 1978? Who left Massachusetts with spiraling health insurance premiums and enough of a budget mess to require noticeable tax increases and a looming electricity shortfall?

I think Governor Perry did the entire country a huge favor by showing how easy it can be to turn Romney into the irritable, condescending elitist fake-smiled shape shifting bully that he is.

In this fascinating compare/contrast of body language, Governor Perry made Romney look UNFIT to be CinC or conduct foreign policy.

plus Romney had the chutzpah to mispronounce chutzpah.

“Have at it” indeed. y’all are NOT going to be seeing Romney debate Obama. It will either be Perry or Gingrich. If this GOP is stupid enough to offer Romney, you hand Obama his win because the turnout will be so low that the majority of us will lock our door and watch re-runs of The West Wing and NCIS until we run out of cat tuna. sorry – my humor is running dry over the complete failure of America’s political and pundit class.

[Jay]

Are the Dems really dumb enough to fault Rubio's parents for leaving Cuba before 'we' (Castro) took over? Gringotroll

notice the (we) and the photo of Castro?
Told you he's a TROLL!
Why not a photo of Lincoln or some American patriot?

[Jay]

Why can't conservatives give thanks to Obama for the several dozen top terrorists killed?
Because they would be admitting that he did MORE in his few years in office than Bush accomplished in his 2 terms.

[Jay]

The much beloved by conservatives, Koch industries , does business in Iran.

[Jay]

This having to constantly find new things to post on the memo. So, it wouldn't falter from lack of use is time consuming!

But, it's a thankless job!

[xbjllb]

"It's clear to all but stupid lying weasels." - Gringowhore

What's ABUNDANTLY clear is you are a fascist whore whoring for fascists and trying to rewrite history quite unsuccessfully into making fascists, which are exactly what you and the people you fellate are, into their diametric opposites, so you can call yourselves patriots in a Democracy when you are, in all actuality, fascists working toward a totalitarian one-Party antiChristian anti-American theocracy.

ABUNDANTLY clear. To everyone.

[xbjllb]

I cannot wait until conservatism is banished to Hell where it was invented.

Forever.

[Jay]

Gman, the only fliers referencing rape at a tea party might be for the government to stop raping the taxpayer.........particularily with programs that have nothing to do with forefathers thoughts on governing.....)

PERRY/WEST 2012

Posted by: thebuckstopshere | October 20, 2011 at 11:13 PM

Taxs compared to GDP is at it's lowest since 1950.

Also, doubt if people today can say for certain what people of the 1700s would do in today's world.
With their musketloaders and kids having to work at a very early age from dusk to dawn.

Maybe our founding fathers would get upset with kids not working under the same conditions they forced their kids, too.

Maybe that's what TEABAGGERS want!

[xbjllb]

Well. Glad to see my good friend Jeff Rense has come to his senses regarding the dubious accolades to and mourning of Khadaffi, the certifiable butcher of PanAm at Lockerbie, hundreds of thousands of his own people for real, and God only knows what else.

Obama, as the lesser evil, gets far more correct and right and good than the right wing, as ABSOLUTE EVIL, couldn't even ever pretend to.

Is real good, the absolute good, preferable? Of course.

Will we ever see it in politics? Not until Christ Himself returns.

Until then, a fight for the lesser evil is all the fight for good left to us.

IF we're going to participate in politics at all.

And to NOT participate, to let absolute evil run its course, is not the path to take either.

ALL WE CAN DO as TRUE CHRISTIANS is follow Jesus Christ's life example; RUN FROM POWER, but scream out the truth loud and long to anyone who will listen and hang the consequences.

How can you tell a fake Christian, or christianist? How power seeking are they? Are they running for office? Are they manipulating public opinion with lies for their own profit, like the Kochheads, Rove, and others? Are they trying to restablish ANCIENT JUDAIC LAW that Christ Himself overthrew with ONE COMMANDMENT: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES.

[borderbriar]

Actually, Monica, the stimulus has done quite a lot. Drive anywhere in the Southwest and you will see miles and miles of roads and bridges being improved by stimulus money. Even Laura Ingraham complained in her area she coulodn't go six blocks without running into construction. A good amount of border fence has been constructed. It does some good in urban areas. Perry has been falsely accused of being completely against a fence. Really he was very happy about that government spending and the jobs it brought that he could take credit for creating. To his credit he stood by farmers and ranchers who complained about their land being taken without compensation and their livelihoods being threatened by being cut off frome water. All that money for supplies, equipment, wages and so on trickles down to grocery stores, restaurants, motels and other places.

The reason the stimulus does not appear to have done more good is the large drop off in public jobs. What has been left unsaid is that the prosperity generally credited to JFK tax cuts was also contributed to by the work involved in building the Interstate system as well as the space program. The same with supposed Reagan prosperity, though done with borrowed money, a lot of people in defense industries prospered. Trickle down is not a totally invalid concept when those with the money spend it lavishly.

Programs like Clunkers are useless because they just produce false demand and don't create anything. Business will not hire because of phony demand or for tax credits. They will hire only when there is real demand created by people having paychecks to spend.

[Ummahgummah]

First the Globalistos brought us global warming. That, bit the dustbowl of history, hopefully to never reemerge.

[...]

POSTED BY: TRUTHER | OCTOBER 20, 2011 AT 03:17 PM

--

LOL. I am sure you've heard of "Global Climate Change" once that warmology thing didn't quite work out.

Too many "Global Warming" conferences canceled due to snowstorms etc..

Remember, libs will stop at nothing to force their idiotic "ideas" down our throats.

If the "climate change" thing doesn't work they'll complain about too much oxygen in the air if they have to.

Trust me. They'll stop at nothing. They're manic-obsessive control freak busybodies who are deeply unhappy with their own lives, causing them to try to impose their disease on the rest of Mankind.

.

[Ummahgummah]

.

You would think that politicians would take a hiatus in funding fly-by-night "solar technology" in the wake of the the Solyndra scandal, but instead there's been a last-minute rush to $pend the rest of the $timulu$ money just ahead of the deadline:

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/07/4-5-in-loans-to-support-three-first-solar-projects

The stench of corruption is intolerable.

WIPE OUT CORRUPTION IN 2012!!

.

[xbjllb]

BREAKING NEWS!!! NOT ONLY LIBYA WAR OVER, IRAQ WAR OVER!!! ALL US TROOPS HOME BY END OF YEAR!!!

Now all Obama has to do is pay the Taliban to grow opium poppies for the CIA, and WE CAN GET THE HELL OUT OF AFGHANINAM TOO!

OBAMA/CLINTON 2012

AIN'T NO STOPPIN' US NOW

[xbjllb]

"LOL. I am sure you've heard of "Global Climate Change" once that warmology thing didn't quite work out." - UG

LOL. No, you lying sack of sh*it. What EVERYONE who was LISTENING heard, was that climate change, including an earth feedback mechanism that could result in the return of Ice Ages both large and small, HAD BEEN A PART OF GLOBAL WARMING FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. It's all over Gore's movie WHICH YOU NEVER WATCHED.

Go suck oil, whore.

And welcome back to the blog. Obama doesn't need you as much, but I'm sure you'll do your endless part to elevate him into the stratosphere.