What If The Economy Doesn't Improve By 2012?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

What if our economic problems are unsolvable?

This is not a "what if the sky falls" thread but a real possibility based on these forecasts:


http://web.rollins.edu/~wseyfried/forecast.htm

These forecasts are based on a variety of sources, most of whom don't have a ideological axe to grind.

[spin]

1. Obviously it would be difficult for Obama to win reelection ...

and the Republicans would probably control the Senate and the House.

But that's a long way off. I would imagine the economy will be well on ts way to full recovery by that time.

[opihimoimoi]

2. What would happen if it IMPROVES??? The GOP would be BURIED

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. I Agree One Hundred Percent

I don't think either party has a clue how to fix the economy. I also don't think there is a set of economic policies, regardless of the ideology of who presents them, that would fix our economic mess.

Even if you look at all the forecasts I posted they all suggest the economy will "suck" for the foreseeable future. It's hard to believe they will all be wrong.

I care and worry about the Democratic party and President Obama but I worry about my friends, family, and fellow Americans more. But like the late Joe Kennedy told his kids " the rich will always be able to take care of themselves, it's the poor who need help."

This economy is scary.

[opihimoimoi]

24. The Selfish MEism that is almost REQUIRED to be a GOPer is the Main Reason for this Madness

in our current Society..

Their absolute commitment to Dominating/exploiting is so revealing despite their attempts to lipstick perfume their PIG

Its still a PIG...but the Exloited/dominated are trapped by the GOP STOCKHOLM SYNDROME.....they think the PIG smells sweet....

The Nation is slowly waking up from the GOP Nightmare.

Beware the DEM LANDSLIDE

The GOP is COWERING IN FEAR

[Junkdrawer]

3. Since rebuilding our infrastructure and our manufacturing capacity is out of the question.....

let's all clap our hands and repeat "We do believe"..."We do believe"...

[TheKentuckian]

4. The problems are solvable but not with the tools and methods in use.

[area51]

23. +1

It would require the politicians start working for the people who elected them instead of the corporations.

[RKP5637]

5. I read recently that if one looks at "real" unemployment/underemployment the rate is

around 18.5% if the metrics were used from the early 80's. There are a lot of sh** jobs, people overqualified, but the metrics used count them as happily employed. I also know a lot of people with MBA's, for example, unemployed and/or working for pennies on the dollar.

There is a lot swept under the rug IMO. The "real" figures are masked. I don't have the link now to the 18.5%, but will post if I can find it again. There is a major topology shift going on in what constitutes effective job creation... the 21st century well might be far different... but no politician is going to talk about that.

The real wealth of the country will do just fine, but the masses will suffer. I don't think it's too far-fetched to think there will not be a great economy by 2012.

It's hard to think of supply if demand is not first. And unemployment/underemployment certainly won't create domestic demand.

[mike r]

6. Two years is a long, long time in politics

Things will have improved by then, HOPEFULLY.

[marmar]

7. It won't.....Quod erat demonstrandum

nt

[RKP5637]

8. Yeah, that's my feeling too... n/t

[elocs]

9. If the economy doesn't improve, Obama is toast. Fortunately there is time to turn the corner,

but it had better be a damn good turn toward the better.

[Le Taz Hot]

11. From everything I've read

IF everything goes REALLY well, the economy MIGHT recover in about 10 years -- minus most of the middle class that existed before. Unless Obama or the Republicans develop programs that are benefit the populace instead of the corporations, I think BOTH parties will be in for a surprise in 2012. Maybe not in the presidential election but certainly those races downstream.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. I Don't Have Ten Years

~

[Le Taz Hot]

14. I'm 55

with no health insurance. You think I do? The fact that this all happened just when the leading edge of the Boomers were about to retire is no coincidence.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. 49 With No Health Insurance

I hope help is on the way.

[Le Taz Hot]

18. I'm not foolish enough to believe

anyone is going to ride in and save us. Tough times are when people show what they're made of. I look around and see my fellow Boomers, who have worked their entire adult lives, now losing their jobs, homes, health insurance, etc. Those who have never faced hard times are in despair. Those of us who have overcome mountains of hard times in the past are starting fledgling businesses on a shoestring. I figure you can sit around and wring your hands or get pro-active and look for alternatives to the traditional lifestyles.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. It's An Iroclad Law Of Politics In American Politics With Its Winner Take All Elections

Or almost an ironclad law of politics that third parties hurt the party closest to it in ideology and help the party furthest from it.

[Le Taz Hot]

16. Neither major political party represent the populace any longer.

The Republicans never did and the Democrats started the process of cozying up to the corps in 1992 (See Rahm Emmanuel) in order to keep up with record fundraising by the Republicans. Guess who got written off? Neither party is anywhere close, ideologically, to most Americans. If the Parties Of, For and By the Corporations are hurt by people voting 3rd party, then so be it.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. I Don't Blame Either Party

It is what it is.

Nothing would make me happier if the Teabaggers ran strong third party candidates in evety race because it would mean the Republicant vote was diluted, giving the Democrats a better chance.

It also would would mean a Republicant would be happy if progressives ran strong third party candidates in every race because it would mean less votes for the Democrats.

[TBF]

35. "It is what it is" has got to be the dumbest phrase invented.

All it does is excuse bad behavior (think about when it is used).

[TBF]

34. Yes I suppose they figure they can kill off enough baby boomers in

ten years (especially if there are no jobs or health insurance).

[Le Taz Hot]

36. And once again they underestimate us.

I think they've forgotten which generation they're playing with. We're not even close to being done yet.

[TBF]

37. I hope so -

My mom is at the forefront of the generation - she is 67 this year and fighting mad. The woman is blue-collar, waitress & factory jobs, and retired at 62. Sort of. She gets about $600/month after her Medicare deduct, and she works part-time at McDonalds to supplement that income. She was fortunate enough to inherit some land, and has quite a bit of equity in a duplex, which she lives in & rents the other apartment to my sister. They are scraping by but they manage.

Now when she falls into the "doughnut hole" my brother and I each send a check to cover the deductible so her secondary insurance kicks in(we have good jobs). I can only imagine what would happen if she lost social security entirely - after paying in all her life. Then we would be sharing the cost of supporting her, while raising our own families.

[madokie]

17. The reason that our economy is not recovering right now

or that we're even still thinking of recovering is because of the fact that the very people who control our economy is the ones who have to share with us some of their ill gotten gains by bringing our jobs back to America and paying a better wage of which they don't want to do. Some how or the other the who that controls everything today is the baron robbers not the common man anymore. They have gobs of money and are still making gobs more even though we average person is not so they can ride President Obama out and that is exactly what they're plan is to do. Using the likes of fox news to help them along in propagandizing their strategy.

[girl gone mad]

19. Our economic problems are solvable.

The solution simply requires good leadership.

Lately I'm feeling a bit more hopeless about the odds of us getting good leadership in time to prevent significant further erosion of our standard of living.

[OhioChick]

31. You're absolutely right n/t

[KG]

20. the tone-deaf obama admin made a serious strategic mistake by not making jobs it first priority

instead it pissed away the post-electoral momentum on useless health insurance 'reform'. it could cost them in 2012.

[Gecko6400]

22. I agree. President Obama

did recognize the problem but chose to throw money at it without providing a framework, such as a modern day WPA/CCC or the necessary leadership. I wonder if he had the stimulus and TARP monies again if he would do the same things? Probably not.

[OmahaBlueDog]

27. I've said this before -- Getting the "60th vote" with the Specter defection was a curse

With the house majority, and 60 votes, the Administration saw a once-in-a-generation chance to acheive the "Holy Grail" of getting HCR passed. It doesn't kick in until 2013. By then, it will most likely be repealed.

[OmahaBlueDog]

25. No economic problem is unsolvable

Even countries that have their currency or economy collapse go on -- look at Argentina earlier this decade.

However, in a political sense, the rhetoric will get more extreme on both sides, and we are already seeing the emergence of what may become a multi-party system.

[Cleita]

26. It won't unless our Democrats start using

Keynesian economic policies, like FDR did, and stop listing to the Milton Friedman economists, whose economic policies have failed everywhere they have been tried including here in the USA during the Bush administration. Hell, even Greenspan, a big proponent of those theories, has admitted he was wrong.

[kentuck]

28. Why would you think they would??

You think taxcuts are going to create jobs?

[DailyGrind51]

29. Hello, candidate Clinton!

[kentuck]

30. I do not think the Clintons are the answer to this problem...

We need bigger thinkers than that.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. I Agree And Disagree

I said to my girlfriend that it was a good thing HRC lost because if she would have won the economy would still suck and the Clinton brand would be tarnished. Historians rate Bill among or near the top third tier of presidents. That's not great but it's good. As time goes by , more and more folks will remember the 90s as a golden age of relative peace and relative prosperity. That's why we had the luxury of having a national soap opera like Monicagate.

Back to my main point. The economy would still suck regardless of who was elected in 08 be it HRC, BHO, McInsane, or Romney. I don't see a set of policies, regardless of the ideology of who presents them, that can rescue us. Slow growth, high unemployment, and sluggish wage growth will become a staple of American life.

[sendero]

33. You can pretty much...

.. count on things not being appreciably better in 2012. Our president is clueless about things economic, or he is completely in the pockets of moneyed interests.

It really doesn't matter which one it is, it is already too late or damn close to it to fix anything.

[Javaman]

38. it's like this...

if it doesn't improve by then, then we are all fucked, because a repuke will get in and dismantle what has been done so far.

See, we live in a new age of stupidity, where no one plans long term and those who do are looked upon as "dreamers and inefficient".

While the knee jerkers who create their own fires by putting them out with fire will burn what we have left to the ground.

as I have been saying all along, as much as I hate saying it, the economy has to completely flat line under republican "leadership" in order for them to be sent to the political wilderness semi-permanently.

we thought this happened back in 2008, but since Obama is so high on wanting to "work across the isle" and "have more bi-partisanship", they were quickly rescued by the usual helping hand of Democratic naivete'.

So, rather than getting the "bi-partisanship" he wanted so badly, Obama effectively re-floated a sinking ship.

Since the repubs are bereft of any new ideas or concepts, they instead go after reactionary policy instead of fixing things.

Which means in essence, when they get in (either in 2016 or 2016) we as a nation are completely fucked for the long term.

george w. moron* was only the warm up.

[COLGATE4]

39. K&R X1000. You hit the nail on the head!