Obama’s small-change 2012 campaign tour
Barack Obama was back on the road this week. The tour bus was gone, but otherwise there was barely a hint he was doing anything other than taking another taxpayer-funded campaign swing through the states that will be key to the 2012 election.
You can tell it by his choice of destinations. Since Sept. 1, Obama has visited five of the six states where his 2008 margin of victory was narrowest: North Carolina (twice), Florida, Ohio (twice), Virginia (twice) and Colorado (twice). Add to that list Missouri, the site of his closest loss to John McCain, and potential battleground states Nevada, Michigan (twice), New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
But mostly you can tell it by his messaging. On this week’s trip out west, Obama broke out his latest three-word slogan: “We can’t wait” — for members of Congress to take the initiative. But, as Politifact recently reported, members of Congress have introduced dozens of bills related to jobs and the economy this year. It’s more like “He can’t wait” — for his re-election prospects to brighten.
(In neither case, one assumes, does the White House consider “Yes, we can!” an appropriate response.)
Politics aside, the substance of the “We can’t wait” campaign is what’s disturbing. And that’s not only because the president is seeking to bypass the legislative process via executive orders to change existing policies originally approved by Congress. It’s also because Obama’s two latest programs repeat the mistake of spending billions to tweak the economy around the edges.
In Nevada, home of the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, Obama announced changes to a program to help homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Obama wants to allow these homeowners to refinance their mortgages at today’s low rates, regardless of the value of their homes. The idea is that they will have lower monthly payments, and they will direct the savings elsewhere in the economy.
It’s stimulus by another name, with the same problems. First, it assumes all of the monthly difference will be spent, not saved. History suggests that won’t happen.
Second, one man’s liability is another man’s asset: the lender’s. So, the plan assumes the money added to the economy by homeowners won’t simply be subtracted from the economy by lenders.
At least, it would make that second assumption if private lenders were involved. The chief lender here is the taxpayer, via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: A loan must be held or backed by them to qualify. Any banks that hold affected mortgage notes may be inclined to reduce their lending. Otherwise, it’s added to Uncle Sam’s tab.
But fear not: The program is limited to homeowners who are current on their payments. While this requirement reduces taxpayers’ exposure, it also restricts the number of people who could apply — to as few as 800,000, for a total difference of $2.4 billion per year, according to an estimate by financial expert Peter J. Wallison.
So, it’s another couple of billion bucks piled onto the debt, without adding much bang to the economy.
The other change sought by Obama concerns student loans. The total school-related debt for U.S. college students and graduates is about to eclipse $1 trillion, or more than Americans owe on our credit cards. In Colorado Wednesday, Obama said he would reduce the minimum payments borrowers must make on their federal student loans, to 10 percent of annual earnings from 15 percent.
Again, this may make a difference for some people struggling to make ends meet. But it will cost them more, for longer, without significantly boosting the economy. And it won’t address the real reason student debt has grown so large: skyrocketing tuition and fees.
I have to hand it to Obama, however. Homeowners who have kept up their mortgage payments strike me as the kind of people likely to vote. And Obama’s re-election chances depend in no small part on keeping young people on his side.
But what would really help them, and the rest of us, is an economy that’s growing and producing more jobs and higher incomes. Obama’s latest electioneering won’t stimulate that.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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294 comments Add your comment
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:28 pm
NICE!!
FUTURE OBAMA VOTER!!
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/gwinnett-man-who-allegedly-1210803.html
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
October 27th, 2011
12:29 pm
“By 2008 an economy facing worldwide collapse and depression”
———-
Guess what never happened on our President Bush’s watch? 9% unemployment, $1.5 trillion deficits, and record numbers on welfare.
Maybe it’s time for another tax cut!
MarkV
October 27th, 2011
12:29 pm
UGA 1999 @12:22 pm: “MARKV….and since Obama has been in office the economy has been in a steady free fall…..your point?”
And what exactly do you call free fall? If a small, positive growth rate is “free fall” by your definition, what was it that Obama inherited?
getalife
October 27th, 2011
12:29 pm
What has the gop done to recover the 15 million jobs they lost in the w collapse?
They tried to steal more jobs.
And you cons will reward them with your votes.
What in the world is wrong with you?
Do you have a mental disorder called conservatism?
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:30 pm
Celebrities we lost recently…
STEVE JOBS
JOHNNY CASH
BOB HOPE
Hmmmm…..”No Jobs….No Hope….No Cash” Sounds like Obamas campaign plan for 2012.
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:31 pm
MarkV…one quarter of growth does not erase two years of decline!
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:32 pm
MarkV….question for ya. If you were hired to be a CEO of a large corporation and your first words were that you promised to grow that company “2.5%” over two years…what do you think would happen?
JDW
October 27th, 2011
12:32 pm
@Barry…”Guess what never happened on our President Bush’s watch? 9% unemployment, $1.5 trillion deficits, and record numbers on welfare.”
Nope he was kind enough to just cause the problems and slink back to Texas.
The Great and Powerful Community Organizer
October 27th, 2011
12:33 pm
NOTHING is my fault. I am The Great and Powerful Community Organizer. Nothing. Ever.
getalife
October 27th, 2011
12:34 pm
Why is our President acting alone without corrupt congress to help Americans?
Do we really need a gop that fights for the 1 % only?
Why in the world would any American support the gop if they are not in the 1 %
Are they 1 % tools and the 1 % LAUGH AT THEM?
MarkV
October 27th, 2011
12:36 pm
Kyle, UGA 1999 and others with the same view of the stimulus are like someone, who would have heard that a new medicine for cancer caused the tumor to shrink, and they would say: “It did not work, the tumor has not disappeared.”
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:37 pm
NICE
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a0c_1319726429
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:37 pm
Oh look, Mark is running to the teach from getting his butt whipped on the playground! haha
getalife
October 27th, 2011
12:38 pm
Do the 1 % need your help?
Do they need any help?
Do they buy pols to make even more billions just for kicks and giggles?
Why do you cons bow down for people that need no help from anybody?
It does not pass the sanity test.
Wake up cons.
MarkV
October 27th, 2011
12:38 pm
UGA 1999 @ 12:31 pm: “MarkV…one quarter of growth does not erase two years of decline!”
One quarter? At least get yourself informed, this is embarrassing.
Saba
October 27th, 2011
12:38 pm
Obama is clueless!
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:40 pm
Mark….I am very informed….to bad you are blind and misguided.
Imma Lib
October 27th, 2011
12:40 pm
Obama has done a great job! Why, the other day, I was riding my unicorn, and came upon a mermaid, and she listed all of Obama’s accomplishments.
MarkV
October 27th, 2011
12:40 pm
UGA 1999 @ : “MarkV….question for ya. If you were hired to be a CEO of a large corporation and your first words were that you promised to grow that company “2.5%” over two years…what do you think would happen?”
UGA, are you trying to embarrass yourself even more?
getalife
October 27th, 2011
12:41 pm
Dow at 12,000.
2.5 % economic growth.
Horrible news for the gop obstructionists.
What will they run on now?
The gop got nothing and you cons know it.
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:42 pm
Do you guys think this guy voted for McCain? haha
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=979_1319724040
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:43 pm
Mark…you are doing a good job of not answering the questions.
MarkV
October 27th, 2011
12:44 pm
UGA 1999 @12:40 pm: “MarkV…. I am very informed….to bad you are blind and misguided.”
UGA, if you are so very informed than explain why you wrote that there was one quarter of positive growth. There have been nine consecutive quarters of positive growth rate.
gotnolife
October 27th, 2011
12:44 pm
Yep, 401K’s are just doing soooo well. NOT.
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:46 pm
Mark….Here you go Genius!
According to the latest report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.8% in the first quarter of 2011. But by now most of us understand that this is merely calculated by measuring an increase of roughly 0.45 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011, and then multiplying the result by four (.045 * 4 = 1.8). That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t necessarily tell us the truth. What most of us really want to know is the annual rate of GDP growth since Obama’s policies were implemented, and how that compares to the previous administration. To arrive at the answer, one must first measure the annual rate of GDP growth from the time Obama took ownership of the economy, and then compare this to the previous rate. In terms of real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) per capita (i.e. population-adjusted) GDP, the U.S. economy has declined at an annual rate of -0.29% since 2008, as compared to an annual growth rate of 1.15% during the eight-years prior. That’s a decline of 396.5% for the mathematically inclined.
HDB
October 27th, 2011
12:46 pm
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
11:29 am
Question: Productivity is the highest it’s been…but demand is down because of employers’ not hiring! Government is placing regulations to correct the largesses of business! What needs to be done to break the cycle of circular logic here??
Chateau
October 27th, 2011
12:48 pm
“You can tell it by his choice of destinations.”
Not a new strategy. The Imbecile Bush liked photo op appearances with captive audiences like police and military, where anyone who didn’t cheer for him risked being fired. It’s a sure sign a president’s done when he starts avoiding gatherings where someone might not applaud.
@@
October 27th, 2011
12:48 pm
@@@…just as I though, [sic] HORSE HOOEY. If you dress up gutting regulatory oversight, environmental protections, trashing free trade and “overturning Obama” and try to call it job creation it still doesn’t fly.
And your fly’s open, Dingleberry.
Anyhoo…your assignment was to search for the details you so desperately needed.
You can’t just look at a bill’s label and declare that’s all that’s covered within. Shute! It was your very own Nancy, who said, during the healthcare debate, “We have to pass the bill so that you (the taxpayer) can find out what is in it.”
“CLASS” act your Nancy.
In my opinion, bills are far more complicated than they need be.
Now GET TO WORK before I have to label you lazy.
schnirt
Billy Bane
October 27th, 2011
12:48 pm
getalife is a liar and a thief.
@@
October 27th, 2011
12:49 pm
Oops!
JDW, my 12:48 is addressed to YOU.
MarkV
October 27th, 2011
12:49 pm
UGA 1999 @ 12:43 pm: “Mark…you are doing a good job of not answering the questions.”
I was trying to spare you more embarrassment.
UGA 1999 @12:32 pm “If you were hired to be a CEO of a large corporation and your first words were that you promised to grow that company “2.5%” over two years…what do you think would happen?”
If that company were on the verge of bankruptcy, I bet they would call him a savior.
Billy Bane
October 27th, 2011
12:51 pm
getalife needs to getajob.
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:51 pm
HDB….productivity is the highest it’s been? Prove it? Not in this country.
“Government is placing regulations to correct the largesses of business”….and you do not see a problem with this…dude that is a SCARY slope we are getting on. Ever hear of the Soviet Union?
What needs to be done? Ok, here is what I would recommend. We need to start making initiatives to bring jobs back home. Place heavy taxes on any goods that are imported into this country for either a foreign or domestic company. REPEAL OBAMACARE. I am all for healthcare reform but this is NOT what we need right now. Give companies taxes incentives for hiring and creating new jobs. Start a “Buy American” campaign.
It is funny to me that all of these OWS demonstrators are protesting American business but them demanding more jobs and higher pay. Can you say Oxymoron?
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:52 pm
MarkV…not if inflation was rising faster than 2.5% over two years and he was spending the companies money faster than they could bring it in. WOW did you not ever take economics? Not even in high school?
Don't Tread
October 27th, 2011
12:53 pm
Isn’t that Getalife in the video, nicely hogtied at the end? Colossal Fail.
MarkV
October 27th, 2011
12:54 pm
UGA 1999 @12:46 pm
You have to be kidding. Suddenly you switched from quarter to annual, and then made all kinds of unwarranted nad laughable assumptions about how the growth rate should be calculated. The fact of nine quarters of GDP growth rate remains.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:54 pm
Do me a favor….next time you are on the road look out your left and right side windows. Ever notice that you hardly ever see an Asian person driving a Chevrolet, Ford or Dodge product? Do you ever wonder why that is?
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:54 pm
Mark….I posted facts…how long did you have to use Google before you found some lies?
Nancy Pelosi
October 27th, 2011
12:55 pm
Watch–as I levitate my face!
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:56 pm
Mark…humor me. What happens when a countries debt exceeds the GDP?
MarkV
October 27th, 2011
1:03 pm
UGA 1999 @12:52 pm
MarkV…not if inflation was rising faster than 2.5% over two years and he was spending the companies money faster than they could bring it in. WOW did you not ever take economics? Not even in high school?”
Ok, smart guy. I have done with you, when you start making personal attacks. You have shown well enough that you are willing to make ridiculous arguments and false statements about the growth rate. The inflation rate has been –0.34% in 2009 and 1.64% in 2010. So where did you get the 2.5%? And your argument that the CEO’s promise to save a bankrupt company by “only” 2.5% growth rate would be not acceptable is laughable.
http://inflationdata.com/inflation/inflation_rate/CurrentInflation.asp
Out now.
HDB
October 27th, 2011
1:13 pm
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
12:51 pm
If I may…..
1) Productivity is the highest it has been. Look how Corporate America is profitting in this tight market. Workers must be doing something right!!
2) “Government is placing regulations to correct the largesses of business”….and you do not see a problem with this…” The problem is that business will not police itself….and is short-term oriented. I don’t have a problem with regulations as long as the regulations protect BOTH business and consuner. Consumer protection does not mean that business has to sacrifice. That’s the problem…the zero-sum game!! Think of the Gulf oil spill; if the US had implemented the Danish regulations as pertaining to deep-water drilling, the spill would not have likely happened…but the oil companies infiltrated the government, deregulated the market…and screwed the pooch on the oil spill!!
3) We don’t need to REPEAL the health care reforms…but we DO need to tweak it! Keep the rules for pre-existing consitions, staying on parents’ policies……sometimes, to get what’s NEEDED, you have to start on such a massive scale as to make the change start rather than lip service to it! NOte that the push to univeral health care in the US was a REPUBLICAN idea (Theodore Roosevelt)…but nothing has been done until now…..We have to start somewhere!!
3) Incentives? No problem! We agree on that……how about a cut in business taxes to 15% AS LONG AS jobs and factories are HERE!! The problem is that the manufacturing sector has been offshored…and THAT has caused the decline in the economy! Now INFORMATION is being offshored…and a further erosion of the economy will take place unless something motivated business to stay here!!
4) The demonstrations are because Corporate America is hoarding money rather than hiring people…so that they (both the people AND the corporation) can make MORE money! Business myopia is really hurting the country right now!!
mike
October 27th, 2011
1:13 pm
You repubs and conservatives appear to be foaming at the mouth when talking about President Obama. I suppose he is on your minds 24/7. It sure must be miserable life you people live each and every day. That is really sad.
@@
October 27th, 2011
1:19 pm
It’ll be interesting to see the comments this generates.
US House passes minor element of Obama jobs plan
Thursday’s vote was a rare example of common ground as the House voted 406 to 16 to eliminate a yet-to-be enacted law that would withhold 3 percent of payments to government contractors.
Passed in 2006, the measure is meant to ensure that firms that do business with the government pay their fair share of taxes.
Business groups say the law, due to take effect in January 2013, unfairly punishes honest contractors and would force them to charge more to make up for the loss of cash flow and would cost more than it would save.
The Democratic-controlled Senate blocked the measure last week, but is expected to take it up again and pass it next week. The White House has said it supports the measure.
However, the two sides disagree over how to cover the bill’s $11 billion cost.
By a largely party-line vote of 262 to 157, the House passed a separate bill that would save $13 billion by tightening eligibility for Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor and reduce subsidies in Obama’s landmark health-care overhaul.
Communism rocks
October 27th, 2011
1:23 pm
Kyle – you are seriously one of the dumbest, most ignorant, utterly partisan hacks I’ve yet come across. It is truly astonishing that a supposedly respectable publication sees fit to pay you to scribble your neanderthal like thoughts. And your allowing idiots like uga1999, Barry bailout and others to repeatedly debase not only rational people who post on these boards but also OUR president is proof positive that you’re an ideologically blinded loon. You are a true pinhead, to borrow a phrase from your seipan.
hatorade drinkers
October 27th, 2011
1:24 pm
Why are you running away from the texas joker not planning to do more debates when he will need more practice to be able to do well in the preseidential debates with Obama, those he can’t ball out of?
The guy is a quitter already? what have we done to deserve such a joke of candidates from which to pick?
Communism rocks
October 27th, 2011
1:25 pm
@@ – pretty pathetic you are spending your alleged day off (from standing in the unemployment line?) posting know nothings in response to other know nothings. You’re a fool
hatorade drinkers
October 27th, 2011
1:25 pm
Communism rocks is right about Kyle. I don’t know why ajc employs such dim lights
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:26 pm
HDB….Ok here we go.
1) Productivity is the highest it has been. Look how Corporate America is profitting in this tight market. Workers must be doing something right!!
Actually the workers make up a very small part of this equation. It is the executives (your “top 1%”) that are making the tough decisions that are keeping most of these businesses profitable. It is not productivity, it is smart business decisions from the top.
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
October 27th, 2011
1:27 pm
Sad, really. Kyle writes an article and what do the lonely hearts club libs who troll on here everyday do?
Virtually ignore the article and bring out the usual “Blame Bush” and “What has the GOP proposed arguments.
In short, they’ve continued their “Ignore Reality” tour.