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
1:28 pm
HDB….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!!
Please tell me if you think it is a companies responsiblity to “hire people”?
redneckbluedog
October 27th, 2011
1:28 pm
I am just a Southern Christian veteran who is tired of all of the hypocrisy and the anti-American behavior of those who want to harm our President by harming our country……trying to default America, shipping jobs overseas, and taking away our teachers’ and firefighters’ rights to organize…..to what end..!?!?! So they can finish the destruction of the American economy by shifting even more wealth to the wealthiest 1%……it’s already 40%……
I am also tired of the so-called “social conservatives” who set bad examples like Mark Sanford, Larry Craig, and Jeremy Foley…..The President and his family and the vice-President and his family and Speaker Pelosi and her family are all welcome brethren to my faith……
Of course, if you disagree, maybe you and Rich Parry can meet at the N-head ranch and have a beer….
booger
October 27th, 2011
1:28 pm
Obama is comfortable campaigning. He is not comfortable governing. This is due to his background as a community activist. Their job is to be a proponent of change, not to manage it.
Nancy Pelosi
October 27th, 2011
1:29 pm
Communism rocks
October 27th, 2011
1:23 pm
Come on now….love, peace, tolerance, my fellow nutjob.
redneckbluedog
October 27th, 2011
1:29 pm
Mark Foley…not Jeremy Foley
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:30 pm
Redneck…..trying to default America, shipping jobs overseas, and taking away our teachers’ and firefighters’ rights to organize…
I agree we should bring our jobs back HOME! And teachers, firefighters and anyone else can organize all they want. However if it is a Union (mafia style) thug organization, there is no need for it.
Rise, you brave Monions!!
October 27th, 2011
1:33 pm
Barry Burnout: Guess what never happened on our President Bush’s watch? 9% unemployment, $1.5 trillion deficits, and record numbers on welfare.
I love it. He conveniently zips right by the question of the depression that was about to be served up under Georgie’s watch.
An economy near total collapse, careening towards disaster in 2008: that’s what Georgie gave us.
And when they peered over the abyss, what did they do? Did they fall back on their much touted “free market” principles. He.
They dumped them like a bad habit when push came to hove. That’s why we got what any astute student of 20th C economic history could have told you we would get:
government bailout.
Why? Cause the “free market” couldn’t cut it in the end.
It failed.
Keep whining, suckers, keep on denying. You’re backed in a corner and all you can do is practice evasion and misdirection to distract from your bankrupt ideology.
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:35 pm
Rise…Bush did something that Obama will NEVER do…..He was a two term president!
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:36 pm
Rise <—–communist!
HDB
October 27th, 2011
1:37 pm
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:28 pm
Corporaations mut answer to their stockholders….and their first credo is to maximize profit! I DO understand that…and have no issue with that! I also think that corporations DO have civic responsibilities to the communities they serve! I look at Southwest Airlines as the best example of Corporate America; they have lost money only ONCE in over 30 years (profitable)…..management has a good relationship with labor (unionized)….and they believe in their civic responsibility! They continued to HIRE during the last downturn…and they have a NO LAYOFF corporate policy!!
If Southwest can do it…why can’t ALL of Corporate America??
Also note Japanese business practices; they focus on 2-5 year business plans rather than focusing on quarter-by-quarter…..and have extreme LOYALTY amongst their employees……
Something is wrong with the American business paradigm….and it needs to be re-examined for what it is…….IMHO…..
Rise, you brave Monions!!
October 27th, 2011
1:38 pm
UGA 1999 <———– free market dead-ender!
redneckbluedog
October 27th, 2011
1:39 pm
Dead or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistant…..Over 33,000……Something else President Bush and Vice-President Cheney did that President Obama hasn’t……
Something President Obama has done that President Bush and Vice-President Cheney didn’t..? KILL OSAMA BIN LADEN, MOMMAR GHADDAFI, AND ANWAR AL-AWLAKI…..
GT
October 27th, 2011
1:41 pm
You don’t like it don’t vote for him. He’s going to get elected anyway. Maybe you need to spend a little time with your own agenda and candidates. O is the only candidate that has been elected by a majority in decades, and he will do it again mainly because the Republican Party can’t field a real candidate. How long are you going to live like this?
Truth is...
October 27th, 2011
1:43 pm
“..How long are you going to live like this?…”
Easy, until November 2012, and Obama’s defeated.
GT
October 27th, 2011
1:45 pm
And who is going to beat him?
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:45 pm
HDB….I also think that corporations DO have civic responsibilities to the communities they serve! I look at Southwest Airlines as the best example of Corporate America; they have lost money only ONCE in over 30 years (profitable)…..management has a good relationship with labor (unionized)….and they believe in their civic responsibility! They continued to HIRE during the last downturn…and they have a NO LAYOFF corporate policy!!
If Southwest can do it…why can’t ALL of Corporate America??
I agree businesses SHOULD have a need to serve their community, however it is not a “responsiblity”. There is no economic policy or standard that says “businesses should hire people even if the company does not need new employees” that is assinine.
Southwest is know for treating both their employees and customers very well. Union or not they do a great job of maintaining business. However would you like me to list all of the companies that have failed that ARE unionized or that are suffering because the Union is involved. Brother my dad was a union employee for nearly 36 years. It wasnt till after he retired that he admitted that the Union is only out there to collect their dues. They will protect the weak at the expense of the good worker and the company.
@@
October 27th, 2011
1:46 pm
Rocks for a brain:
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…
Hit ‘ya where it hurt, did it? Been gettin’ what you don’t deserve?
I’ve never collected unemployment. On the recent occasion where I found myself without work, it was voluntary on my part. It was me or somebody else. I could afford to go without. I’m thinkin’ that probably bothers you, doesn’t it?
Whatever ROCKS your “brain”….
Truth is...
October 27th, 2011
1:49 pm
“…And who is going to beat him?…”
Just too easy…any “generic” Republican.
@@
October 27th, 2011
1:53 pm
Rocks:
Since you appear interested in how I’ve spent my day…I’ve been coming up with methods whereby I can address preseveration in one of my students. It’s a challenge for sure, but one I love to engage.
If only I could apply my techniques to YOU and those like YOU.
HDB
October 27th, 2011
1:56 pm
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:45 pm
Having worked in both union and non-union environments, I can say that there are circumstances that being unionized was beneficial to both the company and the employer…..and in others, detrimental!
The primary reason for unions, however, is to PROTECT the worker from managerial largesse!! Not all work environments hace standardized work rules; not all work environments protect their workers; not all work environments — particularly in right-to-work states – have grievance pathways in employment disputes!!
For those companies that have problems, don’t you see that the ADVERSARIAL relationship that management creates with labor is part of the problem?? It needs to be more of a COOPERATIVE relationship!!
AS I said, American business paradigms need a collosal SHIFT!!
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:59 pm
HDB….yes employment needs to be a cooperative relationship however in most cases unions are not cooperative, they are bullies and thugs that use stone age ideaology to get their ways. Georgia is a right to work state. If you dont like the job, conditions or pay…you may want to start looking for another job, no one is making you work there. Also in Georgia if you are a slack employee the company should always have the right to let you go.
Now in most cases HR departments are able to make fair decisions based on the employee and the company. If they do not there is alwasys something called “a court of law”.
Billy Bane
October 27th, 2011
2:05 pm
“And who is going to beat him?”
Anyone with a pulse.
GT
October 27th, 2011
2:09 pm
Man how can you Republicans be so much against legalizing drugs with you stay on them all the time? McCain die today?
tscali
October 27th, 2011
2:09 pm
Would you want to work for a company that treats all workers exactly the same, no matter how hard they work? What about one that promotes only on the basis of seniority and not merit?
Few Americans want a job with an employer who ignores their individual efforts. Yet that’s what labor unions offer employees today. Small wonder membership is steadily declining.
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
2:12 pm
GT….McCain die today? Did your mommy and daddy not teach you about class? Or do you now know who your daddy is? Poor soul!
@@
October 27th, 2011
2:18 pm
Gingrich fires back at Meghan McCain
And he does it with diplomacy.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
October 27th, 2011
2:19 pm
Not rich enough to be in the 1%, not ignorant enough to be in the so-called 99%. I’m a man without a percent.
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
2:27 pm
Jumping over to the new wingfield blog.
Truth is...
October 27th, 2011
2:34 pm
@GT
“..McCain die today?”
Thank God he didn’t ride with Ted Kennedy.
GT
October 27th, 2011
2:51 pm
Well did he? Got to admit get a little tongued myself, move over Perry, and just call me Governor.
Gm
October 27th, 2011
2:59 pm
Thanks Obama for issuing executive order to help our vets, students, home owners.
We know what party that does not care about middle class America, Kyle what bills have the rep party passed to help the America people?
GT
October 27th, 2011
3:01 pm
Gm it is their hope their is only two classes, a little like the old south. Having a black president just energized them.
HDB
October 27th, 2011
3:05 pm
UGA 1999
October 27th, 2011
1:59 pm
“HDB….yes employment needs to be a cooperative relationship however in most cases MANAGEMENT is not cooperative, they are bullies and thugs that use stone age ideaology to get their ways.” Fixed that statement!! It does go both ways!
“Georgia is a right to work state. If you dont like the job, conditions or pay…you may want to start looking for another job, no one is making you work there. Also in Georgia if you are a slack employee the company should always have the right to let you go.” Conditions MAKE someone work where he/she works…..based on this economic climate!! MONEY makes one work where he does! I know MANY people who hate where they work…but can’t afford to leave!!
“Now in most cases HR departments are able to make fair decisions based on the employee and the company. If they do not there is alwasys something called “a court of law”.” The preponderance of HR Departments will find FOR the company and against the employee….history has proven that to be a fact! If a case is taken to court, the employee has the burden of proof….guilty and must PROVE his innocence rather than the counter!! An independent arbiter — not paid for by the corporation – would be the best solution in this case. THAT’S why unions are needed….to minimize managerial largesse!!!
ITS ALL DEALS FAULT
October 27th, 2011
3:08 pm
Latest figures show Georgia is one of only seven states to lose jobs in 2011 and ranks 49th out of 50 states in job creation since [Gov. Nathan] Deal took office.
Gm
October 27th, 2011
3:27 pm
Good old hillbillies in Georgia run out year after year and vote these no job creating rep, in office, Johnny Isakson voted against the job bill, makng sure 33,000 jobs will not come to Georgia, but the idiots especially in south Georgia
run to the poll proudly.
What a bunch of Gomers in this state””
Truth is...
October 27th, 2011
4:16 pm
“What a bunch of Gomers in this state”
Delta is ready.
Truth is...
October 27th, 2011
4:29 pm
@gm
“Hillbillies…idiots…gomers…” When you aren’t smart enough to present facts, call names. Yep, be the good Liberal.
TruthBe
October 27th, 2011
4:34 pm
redneckbluedog
October 27th, 2011
1:39 pm
“Dead or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistant…..Over 33,000……Something else President Bush and Vice-President Cheney did that President Obama hasn’t……”
Where did you get these BS numbers???
TruthBe
October 27th, 2011
4:36 pm
Gm, Stop drinking the obamajuice. Obama and his socialist policies have failed and nobody believes him anymore.
Cris
October 27th, 2011
4:42 pm
Corporations create jobs based on needs. The fact is that automation and free trade have lead to a reduction in that need in the US. Why pay a union employee $20 an hour when you can get the same car made in Mexico and shipped into the US with no penalty (Thank You Bill Clinton – Signed NAFTA agreement in December 1993). Why pay $100K for an IT associate in the US when you can pay $7 an hour for someone with an MBA in India – just ask Jeffrey Immult (Obama’s Jobs Advisor who moved around 7% of GE’s total jobs offshore in a four year period). He knows how to create jobs in India!!! Did you know that most CEOs are registered Democrats? They like when you raise the tax rates because they pay around 0% due to tax loopholes. The only people who pay the top tax bracket are small business owners making over $250K which don’t have the resources to hire a floor of accountants to locate every tax break.
Bullet County
October 27th, 2011
8:31 pm
Kyle, are you still waiting on John Boehner to show us where the jobs are? Take a break from your non-sensical Obama-bashing and give us an opinion on something that matters.
the
October 28th, 2011
12:34 am
Do I have to reveal my proof that Kyle is a former Hitler youth advocate?
Really?
Honest?
the
October 28th, 2011
12:37 am
Kyle is supposed to be the replacement to the total racist dog named Jim Wooten who only exists to lament the fall of Slavery.
Kyle goes well beyond that. He not only laments, but he contrives new justifications for the Slavery that induced our ancestors into slaughtering one another over the rights of mankind.
Kyle is the enemy to all of us. How he has a job spreading hate is inexplicable unless you realize that this is the deep south, where the consequences of the civil war are still ignored.
the
October 28th, 2011
12:40 am
The most appaling part is that Kyle thinks that the reader doesn’t realize that he’s a throwback to the Jim Crow editorial monopoly of hate that existed until recently. It still lives, but only in the voice of haters like Kyle Wingfielf.
Fact.
jack.
know it. Live it. Believe it.
And vote against it.