Dr. Gloom Comes To Capitol Hill (and it's not all good)

[scarymary]

There are, apparently, no silver bullets in Washington for economic recovery. But there are plenty of billion-dollar ones.

As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday for two days of hearings on the state of the economy, the Senate voted 70-28 to pass a $15 billion bill designed to spur hiring. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says the bill "has the potential to create and save over a million jobs."

If successful, then, the bill would still leave nearly 14 million people unemployed in the United States, assuming that the nation's 9.7% unemployment rate remains unchanged from January. And to hear Bernanke tell it, the job outlook doesn't appear good.

The Fed chief made it clear Wednesday that the $1.6 billion federal deficit, currently at 10.6% of GDP, is unsustainable, even if lawmakers can clip it to about 4% of GDP later in the decade, as President Obama's recent budget proposes. He says he doesn't expect the U.S. to grow its way out of its deficit hole, at least in the medium term. Marginal tax rates would have to be raised by about 60%, Bernanke acknowledged, if the deficit were to be reduced solely by raising taxes, which Bernanke says is "counterproductive" to growth.

Moreover, Uncle Sam is getting ready to turn off the tap. The Fed has already started unwinding some of its emergency lending programs to banks. The House still has to pass the jobs bill, but following this and a $787 billion stimulus bill last year, it's not clear how much more money Congress can shovel out to bolster the economy. Bernanke says "a sustained recovery will depend on continued growth in private-sector demand for goods and services."

Unfortunately, that's the hard part.

http://blogs.forbes.com/beltway/2010/02/dr-gloom-comes-to-capitol-hill/

Translation: America is and has been living far beyond its means for far too long, and the price tag for that excess is about to come due.

HELLO............IS ANYONE IN DC LISTENING? STOP SPENDING!!!!!! GROW A SPINE YOU BUNCH OF COCKROACHES.

[scarymary]

What............? No comments? I guess nobody is concerned, eh?

[Dr. Madd]

Just got back from work and Yes, I'm upset about it. I've written my congressman over this before. I go to tea parties when I can.

[tvcasualty]

I'm out of breath Mary... Good post.

[Topiary Lady]

I think it's just that none of us here are surprised, Mary. It can't work out any other way. It's obvious that this has been done on purpose. But that too is no surprise, given everything that we knew about Obama from the beginning. Well, not just Obama - a lot of those "cockroaches" as you so apporpriately call them have been behind this. Some for quite some time.

Did anyone here have the opportunity to watch any of the health care 'summit' yesterday? It was on more than one occasion that the liberals (including Obama) indicated that they believed that the American people didn't care how bills were passed - just so long as something - anything was done. the way it was said re-enforced my view that Obama and Co. really do believe that the American people are too damned dumb to know any better. We can look back as some of Michele Obama's speeches as well, and see this sort of view.

So now the question becomes this:
What do we do about this? This november it'll be too late for a lot of things. Health Care / Control bill will be shoved through well before then. And don't think that there will not be other things - there will be. Sure, we will all vote in November. But will everything that has been set into place before then be something like a brick wall already built to lock us in? Maybe.

What do we have left to work with? We've got to get very creative here. We've got to decide just exactly what we - ourselves, are willing to do - or not willing to do. Calling, writing, standing in the streets with signs - the maggots in DC really don't give a crap whether or not we do those things. They have made that clear. So now it's our turn to make some things clear to them. And what do they understand? They understand power and they understand money. Now each of us will have to decide for ourselves just how we can take some of that away from Obama and his minions.

[scarymary]

I'm telling you I can't take this insanity anymore. What is the point of even having Bernanke come before Congress to talk to them about the financial situation of the nation if they do nothing to turn it around? Why waste his time, their time, and the people's time? This government has become tyrannical on every level. We have now reached the point of no return, and to these cockroaches in DC, it is just another day.

[Topiary Lady]

They have no intention of turning this thing around, Mary. You know that. Don't you dare give up though. Your country needs you.

[scarymary]

I understand Hillary Clinton is now very concerned about the level of debt the US is incurring. I even heard someone say she may be setting herself up for another presidential run for 2012. I don't know about that, but it certainly appears she is now taking on one of the issues of the tea party movement.


"I served on the budget committee in the Senate, and I remember as vividly as if it were yesterday when we had a hearing in which Alan Greenspan came and justified increasing spending and cutting taxes, saying that we didn't really need to pay down the debt -- outrageous in my view," she said.

Clinton said that the US debt has hurt "our ability to protect our security, to manage difficult problems and to show the leadership that we deserve.”

"I do not like to be in a position where the United States is a debtor nation to the extent that we are,” America’s top diplomat said.

Greenspan was first appointed as Fed chairman in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and served under four presidents, including Secretary Clinton’s husband. During President Bill Clinton term in office, Greenspan was hailed as the economic genius as the US economy expanded in the latter half of the 1990s.

Secretary Clinton did not specify which hearing she was referring to in her criticism of Greenspan today, but it would have come during President George W. Bush’s time in office.

"It breaks my heart that 10 years ago we had a balanced budget, that we were on the way of paying down the debt of the United States of America," Clinton said.

She urged lawmakers to take steps to lower the deficit, which has soared to new heights in recent years.

"We have to address this deficit and the debt of the United States as a matter of national security not only as a matter of economics," Clinton said.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/hillary-blasts-greenspan-on-debt-says-it-is-a-threat-to-national-security.html

[scarymary]

The financial tumult now unsettling Europe came to Washington on Thursday, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that the federal government is looking into the role U.S. banks may have played in the Greek fiscal crisis.

The Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission are seeking information about whether Goldman Sachs and other U.S. firms helped set up financial transactions over the past decade that effectively hid the amount of debt Greece was taking on. Another potential issue is whether banks and hedge funds, by taking big bets that Greece would default, are creating a self-fulfilling downward spiral for the Mediterranean nation.

"We are looking into a number of questions related to Goldman Sachs and other companies and their derivatives arrangements with Greece," Bernanke said, testifying before the Senate banking committee.

Addressing concerns that financial firms have been engaging in trades to bet on a Greek default, Bernanke said that "using these instruments in a way that intentionally destabilizes a company or a country is counterproductive, and I'm sure the SEC will be looking into that."

It was unusual for Bernanke to comment publicly on the Fed's review of the actions of a bank under its supervision. That information is usually confidential, and it was unclear whether his comments were a slip of the tongue or meant more strategically to show that the Fed is being tough on Goldman and other Wall Street firms.

The Fed is not a law enforcement agency, but it is the primary regulator of the largest U.S. banks, including Goldman Sachs. The New York Fed has examiners on site at large firms such as Goldman, and at this stage those staffers are gathering information on the Greek debt deals.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022502183.html?waporef=obinsite

[submarinepainter]

they are all cockroaches , all 2 faced , all self serving, lets vote all of those jerks out on their asses!!

[Dr. Madd]

they are all cockroaches , all 2 faced , all self serving, lets vote all of those jerks out on their asses!!

At least the ones who collaborated on this. There are good ones like Duncan D. Hunter, Ron paul, etc.

[tvcasualty]

The health care summit was right out of rules for radicals, more 'kicking and screaming until I get my way' revolutionary acts of Obama policy. Disgusting. Not surprising the next thing they will say is, "hey I'm JUST LIKE YOU!"

[scarymary]

What if these financial institutions did play a role in the demise of Greece? Will they be punished severely by the Fed? I think not. This has George Soros written all over it.

[Dr. Madd]

If I had my druthers, George Soros would be tried for Treason and/or deported.