Stress Test Results Claim Few Banks Need More Cash | 26 comments
It starts (4.00 / 1)
with 70 percent approval ratings, which will turn into 51 pretty quickly if and when these stress tests as well as their overall optimism aren't followed by a recovery--that's Chris's point. Greider, btw, makes a similar one.

Barack Obama's wholesome optimism is doubtless sincere, and so was Herbert Hoover's. But in Hoover's day, people did not believe him. They could see for themselves it wasn't true. In time, Americans came to revile Hoover for his repetitious happy talk.

President Obama is now flirting with the same fate. He and his lieutenants, much like the Bush administration before them, are convinced that the nation's crisis can essentially be reversed by restoring "confidence" among investors, producers and buyers. So they talk up every budding blossom as proof. So did Hoover.

Reality is unlikely to cooperate, because the core of this crisis is not psychological. It is about real breakdown and real loss--trillions of dollars lost to the collapsing financial values, thousands of businesses and banks deeply damaged by collapsing balance sheets and markets. Wishing does not necessarily make it so. Talking up the economy prematurely may actually yield an opposite result--deepening cynicism and mistrust, a sense that the authorities do not know what they are talking about or, even worse, are concealing the truth.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/2...

[ Parent | ]
It's a point that's fairly hollow considering that cramdown just failed in the senate (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent | ]
And Obama make the clear (4.00 / 2)
decision to spend capital fighting for it.

The NY Times got it right...

The Obama administration sat by last week as 12 Senate Democrats joined 39 Senate Republicans to block a vote on an amendment that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify troubled mortgages.

Senator Obama campaigned on the provision. And President Obama made its passage part of his antiforeclosure plan. It would have been a very useful prod to get lenders to rework bad loans rather than leaving the modification to a judge.

But when the time came to stand up to the banking lobbies and cajole yes votes from reluctant senators - the White House didn't. When the measure failed, there wasn't even a statement of regret.

He doesn't want to spend his approval ratings on the financial-foreclosure crisis. He might not have enough left when the falls rolls around.

[ Parent | ]
He doesn't fight (4.00 / 1)
He just doesn't. He says nice things, but when it comes time to put up, he shuts up. Where's the pressure to get Johnsen confirmed? Why is the FDA commissioner just now getting a hearing? Why was Sebelius confirmed only a week or so ago? Why is Specter being welcomed with open arms despite offering bupkes? It's not that he hasn't called for some good policies, but when it comes time to actually fight for things that aren't automatic, as SCHIP and Lily Ledbetter were, he does not fight. It's perplexing, infutiating and scary.

What is this man made of, that's not mostly of an intellectual, managerial and charismatic dimension, of which he's clearly a master? What has he fought for, and won?

This is just bizarre.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

[ Parent | ]
Greider is also fairly representative of expert opinion (0.00 / 0)
What Greider is saying a lot of people are saying. See Yves Smith and lots of others on this.

No one believes anything about these "stress tests." Only admin hacks believe any of it.

The IMF says there's another $4 Trillion in write-downs to come globally. Another $400 Billion domestic US, according  to Moody's. CRE is breaking down, yet it hardly figures in the "tests." Housing will keep heading south as long as wages, hours and jobs keep heading south. Unemployment will be high and chronically so, since there's no engine for putting people back to work. This "recovery" will make the last one look positively awesome in comparison.

Obama, in deference to his Wall Street chums, put the proverbial cart before the horse and now we're stuck with it.

Yes, Obama will suffer for it, losing approval ratings eventually. All I can say for Obama's entire economic mentality is it's stupid. Mind numbingly stupid. But then again, that's par for the course with Chicago Machine pols, eh?



"In our country, the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State" -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

[ Parent | ]
you do realize the stress test (0.00 / 0)
claims over $450 billion of losses?  Why does citing $400B losses disprove it?

New Jersey politics at Blue Jersey.
[ Parent | ]
. (0.00 / 0)
And when we step back into reality we realize that Obama's (and importantly Geithner's) approval has increased since the first and second rollouts of their TARP plans and the media is jumping on positive news that's coming out of the economy.

So just when exactly does this doom and gloom shit pan out?

I mean you say housing will keep heading south... but that's not happening currently. You talk about chronic unemployment, but job losses are slowing. There are even signs of credit thawing. All of this may be temporary and dependent on how the rest of the bailout proceeds, but Veruca Salt, "I want it now" shit doesn't change reality.

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Popularity = success? (0.00 / 0)
So I guess that Bush was even more successful on 9/12/01.

And no, in case you're thinking of going there, I'm not saying that Obama = Bush. Not at all. I'm just pointing out how silly your logic is. Lots of presidents have been popular without having done anything to justify it. Reagan was a classic example, but even Clinton in some ways. So why does Obama's popularity translate into success? And what will you say when it goes south--and it will--that he's no longer as successful?

It seems like every progressive blog has to have a designated sunshine blower or two these days. I'm just wondering if they're sincere (if misguided), or if someone's sending them out to do this, Mark Penn manufactured outrage-style.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

[ Parent | ]
Last time I checked, Bush got reelected (0.00 / 0)
But if you want to pat yourself on the back for being right while you get steamrolled, go ahead.

However, politics is about more than being right, it's about actually getting shit done, something that hasn't happened on the left in 30 years.

[ Parent | ]
Electoral success = governing success? (0.00 / 0)
Hmm, then Bush was a HUGE success! Reagan too! And Nixon!

And I'm not exactly sure who's steamrolling me. Such violent imagery! I might have to cry. Are you an unhappy person?

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

[ Parent | ]
. (0.00 / 0)
And to add to that, I just don't engage in making assuming baseless predictions like:

And what will you say when it goes south--and it will--

Yes, Obama will suffer for it, losing approval ratings eventually.

It's no different then when Sirota was saying Obama was going to suffer from the AIG bonus situation. I'm still waiting on that one. Sometimes you have to step back from whatever future you already have hardwired as happening and actually look at the present.

What the present is showing is that the financial industry can be propped up enough to keep the economy from tailspinning. Knowing that, the timetable on how to handle the bailout situation changes. You get the chance to wait a few months and hope for the best, or use that time to massage the Senate.

Basically, if a person isn't fluid enough to adjust strategies to empirical evidence, then it's hard for me to take their predictions seriously. It has nothing to do with blowing sunshine, just don't come to me with political predictions and expect me to automatically take you serious.

[ Parent | ]
Oh geez (0.00 / 0)
You're never heard of lagging indicators and delayed reaction? Every prez gets a honeymoon, especially during crisis--even Bush. But sooner or later, they get judged on their perceived successes and failures. If Obama is seen as having let the banks get away with murder, he will pay for it politically. This "recovery" is a financial trick. He borrowed trillions to "fix" the economy. When those markers start to come due, there will be hell to pay.

But please, don't take me "serious". I'm just with stupid Krugman.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

[ Parent | ]
Stress Test Results Claim Few Banks Need More Cash | 26 comments
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