Quote:
Originally Posted by 12thMan
No one --not a single economist-- thought the recovery would take this long. The Administration's biggest mistake was floating that 8% unemployment number from the jump, not trying to stimulate the economy.
Historically speaking it takes time for an economy this large to recovery from a recession, such as the one we're coming out of, and even longer to replace all the lost jobs. They caved to the intense political environment and the urgency to grease the wheels and get things going so they threw out 8%. It was stupid and they know it, but they saved and created a lot of damn jobs in the process.
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A good portion of the stimulus spending amounted to spitting into the wind. You're right in saying they caved to the political environment, and consequently they lost sight of the long term good.
First time homebuyer credit was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. We had a bunch of people who were underwater on bad mortgages, which this administration blamed on predatory lending practices, yet they turn around and give first time homebuyer credits to people who had never bought a house before. Wha?? So we're going to help the people who got screwed buying a house by helping the people who've never bought one?
Once first time homebuyer credits dried up the market went where the market should have gone, back to Earth. Houses are for people who can afford them without government help and without sketchy loans. The market was headed south whether Obama liked it or not, he just drove us into further debt by spitting into the wind.