in their own words
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 The Party Now Is Over - Press Conference by the President 2/9/09 — Tuesday, February 10, 2009 — Q Thank you, Mr. President. In your opening remarks, you talked about that if your plan works the way you want it to work, it's going to increase consumer spending. But isn't consumer spending or overspending how we got into this mess? And if people get money back into their pockets, do you not want them saving it or paying down debt first before they start spending money into the economy? THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I don't think it's accurate to say that consumer spending got us into this mess. What got us into this mess initially were banks taking exorbitant, wild risks with other people's monies based on shaky assets. And because of the enormous leverage where they had $1 worth of assets and they were betting $30 on that $1, what we had was a crisis in the financial system. That led to a contraction of credit, which in turn meant businesses couldn't make payroll or make inventories, which meant that everybody became uncertain about the future of the economy, so people started making decisions accordingly -- reducing investment, initiated layoffs -- which in turn made things worse. Now, you are making a legitimate point, Chuck, about the fact that our savings rate has declined and this economy has been driven by consumer spending for a very long time -- and that's not going to be sustainable. You know, if all we're doing is spending and we're not making things, then over time other countries are going to get tired of lending us money and eventually the party is going to be over. Well, in fact, the party now is over. Economy | President Obama | Presidential Press Conference | Stimulus Package | White House Press Corps Labels: Economy, President Obama, Presidential Press Conference, Stimulus Package, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 7:43:00 PM
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1 Comments:
Expectations and Results in the allocation and determination of resources from the previous and current “economic bail-outs” failed to materialize with your Treasury Secretary, besides looking very immature in tone, delivery of the impact to the country, as outlined in your public address of Monday night, failed!
Your vision, determination and resolved did not become an outcome of your Secretary’s address. More questions than answers were derived from this session.
I am not an economist, rather a corporate leader of a number of small firms, and expected better from the government.
If I were to get up and address the public, I would have outlined a structure and methodology and then over the next few weeks refined and materialized the scope of accomplishment of tasks.
The Establishment of a Government “Bad Bank” funded to $500b for the receipt of toxic mortgages, toxic auto loans, and toxic credit card debt. I would mandate a 10-yr plan of recovery between the “bank” to “consumer.
Second, I would allocated $100b to fund the national public Infrastructure problems, bridges, roads, levies, schools, flood plain improvements and other public projects that would put able body individuals to work, lowering the double-digit unemployment gripping the country.
Third there would be an infusion of $300B to banks for the purpose of lending, not securing equity, and I would require all banks taking funds from this to place a member of the Treasury on its Corporate Board, and limit compensation and perks to senior executives, and shareholder perks.
Forth, I would infuse $50B into the Auto Industry for capital, research and allocation to build energy and consumer centric vehicles, with strict guidelines, and requirements of keeping employees, funding underfunded pension plans.
Fifth, Infuse $50B into the top tier Auto lending groups, i.e. Capital One, GMAC, HSBC, FMCC, etc. to provide direct lending to all consumers.
And lastly I would establish a treasury “rainy Day” back up fund of $100B for the “what if’s”.
This would have been better than what was said, and the markets, investors and public would have slept easier, and not caused a 386 point loss in the market.
Just FYI,
Kindly,
Jeff Fortin
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