Times UK: Is George Soros right that economy is doomed?

[El Pinko]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3257268.ece


Is George Soros right that economy is doomed?
Richard Woods

When George Soros says that the world is facing its worst financial crisis since the second world war, businessmen, politicians and the public pay attention. This, after all, is the man who famously made $1 billion betting against the pound in 1992.

The 77-year-old investor issued his dire warning at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week amid increasing volatility in the world financial markets, but before the huge losses at Société Générale had become public.

“The current crisis is not only the bust that follows the housing boom,” he said. “It’s basically the end of a 60-year period of continuing credit expansion.”

Now the party is grinding to a halt and the hangover will be a humdinger. “Credit expansion must now be followed by a period of contraction,” he claimed. “A recession in the developed world is now more or less inevitable.” The effect was likely to be contagious and infect the whole globe. It was, he concluded, the “end of an era”.

[flyarm]

1. the people of our country are in for a rude awakening and we are about to put someone with no

experieince..who is young ..in charge of the largest economy in the world..god help us.

[KamaAina]

2. There is a candidate who's a lot older and has tons of experience

of course, he wants to nuke Iran to glass, but hey, whatever. :sarcasm:

[Bandit]

3. And the young one wants to bomb Pakistan

:shrug: It is going to be a tough go for whomever gets elected. I just hope enough Democrats get elected along with a Democratic President to be able to move America forward. It isn't the end of the world and what people are saying now is very similar to what they said in 1992. Democrats were able to turn things around then and I am confident they will do so again. The key is putting America first over Party which Republicans lost sight of decades ago..

[Greybnk48]

5. Yes. Experience with Savings&Loans as I recall.

Yea. Let's put him in charge of the money.:sarcasm:

[flyarm]

6. i assume you weren't around when the repukes got us into horrible debt and Clintons got us out of

yeah,..i am assuming you are ignorant to the fact that the Clintons put a team together that got us out of the debt and depression the repukes got us close to the last time?

yeah i thought so.

[KamaAina]

12. I was indeed...

I was also around when Bill Clinton pushed NAFTA, ushering in the Age of Outsourcing. Then there was welfare "reform", which provided the corps with a plentiful supply of low-wage labor... I'd still take a "New Democrat" over a repuke, though!

P.S. as to "the Clintons", Hillary has stated repeatedly that she isn't running on her husband's record. Also, should she become the Dem nominee, I will be scrambling for a handhold in order to climb aboard her bandwagon...

[Greyhound]

11. The President is not in charge of the economy.

You're thinking of the Federal Reserve Bank and it is headed by a raygunomic disciple. Ben "Helicopter" Bernanke.

I'd also check your assertion about us being the biggest economy, I think we have been surpassed in size by our "good friends" the Chinese.
:hi:

[high density]

13. Yeah, younger people know nothing

Let's put Ted Stevens in for president.

[LSK]

16. oh please

Alan Greenspan has lots of experience and made this mess.

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. Isn't it the people with experience that got us to this point?

It doesn't take a Doctorate in Economics to know that you can't keep spending money you don't have. Eventually the piper has to be paid. The only thing that has surprised me over the last 20 years is how the "paper moneymakers" keep coming up with new ways to convince people that they can buy more and more products without any real income increases. They know that once consumer spending retreats to necessities the game is over.
The politicians knew it. Now they want to continue the same policies, like giving you $600.00, hoping all will return to, what they consider, normal.
The big threat to the way this country operates is not terrorism. It is when the working stiff realize that they have been screwed over.
It is no surprise that after 9/11 shrub told everyone to go shopping.
The fact is that I don't know if any of the candidates have the guts to do the right thing economically. A complete revamping of our economic system starting with putting a real leash on corporatism.

[flyarm]

7. i would say a liar and a mad man got us where we are with help from congress..

a a manchurian candidate who took over to fill the spot of President who had no clue whatsoever what he was doing sitting in the white house and was unqualified to do so.

Little lord pissy pants took over a stable economy in this country..and when the Bill Clinton took over ..he took over debt and a sick economy..and he made it a stable economy for most americans, all while paying down the debt..

the debt is what will kill us..the interest alone will kill us, of what little lord pissy pants, who was unqualified to be president, has put us into.


have you see the price of groceries lately?

start looking inot the backgrounds of those working with Obama..all neo cons out of the Univ of Chicago...

nothing new here other than you just don't know about them!

do some research..please..

[flyarm]

8. please see this thread and see who Obama's economists are..do us all that favor will ya!!

(thank you ruggerson)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4818819&mesg_id=4818819

ruggerson (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-29-08 09:50 AM
Original message
CTV stands by Obama story and names Obama aide who called re: NAFTA
Edited on Fri Feb-29-08 10:12 AM by ruggerson
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Talking_to_...

CTV stood by, but tweaked, its story yesterday, suggesting that an Obama aide had spoken not to the Ambassador but to the Consul in Chicago, and naming the aide, economist Austan Goolsbee.

Both Obama's campaign and the Canadian government continued to deny the substance of the conversation -- the notion that Goolsbee was suggesting that Obama's tough talk on Nafta wasn't entirely heartfelt.

But their blanket denials yesterday seem to have been based on the relative technicality that the conversation was with the Consul, not the Ambassador. I updated my post on the subject yesterday to include this quote from the embassy spokeman, Tristan Landry:

"Canada has diplomatic representatives posted in the US, including Chicago. These representatives are actively talking to decision makers, including those involved in all campaigns, about the whole range of Canada-U.S. issues. Our economic relationship and trade often come up in these meetings but in none of our conversations has any campaign adviser ever signaled that a candidate would say things that they didn't mean or that we should disregard," he said.

(more)

ABC is on this as well:

"ABC News' Jennifer Parker spoke to Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economics professor, Thursday who would not confirm or deny that he had a conversation with Georges Rioux, the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago. Rioux, in meetings this week in Ottawa, would also neither confirm nor deny any conversation took place. Both men did say that they know each other.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/more-on...



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4818819&mesg_id=4818855
Austan Goolsbee - U of Chicago neocon Edited on Fri Feb-29-08 09:58 AM by Marie26
WHY does Obama have U of Chicago economic advisers? Has anyone here read the "Shock Doctrine"? This is EXACTLY what Naomi Klein was talking about. Leaders promise populist, liberal reforms to the masses, while their U of Chicago economic gurus ram through free-market free-trade Friedmanism. I have no doubt that this conversation took place - Klein outlines a pattern in which leader's economists would warn/whisper to multinationals/free trade partners that their campaign rhetoric was just bread & circuses to appease the masses.

please do keep reading...

Obama's 3 Right-Wing Economists

by fairleft, Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 02:54:42 PM EST

To wake some of you up from your dreams, let's take a look at each of Obama's three chief economic advisors.

Obama's Right-Wing Economist Asshole #1: AUSTAN GOOLSBEE

Here's a start, some narrow right-wing economics from chief Barack Obama economic spokesman Austan Goolsbee, on trade (emphasis added throughout):

Austan Goolsbee (BARACK OBAMA): "I'm a University of Chicago economist and no one is ever going to be more in favor of open markets and free trade than an economist, so you would presume I'd be for anything that has the words 'free trade agreement' in it and all I'll tell you is this: I do believe there's no one more in favor of open markets than me . . ."

Spoken like a true DLC neoliberal 'all economists are Milton Friedmanites' asshole, right? Here's more Goolsbee news by way of ronkseattle, noting first that the top economic spokesman for and senior policy advisor to Obama is the DLC's Senior Economist.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/3/145442/8316

Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" re: Chicago School of Economics: a must read -
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/29/82036/7662

( thank you Marie 26..for posting this ..)

[El Pinko]

9. Does an association with right-wing/neoliberal economists mean he's beholden to them?

Hillary's husband also implemented all manner of right-wing economic initiatives.

Is there any reason we should expect any different from her?


Is there any reason we should expect any different from any democrat, seeing as how the party is owned lock,stock and barrel by more or less the same corporate interests who own the GOP?



I personally am going into the voting booth aware of all those things, but also knowing that even though the difference between the parties is incremental at most, those increments can sometimes make a world of difference to an individual whose home may or may not be bombed because of who the president is, or any number of other things.

I don't vote democrat because I like the democrats, I do it because that little bit of difference will probably at least save a few lives and jobs, and what is it the talmud said? "When you save one life, you save the world entire."?

Thank you for the information, though, I will look at it. But I wouldn't look at such associations as a definitve verdict on Obama's future economic policies. He may be cozying up to those types because he knows that if he ever wants to get into office he has to be "vetted" by the right members of the economic elites.

[flyarm]

19. I don't know..it is a question you need to look into and answer for yourself..

as i will be looking into and answering for myself..

but what i am seeing ..is quite disturbing ..to me..maybe not to you..but i will not stop until i look under every rock...and get some answers...

too bad we all didn't demand our media or government Vet this guy before we got this far..since i don't see many questions that have been asked without one getting their heads chopped off for asking...

never in my 57 years have i seen anything like it ..other than little lord pissy pants and that is quite unsettling to me.


i don't want a fucking beer with a president..my co-workers died on 9/11 ..the last time people didn't ask the fucking questions first!

fly

[El Pinko]

20. Not saying it doesn't bother me...

...I'm just aware that there's nigh on nothing I can do about it at this point...

[flyarm]

22. that is not true ..you can keep asking the questions and keep looking for the answers..

the sheeple followed bush right through the crimes he has committed..they didn't ask the questions and they chewed off anyone's head that asked the questions..i am seeing the same shit with obama and that ought to scare the shit out of anyone who has lived through these past 8 years!

in fact it ought to scare the shit out of everyone!

i have been told by Obama supporters way more than once to STFU if i ask questions..well i will not stfu..i lived these past 8 years with * sheeple saying the same thing..i didn't shut up then and i sure as shit won't now!

fly

[ProfessorGAC]

10. I've Met With Goolsbee

He's not right wing. He's a garden variety libertarian, as are 50% of all economists i've met. 25% are right wing, the other 25% liberal. But, he's like the the normal half of all economists i've ever talked to, and he never said anything that indicated right-wing views.


Of course, if you think libertarians are right-wing, then that would explain the difference in opinion. I don't. I think right-wing as more authoritarian than what these guys believe. He's definitely not authoritarian.
The Professor

[high density]

14. George Soros supports Obama above the other Democrat(s)

According to Wikipedia:

On BookTV, November 12, 2007, (Soros) said that he supports Barack Obama for the Democratic candidate in the 2008 election, but says that John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, or Joe Biden are all fine candidates, as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_soros

Your concerns about youth ineptitude or whatever on the economy evidently don't concern this guy worth $8.5 billion.

[flyarm]

15. The Shock Doctrine..there are neo liberals as well as neo cons..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kieyjfZDUIc

[LSK]

18. Obama strikes me as someone who is willing to listen to many people

Unlike the current idiot in chief.

I'd rather have someone in charge with an open mind. Wouldn't you?

[GoldieAZ49]

21. His economic advisor is different from "listening to many people"

An advisor is hired for their expertise in a particular field

[leftofthedial]

17. he is WAY too optimistic

[Bonhomme Richard]

23. My opinion.This whole situation began when Nixon was President

Maybe even before then. Since then there have only been two Democratic Presidents. Carter was up to his eyeballs dealing with inflation, and the Fed (in my opinion they set him up in collusion with the republicans. Clinton, a DLCer, was in tune with a general Laissez Faire corporate attitude. Then we have bush who just took the whole "hands off the moneymakers" policy to its extreme,outright fraud,just like everything else he has touched.
Whether Hillary, Obama or Mc Cain are willing to tackle the real problem I am not going to hold my breadth but if I had to put my money on any one of them it would have to be Obama.