Why the Obama economy will never prosper

[GSLevel9]

Talking with friends last night over beers and we came up with a theory. The summary is, Corporate America won't allow Obama to succeed. Even with better economic data the employers of this country aren't hiring. They aren't buying new equipment. It's become a stubborn childish pissing match.

Limbaugh's "want Obama to fail" is the motto of corporate America too.

[leeroysphitz]

1. I hope that President Obama will start doing more to "reach out" to the business community.

[DJ13]

5. If he reaches out much more they'll have to get a room

The NYSE has doubled, and corporate profits and cash are at all time highs.

Theres not much more reaching out thats needed.

[area51]

9. +1 n/t

[RKP5637]

11. Exactly, and he'll also have to start wearing a corporate logo on his lapel for

whichever his current corporate sponsor and master is ... maybe even monographed shirts, ties, suits. Maybe even rename the White House to whichever corp. is in power. Like sports stadiums.

[leeroysphitz]

20. Tonight, live from the Exxon/Mobil Capitol Building it's the 2012 State Of The Union™

Brought to you by: Exxon/Mobil, Goldman Sachs, Wellpoint and Pfizer.

[RKP5637]

22. And now we interrupt for a brief message from our sponsor! n/t

[BOG PERSON]

19. i wish he would do a little less reaching-out to finance-insurance-real-estate

and a little more reaching out to us.

i'm starting to suspect democrats take the poor vote for granted.

[eilen]

2. I think this meme is OVER

The whole meme of "They (business, banks, corporations) aren't doing this or that because "they" want Obama to fail is on the face ridiculous.
similar to "they hate us for our freedoms". Republicans may be obstructionist because they want him out of office -- they want to be in power instead. Corporations love Obama. He gives them everything they want, he should be wearing logos like a Nascar driver. They are not investing in employees here but that doesn't mean they aren't hiring elsewhere. They have lots of money... just waiting for the next big bubble. No one makes money the old fashioned way anymore. Additionally, there may be a tad bit of caution and desire to keep large cash reserves after what happened in 2008.

While qualitative easing continues, inflation will continue to climb.

Bernanke should step down.

[CrispyQ]

6. "They have lots of money... just waiting for the next big bubble."

That's it. Corporations don't really care "who's in charge," because ultimately, they are. If there were a bubble today that they could exploit, it wouldn't matter one whit that Obama's in office, they would do it. They are all about the money, today. Corporate vision doesn't extend beyond this quarter's earnings.

[frazzled]

3. Beer doesn't always lead to the best theories.

Try coffee.

[RKP5637]

4. IMO the whole country is going to fail, it's just a matter of time. The sheer

nonsense in the US is ridiculous. We need to be a country pulling together, instead, we have too many assholes like Limbaugh running around. And combined with that too many sheep in America.

[kenny blankenship]

13. This nation has an appointment with Fascism

we may as well get it over with.

[RKP5637]

23. Yeah, the handwriting is on the wall! n/t

[moondust]

7. Well...

the prospects of further corporatizing the government, privatizing its functions, and transferring all those tax revenues into private hands will always be much, much better with a veto-enabled Republican in the White House.

[toddwv]

8. Corporate "America" is no longer American, it has its hands in quite a few cookie jars.

The "American Dream" economy won't return while we allow these people to fleece the US of all of its assets and ship them overseas to some low-tax offshore account while retaining their American status.

The "American Dream" economy won't return until we realize that wealth disparity at the current levels is unsustainable in a modern, civilized and industrialized nation.

[RKP5637]

10. That's basically what I was trying to say in my post #4, but you said it much better. n/t

[SoCalDem]

16. "...The "American Dream" economy won't return ..." is the essence of your sentence

It was a fluke that lasted a generation & a half.. It's gone.. It only happened because at one time (that one time) we were the ONLY manufacturing superpower, having survived WWII without bombed out infrastructure. We were the engine that rebuilt the rest of the world..now they are all "grown up" and competing with us.. and they have "newer" stuff, since we also chose to ignore the rebuilding/renovation of our own country.. We thought we could rest on our laurels forever, but alas, we can't.

We reduced ourselves to a service-economy, run on borrowed money..a lose-lose situation.

In a way it's like parents impoverishing themselves to make sure their kids have the best...and then in their old age, having to pay rent to & borrow money from to those kids, who are tiring of helping Mom & Dad.

[kenny blankenship]

12. Demand was kept rising by the expansion of credit for many years

After the implosion of defaults, credit for widdle people has dried up. But the stagnation of wages for years and DECADES has scarcely been addressed and govt. hasn't picked up the slack from private sector employment by hiring on lots of new workers. In fact, govt employment is under attack all over the country. So demand has no steam behind it. It doesn't make sense for an individual business to hire in the face of stagnant demand. But systemically, the situation calls for hiring to stimulate demand. Traditional Democrats would like to provide that hiring but for all the dollars put into stimulus in 2009 at the Federal level, dollars and jobs were being taken out at the state and local level. The system stayed flat and stagnant. Govt is not being allowed to stimulate the economy through hiring, depressed wages aren't being allowed to expand, and credit for little people is too expensive to provide a methadone substitute for improving wages.

In effect, general prosperity has been outlawed.

[Spike89]

14. Lots of flaws in the theory, but greed is the biggest

Possibly, just possibly, I could see a few corporate bosses maybe pulling back for a quarter in order to punish Obama. However, I can't see enough doing it to make significant differences--and certainly not over the course of years. The very nature of corporate entities is wrapped up in the quarterly stock report and estimates for the next quarter--one of the problems with the model is that it over-emphasizes quick profit at the peril of long-term health. Your theory would require corporations to pass up profits/marketshare for 4 years when it is almost impossible for them to think beyond the next quarterly report?

Honestly, corporations really don't care that much about political parties or who is currently President. They care deeply about profits, now and in the immediate future. Besides, a significant number of corporate employers in this country are NOT U.S. based and therefore are evel less likely to hurt themselves simply to spite Obama.

[applegrove]

15. Oh absolutely. Plus a jobless recovery fights inflation. Inflation hurts

the rich but the unemployed and people who have lost value on their homes are doing the fighting.

[BOG PERSON]

17. uh, okay, sure

so the biggest casualty of the obama economy is... obama. you've certainly kept your eye on the ball.

[MilesColtrane]

18. Just look at gas prices.

There has been nary a hiccup in exports from the countries the U.S. gets its oil despite the civil unrest in the Middle East.

Average price of a gallon of unleaded the day before the 2008 Presidential election: $1.72 a gallon

Average current price 19 months away from the 2012 Presidential election: $3.56 a gallon

Well placed speculators are artificially inflating gas prices in order to delay an economic recovery. The logic being that voters will take it out on the incumbent President.

[Johonny]

21. we are fighting two wars at the sametime

war is generally a big economic drain on the economy despite what Rethugs say about FDR and WWII. We have spent a large amount of our countries assets on two wars and tax cuts for the rich. Neither had much prospect for long term economic growth. Obama is following Clinton's play book, but Clinton had relative peace and more manageable tax rates.