These are data points from public opinion polls about the economy. Fewer people are feeling pessimistic, and more people are feeling optimistic, about the economy since George W. Bush left office and Barack Obama became president.
Archive for October, 2009
Is The Economy Getting Better or Worse?
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Real GDP Growth
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Since Barack Obama took offfice in late January 2009, the net change in GDP is +9.9%. In 2008, with George W. Bush as president, the net change in GDP was -4.7%; and if you count from best quarter to last quarter in 2008, it was-6.9%. Chart is from White House Council of Economic Advisors.
Who is Responsible for the Increase in Debt?
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
The chart makes clear that it is too early to judge Obama on the percentage increase in national debt relative to GDP. But it is easy to see the record of his predecessors.
Matthew Yglesias articulates one of the cold hard facts about American conservatives:
The presence of a major ideological movement in the United States of America dedicated to the dual propositions that taxes must never go up, and that government expenditures don’t need to relate to government revenue in any real way as long as the Republican Party is in charge simply makes it almost impossible for the country to be governed in a responsible manner.
White Men Behaving Badly
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009What happens when women and people of color start to move into real high-level positions of power in America? White men who believe that they should hold onto ALL of the power start behaving badly as a way to deal with their anxiety. Below are two examples: Lou Dobbs’ anti-Latino crusade and the National Republican Campaign Committee suggesting that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, be “put in her place.”
Expect to see more White Men Behaving Badly in the coming years as increasing numbers of people of color and more women ascend to higher levels of political and economic power.
Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Friday, October 9th, 2009
Photo by Chuck Pierson, November 2007
Andrew Sullivan comments on Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize today:
I don’t think Americans fully absorbed the depths to which this country’s reputation had sunk under the Cheney era. That’s understandable. And so they also haven’t fully absorbed the turn-around in the world’s view of America that Obama and the American people have accomplished. Of course, this has yet to bear real fruit. But you can begin to see how it could; and I hope more see both the peaceful intentions and the steely resolve of this man to persevere.
This president has done a huge amount to bring race relations in this country to a different place, which is why the far right has become so vicious in attacking him and lying about him. They know he threatens their politics of division and rule. He has also directly addressed the Muslim world, telling some hard truths, and played a small role in evoking a similar movement of hope and change in Iran, and finally told the Israelis to stop cutting their nose off to spite their face….
We do know that we were facing a spiral of conflict that, unchecked, could have taken the world to the abyss. I see this prize as an endorsement of his extraordinary reorientation of world politics, and as an encouragement to see it through.