Speaking Thursday at the St. Louis County Police and Fire Training Center, Joe Biden described how this nation has stepped back from the brink of economic disaster since Obama took office on January 20th. He started by acknowledging the fear that Americans still live with–fear that their job will be next or that they won’t be able to send their kid to college–or disgust that their house is upside down, in other words, worth less than they paid for it. We’re still losing jobs every month, and until we can create 100,000 or 200,000 well paying jobs a month, we cannot be said to have succeeded.
Biden did a fine job of reminding the audience how bleak the picture was last January 20th and gave plenty of evidence to bear out his claim that we have stepped back from the brink.
I’ll confess to being a Biden fan. I appreciate his mix of policy and passion. But on this last point, I’m taking a wait and see attitude–as, I’m sure, many voters are doing. This administration and the Democratic Congress must create jobs; I hope they have the will and the smarts to do so.
Biden Should be The President.
If the funds take too long to get spent, how can you say Biden should say the best is yet to come? The recession could well be over before all of the funds are appropriated and spent by the states and all that extra money slosing around will give us some good ol’ inflation.
Regarding the housing market, I’m not sure which of Obama’s policies are applicable here. Only a very small percentage of mortgage modifications have gone through from what I have heard. There is likely some uptick from the $8K first-time buyer voucher. I think the bigger picture in real estate is foreclosure rates and not housing values. People need to get away from the mindset that a house is an investment or a personal ATM.
If we gauge success by housing prices going back up, after a bubble in a few specific markets has popped somewhat, I feel we’ll see that boom/bust cycle again shortly.
It way too earky to be claiming success. While i strongly disagree with all the wall street money spent, the expected effect is not seen yet!