As Economy Turns, Washington Looks Better (Roubini praises Bernanke)

[ProSense]

As Economy Turns, Washington Looks Better

By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: August 7, 2009

WASHINGTON — What if in the end they got it right?

What if, amid all their missteps and all the harsh criticism, the people in charge of battling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression — Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Lawrence Summers, Henry Paulson and the rest — basically succeeded?

It is clearly too soon to know for sure. But the evidence is now pointing pretty strongly in one direction: history books may conclude that the financial crisis of 2008 turned out to be far less bad than it could have been and that Washington deserved much of the credit.

The Labor Department announced Friday that the economy lost fewer jobs in July than in any month since before Lehman Brothers collapsed last fall. Credit markets no longer look anything like they did after Lehman’s collapse and are in considerably better shape than just a few months ago. Stocks are up almost 50 percent from their March low. “It’s over,” the economists at Barclays Capital declared Friday, referring to the Great Recession.

The news has been good enough that the Obama administration spent Friday trumpeting its record. More telling, however, is the fact that even Nouriel Roubini, the prophetically pessimistic economist who saw the crisis coming (and doesn’t think the recession has yet ended), is now praising policy makers. He recently urged that Mr. Bernanke be reappointed as Federal Reserve chairman, saying he helped avert a “near depression that seemed highly likely after the financial collapse last fall.”

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Roubini want Bernanke reappointed?

Still, the basic point remains: The Fed’s creative and aggressive actions have significantly reduced the risks of a near depression. For this reason alone Mr. Bernanke deserves to be reappointed so that he can manage the Fed’s exit from its most radical economic intervention since its creation in 1913.

:wow:

[FreakinDJ]

1. Oh NO!!!! - The Short Sellers.... The Short Sellers ....

They are going to take a bath because Obama's Plan is working - Oh NO! what will we do

Before you know it - it will be raining Short Sellers on Wall St as the folks that were betting against America and Obama's plan to restore the economy are completely wiped out and begin jumping to their deaths from tall building

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

9. ROFL! I'm not going to predict anything, but the trend is up and you

don't try to fight it. It's pretty funny watching the haters try to call the top, mainly based on nothing more then disdain for Obama.

[Kdillard]

2. Bizarro world isn't it.

[HamdenRice]

3. DU's Obama haters, Doomers, "let it failers", WSWS-Trotskites aren't going to like this good news

one bit!

You can already seen the Obama-hater unrec'ing crew has been here.

[Zodiak]

8. 5 derogatory statements about other DUers in two lines

No substance whatsoever.

Par for the course for you.

[depakid]

16. Economic policy wonks many aren't

More like my guy good- other guy bad.

BTW: the Roubini article is two weeks old, and bears little on the actions taken by the administration and congress- much less the actions that could have been taken.

[HamdenRice]

17. Can you state one aspect of that post is derogatory?

Were there, or were there not, DUer's who proudly proclaimed, "let it fail" during the economic crisis? Are there, or are there not, DUers who post fake or dishonest articles almost every day from the Trotskyite World Socialist Web Site? Are there or are there not, DUers who have proclaimed their hatred for Obama, the Democrats and American Unions?

Are any of the posters who shouted let it fail, or who post Trotskyite tracts, or who hate the Democratic party, going to be happy with this good news or not?

Pointing out what DUers themselves proudly proclaim is not derogatory; it's reality based.

[Zodiak]

24. No, it is high school name-calling

And considering the average age of DU members, way below the maturity level that should be here.

You see, if someone is an asshole and I call them such on this message board, I am still the one using derogatory comments. The adequacy of the name-calling is immaterial to the fact that name-calling occurred in the first place. And that was done by you.

Do not blame others for your behavior, which is divisive and cliquish.

[geek tragedy]

20. Derogatory isn't the same as inaccurate.

Ironic that your post was itself derogatory.

[Uzybone]

4. Holy shit, Obama has paid off Roubini too?

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. You have to wonder why good economic news would be unrec'd?

Honestly, I don't recognize DU these days.

[ProSense]

6. Ah, not a problem

Doesn't change the facts.

[HamdenRice]

19. DU's Trotskyites will never have the joyfull experience of being prison guards in re-education camps

unless the economy completely collapses. This makes them sad, so they unrec any post with good news.

[Jennicut]

25. LOL.

Is that what they are?
I don't get the hatred of good news?
Do they want everything to collapse so we can start over without capitalism? I am in favor of a mix of capitalism/socialism but some of these people border on crazy.

[Odin2005]

35. You got it.

They want "the system" to fail so they have a blank slate to create their utopia. It's disgusting and horrific thinking, a secularized Judeo-Christian End-Times-ism.

[geek tragedy]

21. They want Obama to fail. DU includes enemies of the Democratic

party.

[Number23]

30. There is a post on the Home page with damn near 80 recs that refutes the damn recovery!

It basically says "because it doesn't FEEL like there's a recovery, then there ain't no recovery." In 28 seconds of research, I found five articles that completely refuted the OP and posted them to which he replied "well, I hope I'm wrong." 80 RECS for that foolishness.

So of course, seeing posts that actually state that financial markets all over the world are improving would be grounds for un-recs by people who aren't interested in anything other than what their (uninformed) guts are telling them.

[ProSense]

32. It basically says "because it doesn't FEEL like there's a recovery, then there ain't no recovery."

Sounds like the rights global warming argument.

:rofl:

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

7. Bernanke gets my approval. He was innovative, quick and decisive when he needed to be.

The choices he had were bad and worse and he knew it, but did it anyway knowing full well the ramifications if he didn't.

Here's an excellent article about him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/08/AR2009040804401.html?wprss=rss_politics

[Phx_Dem]

10. Looks like alot of the handwringers turned out to be WRONG about

Obama's economic policies being a big fucking disaster. In fact wasn't Roubini one of them, along with Krugman and far-lefty Stiglich?

[Kaleko]

26. Roubini and Krugman were very pessimistic until recently.

I'd like to know if Joseph Stiglitz is seeing us pulling back from the abyss also. He hasn't been in the news.

[grantcart]

11. has there been a better Fed Chairman than Bernanke?

if we had an ideological oriented fed we would now be looking at the the 2nd great depression and 20% unemployment.


He seems to be a pragmatist open to more government intervention.

[vaberella]

28. What about Paul Volcker? n/t

[Peacetrain]

12. We all knew it was going to be tough a year ago..

But when it got tough.. some of us, lost confidence...We escaped a WORLD WIDE melt down far beyond just our borders..

[girl gone mad]

13. Good to see the full court press for keeping Summers from being appointed

Roubini is wise to back Bernanke, our best shot at shutting Summers out.

Bernanke was a complete failure in his job, but a ham sandwich would be a better choice than Larry Summers.

[Odin2005]

14. I don't get the Bernanke-hatred.

The guy is a Keynesian who knows what he's doing.

[HamdenRice]

18. Exactly. Mild mannered professor who studied Keynes and the Great Depression all his life ...

happens to be the right man in the right place at the right time.

The only mystery is why Bush appointed him in the first place.

[Odin2005]

22. Yep, I was surprised that Bush appointed him after I read up on him.

[girl gone mad]

31. He is an idiot who failed to see the credit collapse..

failed to acknowledge the housing bubble and continued Greenspan's idiotic zirp policies, then raised rates at the worst time. But other than that, great guy.

In financial circles the common Bernanke metaphor is that it's better to have a doctor who can accurately diagnose your cancer in stage I than to have a doctor who will work his heart out to treat it once it's progressed to stage IV.

[DCBob]

15. Well if Dr Doom is on board then all is well!!

:bounce:

[debbierlus]

23. We are IN a depression, so can we stop pretending otherwise.

Everyone I know is struggling to merely survive.

Yeah, Bernacke & Geithner got it right.

Night is day. Up is down.

everything is wonderful with a D after its name.

[girl gone mad]

33. It's always a push and pull between truth and propaganda..

but there has been an awful lot of catapulting going on around here lately. I sense desperation.

[DCBob]

34. We are NOT in a depression..

I am sorry for your situation but the nation as a whole is a far cry from what is technically defined as a "depression".

[vaberella]

27. I don't like Bernanke...but I will say this...Bernanke has decent control on investor feelings.

They seem to listen to him, it's almost biblical.

[Number23]

29. "the Obama administration spent Friday trumpeting its record."

Can't say I blame them. :)

Kicked and rec'd