Gloat over my stupidity

[jpgray]

It seems to me the Executive, far from being impotent, has awesome power to affect the economy. Am I crazy, or could we:

1. Use Fannie and Freddie to refinance / write down mortgages they hold. Massive stimulus, no need for Congress.

2. Use the DOJ, SEC and FBI to aggressively investigate criminal or unsavory banks. A more popular pastime would be hard to find.

3. Pursue a weaker dollar via Treasury and the Fed. Aids debtors of all kinds and does more for exports than any free trade agreement.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. We didn't like the idea of a strong executive when Bush was president.

Should we think differently now?

[jpgray]

2. I think all three of the above are well within normal executive powers

It isn't warrant-less wiretapping or bombing countries without Congressional authorization or extraordinary rendition, right?

[saras]

3. It wasn't "strong executive", it was "out-of-control criminal" we didn't like.

[sabrina 1]

4. Thank you. I was still wondering if I read that comment correctly.

:eyes:

[roguevalley]

7. when dumbya because resident he talked the economy that was

in good condition down so he could enact the tax cuts. Presidents have mucho power and the bully pulpit. Even a half wit like dumbya did something powerful to the country. obama has to care. He doesn't.

[bvar22]

5. The President "could" become a powerful National HERO if...

...he would only take a unequivocal & unambiguous STAND on the following issues:



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[jpgray]

6. The bizarre thing is that we claim to -want- relief for homeowners

It puzzles me why we should seek that in a legal settlement with malefactor banks rather than through our public interest, directly, in so many mortgages.

[kentuck]

8. I believe the President trusts the judgement of experts ...

...like Timothy Geithner, moreso than his own judgement. He wants "experts" around him that know more than he does. It doesn't matter what political persuasion they might be. He wants rational, patient, moderate individuals with expert knowledge. The one thing he doesn't know is that there are no "experts" on these critical issues. We elected him to make those decisions, not the "experts".

[jpgray]

9. The thing about that is, experts are cheap

You can't throw a stick without hitting an expert, especially in the Beltway. It's true you can always point at an adviser to explain bad or strange policy choices, but at some point the selection of that adviser becomes in itself a strange or bad policy choice. Why Geithner? Why Summers? Why the old Clinton stable of Rubinites? Was there some expert who advised Obama on which experts to choose? Who picked that expert, I wonder.

[bvar22]

10. You go much further in giving him the benefit of the doubt...

...than I am willing to go.

Far from giving "everyone a voice in my administration" as he promised during his campaign,
he created an hermetically sealed echo chamber to reflect his own conservative beliefs, Chicago School of Free Market VooDoo, Global Elite Exceptionalism, and "Faith Based" religious values.

The Democratic Wing has been completely Shut Out of his administration,
and not a single member of Congress who Opposed the Invasion of Iraq has been given a position of any Power or Authority, or even access to Power or Authority.

Echo Chambers this tight are not constructed by accident.


You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[hfojvt]

11. the President has little control over the Fed

plus, they have already been creating a weaker dollar and parts of DU are very upset about that.

Not sure how writing down mortgages provides a stimulus. Unless they are written all the way down, people still have to make payments. If the payment is reduced by a few hundred dollars a month that could be a stimulus, but since the defaulting homeowners are already unable to make the full payment, it won't really give them a few hundred extra a month to spend, just free them from an obligation they were not meeting.