Originally Posted By: Sicilian Babe
DC, you've got to be kidding with this. You're blaming the stock market drops of 2008 on President Obama?


Not kidding at all. I am very serious. And lease don't generalize my statement above. If you go back and look at what I posted you will see that I pointed out that from the time then Presidential nominee Barack Obama was given the democratic nomination up until the time that he was actually elected, the stock market began to decline. This is not something that I made up or posted based on what I feel the reason was. This is actually based on factual analysis made by financial analysts and experts from BOTH political parties who, at the time, pointed out that the sell off in the stock market was due to the uncertainty of potentially having someone in office who did not have a long standing record in the political world to run a country as well as not having any kind of substantial experience or record in economically helping the state that he came from.

This is not something that I point out just to merely pick on the President. It is something that was factually stated at the time within the financial community.



Originally Posted By: Sicilian Babe
How about the president that was actually IN office at the time, and the crash of companies like Bear Sterns and Shearson? Are you blaming those on him as well??


Not blaming either President as neither one was or is at fault. The fall of Shearson-Lehman was due to their own greed and unethical trading practices. To put it in layman terms, this was a company who cooked their books and for several years leading up to their eventual collapse making it look every quarter that they were making money. They maneuvered their balance sheets to make it appear as though they were trading within the required regulations when in truth they really weren't and eventually their unethical trading and investments were uncovered bringing the company to it's knees.

As for Merrill Lynch, they too were unethical and greedy in many of the decisions that they made within the financial world. Their decline was largely due to the fact that they were underwriters on over 93 BILLION dollars worth of mortgage based collateralize debt obligations. And when the value of those obligations began to decline, they held on to many of those obligations which resulted in the loss of billions of dollars and the eventual collapse of the company. In truth many of these brokerage houses /investment firms relied too heavily on the mortgage industry and leveraged their assets in that industry. If any blame is to be made OUTSIDE of these organizations ( which again I thing should not ) then perhaps we can point our fingers at the Barney Franks of Washington....but that is an entirely different conversation to have another day.



Originally Posted By: Sicilian Babe
Gas prices? What where they at the end of 2006? About $2 a gallon? And in June of 2008? About $4 a gallon.


Actually the average price was about $3.00 per gallon in June of 2008. wink

Originally Posted By: Sicilian babe
I believe that his efforts are finally resulting in us seeing light at the end of the tunnel.


Aproximatley 2 million fewer private-sector jobs now than when Obama was sworn in. The U.S. dollar around 12% weaker then when Obama was sworn in. The national debt is about 35% higher than it was when Obama was sworn in.

Can you pleaase shine that light that you see, my way, so that I too can see the end of the tunnel? lol wink


Originally Posted By: Sicilian Babe
I believe that many believed that when he was elected, President Obama would somehow wave a magic wand that would result in instant recovery.


You're absolutely right. But let's be truthful here...he is partially to blame for so many perceiving that he would because as a Presidential candidate he ran on a platform of change and constantly cited economic progress as a criteria on which he should be measured and also consistently asked the question of will this country be better off four years from now if he is not elected.



Originally Posted By: Sicilian Babe
I thought the best news was that housing starts were up for the first time in a long time. Granted, it was in rentals, which means that people still aren't quite ready to start buying, but they're still a good indicator.


Your point is a pretty good one, but not 100% accurate either. Your absolutely correct in stating that housing starts were up for the first time in years, and mostly in rentals.

However it is up in rentals NOT because people are not ready to start buying, but rentals are up due to the fact that people have lost their homes and now have no choice but to rent because they no longer could afford to own and keep up with their mortgage payments because of loss of jobs as well as other economical contributing factors.


Originally Posted By: Sicilian Babe
I hope he gets another four years to continue what he started.


panic

Perhaps you'e been blinded by that light that you claim to see at the end fo that tunnel! lol tongue wink



Don Cardi cool

Five - ten years from now, they're gonna wish there was American Cosa Nostra. Five - ten years from now, they're gonna miss John Gotti.