Jason

U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the economy from participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.

The economists' assessment stands in stark contrast with Mr. Obama's popularity with the public, with a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll giving him a 60% approval rating. A majority of the 49 economists polled said they were dissatisfied with the administration's economic policies.

On average, they gave the president a grade of 59 out of 100, and although there was a broad range of marks, 42% of respondents rated Mr. Obama below 60. Mr. Geithner received an average grade of 51. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke scored better, with an average 71.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123671107124286261.html

40sondacurb

Sounds like their issue is that they want more money and faster action.
I don't think they've acclimated themselves to working with the government.

bry623

But they are bringing about hope, and that is what we need right?

40sondacurb

that avatar is going to come in very handy for you the next 4 years. It really emphasizes the sarcasm

kinbard

No, change. And heaps of it. And it smells.

simpswr

. . and it has been so long!! 8 weeks almost

kinbard

Yeah, well, he's Obama. He is Ninja.

Drew1369

But Obama promised rosy smelling farts from all by the 3rd week...

Chode

Congratulations on sniffing out that story. I guess I missed it. Overall, the economy does seem to be stabilizing. Citigroup made money, the Dow is trending upward, and international markets are generally up. We certainly aren't out of the woods yet, but we don't seem to be in free fall anymore.

If I were to criticize anyone in the Administration, it would would have to be Geithner. He really needs to be much more clear, direct, and forceful about his department's plans. This isn't a good time for him to be seen as indecisive.

Canaanabolaanan

Sounds like several positions under Geithner have yet to be filled though. The vetting and appointment process has been held up by some quibbling (albeit legitimate), and so it's just him. He should have about 11 or 12 main subordinates helping him out.

kinbard

Yeah, I see how Dow has gone up today. That is good news. But I still have problems with spending money that is just not there. Kindof the credit card scenario. In the end, its just an IOU....

Chode

Yep, the money being spent is pretty scary, but I think the alternatives of letting the market sort it all out or adopting the NeoCon strategy of more tax cuts for the rich won't work and will just be more expensive in the end.

Drew1369

It was just a joke... I really hope, and I am being honest, that Obama makes this work... because if he fails, I do not even want to think of what will happen to this country.

Geithner shouldn't have been confirmed, he should have ducked out like all of the others.

He was pointed out at being the most qualified for the job... and as we have seen, has not been too successful.

He makes it seem that anyone who can balance a checkbook would do a better job then him.

Obama on the other hand needs to stop being so divisive and needs to stop Pelosi from further alienating the republican minority. She turns around the rules that Newt Gingrich (republican btw) had set up to allow the minority group to add amendments. She takes Obama's method of "I won so shut up."

Canaanabolaanan

Perhaps this is how it seems, but again it's a massively complex economic meltdown, and an original at that. And he's supposed to have quite a team to work with. But still, it's just him. If he gets a team assembled, and the plans have had time to work, and the economy still sucks, then he's fair game, I think. Prior to that, I think any individual would be in over his/her head, balanced checkbook or not.

I'm assuming you can balance a checkbook. Do you have propositions to save the banks from collapse? And stop the economy from plummeting, etc, etc? And if all I see are tax breaks, I'll just know the answer is "no." :)

Drew1369

I see you ask that question to anyone that seems to challange Obama's plan. No I dont have many idea's other then see what needs to be done. This isn't the biggest economic collapse in US history, nor is it original...

My big plan would be to let the bad businesses fail let the good businesses pick up the slack. The markets will correct themselves... they always do. You saw the markets go from 12k to 9k back in 2001 and 2002... No trillion dollar stimulus package and the markets went up to 13k before they dropped again...

Its almost like the markets rise and fall... interesting

Small businesses fail all of the time... why isn't the government bringing up stimulus packages to save them?

Canaanabolaanan

Well, of course I ask questions of those challenging the current idea. If you don't like idea A, what is your idea B? I think this is a natural curiosity. It seems silly to even phrase it as if it's a global scheme to silence dissenters. Especially since you insinuated that anyone who balances a checkbook is qualified to run the office of the secretary of treasury. If it were that easy, how come Geithner and Paulson have been roundly criticized? Why couldn't they perform such a seemingly easy task?

I don't doubt that the markets would correct themselves. But I suspect there would be heavy losses. If the big 3 automakers collapsed, maybe new management would have bought them out (if someone had the money, and experience in making cars that they could take a corrupt system and turn it into a viable one). Or maybe viable alternatives would have cropped back up in say, 5 or 10 years. Or maybe foreign automakers would have cornered the market and left small car start up companies helpless to compete. And all of those would have been "correcting itself." But they're not all good options.

But it sounds like it would be fairly catastrophic if these giant banks failed, as pervasive and world wide as their loans and coverage are. Eventually it would correct itself. Sure. But should we necessarily suffer that much for that approach?

You're right that the market bounces up and down, and business fail. This is why the gov't doesn't generally interfere with it. Turns out, they're not as socialistic as the entire cast of the republican all-stars would have you believe. But the big ones are protected so that the damage is minimized, since the shock waves would be much larger otherwise. That seems kinda straight forward, I think.

And certainly the combination of the banks collapsing with the housing foreclosure crisis already disastrous and the automakers on the brink of bankruptcy all during an administration swap is all pretty original, not to mention its effect globally.

Chode

Well, what did you think my remark about "sniffing out the story" was?

Drew1369

I was tired... :( and now shamed I missed it