Why I'm glad the economy crashed

[Proteas]

Catchy title, ain't it?

Is that Deja-Vu, or just gas?

To start off with, I am not actually glad the economy crashed. If you don't get the joke, or respond to me that I'm an asshole for using it, go back to the depths of general forum with you. If you get the joke, then by all means, you'll know the vein I'm heading towards.

Has anybody noticed that since Obama took office, the focus is no longer on how bad things are in Iraq but on how badly the economy is doing? When Bush was in office, we would hear nightly reports on how many people were killed in Iraq that day, and weekly (if not more often than that) we'd get an update on how much the public thought he sucked as a President. Now all we hear about is how much the economy is in the shitter, and how the Dow Jones seems to be an accurate representation of President Obama's performance in office.

Is it racist to get an actual public opinion poll of his performance now?

Do you realize that as of next Friday, we will have been in Iraq for 6 years? There's been a total of 4,256 total U.S. Soldiers dead now from the action, and an estimated 150,000 to 1.3 million iraqi lives lost since the start of the war. I'm not going to claim media bias in this matter one way or the other, because I think it (and the lack of topics recently on the subject of Iraq) speaks for itself. But I will ask this; in 6 years time, have we become so jaded as a society as to no longer care about Iraq?

I tend to ignore the market news when it's on. Partly because I think the media is preying on people's fear about the economy and creating a self-fullfilling prophecy; the market is bad, the media makes it's focus on the fact every day, making the economy worse. And the politicians in charge aren't helping matters either, as they are helping to perpetuate the economic crisis.

Ben Stein was on CBS Sunday Morning either this week or last, and I think he said it best when he made the comment that if Ben Bernanke, or Timothy Geitner, or any other member of the government closely involved with the economy would just come out and say "the recession will be over in 9 to 12 months, we will pull through this" instead of the polar opposite, the general public would regain it's confidence in the market and things would rebound.

But hey, economics has never been my strong suit, so what would I know?

[Dalkia13]

I see your point, same thing everywhere else...

[RippinCorpse]

At 3/10/09 05:42 PM, Proteas wrote: Catchy title, ain't it?

Now all we hear about is how much the economy is in the shitter, and how the Dow Jones seems to be an accurate representation of President Obama's performance in office.

The Dow Jones is not a representation of Obama's performance. The Dow Jones started snowballing before he was even elected. I'm not sure if you were saying that, but I wanted to clarify.

Is it racist to get an actual public opinion poll of his performance now?

Racist, no. Inaccurate, yes. People remember the inauguration too vividly.

have we become so jaded as a society as to no longer care about Iraq?

Not necessarily. I think our own asses (and IRAs) are on the line, we care more. I think people also see Iraq as coming to an end with the upcoming troop withdrawals, which GWB refused to even talk about.

I tend to ignore the market news when it's on.

There's no goddamn reason to. It's not like any of us can do anything. Hell, the "experts" who make their living giving people "advice" can't do anything,

And the politicians in charge aren't helping matters either, as they are helping to perpetuate the economic crisis.

I think they are somewhat sincere, but I also think that the mistakes have been made, and they only have so much power as humans.

the general public would regain it's confidence in the market and things would rebound.

Ben Stein is a moron, but he has an interesting perspective occasionally. I don't think it would Presto! Chango! ALAKAZAM! recover, but I think it would probably end the hysteria.

[GrammerNaziElite]

This is not unlike the 'Outlaw Pessimism' topic. Furthermore, I'm not sure if I got the joke in the title, but I agree with what you're saying.

[stafffighter]

The news is off Iraq for the same reason Ben Stein said it could come off the economy. We were given a forseeable end.
People are very receptable to taking emotional cues off of leaders like this. If someone in a position to say so say's we'll be ok people will beleive it. Unfortunatly, as illistrated by the same example, people like to think that when thta happens it'll go away without a thought. We don't want to hear about the process, which is why we aren't listening to even the more favorable economic ideas.
Just have someone say it'll be ok and then we can all get back to Wal Mart.

[aninjaman]

I think people care more economy because its more prevelant to them.
Economy news-"You could lose your job, savings, 401K, and wait in a breadline!!! YOU!!!"
Iraq War news-"A civil war in a country you can't locate on a map, get the religions of the natives right, and you probably forgot why America is there."

[Al6200]

At 3/10/09 05:42 PM, Proteas wrote:

Has anybody noticed that since Obama took office, the focus is no longer on how bad things are in Iraq but on how badly the economy is doing? When Bush was in office, we would hear nightly reports on how many people were killed in Iraq that day, and weekly (if not more often than that) we'd get an update on how much the public thought he sucked as a President. Now all we hear about is how much the economy is in the shitter, and how the Dow Jones seems to be an accurate representation of President Obama's performance in office.

That has nothing to do with the economy. The war is Iraq is more or less over.

http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CA SUALTY/OIF-Total-by-month.pdf

[Proteas]

At 3/10/09 06:33 PM, RippinCorpse wrote: The Dow Jones is not a representation of Obama's performance.

I'm aware of that, but if you watch the evening news at all you will notice that any movement up or down in the market is usually connected by the newscaster to Obama's policies, which is bullshit because he has about as much control over the matter as Bozo the Clown does the cost of aspirin.

There's no goddamn reason to.

So I should be watching this stuff?

Ben Stein is a moron

Explain.

[Proteas]

At 3/10/09 07:53 PM, Al6200 wrote: That has nothing to do with the economy. The war is Iraq is more or less over.

My point was that the media has shifted from one "quagmire" in favor of another, and nobody seems to have noticed. Much the same way the media dropped Cindy Sheehan and other war mothers in favor of covering Hurricane Katrina.

[RippinCorpse]

At 3/10/09 07:57 PM, Proteas wrote:
I'm aware of that, but if you watch the evening news at all you will notice that any movement up or down in the market is usually connected by the newscaster to Obama's policies, which is bullshit because he has about as much control over the matter as Bozo the Clown does the cost of aspirin.

This is true. I honestly think that a single politician can't be blamed for not fixing a recession like this in less than a year.

There's no goddamn reason to.

So I should be watching this stuff?

No. We may have a misunderstanding here.

Ben Stein is a moron

Explain.

I watched his "documentary" about intelligent design. I can't even watch Ferris Bueller without thinking about it. The comment in question seemed to have some basis.

[Al6200]

At 3/10/09 08:00 PM, Proteas wrote:

At 3/10/09 07:53 PM, Al6200 wrote: That has nothing to do with the economy. The war is Iraq is more or less over.

My point was that the media has shifted from one "quagmire" in favor of another, and nobody seems to have noticed. Much the same way the media dropped Cindy Sheehan and other war mothers in favor of covering Hurricane Katrina.

That's because the Iraq war is more or less over. There's not a lot to cover.

[aninjaman]

At 3/10/09 08:26 PM, Al6200 wrote: That's because the Iraq war is more or less over. There's not a lot to cover.

The Iraq wont be officially over for a couple of years and even after that Obama could leave a couple of troops for support and bring in troops to attack targets and help the Iraqi government.
There is also the war in Afghanistan which is far from over and will only get bigger.

[Proteas]

At 3/10/09 08:26 PM, Al6200 wrote: That's because the Iraq war is more or less over. There's not a lot to cover.

Is the war in Iraq more "over" now than it was 4 months ago?

[MortifiedPenguins]

Simple, newspapers are like any other business and cater to thier customers.

The American people, sadly, have the attention span of a 12 year old on ADD and will only limit a certain amont of time or passing care to a certain situation.

Usually after that, the paper will still cover the story, but just not anywhere near the first six pages.

[Proteas]

At 3/10/09 10:51 PM, MortifiedPenguins wrote: The American people, sadly, have the attention span of a 12 year old on ADD and will only limit a certain amont of time or passing care to a certain situation.

Would you say the same applies to this bbs, though?

[BrianEtrius]

At 3/10/09 11:09 PM, Proteas wrote: Would you say the same applies to this bbs, though?

Depends. Most of America is too blind sighted to even notice this.

Thing about bad news is it sells, and it sells good. Old news is crap and newspapers can't sell. Murder? Front Page! Economy down? First rack. Presidential scandal? Put it straight on there.

Media absolute gobbles it up, and for the most part so does America. Look at American Idol. Honestly, people watch to see who gets booted off. No one really cares about the winner.

[Ravariel]

At 3/10/09 05:42 PM, Proteas wrote: Ben Stein was on CBS Sunday Morning either this week or last, and I think he said it best when he made the comment that if Ben Bernanke, or Timothy Geitner, or any other member of the government closely involved with the economy would just come out and say "the recession will be over in 9 to 12 months, we will pull through this" instead of the polar opposite, the general public would regain it's confidence in the market and things would rebound.

Holy shit, you're fucking psychic...

Geitner says we'll be out of the recession in 9 months and that 2010 will be a year of growth and the dow jumps more than 5%... funny how that happens.

The most bizarre thing about recessions is that they're like self-fulfilling prophesies. Once the news media says we're in a recession, people stop spending money... and all of a sudden we're in a recession... Once someone comes out and says "We're near the end and should be good in a few months... viola we're good.

Funny that...

[Proteas]

At 3/10/09 11:38 PM, Ravariel wrote: Holy shit, you're fucking psychic...

I've been known to have premonitions on stuff, but Ben Stein's getting credit for this one. I just happen to have a similar way of thinking as his.

But still... an hour after I typed it up, and it happened. O_o;

Tomorrow night's lottery numbers will be....

[bcdemon]

At 3/10/09 08:26 PM, Al6200 wrote: That's because the Iraq war is more or less over. There's not a lot to cover.

Not a lot to cover that interest average Americans you mean. Just yesterday there was a car bomb that killed 30 people at a gathering that was supposed to try and gel Shiite and Sunnis. Or what about the other suicide bomber that killed almost 30 people at a police training center that happened 3 days ago? Over 60 people killed in two days, and you say the war is more or less over?

But AI6200 is a prime example of what I mean. He says the Iraq war is almost over and links to a page detailing troop deaths. He has no care as to how many Iraqis are dying on a daily basis due to the violence in the country.
150 Iraqis found dead in the past 7 days
Yep, looks like the end is near....

[hansari]

At 3/10/09 05:42 PM, Proteas wrote: But I will ask this; in 6 years time, have we become so jaded as a society as to no longer care about Iraq?

People have always been jaded. Its not just how society conditioned us, its our biology too.

This article explains it a bit better...its long though but good.

http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_wha t-monkeysphere.html

(for brevity, skip to the part where Tim Russert is mentioned and start reading from there)

[RippinCorpse]

At 3/11/09 11:42 AM, bcdemon wrote: 150 Iraqis found dead in the past 7 days
Yep, looks like the end is near....

It is for us.

We've reached a point where the US can do nothing to hold Iraq up. It's up to them at this point.

Also, with us gone, terrorist orgs will have no excuse to bomb civilian areas.