Biden Op-Ed: What You Might Not Know About The Recovery

nytimes.com:

SIX months ago, when President Obama and I took office, we were confronted with an economic crisis unparalleled in our lifetime. The nation was hemorrhaging more than 700,000 jobs a month, the housing market was in free fall, and the fate of the financial system hung in the balance. Credible economists were handicapping the probability of a depression. The actions we took -- passing the Recovery Act, stabilizing the banking system, pressing to get credit flowing again and helping responsible homeowners -- brought us back from the precipice. Monthly job losses are down, financial markets are improved, and economic contraction has slowed. We still have a long way to go, but clearly we are closer to recovery today than we were in January. The Recovery Act has been critical to that progress.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[LizM]

As far as the economy is concerned, it seems that worm has finally turned and so, it would be really nice if we could have an in-depth op-ed from the Vice President on Iraq. Actually, another blog around here - every now and again - from VP Biden wouldn't hurt, either.

[PrincipiaChamp]

In reading these postings, many commenters on this thread don't appear to have read VP Biden's op-ed. To comment on something one hasn't read, is odd at best. How can you abide this?

Yes, a blog from the Vice President would be wonderful, especially foreign policy/Iraq. Why not hear directly from the expert I say ;-)

[sueinmn]

No jobs in sight, unemployment benefits running out, forclosures still running rampant, the recession is over?

Who are they trying to kid? It may be over for the banks as they got theirs but not the rest of us! Give the banks 6 months and they'll be begging for more cash. Wheres it gonna come from? They say the Federal reserve has used the gold to pay debts to the Saudis, we have little to nothing backing our dollar. Wheres it gonna come from as the bubble is still growing and will most certainly burst again!

[Madmac]

For the uneducated or those who are addicted to MSM...

Most recent Statistics from Recovery.gov 7/17/2009

Amount available to spend: $187.41 Billion

Amount Spent/Committed: $67.39 Billion

Can we table the yapping over whether or not the stimulus has succeeded, failed or whether we need a second one until the money has been spent.

[mitsie]

I will add that the MSM just hate to admit the fact that the economy is improving, they will look around until they can find something negative and discuss that. Perhaps everyone should stop watching or listening to them until they change.

[sc300nc]

The fact that it hasn't yet been spent shows how incapable our leaders are. We need the stimulus now, not a year from now. It was an emergency situation when they passed it, unemployment is running rampant. Stimulate the economy by helping businesses grow. Give them tax incentives for new hires.

[rnorthro14]

Say what you will about Joe Biden...............

........but Ukrainian women ARE HOT!!!!!!!

[bro43]

I'm sure we all remember in 01 when Bushieboy claimed he saved us from the recession, when all he really did was inflate another bubble. Same thing going on now, more bubble inflating. What nobody is talking about, especially in the mainsteam media is the root of the economic problem, the Federal Reserve Bank and their monopoly wrt money creation and interest rate setting. By making credit too easy they encouraged malinvestment and rampant misallocation of resources. By bailing out industries with failing business models they have postponed the crash but it won't last for long. Eventually the correction will happen and when it does it will be worse for everyone. Problem is both sides of the aisle are just as deeply invovled in the corruption and neither truly want it to end.

[Conservador-Rebelde]

Good post.

[Sundialsvc4]

All right. Well put. Thank you. Carry on.

[peterg76]

The banks have embezzled money which is now public debt. It's not progress.

Do have any idea how wealthy we could be if we didn't have the banks skimming off the productive economy?

[vippy]

Ever wonder why this happens so often. Every time the little man saves a little money, the banks
come along and rob it all.

[viperhawk2k4]

There is NO public debt! We didn't sign a contract!

[toosinbeymen]

I'll tell you what I do know. It's all going to the richest bastards in the country including the money I pay in taxes.

Why are you trying so hard to be a one term administration, VP Joe Biden? Can't you see what's going on here, for god's sake?

[MRb1000]

Where were you the pass eight years?

[tel8034]

"The single largest part of the Recovery Act — more than one-third of it — is tax cuts: 95 percent of working Americans have seen their taxes go down as a result of the act."

The republicans INSISTED that the majority of the stimulus bill SHOULD contain TAX CUTS, and the final bill (which was aimed at achieving bipartisan support), ended up having 1/3 consisting of the TAX CUTS the republicans wanted ..................... YET THE REPUBLICANS VOTED NO TO THE BILL.

Now even with the tax cuts (which was the component that went into play immediately after the bill was signed) the republicans are calling the stimulus bill a failure ........Yet they take credit for when it's convenient.

VP Biden has explained that to date it's the tax cuts and the assistance to the states for the salaries of essential employees, already in play, with the infrastructure programs to come in the next phase.

So if the stimulus bill isn't working as the republicans claim, then they will have to claim that it's the TAX CUTS they INSISTED ON which is not working................. WHICH DEFEATS THEIR REPUBLICAN ARGUMENT THAT TAX CUTS ARE THE ONLY THING WHICH WILL STIMULATE THE ECONOMY.

So republicans ..............HAVE THE TAX CUTS REPUBLICANS INSISTED ON, AND ARE IN PLACE, STIMULATED THE ECONOMY?.................. OR ..................ARE REPUBLICANS CALLING THE TAX CUTS IN THE STIMULUS BILL A FAILURE, EVEN THOUGH THE TAX CUTS HAVE BEEN APPLIED FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE STIMULUS PROGRAM?

[robbrian]

Joe Biden is SO WRONG. He claims "...our balanced approach..." Excuse me, but didn't you give one sector (banking and finance) $23 trillion and all the other sectors the rest of the economy) $1 trillion? Balance?

He knows full well the history of Lincoln's Greenbacks. They were the "silver bullet" that won the Civil War and generated a renaissance in industry and the public provision of services.

Biden knows full well that Obama could do the same thing Lincoln did, because the authority to do so exists under the current E.O. 11110 issued by JFK in April, 1963, five months later he was assasinated. Johnson went along with the Federal Reserve Board and agreed to have the interest free $4.3 billion in Silver Certificates withdrawn from circulation. Why?

Had Johnson continued this policy shift we would have no debt.

Thomas Edison observed:
“If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good, makes the bill good, also. The difference between the bond and the bill is that the bond lets money brokers collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%, whereas the currency pays nobody but those who contribute directly in some useful way.

It is absurd to say that our country can issue $30 million in bonds and not $30 million in currency. Both are promises to pay, but one promise fattens the usurers and the other helps the people.”

[tnkeating]

Well done sir

[MountainPenelope]

I seem to remember that it was George Bush who gave the banks the $23 trillion. That happened in September. So, don't put that one on Obama/Biden.

[rbarry647]

Excellent point

[vippy]

Little tax cut, hardly get a loaf of bread for it, however, local taxes going up, utilities going up,
groceries going up. Hardly a recovery of any type.

[Sensiblebg]

Joe Biden makes George Bush look like a Rhodes Scholar

[fets49]

Nope! Nobody could do that.

[arglebargle]

Refresh me--when did Bush write an op-ed in any paper, or explain his policies in any articulate detail?

*drums fingers*

[Sensiblebg]

GWB has written in the WSJ several times... Just because you dont agree with him doesnt mean he didnt write to articulate his points.. Here is one for example:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009473

Biden is much less articulate and that is saying a lot..

[PrincipiaChamp]

Biden is highly intelligent. Bush is not known to write or read at any great extent...for whatever reason. That is not to say Mr. Bush does not have individuals write for him. Before his presidency, there was so little documented writings of GW Bush, that scholars were unable to evaluate, as writing, language, word usage, sentence structure, and complex concepts are gauged. Mr. Biden may misspeak on occasion, but guaranteed, he is highly intelligent.

[SinfullySublime]

Joe, I you to write more and speak less. And to reexamine ALL trade agreements and tax loopholes before the stimulus funds run out..

[bigsexyshaq]

*finds something wrong with this without reading*

Ok, I've done the job for most of you. No need to comment.

[rssrai]

The jobs will start coming back because I can start to see some improvements as I speak. I see highway projects on the move, and I see UPS trucks everywhere. There has to be a lot of buying going on. I don't know if it is busnesses or residences, but somethng is going on.

[DestinationsUnknown]

look out for the outsourced fed ex trucks and drivers

you know fed ex mccains fav- the job creator

the job outsourcer

just like comcast

[toinfinityandbeyond]

Here are a few more quotes....

"I am convinced that through these measures we have reestablished confidence."
- Herbert Hoover, December 1929

"[1930 will be] a splendid employment year."
- U.S. Dept. of Labor, New Year's Forecast, December 1929

"...there are indications that the severest phase of the recession is over..."
- Harvard Economic Society (HES) Jan 18, 1930

"There is nothing in the situation to be disturbed about."
- Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, Feb 1930

"The spring of 1930 marks the end of a period of grave concern...American business is steadily coming back to a normal level of prosperity."
- Julius Barnes, head of Hoover's National Business Survey Conference, Mar 16, 1930

"... the outlook continues favorable..."
- HES Mar 29, 1930

"... the outlook is favorable..."
- HES Apr 19, 1930

"While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst -- and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us."
- Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930

[weatherwaxx]

Funny, you seem to be quoting Republicans.

[bro43]

Hoover=Bush and Roosevelt=Obama, that means only 16 more years before we rebound.

[dessertsfirst]

Well, that's when republicans were the real deal. Today's Grand Obstructionist Party is not the same Grand Ole Party that my folks voted for. That was before the gre.ed for power and money became more important than actually representing the people who voted them in to office; the same people who then paid their salary and health care.

[toinfinityandbeyond]

As Mark Twain once said. " History never repeats, but it sure does rhyme. I did a little surfing and found these quotes just before, during and after the crash of 1929. See if any of them sound familiar to you today.

1."We will not have any more crashes in our time."
- John Maynard Keynes in 1927

2. "I cannot help but raise a dissenting voice to statements that we are living in a fool's paradise, and that prosperity in this country must necessarily diminish and recede in the near future."
- E. H. H. Simmons, President, New York Stock Exchange, January 12, 1928

3. "There will be no interruption of our permanent prosperity."
- Myron E. Forbes, President, Pierce Arrow Motor Car Co., January 12, 1928

4. "No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on surveying the state of the Union, has met with a more pleasing prospect than that which appears at the present time. In the domestic field there is tranquility and contentment...and the highest record of years of prosperity. In the foreign field there is peace, the goodwill which comes from mutual understanding."
- Calvin Coolidge December 4, 1928

5. "There may be a recession in stock prices, but not anything in the nature of a crash."
- Irving Fisher, leading U.S. economist , New York Times, Sept. 5, 1929

6. "This crash is not going to have much effect on business."
- Arthur Reynolds, Chairman of Continental Bank