Question

Who thinks that Obama is ruining the US economy?
(why or why not)

Answer 1

That is good question.I am sort of standing together with Obama ,

Answer 2

@John_Zhang, so you're not a 100% sure, or you're thinking that he is ruining the economy, but just a little?

Answer 3

I hope i can learn different ideals from your special angle to observe it.

Answer 4

Don't you see the Doctors are (going to) be paid cheaper.
political and economic aspect of the problem!

Answer 5

@John_Zhang, agree?

Answer 6

@John_Zhang, did you just undo your medal?

Answer 7

OMG! @Rahcel_97 what do you think?

Answer 8

Do I think the Obama is ruining the US economy, the Obama care program....
For sure I do!

Answer 9

Hold on, I only know the "Obama doesn't care program"

Answer 10

LOL

Answer 11

I can handle the medal now,see.I will give it to you .

Answer 12

@caitlynnbaby

Answer 13

U' ve heard of "Obama doesn't care", right?

Answer 14

i think he has put us into a bigger hole then we were already in and he doesnt know how to get us out so he is blaming it on other people

Answer 15

Cool! Like that!

Answer 16

I heard he is going t borrow even more money from other countries.

Answer 17

okay

Answer 18

Obama is not ruining the country. The nation has been in debt since the beginning (except for a couple of years during the Jackson presidency).
Obamacare isn't a great law in my opinion - but the healthcare system in this country is atrocious. We spend more than double the average of industrialized nations per person on healthcare (more than $8,000 per person per year as opposed to an average between $3,500 and $4,000 in other nations). Our system isn't any better though - we consistently rank in the 30's and 40's in overall health care ratings among industrialized nations - which isn't good considering the amount we spend. The single payer plan that Obama proposed that was thrown out for being too socialist would have eliminated this problem - the government would have strict price controls for all medical procedures. The biggest hit here would be to the insurance industry, which would be pretty much wiped out. Considering that insurance companies pay pennies on the dollar billed by doctors, the actual impact on doctors wouldn't be quite as dramatic. IMO insurance companies are a necessary evil in this system and eliminating them through a program like this would be economically beneficial. They artificially inflate costs and provide no real service, they're a middleman to services.
But as it was passed, the most optimistic view I have of Obamacare is "it will get worse before it gets better." BTW: The main ideas of "Obamacare" are comprised almost entirely of ideas first introduced and supported by Republicans - healthcare exchanges, individual mandate, etc. But I digress - the single payer option would have controlled costs and eventually been at least as effective as socialized health care is in other countries (which is pretty darn effective). But that would be socialist and Americans are terrified of that word. So we created a plan instead that allows insurance companies to complain about having to pay more money while in reality they gorge themselves on increased premiums for years because of the perception of future increases in risk. (Obamacare isn't even fully in effect until 2015 and our insurance premiums have been going up for the last 3 years).
So the plan stinks, but it won't bankrupt the country. Our current debt is about equal to our GDP. We've gone as high as 120% of GDP in the 20th century. Basically, in 1946 the debt was worse than it is today (not in nominal dollars but comparing debt to GDP is a handy way to adjust for inflation without using a traditional price index). The government doesn't have to really worry about paying off the total loan amount - the government doesn't get sick, lose its job or die, so it basically has an eternity to pay off the loan. It also has an incentive to stay in debt to foreign nations to maintain diplomatic relations and it has a mandate to be in debt to the federal reserve. Most of the public debt is held domestically through treasury bonds and direct loans. If your Aunt Ginny gave you a savings bond when you were born you hold a part of the national debt. Most of it is owned by Americans and used as an investment security - which generally isn't a bad thing. Finally, the federal government has the ability to create more money to pay off the debt it if wants to. It can drastically increase the supply of money in circulation to "inflate away the debt." That means driving the currency value down so low that paying off the debt seems really easy. I don't think we're any where near close to this "solution."
In short, a 17 trillion dollar debt is only scary if you ignore the details...or if you're afraid of zeroes.

Answer 19

@mightBEyourTEACHER, just read your....
can I summarize your opinion as
He isn't ruining so much, b/c it is going down anyway, since the huge debt...
however the Obama-care is pushing the economy down EVEN MORE.
(right?)

Answer 20

No, I don't like Obamacare because it's not going to be effective in doing what it's intended to do - give everyone affordable health care. It's going to drive up the costs of health care for many and many people and businesses are going to opt to pay a penalty because it's less expensive than paying for insurance. The law itself is poorly designed.
The debt is a trickier subject, to say the nation is "going down anyway" is definitely not my opinion at all. We have a debt that is about 100% of our GDP, we had an even worse debt in 1946 and that was followed by one of the most prosperous decades in our history which drove the debt down not by paying it off, but by increasing the size of the economy overall and not borrowing a whole lot more. Public debt is not necessarily a bad thing - government spending creates jobs in both the public and the private sector (for example - look at Lockheed Martin, a significant part of their business is in defense contracts, if the government stops buying jets, Lockheed lays off thousands of employees).
Or another way to look at it - America has been its strongest and most prosperous when its debt has equaled about 50-60% of GDP. If we are at 100% right now, we need to either pay off half, or wait until the economy doubles in size (until GDP is $34 trillion) without spending more to reach 50%. While Obama isn't ruining anything by borrowing (see my comment above about governments not needing to pay back loans in the same way individuals or households do), the worst he is doing is delaying the return to that 50-60% zone.

Answer 21

I can see that!

Answer 22

Well the thing is, debt keeps rising, inflations are not going down, and technically the unemployment rate is not going lower. (for example, one can count as being "employed" by working at a part time job, but it isn't really sufficient) Also, I'm not sure about this, but I have heard that Obama is trying to curb our rights through arguments like if one speaks out against his policies or the government, then they are racist, etc. But those are just rumors. And in my opinion, his policies are not helping the economy so far even though he has been president for 2 terms.

Answer 23

R u a republican? (...I am.)

Answer 24

"Inflation going down" would be horrible for the economy. The opposite of inflation is deflation - which means everything goes down in value when compared to the dollar. As annoying as inflation is, deflation can be devastating. When prices go down, so do incomes. There's a direct relationship between the amount of money a company makes and the amount it can afford to pay its employees. If you hold any debt at all - mortgage, car loan, credit card, student loan, etc - suddenly that debt becomes much harder to manage. If you are a business or government and you have outstanding bonds - you have the exact same problem.
As for his policies not helping the economy grow - his first two quarters that he was in office the economy was in the toilet. The nation was in recession and GDP shrunk by almost 6%. Since then, there's been one quarter in which GDP shrunk and 15 quarters in which it grew. "The economy" today is stronger than it has been in about 8 years. Unemployment is dragging as corporations discover they can automate jobs or outsource them to other countries and still make a profit. Blame that on technological developments and on NAFTA (That's Clinton's and George HW Bush's fault).
As for "taking away our rights" - I haven't heard Obama accuse any criticism of him of being racist personally. His supporters may be saying that, but not him personally. Even if he did say that, that's not "taking away our rights" we still have the right to say whatever we want to criticize him. Taking away our rights would be imprisoning or injuring/killing people who speak out against the government - not calling them bad names.
Finally - am I a republican? I used to be. I'm a recovering republican. I still believe in fiscal conservatism, reducing taxes, and increasing freedoms. I thought the republican party was for those things - but I don't believe that anymore. They are for spending just as much as democrats, just on different programs, and they're all about limiting first amendment rights unless you're a white male Christian. I'm a moderate conservative without a party. There are plenty of things we can criticize liberals for doing that they are ACTUALLY responsible for. We don't need to make things up, twist facts, or rely on soundbites to be effective. In fact, "conservatives'" (read: The Tea Party's) reliance on those tactics really weakens the argument for all of us.