Time's Grunwald: Rick Perry Divorced From Reality
In "Ben Bernanke Embraces Obama's Reality-Based Presidency," Time's Michael Grunwald posited that Republican presidential contender Rick Perry is divorced from reality, especially when it comes to the best policies to fix the economy.
Grunwald opened with snark...
Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry still knows about as much about monetary policy as Sarah Palin knows about American history—or, for that matter, about monetary policy—but maybe there was a glimmer of insight in Perry’s dopey rant about Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s treasonous plot to re-elect President Obama. Because if you cut through the mealy-mouthed Fedspeak, Bernanke’s speech on Friday at Jackson Hole reads a bit like a defense of Obama’s policies. And not just his economic policies. Bernanke, a Republican first appointed by George W. Bush, subtly hat-tipped almost all of Obama’s major domestic policies.
...and pined for the days of pre-Tea Party bipartisan agreement on massive injections of government spending:
My point is not that Bernanke is actually trying to get Obama re-elected; my point is that they both share a reality-based view of the country; the embodiment of widespread Republican abandonment of that view is named Rick Perry. Way back in 2008, when John McCain was pushing cap-and-trade and Republicans favored an individual mandate for health care, just about everyone in Washington agreed that severe slumps call for stimulus. John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi cut a stimulus deal. But that seems like a very long time ago.
But as for reality, well, it's had a way of throwing a monkey wrench into the Obama administration's lofty expectations.
Back in January 2009, the Obama transition team economic advisors predicted that stimulus spending would stem the tide of unemployment, preventing it from rising above eight percent, contrasted with a peak of about nine percent without stimulus spending.
In reality, the unemployment rate under Obama peaked in October 2011 at 10.1 percent, and presently stands at 9.1 percent (see chart at right).
Of course, Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer -- who have since left the administration -- left themselves some wiggle room with this caveat: "there is considerable uncertainty in our estimates: both the impact of the package on GDP and the relationship between higher GDP and job creation are hard to estimate precisely."
Wouldn't the same be true of any forecast of positive effects of a third round of "quantitative easing" [printing money]?
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Comments
no fault divorce...
Submitted by Rackie on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:05pm.
from utopia politics...
where you promise them the moon and give them government cheese
Until we get rid of all the cows to reduce their . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:10pm.
. . . carbon footprint. Can't have all that methane around, you know. :-)
You know what transparent about the liberal?
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:05pm.
Every threat that they see they demonize and marginalize. It's amusing to watch them squirm as they're stupid failed agenda is circling the bowl on it's way down to the sewer.
No Trust Here
Submitted by scottyusmc on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:07pm.
Grunwald should consider the "fact" that fewer and fewer people even give a rats-backside what he has to say. Time mag long ago lost its influence to persuade the public with objective arguement. Now it puts out one single point of view, and that view is quickly losing favor with the American people. It has its kool-aid drinkers and little else to show for it.
Why would anyone give credence
Submitted by dr-go on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:10pm.
to Grunwald or any other employee of Time, Newsweek etc? Doing so is akin to saying that the buggy whip is still a major factor in transportation today. Talk about being divorced from reality!
Liberal pipe dream reality
Submitted by Barack Must Go on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:23pm.
Liberal pipe dream reality maybe.
Remove the government and all
Submitted by jkwtrading on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:32pm.
Remove the government and all regulations from the American people and we will fix the economy.
Sounds like plan
Submitted by buttercup815 on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:56pm.
remove all regulations..so kids can buy weed at every corner store. So we can buy untested pork at every grocery store. So we can buy thalidomide at every drug store. You know, that just might fix the economy..cause soon half the population would be dead.
All in all, a typically stupid liberal post, there, buttercup,--
Submitted by matthewdean on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:45pm.
as the U.S. population not only survived, but expanded without most of the regulations that are now in effect courtesy of the government.
What have 'regulations' done to stop the sale of weed?
I have no problem with rules governing the sale of safe food stuffs to protect consumers, but once again the mighty hand of government reached in - and requiring all the "necessary info" to be printed on foodstuff containers damn sure didn't decrease the cost of any food item. Unintended consequences, don't you know?
As far as buying thalidomide in every drug store, or ANY 'drug', whether in any drug store or from any street vendor, some people are intended, because of inherent stupidity, to kick off early.
So be it.
MD
Well, md...
Submitted by Jer on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:56pm.
I was following along with your flow of logic without any serious disagreement until I reached "As far a s buying thalidomide, etc." and then all I could think about was Blonde and her "tagged" or "flagged" or "locked" post procedure.
I am aghast.
Jer
Well, Jer---
Submitted by matthewdean on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:41pm.
I was following along with your flow of logic without any serious (?) disagreement until I reached "--and then all I could think about was Blonde and her "tagged" or "flagged" or "locked" post procedure." --- and then I realized that I have no idea what you are talking about.
Are you not generally aghast at all conservative posts?
Especially mine?
Please advise what specifically rendered you aghast; that I may 'tag', 'flag', or 'lock' it for future use in aghasting you.
MD
Matthew...
Submitted by Jer on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:51pm.
When Blonde runs across a comment she finds particularly outlandish, she'll post something like "Locked" beneath it so the remark can't be deleted and will be memorialized for all of posterity to bear witness--at least until the next site redesign.
You accomplish basically the same thing when you respond to virtually all of my posts and pronounce them pathetically lame or something akin thereto. :-)
Jer
I''m sorry already
Submitted by buttercup815 on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:53pm.
Just you two kiss and make up..it's my fault. Seems a troll can't be a troll here anymore without breaking up a couple.
Ken, You meant the
Submitted by Name on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:33pm.
Ken,
You meant the unemployment rate peaked in Oct. 2009, you wrote 2011.
I Want a Divorce... From President Downgrade
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:40pm.
Remember how the Community Organizer pimped the stimulus?
"It's a crisis leading to a catastrophe...." (Yes, you are THE catastrophe)
"This stimulus will keep unemployment from going above 8% (errr, 10?) percent..." (Hey close is good enough, moron)
"a hard-fought compromise that will save or create more than 3.5 million jobs and get our economy back on track...." (Not quite, Barry Hussein)
“Millions more Americans will lose their jobs... (Yay, he got another one right)
Homes will be lost. (Correct, Obamadoosh)
Families will go without health care. (Yes, you got it right!!!)
Our crippling dependence on foreign oil will continue. ” (True, especially since you won't drill)
Nice job, Barry...
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
liberals not so realistic look at reality
Submitted by ohio granny on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 4:45pm.
Liberals look thru rose colored glasses at obama and see what they want to see. They don't see him as he is. A racist, incompetent, serial/compulsive liar who will do and/or say anything regardless of the truth.
The one reality they will have to deal with happens in Nov. 2012 when their "god" loses the election no matter how many illegals or dead people vote for him. And no matter how many dems vote 2 or more times.
The reality is Obama has been a disaster for this country. Heaven only knows how many generations it will take to undo the damage. We will start in Jan. 2013.
All Grunwald has proven is
Submitted by motherbelt on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:04pm.
All Grunwald has proven is that being a Fed chairman doesn't make one immune to partisanship.
So Ear Leader's endless vacation is reality?
Submitted by drsamherman on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:17pm.
His refusal to put any of his "proposals" down on paper means he is serious about anything? If a liberal hack like Grunwald thinks ideas just suddenly turn themselves into reality, he's divorced from this frame of existence.
Let's use what works. If
Submitted by rbosque on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:26pm.
Let's use what works. If these libs like Obamanomics, then why are we experiencing 1% GDP growth, high unemployment and creeping inflation? What happened to Japan? FDR? Gee.....
Maybe it DOESN'T work!
Try encouraging an atmosphere that's condusive to growth, low taxes, flat tax, low or no regulations, the end of punative taxes on income...
Okies, NB'ers....
Submitted by Blonde on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:36pm.
Since I am such a geek.....I just had to re-do that graph and add in the REAL unemployment numbers, so we can see exactly HOW WONDERFULLY President Downgrade's Stimulus plan worked. Oh right! It didn't.
And the liberals/democrats are clamoring for MORE Stimulus?
REALLY?
I wonder how the economy would have rebounded if we'd just let the failures fail, letting the market reach its own equilibrium? (Not to mention the uncertainty involved in annual trillion and a half dollar defecits). It couldn't possibly be any worse than it is now.
I'd suggest having a bucket ready when you pop that link....in case you get queasy easily.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Okay, I've updated my graph
Submitted by Blonde on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:25pm.
....and added some excellent editorial content courtesy of Bob Keyser.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
blonde, it's called equilibrium
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:36pm.
That's the basic tenet of a free market... gets too hot... self-corrects...kind of like how water seeks its own level. It's funny how Slugman and the other economic commies point to Japan as a model of how to "stimulus" your way out of a recession... Anybody who knows their shite knows that what Japan did was a cataclysmic failure and 10 years later they are still crawling.
Nicely done.
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
Blonde,
Submitted by Chris Norman on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:47pm.
Excellent graph. I can't quite reconcile the two arguments (from some) of Obama's disastrous liberal economic policies and also his "lack of leadership". It's kind of like the old joke about the restaurant where the food is horrible and the portions are small. I think we should be grateful as a nation that Obama has been a poor leader - imagine if he was more successful in getting his agenda implemented. I thank heaven for his lack of "leadership".
Thanks, Guys
Submitted by Blonde on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:58pm.
The original graph in this post was good, but then to have the current numbers in a chart, not graphed with the "estimated" vs. "stimulus" just bothered me.
I've found that well-thought out graphs easily convey information to people who "hate numbers".
As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words.
Thanks, KOS, for the comment on my blog.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Blonde
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 9:00am.
You are awesome.
I was thinking of doing exactly the same thing as far as putting together a graph with the real unemployment numbers but then realized that I would either have to look up or guess as the values in the original graph and, being lazy, decided to abandon the idea.
Thanks for putting the work into actually doing it.
REALITY IS NEVER THE UTOPIAN SOCIALIST OPTION
Submitted by reelman46 on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:46pm.
I am convinced that liberalism is a religion in which the lie
that a secular socialist utopia is best must be protected at all costs by its members.
My 2 political laws mesh with that premise well.
=====
SCHEXNAYDER’S POLITICAL LAWS
LAW 1:
All the national democrats have are distractions, lies and smears to push or protect their secular socialist policies.
(toxic policies demand these tactics so they NATURALLY MUST use them daily.)
LAW 2:
The national democrats (aka secular socialists) have no ethical or moral boundaries.
(so you should never be shocked by what they NATURALLY MUST say or do)
http://theconservativecrawfish.wordpress.com/
Doug Schexnayder, Ph.D. (theconservativecrawfish<
Free Speech vs. Sedition
Submitted by HardRightTurn on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:04pm.
At what point does the freedom to speak untruths become a threat to the nation?
To more fully comprehend the Left, one must read “Leftism As Psychopathy” by John Ray, M.A., Ph.D. Caution, it might scare you a little bit.
http://jonjayray.tripod.com/psycho.html
Reactionary AGW alarmists say the Earth is warming abnormally?
Submitted by Retired Geek on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:31pm.
This begs the question: 'Exactly what is the ideal, normal or 'Base' temperature of the Earth'?
How can anyone tell if the Earth is warming or cooling until the base temperature of the Earth is known?
The Earth could simply be returning to a 'Base' temperature of approximately 1000 years ago when Greenland was a farming community and Scotland was growing wine grapes.
Should the 'Base' temperature be the same as approximately 300 years ago when Greenland became uninhabitable because of icing and extreme low temperatures and the Thames river iced over?
Should the 'Base' temperature be the same as 829 A.D., when the Nile froze over?
Where Are All of the Jobs?
Submitted by Retired Geek on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:32pm.
Barack Obama asked for and was given more money (February, 2009) than ANY Human in History to create Jobs - during his Presidency unemployment has soared from 6.0% to 9.1% (51.7% increase).
According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 28 million people currently unemployed or underemployed in the United States - that's including those involuntarily working part-time and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one.
34.6% of all jobs created by Obama and Obamanomics in April, 2011 were at McDonald's.
56% of all jobs created by Obama and Obamanomics in May, 2011 were at McDonald's.
http://thpatriots.blogspot.com/2011/08/barack-obama-will-give-speech-on-...
Don't Blame Obama.
Submitted by UnmitigatedTruth on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:38pm.
Why does everybody dump on poor Obama?
Would you blame the flop of a badly scripted film on the Actors? "Say, what are you talking about?" All right, I'll explain.
Obama is a great orator when he is reading his TelePrompter. Put him into a situation without the TelePrompter, and he sounds like an idiot. Now tell me how many times has Obama made a decision on any topic (other than his choice of hamburger) without taking at least a week?
So here is the question. If you were to groom a charismatic, narcissistic idiot of an actor to play the role of the President, and manage to actually get him elected, how would that presidency differ from the Obama Presidency? Your actor would be supplied with all his scripts, told not to engage in unscripted conversation if possible, and always consult with the Director for decisions and further scripts.
THINK - and don't blame Obama.
read: http://www.unmitigated-truth.com/2011/03/play-must-go-on-not.html
Obama not only wanted the role---
Submitted by matthewdean on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:58pm.
he campaigned hard to get it.
I think I will continue to blame him.
If it will make you feel better, I will add Pelosi, Reed, Durbin, Schumer, et al, to the list of worthless Lib-Dim politicos.
I must add Anthony Weiner to the list, as well; because even though he is gone, I get such a kick out of remembering his fall from the height of smarmy snarkiness to where ever it is he landed.
MD
Reality-based?
Submitted by Phryj1 on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 5:10am.
A presidency that wants to keep trying the same failed and destructive policies over and over and expecting them to suddenly start working?
More like INSANITY-based presidency.
Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.
That graph is priceless!
Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 11:28am.
It might as well be a chart a teenage boy would create - "My love life driving my dad's '84 Nissan is represented by the lower line and the upper line is what it would have been if he would have bought me a 2012 Camaro".