Obama caucuses in Oval Office with Pitt, Jolie

He had 4 Years too create Jobs

Presidents are elected for four years. When he took office three years ago we were losing 700,000 jobs a months. Does he get any credit for stopping the free fall that he inherited or is that his fault too?

The GOP let Wall Street have free reign to do as they pleased, no pesky regulations to get in their way. Well the Greedy Old Pricks trashed the entire worlds economy. And we have been picking up the pieces for the last three years.

Europe has been following the exact fiscal policies of the GOP has been proposing and they are headed back into recession. Our economy is picking up steam finally, despite everything the GOP could do to stop it.

You are a little off.

Europe was further into the social welfare state than we are. Don't worry, we are catching up fast; with the same bad predictable results to follow. (Think of Greece on steroids).

The US also has more resources available than any other country. We could pull ourselves out this a lot easier; but regulations, environmental lobbies, and general stupidity prevent even the easy to tap resources from being used.

Who says we are out of the recession? We could just as easily fall back into one if the European markets and China crash. I wonder if they will accept the blame they cast on us for the first recession? I know, I know, it doesn't work that way.

Ronin,

We could pull ourselves out this a lot easier; but regulations, environmental lobbies, and general stupidity prevent even the easy to tap resources from being used.

Sounds like you continue to blame regulations for our problems. The basic cause of the crash was the deregulation and the lack of enforcement for the existing regulations that were left. Only an idiot wants another crash like the last one.

You appear to support the typical conservative talking points.

"The problem isn't that conservatives are wrong about the efficiency of markets or the creativity of enterprise. It's that they have made false idols of both, usually without acknowledging that markets work best when well regulated, that private enterprise cannot meet every human need, that government has always played a critical role in our economy, and that the profit motive can be socially and environmentally destructive as well as dynamic." Joe Conason

And you support the typical liberal ones.

You assume I am against financial regulation. Regulate away. The money changers can go away for all I care. While you are at it regulate the hell out of Freddie and Fannie, both of which are still hemmoraging (our) money.

I was speaking of natural resourses, and not the ones that are miles beneath the ocean either.

But we would rather bankrupt the country wasting tax payer money subsidizing green technology (aka Greece). I am all for Green Tech, but it needs to be self sufficient. Right now the tech isn't there to make it so. Throwing money at it won't change things.

I am for concise, exact, regulations that will allow everyone to operate on a level playing field.

Ronin,

I am for concise, exact, regulations that will allow everyone to operate on a level playing field.

I agree with you there. I also believe we should level the playing field by taxing businesses who use our natural resources. We should tax coal plants for fouling our commonly owned property, air. The more they pollute the more they pay. The tax should be at a minimum high enough to cover the medical bills caused by the pollution. If we charge them them for that damage to us we will not need to subsidize any green technology since they will have a level playing field.

Just as we charge company a price for drilling on commonly owned land we need to charge them for causing harm to our common property.

Wall Street figured out how to place the risk of their transactions on the common treasury with the bailout. That was wrong. It is also wrong to allow companies to freely despoil the environment.

You mean cap and tax. Bad, bad, idea.

Businesses do not operate at a loss, they will pass the added tax onto the consumer.

I know the government offers a "rebate" to those below a certain income level (4 times the poverty level is what I heard) for Cap and Tax. What happens if you are just short of the poverty level? Your energy costs go up, and your income does not compensate to match. What about non energy related business, they will have to pass the cost increase to their customer as well.

When I meant a level playing field is subsidize nothing. No businesses, industries, or even individuals. This would include all tax breaks.

If your plan goes thru the only ones laughing will be China, India, and the rest of the burgeoning 3rd world industrial countries. American businesses will be beating a path to their door as they leave the US.