White House dampens stimulus expectations

[thundley4]

I can has socialism?

"WASHINGTON (Reuters)- President Barack Obama's aides warned Americans on Sunday not to expect instant miracles from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill he will sign this week, but said it would help eventually.
Obama is due to sign the bill passed last week by Congress in Denver on Tuesday. It was the first major legislative victory of his young presidency, which could rise or fall with its success or failure.
"There will be signs of activity very quickly," David Axelrod, the White House senior adviser, said on "Fox News Sunday." "But it's going to take time for that to show up in the statistics. The president has said it's likely to get worse before it gets better."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs used similar language on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"I don't think there's any doubt that we've seen this economy has gotten worse just in the last few months. The acceleration in job loss probably means that this economy is going to get worse before it gets better," he said."Liar inChief

Damn, it was so urgent to pass this POS quickly, that nobody had time to read it, yet he isn't going to sign it until Tuesday.  Now he tells us that it won't fix things overnight.  Of course it won't ever fix things, but hey, we have "Hope and Change".

[Carl]

Rush is 100% correct,this isn`t about the economy as much as to institutionalize dependency on government for "jobs" and at some point to just "have to for the good of the country" raise taxes to a punitive level.
This will force even more to exist on government created jobs as private sector ones will dry up even more and the income taxes that go with them.
Government then will crank up the printing presses as real revenues decline

Stagflation revisited and sooner or later the same foreign policy disasters will ensue.

[Chris_]

Rush is 100% correct,this isn`t about the economy as much as to institutionalize dependency on government for "jobs" and at some point to just "have to for the good of the country" raise taxes to a punitive level.
This will force even more to exist on government created jobs as private sector ones will dry up even more and the income taxes that go with them.
Government then will crank up the printing presses as real revenues decline

Stagflation revisited and sooner or later the same foreign policy disasters will ensue.

Folks, buckle down. I am preparing for the worst and, to some degree, hoping for the worst.  This is like a very very bad illness -- we need to get a fever, one that comes dangerous but one that purges the body of the illness.  The worst thing for this country's long term prospects is for this to be regarded as anything other than the worst bill by the worst administration the the Nation's history.

[thundley4]

What's scary is that retail sales went up in January.  The media is going to hype the bejabbers out of any and positive signs, while totally ignoring any bad signs of the economy. Many thought the economy would turn around on it's own if the government would have just left it alone. That is why there was such a push to get this POS bill through so fast.

[Ptarmigan]

What's scary is that retail sales went up in January.  The media is going to hype the bejabbers out of any and positive signs, while totally ignoring any bad signs of the economy. Many thought the economy would turn around on it's own if the government would have just left it alone. That is why there was such a push to get this POS bill through so fast.

The media is biased to the left. I would not be surprised they are going to spin it.

[ironhorsedriver]

I read a report, on Drudge I believe, where several economist's are saying March will be hell. They are predicting that the Dollar will tank. Apparently they are really forcasting some serious gloom.

[PoliCon]

What's scary is that retail sales went up in January.  The media is going to hype the bejabbers out of any and positive signs, while totally ignoring any bad signs of the economy. Many thought the economy would turn around on it's own if the government would have just left it alone. That is why there was such a push to get this POS bill through so fast.

Right - so that any upturn they can then claim is a result of the spending - and when it tanks again - they can claim that we need to spend even MORE.

[rich_t]

In 2011, the DEM mantra will be that there hasn't been enough time for the stimulus plan to take effect yet.

[lnthomp]

In 2011, the DEM mantra will be that there hasn't been enough time for the stimulus plan to take effect yet.

By that time, hopefully it will be as obvious as it was near the end of the Carter administration that the DEM mantra is a lie.  Also, hopefully, by that time there will be some real conservatives ready to run for the presidency.  Otherwise we'll be in even deeper doo-doo.

[miskie]

What's scary is that retail sales went up in January.  The media is going to hype the bejabbers out of any and positive signs, while totally ignoring any bad signs of the economy. Many thought the economy would turn around on it's own if the government would have just left it alone. That is why there was such a push to get this POS bill through so fast.

That's okay - really. Half of January still saw the Bush administration in control. I'm certain that the upturn in sales was because of post Christmas bargain hunters doing a bunch of shopping after retailers were forced to slash prices to near-cost to move the merchandise, creating a one month long bubble.

That bubble is long popped.

Once February numbers arrive, the only administration on the books will be Obama's - and the decline will be sharper than expected because of the pull-back from the January post-Christmas spike.

[thundley4]

That's okay - really. Half of January still saw the Bush administration in control. I'm certain that the upturn in sales was because of post Christmas bargain hunters doing a bunch of shopping after retailers were forced to slash prices to near-cost to move the merchandise, creating a one month long bubble.

That bubble is long popped.

Once February numbers arrive, the only administration on the books will be Obama's - and the decline will be sharper than expected because of the pull-back from the January post-Christmas spike.

OTOH, there might be an uptick in retail sales because of people getting their tax refund checks.

[miskie]

OTOH, there might be an uptick in retail sales because of people getting their tax refund checks.

I think any up-tick will be negligible. Since people file at different times, the bulk of the refunds will be spread over a few months.

[thundley4]

I think any up-tick will be negligible. Since people file at different times, the bulk of the refunds will be spread over a few months.

Don't be too sure of that, most of my coworkers filed within a week of W-2s being passed out.  A lot of people that know they are getting refunds file early.

[debk]

That's okay - really. Half of January still saw the Bush administration in control. I'm certain that the upturn in sales was because of post Christmas bargain hunters doing a bunch of shopping after retailers were forced to slash prices to near-cost to move the merchandise, creating a one month long bubble.

That bubble is long popped.

Once February numbers arrive, the only administration on the books will be Obama's - and the decline will be sharper than expected because of the pull-back from the January post-Christmas spike.

Not only was it people returning things and repurchasing...it was also gift cards being spent. Or cash paper money Christmas gifts.

Last month also saw an uptick in home purchases. Yes...there was....properties in foreclosures saw a price slash on many of them when the offers came in. I had one offer come in 25k less than the price and it sold for 15k less than asking price which was 50k less than the property would have been listed for had it not been a foreclosure.
Many banks also delayed the closings from end of December until January. I had 2 that were to close in December and the banks didn't want them to close until January.

I currently have several properties at great prices for what they are...about 10-15K lower than they should be. Can't even get a call on them!!! I talked to several agents in my office last week....lots of sellers....NO buyers.

There were more buyers around in December than there are now.

I think people are too worried about whether or not they will have a job to pay for what they have, let alone a new place or new car, to be out looking.

We have a large shopping area that's been built in the last 3-5 years, it ranges from Super Walmart and Target to Talbots and Ann Taylor. Saturday, the place was jammed packed. It's about a 2 mile strip on both sides of the road (4 lane) and traffic was going 5 mph. It was like Christmas! But there were lots of sales going on and it was Valentine's....there are several restaurants out there, too. I don't know how much people were spending except they were in line to pay in the 3 stores I was in. No hint of a bad economy there except for the prices.