What to make of this?

[andrewjs18]

So a ex co-worker of mine posted a link of facebook saying:
"Why are people dogging on the President already? Give the man a chance" keep in mind, his info says he's a Republican...so I chime in some then some liberal economist friend of his, I suppose, chimes in...here's some of what he said:

Matt at 11:43am March 30
Obama is not a socialist. He's a strong CAPITALlist, and is doing what is necessary to make CAPITAL flow. The reason capitalism works is because it encourages lending-- in a world where there are people with good business ideas and no money and people with lots of money and no good business ideas, you need a way to have the second group willing ... Read Moreto give money to the first group. That's why capitalism works-- it's not a talking point, it's a theory. Encouraging lending is what Obama is doing, which makes capitalism go. The government will not have trouble getting loans over a short-run spending hike, and China would be screwed if our economy went under so they have to lend us the money. Socialism by the definition you use (England, Germany, and Canada) is really just a variant on capitalism and their GDP per person is about the same as America. Socialism in Eastern Europe & the USSR failed because it was not based on lending-- the primary reason economies grow.

Matt at 11:49am March 30
He has not forced any kids to volunteer, give me a source on that. That's factually ridiculous. He has never once tried to ban guns. That's against the constitution and he taught Constitutional Law. He's not expanding the government any more than Bush did. And ACORN is a group that registers voters. It's not liberal or conservative. There's one little story of some schmucks they hired off the street making up names to make money. That's not a liberal organization in any sense of the word.

Matt at 11:50am March 30
Most political models and political forecasting indicates the Democrats are more likely to win. And neither winning nor losing would demonstrate either one of us is right or wrong-- Bush won after all. I know my econ, and I know what socialism is, and I know what capitalism is, and I can tell you with authority that Obama's policies are not socialist. Promoting capital is capitalist.

Matt at 12:08pm March 30
Do you know who Paul Krugman is? Do you know any economists? Economists overwhelmingly vote liberal. I think I've made clear that I'm primarily liberal but conservative on some issues, as I read the details and don't just eat talking points. I have never heard a single economist on the planet ever call Obama socialist. Because he's not. ... Read MoreAnyone who does is clearly not in the mainstream. Conservative economists who have respect of the profession certainly don't. And economists need to know what socialism is.

AND THEN SOMEONE ELSE CHIMES IN...SERIOUSLY?

Kelly at 12:20pm March 30
Wow Dek, You started something. By the way, Dogging means something very controversial in England. I don't think anyone is dogging him. Aside from that, I think he's great. Any in any case, socialism isn't a bad thing. It hasn't failed in this country or Germany or Canada. We're broke because of American banks-it's a worldwide thing. I think the world is looking at America more favourably because of Obama. Oh, and I know its in your constitution, but guns should be banned.

[Virtus985]

The economist is right about lending being why economies grow, but what he's failing to realize is that LENDING itself is currently flawed and causing things to go downhill. Lending, when people pay back their loans, is an awesome force in an economy. Lending, when banks are forced to give out extremely "risky" loans and/or decide to become predatory loaners giving out negative amoritization loans, is a force that brings an economy to a halt.

What Obama is doing is probably going to free up capital, BUT the problem is the lending itself is messed up and we're just gonna end up in the same place as before. Think of it like this- your car (the economy) has run out of gas (money), and you get out and notice there is a hole in the fuel tank. Filling it back up with gas will let you get moving, but that doesn't fix the leak, and soon you'll find yourself on the side of the road again. Obama is filling the economy full of gas, but not fixing the leak.

[andrewjs18]

The economist is right about lending being why economies grow, but what he's failing to realize is that LENDING itself is currently flawed and causing things to go downhill. Lending, when people pay back their loans, is an awesome force in an economy. Lending, when banks are forced to give out extremely "risky" loans and/or decide to become predatory loaners giving out negative amoritization loans, is a force that brings an economy to a halt.

What Obama is doing is probably going to free up capital, BUT the problem is the lending itself is messed up and we're just gonna end up in the same place as before. Think of it like this- your car (the economy) has run out of gas (money), and you get out and notice there is a hole in the fuel tank. Filling it back up with gas will let you get moving, but that doesn't fix the leak, and soon you'll find yourself on the side of the road again. Obama is filling the economy full of gas, but not fixing the leak.

nicely put. I'm not an economist so I couldn't argue with the man to an extent.

[Virtus985]

Oh, and tell the guy in the UK that soon enough he'll be cutting his steaks with a safety knife (aka A SPOON) while a CCTV camera watches him.

[andrewjs18]

Oh, and tell the guy in the UK that soon enough he'll be cutting his steaks with a safety knife (aka A SPOON) while a CCTV camera watches him.

It's actually a female...she's making all kinds of stabs at why guns are bad for American people and that gun owners are more likely to get shot by their own gun than anything...I'm making her show me stats..

[ReconLdr]

What Obama is doing is probably going to free up capital, BUT the problem is the lending itself is messed up and we're just gonna end up in the same place as before. Think of it like this- your car (the economy) has run out of gas (money), and you get out and notice there is a hole in the fuel tank. Filling it back up with gas will let you get moving, but that doesn't fix the leak, and soon you'll find yourself on the side of the road again. Obama is filling the economy full of gas, but not fixing the leak.

Thanks for the analogy... I have been trying to figure out how to explain this to Obamaniacs at work...

[PocketProtector]

Oh, and tell the guy in the UK that soon enough he'll be cutting his steaks with a safety knife (aka A SPOON) while a CCTV camera watches him.

You mean CCCPTV ??