Obama : 'Professional Politicians' Understand Debt Crisis Better Than 'The Public'

This is a comment Pres. Obama made at a recent presser:
( I am typing very close to actual words....watch short video for exact words)

Q: How are you going to convince the American people of the debt crisis?

Pres:" Let me distinguish between professional politicians and the public at large.
The public is not paying close attention to the ins and outs of how a Treasury Auction goes.
They shouldn't.
they are worrying about their family, jobs, they have a lot of things on their plate.
We're paid to worry about it"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64yhiih53F4&feature=player_embedded

Ok, what are YOU hearing in this?

The term "leave it to the professional politicians" really rubbed me the wrong way.
I hear him saying we "citizens" should not be concerning ourselves with the economy.

After all, many of us peons were smart enough to understand the stupidity of filling the Treasury with banksters and brokers!

Another gem uttered by president milquetoast.

and that the "collapse" was nothing but a carefully-orchestrated transfer of wealth.

'lesser' people.

Is he supposed to reach and give you personally a gold star because you are one of the few Americans who have an idea of what is going on?

they are voting on - and as we are seeing on the RATpubliCON side voting strictly on ideological arguments that have little or nothing to do with the current state of the economy

Seriously, I didn't think it could be possible but this man is getting worse and worse.

then we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

:kick: & Rec!!!

:puke:

:shrug:

:hi:

Whether many professional politicians understand this better than the public at large is questionable, but it is beyond question that the bulk of the public does not understand what the debt ceiling is, and what the crisis being forced on us by Republican wreckers and nihilists entails. Ignorance about economic matters is general, and not improved by the quantity of lies spewed towards people by intellectuals who really ought to know better.

to trust the President on this one. I just hope he doesn't disappoint.

which is why, eg, many of them admitted that they listened to Alan Greenspan because he was presented to them as an expert so they assumed he knew what he was talking about.

Politicians know about as much as we about each issue that arises, until they educate themselves and there is little excuse for people not to do that now as it is relatively easy to find the information.

I think people are paying more attention now since they know this is affecting them personally. My neighbor, eg, who I never spoke about politics before, told me yesterday how disgusted she is by all this and went on to describe in some detail issues surrounding the mortgage crisis. I guess she looked it all up and informed herself.

It's one thing for the president to say people don't understand something, that's not the same as them not being capable of understanding and it is the job of politicians to share information as soon as THEY get with the people. And that is exactly what they have criticized for many times, not doing so.

and listening to Ayn Randians.

So sure, I believe him.

Yep yep yep, I shore do. :shakes head:

yah? LOL

makes their job of selling us bullshit so much easier.

sw

DO understand it better. That is his entire point. Not that the general public does not understand it, but that the Politicians understand it better relative to the general public. I fail to see how a statement with a questionable premise can be said to have more truth than fiction. Prove to me that Cantor understands this better than say, my pal the CFO of a large company, member of the public or the entire point is just nonsense. So, John O' Orange is sharper than all of us? I hardly think so. And it is that upon which this argument rides. Style and flair do not alter that fact.

On average, long-serving professionals at the Federal level do have a comprehension level a bit above the average, if for no other reason than some practical experience in fiscal matters at the federal level. At present, the thing is complicated by several factors, however. The most important of these is that the dominant bloc in this Congress, that is to say, the most active and energetic bloc, is comprised not of professionals but of amatuers and enthusiasts and cranks, who are not only ignorant but bent on destruction, and indeed, honestly believe they were put into office with a mandate from 'the people' to wreck the Federal government. the next most important of factor is that leading professionals in the Republican party particularly are so wedded to an ideological view of fiscal matters that, as the old saw goes, they know a great deal that ain't so, and so necessarily cannot see what the correct course of action mught be.

read the bill before doing so. Your average politician can barely score 50% on a civics test, yet people are willing to give them a pass because of experience.

national debt, starting with the gipper's voodoo economics which were continued by GHWB, junior, and now BHO himself through continuance of junior's wars, bank bailouts, and tax cuts. He could then articulate why no debt ceiling crisis exists other than what his good buddies on the right have orchestrated, knowing social security, Medicare, and Medicaid would be eviscerated. Boy, who woulda' thunk it: I surely could not see that one coming right on the heels of junior's, now BHO's, tax cuts for the uber-wealthy being extended. Who coulda' thunk it indeed. :patriot:

;) :patriot:

very rude about the President.

That's what I'm hearing in that.

Condescending tripe. A firefighter, a heart surgeon, hell, even tree-trimmer can tell me to 'leave it to the professionals'. Professional politicians are the reason we're in the trouble we're in . . . and he wants me to not worry about it?

Christ on a pogo stick.

While it can be read as "Leave it in our capable hands" (which is obviously bullshit), there also is truth to what he says on the face of it. I think I watched the press conference where he said this and in the context of what he was saying, I don't think it came from the kind of aloof perspective that reading it out of context would portray.

My 2 cents.

PB

Most of whom are saying that there is no debt/deficit problem and politicians are getting their knickers twisted over the wrong things.

if that message hasn't gotten sufficiently absorbed by the public, it should have at least penetrated the consciousness of the economic deciders and gatekeepers' of the bubble at the WH.

Who are you reading who says there are no future problems with the entitlement programs?

It's not that hard to find if you are literate.

Is that what you call fine?

Of course some are too fucking stupid to vote too.

they get from taxpayers - it's the moola from those others they're indebted to, like lobbyists, special interest people and groups, the ones who write legislation for congress - the likes of them, not us.

is what I am hearing....What bullshit.

I actually heard this interview. It is my understanding and based upon Candidate Obama's original advice to all Americans Was to Get involved, educate each other, hold his feet to the fire blah, blah blah...Now to be simply "dismissed" by a wave of his hand as an ignorant citizen? No.
Now, I admit I don't Know every little detail about economics, finance..etc but mostly I don't understand the depth of the corrupted and corruption involved and I believe it is that they don't want us to discover..the depth of it all.
I have read so many good ideas from so many people for balancing the budget, ways to do the right thing so everybody wins...we are constantly being asked to equate our "household budget to the belt tightening in DC"--so why Not listen to us Mr Pres?

It was stated in the same arrogant way bush told us all to "go shopping" after 9-11-01. That worked out well. (sarcasm)

It's making my blood pressure go up.

Grrrrrrr.

blood pressure he was trying to affect..I dunno-I might have taken it wrong.
I thought about the "less advanced" tea people out there who know less than I do :)

Back to my Netflix-induced coma.

:drool:

every move of this debate and how he has sold out to the right over and over. Bipartisanship is really bullshit and I'm sure he knows and has ALWAYS known that. He wants to think he's doing something honorable and great. He's way further to the right than I ever would've guessed. I think we're supposed to be impressed that he's going to get some insignificant loopholes closed in exchange for us getting screwed later by SS and Medicare cuts. Yippee.

Kardashian's then keeping up with debt talks and you know this man!!! that's why everything is screwed up.

While patronizing he is right to a point. Professionals, read technocrats, such as Boehner and Cantor, don't understand this either.

What i also hear is frustration from a trained technocrat that is getting demands from people who have not been educated on the issue by the media. This is on purpose.

But he does have a small point. Even here, a better informed place, people have no clue what default means, for example.

and I 'spose when one considers the "tea party" crowd....he is right. I might have been a tad bit oversensitive... :)

technocrat was of the opinion that Iraq was the big issue of the election. Hard to buy that those who could not see that train about to slam understand anything at all, in fact, it sort of seems that they are the ones that botched it.

But no, most Americans have no clue what default means...there are very few who do...and of those it is mostly theoretical. Why the nihilist view of let it all fall down, comming from both right and left, is just that...nihilist fantasy.

I admit the only reason I get it is I lived through it...and this will make that one look like a walk in the damn park.

"If the United States fails to raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, it will pay creditors first and stop benefits like Social Security payments," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.

The central banker's comments offered the first public indication of how the Obama administration will prioritize its financial obligations after Aug. 2, when the US Treasury says the government would run out of money to pay all of its bills."

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/us-would-pay-bondholders-after-aug-2-bernanke_565380.html

He did something rare...he spoke the rank truth.

A post with helpful lessons and advice and do's and don'ts would be really important about now.
Would you consider doing so?

but essentially currency controls, cuts on all kinds of subsidies, much higher interest rates, and if the IMF gets involved privatization as far as the eye can see.

Oh did I mention salaries for gov. workers frozen, or reduced, and the lay off of millions of them?

Depression comes to mind. It is like a bomb going off.

The reason why they pay the creditors first is int he medium to long term being able to lower interest faster

You really don't get ready, you live through it.

MUCH HIGHER interest rates, 50%, 75% is not unheard off

MUCH higher inflation.

Freezing of government salaries, if not outright cuts.

Furloughs to save money

Cuts to medicare\ et al.

And rising poverty.

You will also see many subsidies go away. Yes, corn for example, which will lead to higher food prices.

As to our status as a reserve currency, goes poof, worst case, and the value collapses.

It will not be nice.

Best case, just higher interest rates,,, worst case, world wide depression.

This is the kind of fire they are playing with.

want to support their addiction or wall street or big corps

...have no idea how money is created. That is why they can be fooled by Republicon rhetoric.

There is no "debt crisis." It has been manufactured so that elites can steal resources. It is classic shock doctrine.

Unfortunately many "professional politicians" don't understand this as well. That is the result of an uniformed electorate pulling the lever for Mr. or Mrs. Goodhair instead of somebody competent.

And the wheel turns round and round...

"the government is just going to print more money"). When most people say it, they mean literally that the government will crank up the printing presses to push out more paper currency, not realizing that the saying 'print money' is a metaphor and that 'printing money' means allowing banks to make more loans (how 'money' is created).

Most of the people likewise fundamentally confuse a 'deficit' with a 'debt.' I've heard absurd sayings that the annual deficit is $13 trillion (the approximate amount of the aggregate debt) or, conversely, that our 'debt' is increased by the massive defense budget.

Krugman has pointed out on multiple occasions how seductive the idea that because families have to live within their means, so too should government is and how counterintuitive the idea that while families must live within their means, governments often are better served by living beyond their means is.

Most ordinary people don't know nor care about treasury auctions. :shrug:

The congress has run up a rather large bill on the credit card. Before he was in office.

From the OP what I heard was that we have put in place politicians to take care of the finances of the country. And they are failing to do their jobs.

He also said that the politicians are acting like children who have to be told to 'eat their peas'.

Seriously?

I find most people don't have the inclination to look at numbers and if brought to their attention will discount numbers that don't appeal to them. The denial is breathtaking.

"leave it to the professional politicians" struck a nerve. It sounded arrogant and dismissive.

As several on this thread have stated,he told us, the voters, when he wanted our vote, to "hold his feet to the fire"
and now, he wants us to "leave it to the professionals".

Maybe there are folks who do not understand the economy, but they DO understand which asshats are responsible for no jobs, no retirement, no affordable medical care, etc.
Wisconsin is waking up. Hopefully the rest of the states will follow.

They might understand the situation but their solutions never quite fit the problem. Beyond arrogance, they suck at policy.

A president should have better control of the tongue and to choose words more carefully.

As far as I can tell, President Obama is correct that most people don't know or care much about the debt limit. I also agree with him that people shouldn't have to know or care much about the debt limit. It would be great if more people followed policy debates more closely, but we shouldn't all have to be policy wonks.

The questioner pointed out that in a recent poll, a substantial majority of respondents said that the debt limit shouldn't be raised. That probably doesn't mean that they want to wreck the country's credit rating; it probably means that they don't understand the policy implications. Republicans in Congress don't (or shouldn't) have that excuse. Do you disagree?

I understand why the right-wing CNSNews.com is hawking this clip. If Obama said that people should know more about the debt limit, CNSNews would clobber him for that, too (geez, how professorial of him!).

I know you can comprehend it and have probably read it but I bet most here haven't.

http://www.fms.treas.gov/frsummary/frsummary2010.pdf

Where do you judge the financial literacy of our populace to be at?

with. Even if the 'general public' is devoid of all knowledge of value, that still does not mean the professional politicians are better informed. Showing that 'most folk don't understand it' does not demonstrate in any way that some folks do understand it. Two sides to his coin, you see. The one that is hard to take seriously is that the professional politicians have a grasp on anything, that the financial wizards who put us here are superior to the general public. Their track record stinks.
So show me a link that proves Eric Cantor and John of Orange understand this better than the gen pop, and then you will have made a point.

And they've screwed it up enough that we don't have as many outs which was always the plan.

Democrats are always the ones cleaning up after Republicans trash the place.

Let alone with the mess we have. They have unbalanced our entire governmental revenue stream and as a result we are continually polarized.

THAT'S Professional??? Cut the crap Obama.

<never tell a bald man he's bald I guess>

than, say, the man who cuts my hair or the the woman who taught my eleventh grade American Lit class.

Given the fact that someone like Michelle Bachmann is a major party's leading candidate for the presidency, I don't think we need to be attributing any great wisdom--or even the barest touch of common sense, for that matter--to the political class.

As in, "If the dumbass people ever figure out how we're screwing them..."

:spray:

:thumbsup:

Oh wait....

The public doesn't know the difference between a current-accounts deficit and the national debt.
The public doesn't know the kitchen-table budget-every-month analogy doesn't work.
The public thinks a third of the budget goes to the NEA and NEH and foreign aid.
The public thinks a strong dollar is always good.

They have, lots of them better things to do, and a lot of them are quite frankly dim.

The whole point of representative, as opposed to direct, democracy, is to get the business' day to day running into the hands of people who are interested in it, and one hopes, good at it.

Your penny and dime feature the heads of professional politicians.

Yet he is making key economic decisions which affect the public's finances.

"professional politicians" on the subject of Social Security/Medicare cuts two years ago, when Obama created his deficit commission.

Some have areas of expertise, a few are studious, some pay attention to the selected experts that appear before their committees but the reality is most of these folks are more connected than brilliant, more affluent than knowledgeable, and spend more time fundraising than digging into the meat of issues.

I agree that the average citizen is uninformed partially willfully and in part because of bullshit and distraction from the media and the "professional politicians".

President Obama is right as rain that the people we are paying and trusting to dig in, keep things on the up and up, to fix things when they are off kilter, and to lead in new directions when the old paths no longer adequately get us where we need to be doing their fucking jobs instead of paling around with economic terrorists and intently listening to and passing on bullshit fables from the beltway crowd.

nt

while Washington fucks you up the ass.

To be blunt.

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Should we raise it, yes or no?

What happens if we do? What happens if we don't?

Should be easy for you to explain it to us.

How dare he say I'm not paying close attention to how a Treasury Auction works! :*

Obama's remark reminded me very much of Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake",
but Obama has downgraded it to, "Make them eat Peas."



Cherish your memories, SUCKERs!
because we're TAKING everything else!
Hahahahahahaha!

... to the American people, is it a good idea, for the United States, not to pay its bills, and potentially create another recession, they could throw millions of more people out of work, I feel pretty confident I can get a majority on my side on that one".

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7372967n

Worth listening to the end of his answer, because the clip in the OP was cut off by 'CNSNews' who are, of course, a far right wing propaganda service in the Brent Bozell stable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybercast_News_Service

It doesn't strike me as "don't concern yourself"; it strikes me as "this is an artificial crisis, that doesn't make much sense to people who haven't looked into the details of what playing with default means, and it's been easy to paint it as 'raising the debt limit is irresponsible'; but if we point out the effects of default, I'm confident most people will understand and agree we shouldn't default".

But CNSNews don't want to give that impression.

I had to explain the budget, and what was in it, to the people of our town. More than once.

It's part of any politician's job to be responsive to his or her constituency. When they choose not to be, they need to find another line of work.

Have you held elected office? Anywhere?

I thought not.

:eyes:

Heck, a few weeks ago I saw a poll which stated that only 58% of residents know that the United States declared its independence in 1776. :-(

...is an airtight affirmative defense against libel.

And part of why the stupid have so much ascendancy in this country right now is that attitude. the stupid must not be offended! We have to pretend they are smart. Now they have us by the balls.

It's time to quit having so much respect for stupid people. They need to be told they are stupid when they refuse to ingest facts and understand.

And your deliberate misconstruing of what he said doesn't change that.

The lengths that some will go to be offended is absolutely astounding.

so it just goes to show how much they know

The problem is that they also know how to lie about the debt "crisis" in order to achieve their political goals.



Trust me, the Repubes couldn't have done what they did if they didn't know the ins and outs of the system and how to lie convincing, consistently, and often.

which indicated an alarming high percentage of Americans thought the debt ceiling shouldn't be raised. What exactly is he supposed to say to that?

Moreover I'll repeat my dismay at the double standard whereby it's OK if some dickhead here says that the public doesn't know enough about policy because they're sheeple that do nothing but watch American Idol, but if Obama says people are disengaged because they're working hard he's an elitist. Obama may or may not be handling the negotiations appropriately, but this accusation is fucking horseshit.

Save it. You'll need it.

"professional left" was lambasted. Now the non-professional public is. So does that make Obama the "professional right"?

They've proved that OVER AND OVER again. They've proven the have their own greedy interests at heart.

and what Obama doesn't seem to understand is that the way "professional politicians" fuck around with the economy gives us a whole lot more to worry about.

Next he'll be telling us only the little people pay taxes.

Remember when he made a remark about being able to "multi-task"?

Well, THIS "public" person can multi task also.
I can worry about my family, my job, AND take the time to read economic blogs, non MSM media, to understand who actually is tanking the economy.

and most of them are just morons.

I've been a Democrat all my life. I can't even believe I'm hearing this out of a Democratic President.

Wouldn't it be a better thing to encourage constituents to learn MORE about the process, not less?

:eyes:

From James Fallows' blog:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/07/what-the-president-knows-and-when-he-knew-it/242032/

"...despite appearances of President Obama being pushed around and treated like a doormat by more aggressive Republicans, his debt-and-deficit policy actually reflected a shrewd, progressive, long-term strategic view."

"I believe that, when we elect a President, we should be voting for someone who (1) shares one's general political philosophy and orientation and (2) has the intellectual ability, judgment, discipline and personality to make decisions which are as good as they can be under the circumstances. In other words, we should elect someone who we believe has good judgment, not someone who we would like to share a beer with (GWB), whose personal history we like (John McCain) or whose stump speech touches the right bases (John Edwards). It's a truism of national politics that the issues and problems the President has to deal with are largely going to be issues not debated during the election.

By this measure, I fully support Obama, even if I don't like some of his actions. It may sound naïve and childish, but I trust him. Despite some of the yahoo comments we read from right wingers on blog sites, he is obviously really, really smart--perhaps one of the smartest guys on the national political scene in years. Based on all we read, he has put together a team which is capable and works well together; there appears to be relatively little of the infighting and drama that has afflicted prior administrations. Decisions seem to be made in a thoughtful, analytic way, with an opportunity for all views to be heard. While political considerations are inevitably taken into account, unlike the prior Administration, this Administration appears to make decisions based on policy and principle, rather than politics, as the primary concern. (It doesn't hurt that Obama was fortunate in being able to draw upon a reserve of competent Democratic talented men and women who gained valuable experience during the Clinton Administration.) The man obviously has a healthy ego (what successful politician doesn't), but it seems to be under control.

Let's also bear in mind that Obama has had to govern in the face of two unprecedented difficulties: the worst recession since the Great Depression and a ferociously obstructive, hyper-partisan and hyper-ideological Republican Party. Both of these have made governance nearly impossible and, since the Republicans regained a majority in the House, essentially impossible at the legislative level."

The last few sentences do highlight what is a long-term problem for the country -- the shift of a checks-and-balance system toward one of frequent dysfunctional paralysis -- and a huge near-term tactical challenge for the Obama Administration. By next year, we'll have a chance to judge whether the President's (apparent) negotiating strategy has "worked" in terms of arresting an economic downturn and thereby making his re-election possible. Within five or six years, we'll see whether it's had the progressive effect these two readers envision. As a reminder, here was the best-case forecast in the previous note:

>>If he succeeds in his big picture deficit plan, he'll go into 2012 having tamed the long term deficit. He'll be in a position to lambast the Republicans and hopefully, gain more control of Congress, and, when he's reelected, he'll have a powerful mandate to pursue his more adventuresome and long-term beneficial programs. It'll take a few more years, but he's a long-term strategic thinker, and I think he'll get us there. The Republicans look like a lot of power-addled men who are really out of touch with the electorate.

I have no idea what Aug. 2 is. Is it a due date for some payment on some specific loan? We need to borrow more on that date, so there must be something. I have come to understand interest rates will go up, but don't understand why.

I am glad they know all about it. That's what the President is there for. Like I'm glad my dentist knows how to do things I would not know how to do and that's why I hire her.

IMO this is going out of one's way to be offended. Looking for some reason to be offended. I don't understand why progressives would be that against a President that they are going through what he says to find some reason to say he's wrong.

Unless you watched the full conference, or even if you only watched the full answer he gave to that question.

But sadly, the clip you selected ignores that, stopping before he goes into detail.

Doesn't add much light to the discussion, but it is a good way to gin up the outrage machine.

Go back and listen to the full question and the full answer ... the question refers to a poll that shows that only about 24% of Americans want the debt ceiling raised.

Do you agree with that 24%, yes or no. Or do you not know enough about the issue to make an informed decision?

And Obama at no time, tells "citizens" to "not be concerend" with the economy. He never says any such thing.

What he describes is how most people don't know how the US Treasury works, or what the full impact a default would have.

But look ... YOU could prove me wrong very easily.

Simply explain whether we should or should not raise the debt ceiling, and what happens if we default.

"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens."

-Britney Spears

we belong, and not worry about things so complicated.

The owners will tell us what we really need to know.

Most of our professional politicians would be making license plates.

Not fiscal policy.