By fitsnews – June 8, 2012
PREZ: “THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS DOING FINE”
U.S. President Barack Obama defended his economic policies this week – blasting Republicans for failing to move forward with his plans for additional government spending. It’s the latest example of the presidential “blame shift” strategy, which Obama routinely employs whenever he finds himself in a bind.
“The private sector is doing fine,” Obama said. “Where we’re seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government.”
“If Republicans want to be helpful, if they really want to move forward and put people back to work, what they should be thinking about is how do we help state and local governments,” he added.
Wait … what? The private sector is doing fine?
And we need to spend more money to help state and local governments?
Sheesh …
We know Obama used to snort coke … has he decided to start smoking crack now?
Obama has clearly forgotten that these are the same governments which have received hundreds of billions of dollars in “stimulus” funds and other federal handouts over the last four years – an ongoing investment which has done absolutely nothing to stimulate the economy. Also, it’s worth pointing out that Republicans passed Obama’s proposed extension of payroll tax relief and reached a deal with his administration last August on raising the national debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion.
Should they have done those things? Of course not … but Obama has little room to criticize in light of the level of GOP cooperation he’s received.
Obama’s remarks abou the economy were blasted by GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who was campaigning in Iowa.
“He said the private sector is doing fine. Is he really that out of touch? I think he’s defining what it means to be detached and out of touch with the American people,” Romney said.
Of course less than a month ago Romney was refusing to implement broad cuts to the federal government – like those proposed by Ron Paul – claiming that there would be an adverse impact on the economy if he were to do so.
“My job is to get America back on track to have a balanced budget,” Romney told a crowd in Cleveland, adding that “I’m not going to cut $1 trillion in the first year.”
Asked why not, Romney responded that “taking a trillion dollars out of a $15 trillion economy would cause our economy to shrink (and) would put a lot of people out of work.”
How Keynesian of him, right?
Anyway, Obama’s comments come at the tail end of a disastrous week for him. Not only is there fresh evidence that the economy is sputtering, but Republicans scored a big ballot win in Wisconsin and former president Bill Clinton came out against Obama’s efforts to raise taxes on Americans making more than $250,000 a year.
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