Obama's Speech: Pass stimulus or recession lasts 'years'

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Abandoning his disingenuous "we only have one president at a time" mantra, President-elect Obama gave a mediocre presidential address this morning trying to convince us that we need to rush into another hasty bailout.

Obama's presidential address was billed as "a major speech on the economy." Speaking at George Mason University, Obama warned that the nation’s recession could “linger for years” unless Congress acts quickly to pump unprecedented sums into the U.S. economy:

“I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible,” Obama said in a speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., outside Washington. It was his highest-profile case yet on an issue certain to define his early presidency.

“A bad situation could become dramatically worse,” he added, painting a dire picture — including double-digit unemployment and $1 trillion in lost economic activity — that recalled the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

The speech was "particularly showy." According to MSNBC, Obama's events have "increasingly taken on the trappings and air of the presidency":

Presidents-elect typically stick to naming administration appointments and otherwise staying in the background during the transition period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, but Obama has clearly made the calculation that a nation anxious about its economic outlook and eager to bid farewell to the current president, George W. Bush, needs to hear from him differently and more frequently.

Just like October's financial bailout, Obama is trying to sell us a pig-in-a-poke.

Obama's buyout is still a work in progress. His transition team and Democratic congressional leaders are working daily to hammer out the still-evolving package. The bailout is now expected to total nearly $800 billion.

With the federal budget deficit at $1.2 billion, without counting Obama's proposed bailout, and the Democrat controlled Congress having increased the national debt by 23%, Obama could wait the 12 more days before he actually becomes president before he goes around trying to scare us into yet another bailout boondoggle.

Lawmakers and financial experts question some of the proposals contained in the Obama's bailout:

At least two tax cuts that are part of Barack Obama's stimulus package have been criticized by lawmakers, tax experts and economists for being potentially too expensive and ineffective, signaling that they are likely to face resistance on Capitol Hill as congressional leaders begin direct negotiations with the president-elect's team.

Both Democrats and Republicans have questioned a provision that would provide a $3,000 tax credit to companies for every job created and, possibly, for every job spared. They contend that the idea would be ripe for abuse and difficult to administer.

Lawmakers are also skeptical about a measure that would allow companies to deduct large portions of recent losses. The proposal would benefit companies that have been hit hardest by the recession, including in the banking and real estate sectors, but experts worry that costs could soar because so many would be eligible.

Economist Larry Lindsey discusses some of the problems with Obama's bailout in the following MSNBC video:

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