Rough year ahead, economist suggests - Business

Poor liberal Democrats and newspaper columnists won't have George W. Bush to blame for everything anymore -- and will have to start finding out what is really going on in the world, and in their lives, and how to solve them.

"Finding blame" is not "doing something," so all those years of doing nothing will hopefully lead to the maturity of thinking that has vanished in society over the course of these last 8 years.

Of course, some diehards, will insist on blaming President Bush for the problems in 2009,10,11,12... as the ONLY thing they can do -- which the newspaper editorialists will encourage them to do -- and then of course, extending the rail around Kaena Point will be the only solution out of all of Hawaii's difficulties.

Remember, Bush inherited the dot.com bust, and then when it seemed like we were on the road to recovery, the terrorists added to the woes, but after that, the US economy actually peaked -- so let's see if Obama can do as well in leading us to new heights.

Bush is still president hon and he is doing his usual lousy job in the economic meltdown.

Mike Hu wrote:

Poor liberal Democrats and newspaper columnists won't have George W. Bush to blame for everything anymore

Oh, we've barely begun. The rank incompetence of Bush and the corruption of the 12-year Republican monopoly in Congress will take years to correct, and you can expect plenty of finger pointing along the way--at people like you, who brought this mess on us by goose-stepping right behind those rat bastards.

I just hope Dems in Congress have the balls to tax the living hell out of the crooks who got us here, and I hope they spread the wealth far and wide across this great nation.

Because, frankly, we need it. Worse times are coming, and the only thing that will get us out of this debacle is long-term, rising median wages--something we haven't seen in this country since the 1970s.

Northie is so right. Bush will be cursed for decades to come for his dishonesty. The iraq war has been a total disaster. We cannot afford any more of wars like that. Invasions must eend. America is done for as a world power anyway. A big military cannot hide our real impotence economically.

The president (executive branch) doesn't or can't control the economy like most of you think. It's too big and complicated. Through Treasury, he can only "manage" it.

Congress appropriates the money for the Treasury to disburse for the approved programs, including "pork". Treasury can't spend what's not approved by Congress. This is fiscal policy.

The Federal Reserve Bank controls the interbank lending or credit vehicles via the fed funds rate, and "prints or creates" the money. This is monetary policy.

All three together are needed to influence the economy, good or bad.

"The economy may be downbeat, but what goes down must come up again, eventually."
Says who? That statement is based on faith, not facts. The fact is that while oil prices have plunged in response to the financial meltdown the basic cause of high prices has not gone away. Production is slipping. Even the IEA has issued a recent report acknowledging that cheap oil is no longer possible. Even when (if?) the financial system temporarily recovers the oil grinch will be there to take away our presents. Hawaii is caught between two forces pulling in opposite directions - and there is no reason to believe that everything will be "back to normal" within the foreseeable future.

At least Leroy Laney's forecast seems a little closer to reality than Bank of Hawaii's economist Paul H. Brewbaker who wants us to think that the economy will turn around by mid 2009.

Even my pet rabbit knows that Hawaii's economy won't turn around through all of 2009.

Barack Obama has created a lot of uncertainty on Wall Street and nobody will be able to know or guess how the economy will be doing until he is in office for 3 to 6 months and he starts signing legislative bills from Congress. Only then can the economist really give accurate forecasts on how the national and Hawaii's economy will be doing.

As it is now, it looks like we could be going into a Depression with no solutions coming out of the government. So best thing to do is minimize all unnecessary spending and hold on to whatever money you have since it is foolish to spend when you don't know what the future holds.

Can you imagine if one or two of the Big 3 Auto Companies declare bankruptcy and lay off thousands of workers? It will be a snowball effect that will be felt all the way to Hawaii. You don't have to take any business or economic class to understand this.

A bit of advice to anyone thinking of buying a new car from one of the Big 3 Auto Companies, don't buy one until the government bails them out. Their warranties will be worthless if they go belly up.

Paradise/Hawaii is just a click away ! http://www.click4hawaii.com We need to do more marketing in Eurpoe, Asia, South America.

Folks, this is a flat-out disaster. We are on the verge of a Japanese-style deflationary meltdown. We owe $9.5 trillion--half of which was heaped on by our boy George. We face huge costs that we cannot abandon. The markets are down by half and still falling. As for Hawaii, you'd better come up with something besides tourism to keep the lights on.

Is Georgie W. Bushie number ONE in job creation or what????????

2010 will suck even more than 2009. Unemployment in Hawaii should reach at least 7.5%.