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Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2008 > October > 30 > Entry
Recession reaction
The Commerce Department this morning announced that the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation’s economic vitality, fell by 0.3 percent in the July-September quarter. Included is the sharpest consumer spending drop in 28 years.
By definition, it’s officially a recession when the nation endures two consecutive quarters of GDP shrinkage. But that’s an after-the-fact measure that could mean - as many economists contend - the nation is now in a recession.
Inevitably, the new numbers led to words from the White House and the two men who want the keys to the place.
The short versions are here. Read the full versions by clicking on continue reading.
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino: “The president is taking forceful actions to return the economy to growth and job creation by early next year. While we continue to face serious challenges, the United States remains the best place to do business, and we’re positioned to bounce back.”
Barack Obama: “The decline in our GDP didn’t happen by accident - it is a direct result of the Bush Administration’s trickle down, Wall Street first, Main Street last policies that John McCain has embraced for the last eight years and plans to continue for the next four.”
Doug Holtz-Eakin, senior advisor to John McCain: “Barack Obama’s ideologically-driven plans to redistribute income will impose higher taxes on families, small businesses, and investors; expensive, rigid, job-killing health mandates on employers; energy policies that fail to promote domestic oil, natural gas, and coal, and will impose a massive Washington-driven regulation of everything from home furnaces to factories.”
Perino: “Today’s GDP report is weak, but it is not unexpected. A number of things contributed to the slowing economy in the third quarter - record high energy prices, housing and credit concerns, two major hurricanes, and a prolonged Boeing strike. The president is taking forceful actions to return the economy to growth and job creation by early next year. While we continue to face serious challenges, the United States remains the best place to do business, and we’re positioned to bounce back.”
Obama: “This morning, we learned that GDP has fallen for the first time this year, which means America is producing less and selling less and our economy is shrinking. American consumers were especially hard hit, experiencing their largest decline in spending in 28 years as wages failed to keep up with the rising cost of living. The decline in our GDP didn’t happen by accident - it is a direct result of the Bush Administration’s trickle down, Wall Street first, Main Street last policies that John McCain has embraced for the last eight years and plans to continue for the next four.”
“These policies didn’t work then, they won’t work now, and I’m running for president to end them. We need to grow our economy by creating jobs, providing tax relief for middle-class families, and helping people stay in their homes, and that is exactly what I will do as president.”
Holtz-Eakin: “Today’s announcement that third quarter GDP fell at a 0.3 percent rate confirms what Americans already knew: the economy is shrinking. Barack Obama would accelerate this dangerous course. According to the independent Center for Data Analysis, Barack Obama’s new policies will destroy nearly 6 million jobs over the next decade.”
“Barack Obama’s ideologically-driven plans to redistribute income will impose higher taxes on families, small businesses, and investors; expensive, rigid, job-killing health mandates on employers; energy policies that fail to promote domestic oil, natural gas, and coal, and will impose a massive Washington-driven regulation of everything from home furnaces to factories; isolationist trade policies that endanger one out of every five jobs; and massive new spending plans that that will burden the economy and saddle our children with debt. Barack Obama is change Americans cannot afford.”
“John McCain’s comprehensive reforms will clean up Wall Street, clean up Washington, and create nearly two million more jobs over the same period. John McCain offers a new direction and a real choice: lower taxes and under control spending; lower health care costs and portable insurance; an energy policy that declares independence from dangerous and unstable sources, values the environment, and supports growth; serious reforms to taxes, education, and trade to promote global competitiveness, and short-run plans to help the seniors, savers, homeowners, and workers hurt by the financial crisis.”
Comments
By H. G. Queton
October 30, 2008 1:08 PM | Link to this
I agree that our economy just didn’t go bad overnight. It has been the result of many problems including bad investments from Wall Street, the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the rising cost of living for most Americans. Our watchdogs agencies such as the SEC, the Treasury and the Oval Office were asleep on the job and didn’t act until we are in a uncontrollable downward spiral Our elected representatives in the white house, congress, and the senate to watch out for the state of America and they have failed miserably. The old system has proven that it doesn’t work and we are in a crisis that will reshape our country in a way we have never imagined. We need new leadership and new direction to help us re-build American and re-store our country back the greatest industrial country in the world. I encourage every citizen in our country makes a vigorous effort to go out and vote for this change. Elect new leaders that will help us re-build our country and not just re-elect someone because they have been in office before. Vote!