Poll: Americans' Trust in Gov't Plummeted in '08

(NEWSER) - President Obama has big plans for the economy, and that’s too bad because he knows nothing about it, Fred Barnes writes in the Weekly Standard. All of his proposals and angry jabs at Wall Street are counter to his professed interest in growth and job creation. “Obamanomics pays lip service to a free market economy,” Barnes writes. “But Obama hasn't a clue what makes it work.” More»

Government must remain involved for economy to gain new footing

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration must resist the temptation to leave the economy to its own devices too soon, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times. “Getting to the point where our economy can thrive without fiscal support may be a difficult, drawn-out process,” he writes, with no bubble in sight to replace housing. “Things can’t just go back to the way they were.” More»

President warns of overreaction to housing, credit crises

(NEWSER) - The economy is experiencing difficulties, but President Bush said today he is certain a recovery will come soon, the AP reports. “In a free-market economy there will be good times and bad times” he said in a speech to the Economic Club of New York. “We’re going through a hard time.” Democrats wasted little time in rebutting, dispatching Chuck Schumer to invoke Herbert Hoover. More»

State budget cuts are wiping out the effects of the stimulus

(NEWSER) - The success of the Obama stimulus in creating jobs has been broadly, and furiously, debated—and will continue to be as the election season nears. But Ezra Klein argues today that in the end it's the "anti-stimulus"—the massive constriction of state budgets—that will decide our economic fate. Budget gaps in 46 states have led them to slash jobs and/or raise taxes, overwhelming the effect of the stimulus. "In an effort to do right by the numbers, they're doing wrong by the economy." More»

Former Fed chief takes heat on Capitol Hill

(NEWSER) - Alan Greenspan is taking more heat on Capitol Hill today as a three-day series of hearings begins on the economic meltdown. “What we tried to do was the best we could with the data that we had,” the former Fed chief told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. “Did we make mistakes? Of course we made mistakes." But he defended the central bank's efforts and said it was "quite active in pursuing consumer protections for mortgage borrowers," reports Bloomberg . More»