"Happy Talk" Won't Solve Crisis, Galbraith Says: Much More Govt. Action Needed

Economists know nothing.

I don't know if everyone is paying attention to ALL the news, but the FDIC is close to being broke, the LARGE wall St. banks need OUR money after throwing theirs away, and the next bubble to pop has just started. The Commercial loans the are out are going to start failing, then what another TRILLION for those? GUNS

WOW! I actually agree with the drunk professors' plan. Payroll Tax Holiday won't happen, but the rest of it is do-able and probably will happen.

Neither will the "scarry talk" that this guy is promoting so you and your crownies can continue to short. Is he coming out with a new book like every other guest you two have??

I'm glad that I don't have to take a course from this guy. Anyone who disagreed with his philosophy would get an F.

Best scenario for those burdened by SS taxes. Not good for Big Banks. Geithner's an idiot! And a tax evader!

When an economist is actually good at what he does, we call him a successful investor.. ha ha

Brake up the banks. Let them hear us. Do something. Join us on 4/11. http://www.anewwayforward.org/demonstrations/

People know what is wrong, we need housing, credit market rise again, but confidence is key. If you look at detailed salary and income data of each Americans on SALARYLIST.COM incometaxlist.com you know the trend is not right for many people in last dew months. SO really we need to change our attitude towards assumption, investment. The new age is COMING!

Bring back Diane Garnick and ask her if we are still going to see the S&P 500 at 500 in 2009! Does she still think she's smarter than her Boss? Posted Mar 09, 2009 10:39am EDT by Aaron Task in Investing, Recession "There's a long way to go" before the market or the economy bottoms, says Diane Garnick, investment strategist at Invesco, After being bearish for most of 2008, Garnick adopted a more bullish stance in early 2009, telling me on Jan. 7 that bad fundamentals were "already priced into the market." But the fundamentals have worsened significantly in the past month, says the strategist and author of the forthcoming book "I'm Smarter Than My Boss. Now What?" Today, neither economic data or prospects for corporate earnings supports a bullish stance. Like many, Garnick sees 500 for the S&P 500 as a likely outcome before this bear market ends.

Yes... more government involvement and handouts... I like it..

This guy must be getting to ready to retire! Seniors already have there house paid off so if it is worth half, big deal.Increasing there security income will just make them hoard it in this economy.This guy is a tool!The toxic assets have to put in a open market if there worth nothing so be it .Now we will know where we stand and start working from there. The average persons debt load this will take time to mend.The economy is going to move slowly till the common can get his debt in line with his income.

Why don't we just send all of our country's old people off to Iraq and let them die for their country? This will lower the health costs, get more savings moving, and let our youth get back to work and raising families. Hell I was willing to risk dieing for my country once before, seems that this is more of a crisis than the Viet Nam War. Sure the idea sounds stupid. Still..... loosing my job, house, etc. Might as well do something that has value with what's left of my life than the slow death that seems in store for those of us who have already given up part of our lives for a corupt government and buisness greed.

Hey people, this Galbraith clown is a liberal Democrat just like his father who used to lose debates to Milton Friedman all the time. So this clown wants more government deficit spending to solve a problem of excess household debt. Right. The solution is simple: balance the budget and put Sarah Palin in charge of the country instead of this commie Obama.

I live in west mi. and everytime I go out the stores and resturants are full,not everyone is broke.

How would this work as a long term solution?! More government jobs?! What he neglect to inform us is where does the money come from?

Galbraith's basic theory that consumers won't begin spending until their debt has been reduced is correct. A payroll tax holiday is, as he says, an immediate tactic to assist the average American. It's amazing this hasn't been done already. However, higher SS payments might help in the short run but politically would be next to impossible to remove down road when the economy recovers. Buying houses for the people who can't afford to pay their current mortgages doesn't make sense and would cause an outrage by their neighbors who are paying on time but are struggle to do so. Why pay your mortgage if the government will do it for you. I'm not opposed to government hiring for a temporary period. All in all, James Galbraiths' theory is correct and it's scarey to think Washington is trying to fix the wrong problem.

Galbraith's basic theory that consumers won't begin spending until their debt has been reduced is correct. A payroll tax holiday is, as he says, an immediate tactic to assist the average American. It's amazing this hasn't been done already. However, higher SS payments might help in the short run but politically would be next to impossible to remove down road when the economy recovers. Buying houses for the people who can't afford to pay their current mortgages doesn't make sense and would cause an outrage by their neighbors who are paying on time but are struggle to do so. Why pay your mortgage if the government will do it for you. I'm not opposed to government hiring for a temporary period. All in all, James Galbraiths' theory is correct and it's scarey to think Washington is trying to fix the wrong problem.

You want to fix the problem here is what you do. Shillar is right . . . first, Import a middle class, you can become a resident if you buy a house with cash. second, let people like myself with good credit to take on the debt from my house over 80% equity. Then give me a government backed loan @ 3% and standard mortgage rates on the balance of 80% TRUE VALUE of my house. That would transfer debt over to me. I WOULDN'T have more debt just restructured. That way I personally own part of the debt at a discount 3%, 30yr loan and a standard 5% 30yr from the bank. That way the bank isn't over exposed, and I am paying less for my mortgage instead of my current 6.5% mortgage i can't refinance under the current debt to equity ratio. But once I've done this I can't get a HELOC until i pay off what I owe to government. Only people with over 725 credit qualify. DONE, WE ARE OUT OF THE RECESSION

This is the first economist who seems to have a clue about MAIN STREET AMERICA. To copy FDR is great, but the man on the street need money now not in five years. Also the jobs Obummer wants to create are all "blue collar". American workers have an aversion to GRUNT WORK. You can't blame them for that, they see broken down 50 year old BLUE COLLAR WORKERS every day and they say thanks but no thanks. Bring back the CETA and APPRENTICE plans. They will help put Americans back to work fast. The man has a clue, maybe Washington should listen up!