August 17, 2011 5:49 PM

Obama: U.S. isn't in danger of second recession

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Economy ,
White House

President Obama told CBS News Wednesday that the United States isn't facing the possibility of another recession - but added that there remains a risk that the recovery will be too slow to deal with the "unemployment crisis."

"I don't think we're in danger of another recession, but we are in danger of not having a recovery that's fast enough to deal with a genuine unemployment crisis for a whole lot of folks out there," Mr. Obama told CBS News Senior Business Correspondent Anthony Mason. "And that's why we need to be doing more."

Mr. Obama plans to lay out new ideas for sparking job growth and reducing the deficit in a September speech. He is expected to call for tax cuts, help for the long-term unemployed and infrastructure spending in that speech. He has already called for a so-called "infrastructure bank" to spur growth, an extension of the payroll tax cut and Congressional passage of trade deals he says will help the economy.

Any stimulative spending proposal put forth by the president is likely to meet with near universal opposition from the congressional Republicans who control the House of Representatives.

In the interview, more of which will be broadcast on CBS' "Evening News" on Wednesday and on "Sunday Morning" this weekend, Mason told Mr. Obama that it seems to him "that the concern last week and the week before was that the market was saying we were closer to it than we thought, and that in fact, the markets themselves might cause consumers to pull back and tip us into a recession."

"What is absolutely true is confidence matters," Mr. Obama replied. "We should not have had any kind of brinksmanship around the debt ceiling."

"I wish [House Speaker John Boehner] had taken me up on a grand bargain to deal with our long term debt and deficit," he said. "We still have the opportunity to fix that. It's not too late. I will be putting forward a plan that will be similar to the plan I put forward to the speaker."


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by hurrynovember August 19, 2011 5:29 PM EDT
The man is either on drugs and in denial or intentionally shoving the country's economy down a rat hole. Either way, he has to go.
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by grannysunni August 18, 2011 11:05 AM EDT
Is this why the stock market is down this morning? Obama promised his fancy pants $$$$$ porkulus stimulus would keep unemployment under 8%, create millions of jobs and that Obamacare would solve the health crisis, not to mention that merely electing him would heal the oceans, global warming, etc. Obamacare has caused employers to stop hiring, they've dropped their health insurance and unemployment is much higher than his promised 8%.Obama's policies has put thousands if not millions out of work. If he gets re-election in 2012, not only will we have a recession, we'll have something worse than the Great Depression.
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by fairtax71 August 18, 2011 1:35 PM EDT
Why come down on the President? I mean its not that much over 8%. Lets not get so pinned down to a number. Numbers are only numbers.
Jobs are only jobs, homes are only homes........get my drift.
by LadyGoodmann August 18, 2011 1:02 AM EDT
Would that saying it made it so. Do me - and yourself - a favor, Obrainiac: quit trying to blow this BS up my skirt; it ain't flyin', and it's insulting when I'm making 14% of my income of 2+ years ago and am trying to pull Bank of America out of my a$$. Apparently, my tax dollars weren't enough because now it wants my home, too, and is trying to force me into paying for flood insurance in an amount equal to 2X the value of the house and 3X the amount of the loan in order to "protect its interests" when I'm not in a GD flood plain, it's NEVER flooded here, and its interests constitute 37% of the amount by which its trying to bleed me out of my home. They say they came to that decision as the result of a drive-by. Really? You drove over the three hills and 2 miles from the river to the top of my hill and decided I'm in a flood plain? Premiums to be paid to - wait for it - BANK OF AMERICA because they don't bid the policies out for the best prices.

You want to win the next election, Obutthead? Prosecute the parasites who are robosigning ownership paperwork, undermining 300 years of real estate documentation, and fraudulently foreclosing on the homes of your constituents by the tens of thousands.

Legalize marijuana, TAX it, and hand the money - ALL of it - over to law enforcement so it can deal with meth, coke and heroin. Release the nonviolent prisoners who are doing LIFE SENTENCES for possession of a single joint. Murderers, rapists and pedophiles don't do that much time. At least pot has some medicinal qualities, UNLIKE CIGARETTES.

Prosecute and incarcerate the pr*cks who perjured themselves before Congress, saying nicotine isn't addictive, let the FDA do its job and outlaw cigarettes. How much would THAT reduce healthcare costs? (Maybe athletes who want to do steroids should make bigger campaign contributions.) I'd ask my grandmother to testify that nicotine IS addictive, but she's dead - her only health problem was emphysema from a lifetime of smoking.

Pull Monsanto out of our farmers' a$$es: 1. Stop the lawsuits for patent infringement because its bioBS has drifted over to their fields. 2. If you want to dismantle something so badly, focus on our monocultural agricultural system. At any given moment, we're one major or several untimely minor disaster(s) - natural or otherwise - and a year away from catastrophic food shortages. What happens when the already-boiling Ring of Fire goes berserk and we can't get produce out of California? I hope you like feed corn and soybeans.

Here's a job creator: Require the oil companies to fix their rapidly-crumbling, 50-year-old pipelines that are buried not more than 3' in so many places.

Keep your oath to uphold and protect the Constitution that provided you with the opportunity to reach the highest office in the land, and channel Harry Truman to speak the TRUTH and do what's RIGHT for EVERYONE - not just your biggest campaign contributors - REGARDLESS of what it costs you. Truman was a lot of things, but he wasn't an economist; don't think for a minute that you can call on the reputation of an honorable man in an area that wasn't his greatest strength in Missouri without anyone noticiing; we're not that damn stupid.

There are so many constructive things you could have done for this country and the rest of the world that I find it impossible to swallow the damage you've done by handing our money over to a bunch of single-celled sycophants who already have more than they know what to do with and have screwed themselves by screwing all of us; and by throwing good money after bad into "economic programs" that haven't worked for ANYONE. I don't question your intelligence; I have serious questions regarding your intentions and your honor, only, from what I've seen and heard, they're not questions any more: they're convictions. If you want to live in a communist country and off of the people you've been appointed to SERVE, I suggest you move to China; they're experts at saying exactly the opposite of what they mean, so you should fit right in.
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by simpleconservative August 18, 2011 12:14 AM EDT
I would really worry now, given his lack of accuracy regarding economic issues. Remember, with his stimulas package we will not see unemployment above 8%
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by RealiteBites August 17, 2011 8:15 PM EDT
Pres. Obama is so flippin' smart - this just goes to show you that he understands EXACTLY what's happening with the economy, but he's CHOOSING not to take on the recalibration of trade issue, probably for political reasons (he doesn't want to take on big business). Sooooo frustrating!!!

I'm sure he's right that the economy's not likely to dip back into an official recession, because both he and Congress will stimulate the economy with more deficits before they let that happen, because everybody knows it's easier to get re-elected when the economy's better rather than worse.

Something he needs to be careful about though is the fact that they passed a $1trillion tax-cut/stimulus package last December, and GDP growth was only what, like 1.7%? In large part because of the increase in the price of oil. Sometimes it's not always possible to grease these moving parts just right when things happen that weren't expected ... 1.7% is a LOT lower than all those Repuglie economists were predicting based on the size of the tax-cut/stimulus package. If everybody was overly optimistic before, it could definitely happen again ...

I want to see Barack get re-elected ... why won't he take on outsourcing??? Ugggghhhhh ... ridiculous!!!
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by retm-w August 17, 2011 8:46 PM EDT
Do you really think the republicans will talk trade issues when the ones now are in their favor.
by xenon75 August 17, 2011 8:12 PM EDT
This man is out of touch with reality and delusional. He did have a agreement with Speaker Boehner, then he tried to push the debt ceiling higher than their agreed deal. He has to be one of the most disingenuous President ever in the history of our country, constantly lying and blaming others. We have never seen a President stoop to such lows.
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by ssporleder August 17, 2011 7:47 PM EDT
"Obama: U.S. isn't in danger of second recession."


We are if he stays in office and we are suckers if we believe what he says, since he has not lived up to a lot of his promises.
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by Black banana August 17, 2011 7:39 PM EDT
All I ever hear on this comment site is criticism. Why don't you guys try to offer possible solutions and be productive citizens. I'm dreaming, right?
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by signseeker1717 August 17, 2011 8:02 PM EDT
What a refreshing idea. Civility and respect for others' viewpoints: no name-calling, no labeling, no personal insults, no propaganda. Calm thoughtfulness, rationality, sound communication skills and a shared desire to see progress. Yes, you're dreaming...
by Excalibrationist August 17, 2011 7:37 PM EDT
by retm-w August 17, 2011 7:30 PM EDT
Guess I and many others can kiss our jobs goodbye with a gop president.
=======================================================================
Link, please.
Reply to this comment
by retm-w August 17, 2011 7:42 PM EDT
You know what the link is, gop eliminating union jobs.
by fairtax71 August 18, 2011 1:39 PM EDT
retm-w

live in a right to work state
by insightig August 17, 2011 7:35 PM EDT
He is probably the most qualified to make this statement. We are not there... we don't get the facts. It's like in my gut when he was running the first time around... Bush was always on vacation and those last 4 years were not going well at all... I knew whoever stepped into Washington was stepping into something we have never experienced before and that we only knew the half of it. I was right... 3 months later the U.S. fell apart at no fault of Obama's. I thank you Mr. President for your hard work and dedication and I know from facts that you can only do what you can when your Congress has convinced everyone and has even sign pledges to not help out at all... that they would rather see us fall as a great country then pass a great bill to help us. They all need to be fired and charges brought against them. We hired them to do a job... they need to stop creating committees to do it for them.
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by AOCGUY August 17, 2011 7:53 PM EDT
Naughty, unless you happen to be from another country, at which point you have no dog in this fight, he is your President too. To deny it makes you a traitor.
by mjts993 August 17, 2011 7:53 PM EDT
So, you're saying that all the crying about everything being Bush's fault is invalid as well.

Bush was responsible and Obama is responsible. That's it.
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