I knew that this supposed happiness that everyone on CNN thinks is going on all over the U.S., which isn't, wouldn't last too long. People have to get back to reality...and that reality is that more people are losing their jobs and homes, the stock market isn't steady and now they are talking of nationalizing the banks. OK..that's not going to go over too well since most people think we got screwed the first time we gave them a bailout! So Obama better get ready..and so should the nation..we are in for a rough ride!

Cindy..Ga.

mr.cooper; last nite(1/21/09) I watched what i think is an out of con-
trol media as you and mr henry positively gloated as you both talked
about an error by the supreme court justice at the innauguration. You both seemed to me(at least) to be salivating over this terrible incident
Transparency..failure to notify the tv press...my gosh, the sky is falling
It seems to me that freedom of the press means that responsible
people can seek out and provide serious information to the public
without putting a very personal spin on the news. There must be more
interesting news around to report to us. I'm very proud of america's
news media as a rule......last night,I was embarassed.

David, when the new President requires a do-over on the oath of office, it is anything but a smooth, smart and successful start.

Our nation has been run into the ground by the connected few who spent that last eight years looting the country without any fear of oversight.

When the nation needs a $700 billion do-over, how can Paul Volcker be considered "one of the most respected economic figures in the country?" where was he before?

When the new Treasury Secretary nominee fails to pay taxes, how is this a break from the morally bankrupt leadership of the past eight years?

When an octogenarian like Greenspan dispenses cheap money time and time again to an instant gratification, glutonous consumption society, how could none of our leaders see that this was a bad idea?

Rather than closing Guantanamo Bay, how about freeing many of the questionably detained and replacing them with our failed leadership?

I seriously wonder how any of this could come as a real surprise to any one. When jobs are off-shored or replaced by robots/technology; when companies are unwilling to invest in the retraining of employees to keep "with the times/technology" and would rather hire the newby at half the salary; when one's credit rating is actually harmed for being debt-free; when profit is the be all and end all and making those shareholders happy such that the ends justify the means – what did the "experts" expect would happen?

When people don't have jobs or have to take pay cuts, is it not logical that falling behind – on mortgage payments, car payments, credit card payments, etc. – would occur? If people aren't working, how are they suppose to buy the toys to keep the engine known as the economy running?

One can only spend so much before they can't make the payments on what they're spending. Giving money to the financial institutions doesn't guarantee money will be given to those who need it (let's face it, it's those who don't need it who get the loans, not those who do). At this moment in time, it is the masses who need the money – to get current and stay current on their mortgages, their car payments - that will give money to the banks to loan out to others. Mandating a temporary cut in interest rates on all loans for everyone will aid in allowing people to catch up and even spend some as it will put more money into the pockets of consumers more so than any stimulus rebate check or tax cut could ever do. Yes, the banks will scream and yell, but many of their practices are what helped get us in this situation in the first place.

If tax breaks must be given, then give them to companies who demonstrate retraining of employees and keeping them employed and take them away for those companies that off-shore jobs. And while the cost of business may be high in the US, with medical benefits being the most costly, let's give incentives to the health insurance industry to keep premiums lower, thereby achieving another goal of having almost everyone insured. (The cost of doing business is less expensive in other countries as they have nationalized health care.)

While we are remaking America, we need to remember that it truly is the middle class that keeps this country afloat. We support both the wealthy and the poor. If they wealthy wish to retain their wealth, it is in their best interests to keep us employed. As we embark on this journey, let's learn some lessons from the past - trickle down does not work so let's try bottom up for a change.

The answer is regulation and the continued demand, by the American citizens, for accountability and transparancy.......

And don't forget tons of prayers. Not that I am a preaching and praying person but it has gotten to the point that I do pray that Obama and his team can do something to help this economy. I pray for those that have lost their job and pray that I keep mine.

What a mess. We have had roller coaster rides before but this has been totally out of control... And the roller coaster seems to be headed mostly downhill...

After the party starts the harsh reality

The promises were several: contribution to solving the problem of climate change, recovery of the economy and reduction of taxes for the poor and the increase for the rich, universal health care system, reduction of energy dependence from abroad, the withdrawal of troops Iraq and the strengthening of troops in Afghanistan, more cooperation with the international community, protectionism in trade relations and barriers to immigration. The coming months will show us what will change, for better and for worse, and what will remain.

There is now more clearly that the problem of reviving the economy is not limited to the correction of excesses in the financial sector deregulation in the rebuilding or off the consumption capacity of the people.

Obama took the challenge to build an equation in which consumers and investors are also citizens, balancing economy and citizenship. It's easy to say and difficult to do. But – why not dream? – Is possible.

Well Candy the two things I disagree with are the points Pelosi and Reid are making IMHO Obama has bigger fish to fry than raising taxes on Corporations for maybe a few minnows. This is not a minor scratch requiring a band aid it's a hemmorage that won't stop bleeding requiring trillions of Blood Donors ie: Government Funds. Pelosi and Reid need to put their priorities on a back burner, give Obama the time he needs to concentrate on the Monstrous Economic Problem that may topple America and the World. Dems need to get behind their President who is clearly on top of the Major Issues and ready to lead by assessing, discussing, deciding with his experts on the best solutions. Obama needs support not his members' list of priorities.

I'll try to explain the current financial system in simple terms. Think of the,"To Big To Fail Banks" ,as" Towering Oak Trees" in an overgrown forest,where the siblings cannot grow because of the canopy created by the large over-grown oaks. A forest manager (SoT/Fed.) would come in to bring the forest (Banking System) back to health with a massive calculated clearing, that being cutting down the over-grown oaks,with a control burn to follow (Nationalizing the Big Banks) to bring the eco-sytem (Financial System) back to life. With the young sibling flourishing,and nourishing new life for years to follow.

The heck with all that.....WHERE'S MY CHECK ??? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Days are Gone A-gain
The Skies Above are Dark A-gain
So Let's Socialize the Banks and Spend
Happy Days are Gone A-gain !

I know CNN may not post my view but I am giving it a try.

I think any CEO who made millions over the past five years will do the country a great justice IF they so care by taking $1.00 as payment for a year or two.

Our New York Mayor salary from day one is $1.00 frankly; he does not need it and is doing the city and state a huge favor.

From Microsoft to Apple to Oracle and all the other companies between; those who are wealthy can make this sacrifice for the sake of the country.

There are those who are still pulling down millions while thousands are being cut; is this justice? NO! It is time for all to share a little hardship so that the many will live.

I too took a salary cut and I am badly in need of more money but it is a choice I had to make.

It is time to give back something so that we all can pull these difficult times.

This is indeed going to be a rough ride .... BUT ... the single most important element to a recovery that was almost totally lacking in the previous G W Bush adminsitration was the feeling that the federal government was really on our side. I can remember just two weeks before the whole house of cards associated with 'Let the Markets control Themsleves' IDIOCY came crashing down around our ears ole G W was telling us that the 'fundamentals of the economy were sound' .... WHAT ?????? ..........'the fundamentals of the economy were sound' ??????? . This buffoon didn't see 9/11 coming and he didn't see the economic depression that HE created coming. The guy has definitely been batting 1000 when it comes to ignorance and stupidity.

How refershing it is to have intgelligent leadership in Washington once again. Carry On President Obama so far you're doing Just Fine !!!!!

Obama has promised to cure it all and then some. The nation awaits...

David Gergen is so right, President Obama has got his hands and plate full with this economy problem. I really think we all need to pray and pray daily for this ever growing problem.

yet we have 100 trillion dollars worth of oil shale in the Rockies that can't get a fricken dime of support for technology or environmental emissions sequestration.

Wake up, America. It takes a resource or energy INPUT, to get an economic OUTPUT.

The solution isn't Obama. It isn't Nancy Pelosi's conservation. It isn't Al Gores over priced OPEX Green suggestions.

Its oil shale extracted for around 22 dollars a barrel and displacing all of our foreign crude imports. This would save our military spending being wasted, the waste we subsidize farm fuels and the waste we subsidize other ridiculous infrastructure that doesn't return any economic gain. Obama in Utah to lead oil shale within 12 months is my prediction.

Lisa hit the nail on the head...give the businesses a tax break and stop worrying so about the people.I have never seen a poor person create jobs.If they gave me a $1000.00,all I would do is blow it.Give it to the businesses that will create jobs..and maybe..just maybe..we can get these free loaders off their asses and go to work.If not,I say don't give them a red cent.But with this new administration,we may see the real meaning of "a welfare state".

Lisa, you are one of the smartest people I've seen on these comments! You make perfect sense but will Washington or news media get the point? NO! They are stuck in the past and obviously that does not work!

I appreciate your common sense! I hope others do too!

I have heard a lot of talk in the media recently that the reason the economy is so bad is because we (middle class Americans) are not spending the way we should be. How can companies expect us to keep spending money like before when so many of us have been laid off? Just a short while ago, economists were telling us how important it was to save money. Now they have done a 180 and want us to spend our money. It is not our fault the economy has crashed. The blame lies with the greedy bankers who made bad loans and the greedy investors who decided to invest in those loans rather than invest in companies that actually manufacture something.

To JC – Los Angeles:
EXCELLENT COMMENTS! I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU! YOU SEEM TO HAVE HIT THE PROVERBIAL NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD!

To Lisa,
I fear that you have things backwards. They housing debacle was caused by trying a bottom up approach. It did not work.

I totaly agree with what Lisa had to say.

I am a discontented and bitter consumer and an unwilling participant in this country's financial institutions. I would hazard to guess that many Americans feel similarly, that the banks are a bunch of crooks!

I crack myself up sometimes.

Lisa,

Shockingly off base there. You really ought to look at the Congressional Budget Office's breakdown of income tax receipts. The middle class does not support America. The moderately to extremely wealthy people pay far more taxes than the lower 80% of the nation, with the middle 60% paying almost a net of 0%.

Go get some facts before you spew baseless populist rhetoric.

-LibertarianShrugged

How about this? How about instead of calling me asking me why I only paid half of my minimum due payment on last months credit card bill (after a stellar history of repayments and a big fat zero missed payments, mind you), and canceling the card, why don't they take my contribution to the bailout funds that weren't use as intended, and reduce my credit card balance by exactly that much? When times get tough the tough take from the not so tough, well, I'm about to toughen up and start taking back.

I guess the only way to stablilze the banking systems is to nationalize the banks though it costs some federal dollars but worth investment as done inn many countries across the world where the interest rates are well and above 5% APR with stable banks. and it would also be a easy way to monitor all the banks. it would be better if we have a control over a bank instead of feeding them everytime they are in losses and they turn back with more losses .

finally We can have more accountability and transperancy

As if there aren't enough real problems to focus on there are those who try to create insecurity. “I hope Obama ‘fails’, Limbaugh says.” and “Democrats not in lockstep with Obama.” are headliners representing the sentiment and mentality of those desperately trying to find or create some fault with President Obama’s course of action. It not only demonstrates a sick and dejected inability to maturely accept the voters’ will and Obama’s success but it also lacks any responsible display of patriotism. If, as stated, they literally hope “Obama fails” then they are hoping America fails and that we continue with the drastic problems at hand. There is no other way to rationally view things than to recognize and accept that the Bush-Cheney administration was an abysmal and irresponsible failure in a great many areas. To want Obama to now fail, hoping that he won’t put Bush-Cheney and the Republicans who stubbornly supported them to shame, is simply being obnoxiously anti-American. Whether Democratic, Independent or Republican, all Americans should now hope for and support Obama’s success. There is the option to vote against him again in 2012 but in the mean time, it is crazy and literally masochistic to hope he fails.

The President needs to have a meeting with the leaders of Congress and the leaders of the media. All these pessismistic reports are causing a bad economy to become a very, very bad economy. Although a lot of people I know still have their jobs and still make good money, they have stopped spending because of all the bad reports. MEDIA for the country's sake let us have a moratorium on bad reports!!!

The banks should keep on lending to most companies who were profitable in 2006 and before. 2007 and 2008 should not be even be considered. WE THE PUBLIC FOR ONCE SHOULD REFUSE KNOWING ALL THESE BAD REPORTS AS IT IS EXACERBATING THE PROBLEM.

In times like this I wonder if government should provide some incentives to companies that do maintain their employment levels. Reality is that there are still thousands of companies making a lot of money, but they are still laying off people just because their profits came out be a shade less than what they made last year. How can you blame those companies though? Ultimately, they exist to increase shareholder values and unfortunately Wall Street punishes them for even the slightest profit decrease they show.

David,

I just watched Robert Gibb's first press conference and I found myself getting very angry at the press corps. Good God!

We have, like you say, storm clouds brewing and the press wants to know why there was only one picture released of the second swearing in (due to the bumbling of the Chief Justice at the formal one – taken minutes after Obama officially became President per the Constitution) rather than having the press corps in to witness it. Unbelievable! They also want immediate answers to the nation's ills and international challenges and there is upset over "we'll study it?" I mean, get real! These problems didn't come overnight – they took time to get to this point. They are going to take time – and some very difficult decision making – to get past.

We have some very serious issues, not the least of which is improving our standing in the world as this economic slowdown isn't just a US problem – it is a worldwide problem. It is also going to take worldwide action to address it and a good relationship with our allies is critical in this effort. Having a president who "checked out" immediately after the election didn't help matters – they only exacerbated things. It makes me think that the press corps still thinks that G.W Bush is still in the White House.

Obama has done more than even Clinton did in his first few days – I recall he was still trying to find people for his Cabinet versus having hearings on them and getting them to work. Give him a chance...there's a lot to do!

I still remember the shocking comment a high Bush official (I forget his name) made a few years ago in light of the tremendous job losses occuring in our country at the time. His comment? "This is a GOOD thing for the U.S." God help us.

Well duh. Folks this has been coming ever since Reagan told the middle class that they would be rich if they embraced deregulation. The children of the depression bit and so did the baby boom endless wealth and more plastic toys. It could take years and be very uncomfortable for the quick fix crowd. If we dont work together and stop being petty we will collapse.

Hi David~ Although, I don't tend to see you engage in the following, I was getting a little angry last night during AC Coopers show: they were talking about the "transparancy" issue with the new administration. Now I am a business woman, and I darn sure would not open my board room to my customers when we are brainstorming ideas!!!!! When I as a tax payer say I want transparancy in my government, I want to know where money is being spent who is getting it and what legislation are the powers at be working on. At no time did I ever expect that during President Obama's first full day at work we would have TV cameras in the first economic meeting of the troops ~ COME ON CNN BE REALl!! Let them have some time to work and quit thinking that CNN should have "almighty access" jeezz I felt like I was watching FOX~ President Obama is going to need all the help he can get. I get tired of these petty issues the media drums up because their feelings are hurt!! Be professional and quit making this crap up and talk about real news EVERY TIME YOU DO THIS IT DISTRACTS FROM REAL ISSUES!!!!

I was listening to a news program last night that suggested that President Obama's inauguration cost the taxpayers of this country over 120 million dollars! You've got to be kidding me. With the number of people losing there jobs, and the economy is such disarray, was it really the best decision to have a 120 million party. I think I could have planned something very nice for lets say....50 million. I'm sorry Mr. President, but I think you should have used a little better judgement. I certainly hope that this isn't a sign of things to come.

Over the past 200 years American culture has evolved from agrarian to industrial to information. Today we live in the entertainment culture. News is no longer journalism; it is show business. The media have fashioned their messianic and inexperienced clown into power and now they all must dance. Image is everything. Substance is nothing. How else could a Nancy Grace ever get on national television? The empty campaign speech at noon Tuesday should alarm everyone. Once the flash and pretty lights die down people will stir and ask, "Is that all there is?" The answer, America, is yes despite the best efforts of CNN and its confederates to keep the dance alive.

Yes, you stated it appropriately, the "celebration party" is now over for the President and the american voting public...Time to get a "control" on the economy before no one has a decent job/career thanks to a big part to the lack of control from Federal Government down ...I mean now even the big companies such as Microsoft are laying off employees. When is the last time this was heard of? Never, how is that for an honest answer with no smoke given to the american people. How much money was "blown" on IRAQ and we'll never see it given back to the american people, millions if not more..and for yes their freedom , but at the cost of American lives (many) and millions of American currency... This war should not have lasted even close to this duration. What a mess this government has stepped into. Please don't attempt a similar arrangement with the problems with the Gaza Strip and israel. We are not the "PRIMARY" peace keepers for the entire world..

Obviously we have our own internal issues to be addressed as President Obama so nicely defined on his many compaign speeches...

David,

Do you ever get any poetry from your fans?

If the President ends the war in Iraq, the billions spent in that country can finally be kept here in the U.S. and can be used to assist all the troops returning home.

If the President stops the Bush tax cuts for people making over $250,000, the country will get that money and will help the economy. Believe me! The rich CAN afford to pay more taxes!

If the Banks who received all their bailouts would "loosen up" and start lending again, and allowing more banks to give "Novations" (same mortgage, just lower the interest rates), the country would have more money.

If the President would sign a bill preventing companies from outsourcing, the country would have a stronger economy.

If you do these things, people would have more confidence in their country and will go out and spend more, thereby, strenthening the economy.

Finally, this money just didn't get up and walk away. someone has it! Stop giving corporations the "rights" to send their money to the Cayman Islands! I'll bet if you go there, you'll find billions of U.S. dollars all owned by the 1% top riches people in the country!

Just a thought or two or more ....

how about bailing out the middle class instead of the banks? after all... consumer spending makes up 2/3 of our economy.

Let me get this straight. Congress wants me to spend more money to spur the economy. The answer to make me spend more money is to give trillions of taxpayer dollars to the banks. And that "Bank money" will make me spend more?! Why would I, in today's economy want to borrow money from the bank to be more in debt just so I could spend money I don't really own.

If you want to give trillions of dollars to the american people just cut out the middle man, who charges me interest. NO MORE INCOME TAX 2009. This would instantly interject over a trilllion dollars in the economy and eliminate the IRS.

I appreciate everyones opinion. As the President said, we will have good days and bad days so to speak.. and it will take time to start to see a change.

I for one intend to remain optimistic that we finally have hope and that in time we will see our economy return to a much better place. Negativity, albeit reality, is never good for anyone. The nation feels uplifted, let's keep the feeling alive.... I for one am sick and tired of being discusted....

It was a simple sequencing error. Everyone, including the press, is trying to sensationalize anything they can get their hands on, no matter how trivial, and to try to pick fights when no basis for one exists. News about Obama sells, even if it consists of nothing more than cheap tricks to get attention.

Why not focus on the substance instead of the form? Obama asked us all to put aside childish things, and this behavior certainly ranks near the top of 12-year-old antics. The press should grow up already!

"Finally, it appears that Tim Geithner will be confirmed at Secretary of the Treasury." Yeah, obama's promise of ethics in government is proving to be as false as most of his other campaign promises. Change and hope...show me Mr. Prez.

We (the citizens)have to fix this ourselves. We cannot demand housing for anyone without regard to ability to pay. We cannot demand free or cheap healthcare. We cannot demand that the government "take care of us" to the point that we no longer try to take care of ourselves.

And, no, I am not wealthy. I am a paycheck-top-paycheck single dad trying to pull himself out of the muck from some extraordinarily bad circumstances. As scary as my life is, it is me that has to fix it. I am not sitting in line at the social services office waiting to see who wants to take care of me. I will take care of me.

As long as we keeping asking for more the government will keep trying to give us more. The money has to come from somewhere and not we are running out of "somewhere."

It is time to think about leaving this country. I do not want my son to live in a socialist country.

Anderson, is there a place on Earth, that requires a balanced budget, where sloth is shamed, and people are required to take care of themselves?

Where can we go ?

I agree with Bruce. We need accountability, transparency and responsibility. Until these qualities are brought forth, confidence cannot build. We must be determined and patient.

The one way to right this ship may not sit too well with some of our economic partners. It seems to me that a part of the sdolution would be to get back to the days when we put value on being a manufacturing giant that sold it goods to the rest of the world.
We convinced our children that it was shameful to be a blue collar worker.
I ask this question. What is wrong with having a skilled trade or work in a factory that produces quality products.
Lets re-open our factories, lets re-create those good jobs that paid good wages.
Lets re-create the days when most Americans had disposable income to spend and spent it at the cardealerships, tailor shops, and markets in their communities.
The process is cyclical, if I have money to spend at your place of business then you have money to spend at your neighbors place of busines, and he has money to spend....we are all connected
Now, even when we spend our hard earned money, we stimulate the econmomies of foreign nations.
Lets re-create good paying AMERICAN JOBS!!!
Its worth the cost!!!!!!

How can there be progress when there is no accountability?

Americans need to start acting like they care. Where is the outrage over the bilking of all of the wealth of our country? Is our best protest an emotional blog? Are we all feel that scared, that helpless that we are not willing to actually DO something?

If I had the answers, I wouldn't be asking the questions...

I was in Washington on Tuesday. There IS hope....but unless there is real accountability there will be no real progress.

God Bless America!

Has anyone wondered that the SC Justice messed up on purpose so that they had to do it again in the oval office but this time they used a Koran? Just thought I would throw that out there...

The answer is simple. Get he people out of foreclosed homes as quick as possible, put people in those homes at 2% interest and give them a 25k tax credit when they have been in their home for 5 years, year 10 15k tax break. We do not need to give the banks more money to shore up their capital, they need deposits so the can loan money and that happens when people are in their home feeling good. I will be first in line to buy another house.

I would not want to be in the presidents shoes, but if any has a chance to make something happen it will be him!

President Bush put in a far more ethical cabinent than Obama has, and did a good job weathering the housing/credit bubble he inherited from the 1990's. By 2012 Obama's name will be mud as his truly socialists policies will have hurt economic growth far more than helped - good news for the GOP i guess.

David,
I agree. Things are tough, and the economy has become tainted and foul. After all of this what do we hear from our friends on the Right Wing? Mitt Romney, more tax cuts for the wealthy; Steve Forbes, telling the BBC, that this downturn is almost over, and Rush Limbaugh saying that he hopes that Obama fails (how "patriotic").

Americans must understand that things will not be as they were in 2002, possibly for the rest of our life time, and I'm a Generation X'er. People need jobs, and due to employer tax fraud, many workers do not even quailfy for unemployment compensation. People in the country are suffering, and the dogma of Republican Ideology is completely out of step with our current economic reality.

As a Country, we are not going to be able to purchase our way out of this financial crisis. As reflected in this CNN article, the President's plan to pour money and create jobs by building roads and bridges, at best would not go into effect until 2010, and congress would decide which States received the funding and who would be "left out".

What would have immediate and significant effects on this economy would be immediate and severe tax cuts across the board both for individuals and for corporations. Tax cuts do not need to be "monitored" It's the American Citizen, the Consumer, who will get this Country back on track. Yet "tax cuts" have been sold to the average citizen as a "break for the rich" so President Obama will not touch this readily available cure! Instead he will talk of tax breaks/cuts for those who do not pay taxes and the lower middle class, regretibly these individuals cannot contribute to a recovery not in the fashion this Country needs , . . . now!

This does not mean we do not need many of President Obama's ideas, i.e. with alternate engery sources, education reforms etc. We do, these are "long term ideas and programs" which will prayerfully keep us out of this type of mess in the future, i.e. our children and Grand children!

p.s. This country is finished.

We didn't get here overnight and we're not going to fix it in a week. Obama is JUST what we need to keep us from further panic. The facts, if you look at them, are beyond stark. I am an educated person with an MBA and 30 years' business experience....I know exactly what we're looking at in this economy and it's far, far worse than many people realize. That said, I know that hiding behind the 2009 version of "plastic and duct tape", were that even possible, is no solution. We're going to have to fight like hell and it's going to cost. The alternative is unthinkable. I am not in debt and I'm darned upset that the retirement funds I've been saving since 21 are gone, probably lining the pockets of one of George Bush's rich friends...but the only thing I can do about it is think of those worse off than me and do whatever I can to help my country – MY country, OUR country – get back on its feet.

Would someone explain to me, why isn't all of the bailout money go to taxpayers to stimulate the economy?

Why can't our gov't investigate the banking and investment industries, hold their leadership accountable (with jail sentences and fines) for allowing/creating the current economic crisis?

Also, why isn't our gov't swiftly implementing oversight laws governing how our banking and investment industries operates?

From my observation, I don't see our current solutions mitigating our economic crisis. Please respond

Give us back America and let us be proud! I use to feel proud to be an American but for some reason having Pres. Obama as our President makes me feel very sad for this country. Most Presdiential speeches makes your feel very proud and most mention our military men and women who serve this country but he barely mentioned it at all and if you think for a minute that he truly cares about us here in America think again....he really showed that today when he signed those executive orders for Gitmo to close. I feel so sorry for the victims families of 9/11. I would take Bush back any day. We have a long 4 years ahead of us and it is not just because of the economy.

First bring back regulation, then increase regulation. One measley trillion to nationalize the banks and no longer make it a profit center for the big banks at our expense? That doesn't seem like a big problem to me. We either spend more than $1T in bailouts for the banks, or we nationalize them for $1T. I'm all for the banking industry being nationalized. Its not like the free market and competition provide any benefit to consumers. All the banking industry provides is debt for the people, profits for the banks.

Nationalize the banks and return to Constitutional monetary policy.

Jobs in 2010 and 2011 while great are not going to solve the current crisis and get the economic engine moving. They aren't going to stop the wave of unemployment, foreclosure, bankruptcy and....despair. They aren't going to create and fulfill the hope and postive attitude needed now. We need projects that create jobs now, jobs that stay in America for the long-term and jobs that stop what T. Boone Pickens has referred to as "..the largest transfer of wealth in history...". We need jobs that reduce the trade deficit so as not to compound the bailout burden on our children and grandchildren . Manufacturing jobs, renewable fuels jobs, construction jobs, agribusiness jobs, professional jobs such as nurses, doctors, accountants (could put a bunch of these to work making sure the bailout money is spent well).

Working people eat out and buy homes, automobiles, appliances, furniture, services of all kinds....and that's what creates more jobs and allows for greater savings and investment which continues to fuel the economic engine.

We need to put the unemployed back to work, prevent further unemployment and create millions of more jobs right away.....before the current crisis feeds on itself and grows too big to solve.

Talk about a litigious society. When the Cheif Justice of the Supreme Court and our new President make a small error in location of words during the inaugural, that deserves a smile. When it become necessary to re-do the ceremony just in case someone might use that to question the legitimacy of the event says an awful lot about our society. That's scary.

David is the best political analyst on TV. I listen when he speaks. He plays it down the middle and understands how Washington works.

This economy is in terrible shape. Unfortunately we have to spend our way out of it. Banks need money to shore up their balance sheets and make loans to the American people and small business. They don't need it to make stupid acquistions and shove around small business as a result of their own failures, greed, and stupidity. I deal with one of these banks on a daily basis, and I can tell you that they are not that bright, don't give a damn about the businesses that they partner with, and they can't admit that they've made the mistakes that have had a lot to do with putting us in this position. They need to be held accountable, just like everyone else. We also need to develop our own technologies here and stop sending our jobs overseas. Did we forget how to make things?? I don't think so. Jobs make our economy go, not greed and overly structured financial instruments...can our MIT grads please work on making something tangible instead of overly processed Wall Street models that no one understands? Surely we are better than this.

Also, the auto companies have done a lousy job, but I find it ironic that we can hand out billions to banks with no strings attached and then make our largest manufacturers beg and plead for a fraction of that money. Yes, they need better products, but it doesn't help when qualified consumers can't get loans to buy their products (see above). We've lost our way if we think that somehow one industry is more important than another. Every job counts.

Mr. Obama has his work cut out for him. I admire him greatly, but this is a very daunting challenge and we need patience and the ability to work together. Idealogy needs to take a back seat to pragmatism.

In the midst of what celebration. The clouds were dark for the last 8 years or so. What are you talking about...nothing that we don't already know. Get a grip on a real story.

JC–I guess you don't know that the oath is just a formality and that an elected president becomes OFFICIAL at the stroke of noon on the January 20th following his or her election.

As for the tax issue with Geithner–I know a few people who have worked with the IMF or other international agencies and the rules are pretty complex as to who pays what and how much. Of course, he did screw up by not withholding for the household help. He should have made her an independent contractor and made her withhold her own money. That is what we do with the staff at our business.

We are in very deep, shark infested and very toxic waters. What is occurring across these United States is unprecedented. My mom, god rest her soul, use to talk about the depression and eating fat on stale bread for supper. Will I be telling stories like that to my grandchildren???

I really hope that this administration with the help and support of ALL parties in congress can work together to get America back on its feet. I worry about what lies ahead. This administration may have to try some new and very different things and or use old tactics that got us out of the Great Depression.

I was at the Inauguration on Tuesday and everyone that stood near me talked about wanting to see better times and feeling that we are heading in the right direction.

Bottom Line – These are troubling times and WE ALL need to work together.

Lisa – Very well said, thank you. A succinct, on-the mark analysis. We could use a Lisa 360 report daily.

What's important is that we stay positive and support the president. We know all these things are going on, so lets allow the president and his administration to do their work.

I agree with David Gergen's assessment of the economy. They were refelected in the comments concerning Valley Forge, our nation's darkest hour, contained in the President's inaugural address.
Especially frightening is the possibility that, prior to this crisis, the entire U.S> economy was inflated and that this level cannot be sustained again. If this is true, the size of the future economy will be limited and previous levels of investment and employment will not reached again.

Trust is the precious commodity that Obama is growing now and that will enable a greater future reliance on the government. Right now we will likely need to nationalize, temporarily, more than just banks. We are going to have to trust that which we used to villify, the government, whether we like it or not. There may come a time so dire that the private sector will break down in providing basic services and commodities. The Government will need to be ready to take over. I remember something my 90 year-old Republican father said one time that surprised me. What the public needs, the public must own. It may be we will need to own energy companies, food suppliers, communication companies. Scary, I know, in what that might portend, and in the power that could be abused. I think Obama is laying the groundwork corectly though: transparency and integrity.

It took 911 to bring us (including me) to our knees. We packed churches and united as a country after that terrible day. That is how it has been throughout history. When times are good, we eat, drink and are merry and all is well in America. And who is there to thank during these times? Us, our abilities, our wealth?

Then it happens... a storm. We (again, me included) all become so reliant upon God and begin to talk about praying and uniting as a country.

Storm subsides and where do we go? Right back to where we were before.

Is there a pattern here? Is Someone trying to show us something?

I am a small business owner and I cannot see how the proposed stimulus plan is going to help the low income and middle class. Giving money to big banks and financial institutions is not going to trickle down to the working class.

A stimulus plan that would have an immediate effect on the economy would be to give each single taxpayer say $15,000 and married tax payers a $30,000 stimulus check. This would be limited to those making under $150,000 a year. This money would go immediately into the economy starting the day people received their checks.
Money would be used to make mortgage payments, buy cars, buy goods and probably put some of their check in the bank.

The conservative mantra of personal responsibility is right. The problem is that those that have not been conservative in anything have created the problem. The feeding frenzy of housing and retail has ended in the spiral we are now in. What did you expect when there are people out there with 20 credit cards ans $50k plus in debt.

Rampant, mindless consumption is a part of the problem. In other words, greed. This crisis will be a good thing if it makes us sit up, take notice and change our ways for the good of all. The problems are actually easy to fix, it's convincing people who have lived a certain way for so long that is the hard part.

We still have the capacity to feed, clothe, and house everyone in the US. Nothing has changed except a lot of supposed wealth that was not really there in the first place has gone. It's all make believe stuff. The problem is not the economy, it's our economic system. We need to bring back some balance and some understanding of what money and cost truely is.

Dear Lisa,

Great comment! I whish I had written it.

Will we ever learn that ‘Trickle Down’ is a fancy name for Theft from the middle class?

RB

Being a first rate tax evader seems to be a must in the new admin.

the senate doesn't mind. just a good old boy.

Dark clouds will gather and the storm will break and the sun shine will come through, after the storm has passed. How Obama and his administration weathers the storm and shelters the American public from too much damage will be the important gauge by which to gauge his presidency. ALmost no other president had to deal with such a catastrophe, economy, war, deficit, etc. Legacy of the Bush administration.

My question is – with all of these banks ("too big to fail") investing internationally and having international investors, why does the U.S. taxpayer have to pay for the bailout funds?

As a conservative, I am encouraged that President Obama does not seem to be serving as a "yes man" for the Democratic party. It appears to me there are those in his party (Speaker of the House Pelosi) who are more concerned with retaliating against Bush administration officials then they are with dealing with the crisis our country is in. I am hopeful that President Obama will be a president to all Americans and that he will not let emotion dictate policy as he leads our great nation (and the world) through these many crisis were are facing (economic, terrorism, energy, etc). God Speed President Obama.

We need to focus and keep a positive attitude. A few thoughts...

The banks themselves are partially at fault for qualifying people and getting them into mortgages knowing that they wouldn't be able to stay afloat. Relaying on the fact that if they didn't make the payments they would just take the house and then sell it. Well, when you're doing that times millions of homes, how is the value going to stay high??

The auto industry should be "bailed" out by the Fuel industry (after all they're the only ones reporting any gains!)

We need to pump money into infrastructure that will then create more jobs; some of our schools need a bail out more desperately than some of these banks.

The govornment really needs to start monitoring banks a little better. Maybe if someone would have had their heads over the sholders of Bank of America, Citi Bank and some of these others, perhaps they would not have so anxiously lended money to people who obviously would eventually not be able to make the payments.

Also, we need to offer companies something attractive (like a tax cut or grant money to expand business) that will keep jobs here, instead of elsewhere where the labor is so cheap it would be attractive to anyone to ship the job overseas.

One last thing...it's only two days into a new administration. Lets give Obama some time....heck some American's gave George Bush 8 years....!

The DEMS and greedy corporate leaders got us into this...unfortunately they're all still in charge. Now what do we do?

The solution is to eliminate interest altogether. Muslims know this very well. Analyze how bad they've been hurt by the mortgage industry, and according to many independent reports, Muslims do not take traditional interest-bearing loans. Moreover, they've known for a long time that interest (usury as they know it) causes wealth to vaporize. To them, it's a "Godly" phenom. We should explore alternative monetary policy; something other than interest based

not a legal president, so it's all irrelevant.

The fact that the bailout money went to the banks with absolutely no conditions is criminal. You can't tell me that Paul Volker and the rest of the "experts" weren't just handing out our tax dollars to do just what Bush and friends have been doing all along – taking care of the rich at the expense of the taxpayer.

I think the banks should be forced to do what was planned from the beginning and if they don't, they should have to give the money back!
God knows, some of them still have it – it's sitting in their vaults instead of being given out in loans. The deal was implicit, if not explicit and those that we can't force to return the money should not get one dime more!!!

I hope with all my heart that Obama makes the conditions clear (and in writing!!!) at the next bailout occurs.

Alan Greenspan said he was "surprised" that the deregulation he championed would lead to such greed. Why would he be? He worked for the greediest administration in the history of this country!

Lisa I enjoyed reading your comment, wish there were more honest and logical people in the world like you, especially in our governing offices.

Mr. Gergan, I like listening to you, always thought you were a right winger but after the last two years see you as a centrist. I am very hopefull that Obama and his administration can right this country again, that said it seems to me the GOP members who are blocking everything he's presented are still in their same old shoes, if it isn't money going into their coffers they aren't for it, on the other hand Pelosi and Reid seem like they couldn't make horses stand in line in a parade, their all hat and no hay. So Bush and the Rubber stampers as they were all those years have bankrupt our country, our military and standing in the world, with the help of CEO'S and Wall Street. Meanwhile the middle class and poor are becoming closer then ever.
I say time for swift and hair standing action, if it takes nationalizing the banks, so be it, Obama didn't create this mess but if he doesn't get it fixed in six months you can bet the media on the right and a good many of the Republicans will all be running around smiling and pulling out their campaign signs. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place. I say go for the bold President Obama, it's going to take something nuclear to clean up this mess. What choice do we have?

Most of us knew that the situation was damn awful. That's why we voted the way we did. Let's hear y'all start blaming President Obama now.

The Democrats are exploiting the "opportunity" (per, Emmnuel) of economic crisis to push the cause for government micro-management of the private sector. The Dems are running around triumphantly gloating, saying "Told you deregulation doesn't work." Yes, there needs to be oversight. That's indisputable. But isn't there a big difference between oversight and micro-management?

I've always been very pro-capitalism and pro-free-market. But if the choice is between nationalizing the banks, and shoveling billions of dollars to bank executives who use it for office remodeling and future takeovers, I would have to say that we should nationalize the banks. I don't like to see the government over-involved in the economy, and I'm against bailing out GM and Chrysler. But if the country needs a decent financial system which can actually provide credit, and we simply don't have one, then nationalizing the banks might be the most reasonable thing to do.

"joe h" is correct. Last night's comments on AC360 by the CNN reporter standing outside the White House complaining about not being invited into three obviously confidential meetings by the new "transparent" Obama administration were so nieve as to be insulting to viewers.

Come on! What do you want, a helmet cam on every person in the entire government directly fed to your control center, and to share that information immediately with the world. Nice, pie in the sky idea, but some people DO have to get work done.

CNN and the rest of the out of control media, for once and all, get over your arrogant, self-serving selves and get out of the way of this administration or get ready to be turned off by the mass public!

For the person who mentioned the do over of the oath – let's not forget it was not Obama that screwed up the Oath but the Chief Justice appointed by Bush.

I don't think that President Obama has tried to hide that we are in for some tough times. He has mentioned time and time again that it may get harder before it gets better.

He has to restore confidence in America on many levels, including the world's view of us and Gitmo has to be included in that.

I couldn't care less about seeing the second oath – give it a rest., ya'll and get back to covering what's REALLY important to this country – prosecuting the criminals who ran this country for the past 8 years! Shine some journalistic light there, please.

WHERE WERE YOU media types when Bush/Cheney were handing out free passes to plunder this nation's wealth, spending billions in an unnecessary war, ignoring the constitution of this nation, and committing war crimes in Iraq and elsewhere? If even HALF the energy spent drumming up stories about Obama were spent on getting Congress to prosecute the previous administration for their piss-poor and criminal performance over the past 8 years, perhaps SOME of the wealth, integrity, and jobs we had when Bill Clinton was in office might still be around...

While I respect D. Gergan and Anderson Cooper and many of the journalists at CNN, the constant white noise over fairly minor news seems geared only to fill blogs and 24/7/365 news cycles...

It's time to give Obama the space and opportunity to help us recover from the damage that GW Bush and D Cheney have done to this country. Focus on getting them prosecuted; let Obama do his job! He's already done more in 3 days to improve the integrity of this nation than Bush EVER did.

BTW, on the day Obama took office, three generations of my family stood in our California kitchen at 9am, crying with joy. On that day, after 9 months of trying to sell our house without luck (despite over $300K off actual value) we got 5 offers and today will be in Escrow with a backup offer.

Yes, we did.

Give Obama a chance to get stuff done. We who support him know that it won't be quick or painless – but it can at least be *without the carping of the media* over silly stuff like whether or not you got called up to come over to film a second oath taking... there are MORE IMPORTANT THINGS to worry about.

Sincerely,
Casey
Sebastopol, Ca.

A sober and realistic view of the immediate (and daunting) financial and economic challenges this Administration faces in the near term. Respectfully, I suggest that Mr. Gergen misses the far more important long-term economic implications of the Obama Presidency. These include the following:

(1) Over the past three centuries, a significant portion of American citizens have been (or have been made to feel) economically marginalized. Consequently, America has failed to utilize the full potential of its' greatest resource, which is human capital. Thus, throughout the entire history of our nation, the American economy has never come close to reaching its true potential. The perceived and real economic barriers of discrimination have now begun to fall apart, and are likely to continue to do so at a greater pace under the Obama presidency. In economic terms, this may be likened to the fall of the Berlin Wall, except America's version of the Berlin Wall stood centuries longer, and permeated not one city, but our entire civilization. Mindful as Mr. Gergen is of the near term "dark clouds" over our economy, he should not ignore what lies farther ahead on the horizon.

(2) The immediate crisis is, in fact, beneficial to our economy. Unscrupulous or reckless business practices, and the firms that engaged in them, are failing and will be replaced with sounder, and far more efficient firms that will be capable of delivering superior financial services and products. Out-dated regulations and regulatory bodies will be modernized, enhancing the soundness of the capital markets. Finally, the crisis will drive a mandate to spread wealth more evenly throughout society, which in turn will enable a far greater number of people to deploy capital into new ideas of their own making. Spreading wealth through a society typically results in innovation, a critical component to America's past and future economic strength. Finally, the current crisis will result in low expectations on the part of investors, which typically heralds long-lasting secular bull markets and wealth creation.

In short, I cannot dispute that the immediate economic situation is grave and likely to deteriorate dramatically. Wrenching market declines are probable in all asset categories – real estate, stocks, bonds, commodities – over the near term. During this dark time, I suggest readers remember to take a long-term perspective, and find creative ways to translate danger into opportunity.

- Alex Trias, Esq.,
Washington, DC

It still never ceases to amaze me that corporate America is not doing its part in getting America back on track. For companies as profitable as Microscoft and General Electric are, mass layoffs do nothing but continue to erode America's hope for the future. It is like a dog chasing its tail – they fire people who then can't open their wallets to buy their goods. Maybe companies should earn less money and keep people in jobs so they will continue to spend.

Amen to Lisa!

While all of the men in that room are very intelligent, it does not change the fact that we need JESUS in America Again. Those of you who would say that he has nothing to do with this are wrong, he has EVERYTHING to do with this. All through the Bible there have been circumstances, and situations where there was great famine, BUT those who lived their lives according to the Word of God did not lack. I urge everyone who reads this message to turn back to the ways of our Founding Fathers, let's get back to the very foundation of this Country, a Foundation of Faith in The Lord Jesus Christ.

Lisa, great analysis

seriously, it is up to professional sales people to save the economy, as always. I would like to see, though, some investigation and possibly criminal charges against those that were behind this collapse.

I love JC that we should replace the residents of gitmo with the corrupt leadership of past eight years with the one wheel chair in lead

I must admit that I don't have any good feelings about Geithner. He strikes me as completely insincere and whiny and as someone who would sell out his boss and his country in a heartbeat the next time he got in trouble. No good vibes from this guy at all.

Barack Obama has inherited a financial and ethical nightmare that was cultivated by a lack of regulation in the past 8 years. As the coming weeks pass and the rhetoric will give way to the stark reality facing all of us for the next year or so.

Try to remember folks, he's President of the Federal Government, not President of the Economy.

Not even Puff the Magic Greenspan can make the bad man stop.

It's interesting to watch the CNN Talking Heads yammering on about how bad everything is. Where were they when this situation was gestating? Nowhere! They were oblivious like most everyone else because they don't know anything more than the rest of us. Now they're experts deserving our rapt attention!

The media really is a big part of the problem - especially when coupled with Americans' great love for swallowing massive amounts of hooey and basking in selfish delusions, not to mention an attention span that's been abbreviated to near non-existence.

Gotta go, there's a Britney story breaking.

Lets just see how things start shaping up when media members and reporters start losing their jobs as quickly as folks in the other sectors. Its all a game until it starts hurting your own pocket. The media has played a major roll in helping to speed up the snowball effect. While its important a banks condition falls within the realm of public information, making it headline news for everyone to get excited and scared about is extremely negligent. Opinions do no one any good in a time where facts are ever so important. And so freedom of speech comes with a harsh penalty.

Well we'll have to see what happens. President Obama and his team are working on the best strategies to improve our economy as well as a humongous multitude of other issues that simply must be met without fail. And Obama's not holding any truth away the people. As he said already, the challenges we face "Are Real". And indeed we do have to brace ourselves because things are much more likely to get worse before they get better. And we have to be patient with the new administration. As long as they're working nonstop to resolve this crisis.

Very well said Lisa.

Hmmm...

People, and that means all of us, need to quit complaining and get busy putting our nation back on a successful socioeconomic track.

The faux pau stumble during the first swearing in and the following swearing i, and I would remind the readers, without the benefit of a bible, which, in fact, is not required but leaves me, at least a bit uncomfortable, seems less than an ausibicous start to things, But the truth is as you noted, our country faces unprecidented economic calamity and in the process we are in the process of making decisions to create the kind of debt that is by any standard historic and unimaginable. Trillions and trillions of dollars of new national debt has already been created through the actions of the Fed and the Department of the Treasury and trillions and trillions of additional debt will soon follow with little or nothing to show for the effort accept, making the United States the greatest debtor nation in the history of mankind. I would argue our leaders simply have no idea what they are doing trying one solution after the othe in a mindless attempt to soften the inevitable collapse of our economic system and squarndering the last remaining grains of seed stock left in the cupboard. The kind of debt we are creating is simply beyond the comprehension of man. By anology, a trillion dollars is something like spending 27 million dollars a day for 100 years. These number simply have no reference point in human experience and we simply do not have any known predictive model that can accurately demonstrate or even define the unintended consequences of taking such actions as even spending a trillion dollars. The simply fact is the government is just guessing and in doing so they are bankrupting our nation, creating the kind of debt that one has to ask who is goin to pay or how we are going to pay the interest let alone pay out the principle. Even if we could pay all this money back it would take maybe a hundered years and generation upon generation living as indentured slaves to that debt. I would argue, that there are some problems that even exceed the ability of nations or governments to resolve. Once this money is spent the cupboard will be bare and then what? If we proceed down this path almost surly the United States will be forced to default and the moment that occurs, our once great nation, will be the worlds largest third world country in the world. I would argue under these circumstances we should let the system fail and deal with the tradegy to follow and pick up the pieces as we go along. It would be a bitter pill but I would suggest that recessions and depressions perform a necessary function in the economic cycle, Their purpose is to wrench out excess that build up in the system and any attempt to ameleorate those process only lenghtens the recovery. Let the failure of system define best where to apply the very limited resources we have to help those who need the help most and to focus those resources in a manner the optimizes a long term recovery. But that is not going to happen. We as a nation always seem to take the path of least resistence, the easiest way out without concern to the consequences that we all know stand before use.

It is sad when you see people coming from other countries thru the variety of visas, and taking jobs because the company can get cheaper labor. I have news for the companies, American's will take any job regardless of pay, as long as it can put food on the table. We need to control the amount of worker visas given, so we can give the jobs to Americans first.

David – you are right. It will take a bold and dramatic policy decisions for the country. I voted for Obama because I believe that he will make these tough choices and has the correct vision for the country. We live in an America today that will never be like the past – banking, health care, jobs, energy, taxes, foreign policy, etc. We are in unchartered territory as a nation.

Rush baby says he wants Obama to fail. That sounds about as unamerican as one can be . He wants our country to fail . That"s what I
consider unamerican. It's totally appropriate to disagree on policy or politics ,but to hope that an administration fails is to hope our country fails ,whether the administration is Republican or Democratic . The question arises ; which of our various enemies is Limbaugh pulling for ?Who ever it is , they and Rush obviously don't wish our country well.

When Microsoft, one of the cash richest companies and 2nd brand name only to Coke in the world, announces lay offs, travel restrictions, elimination of merit increases ....be ready for a really crappy 2009.....

Mr. Gergen,

I always appreciate your insight and you couldn't be more right. Today I learned that my co-worker's husband had been laid off without notice and another friend's job is being outsourced to Mexico in October. At least she will have some time to prepare, but there's very little available where she lives.

So yes, I'm hopeful, but things won't turn around soon. I think we still have a way to fall and we all have to do what we can to help those that lose their jobs.

Thanks!

The situation is notihng less than tragic. Hope for some fast and decisive action on the part of the administration. There are many on captol hill that appear to not recognize the seriousness of the situation.

I think this is a perfect time for Americans to realize the amount of wasteful spending we do each and every day. However, this wasteful spending is what could really help our economy out of the dump. If the media would not instil a panic in every one, maybe more people would be spending and this economic crash would not be so grave. I think the President and the media should make more announcements to encourage Americans to spend their money right now. This could be a very powerful aid in fixing this mess!

Watching the inaugurantion it's easy to see that expectations are high.Will people blame the new president as the economy continues to crumble. This financial avalanche started a long time ago but will that part of the equation be foregotten?

Northern Indiana is the countries measurement on how the economy is going. When we go down, it takes the rest of the country a few months to feel the downturn too. But when we climb out – we are always the first by a few months ahead of the rest of the country.

Everyone had better hang onto their hats. You haven't seen nothing yet! Our unemployment rate is 12.9% and raising. That means that the rest of the country is probably 4 to 5 months behind us. Do we see the light at the end of the tunnel – nope.

It's going to get a lot worse. We are on the edge of a depression. Hope your bills are paid!

I hereby nominate Lisa for leader of the free world. Very eloquently stated and accurate to my way of thinking.

When US industty must answer to every 30 something Wall Street MBA who has never produced anything more substantial than his/her own obscene bonus then jobs will be offshored and older more productive employees will be let go. New hires in foreign factories are not compensated enough to buy the product. Ship it to the US, no tariff for US companies. But that older employee you let go two years ago cannot now purchase your new product from offshore.

Record profits last year, but how about this year or the next or ten years out. Once the snowball starts rolling it becomes very difficult to stop. If companies ship jobs out of country they not only get cheaper labor (AND YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR), but benefits are cheaper too (read non existant). When that warehouse guy pulls his back, just send him home fired and hire a new one tomorrow. The company does not carry workers comp, health insurance or have workers rights legislation to worry about. But that reflects the bottom line. At least for a year or two. So the stock price goes up, management and Wall Street get fat bonuses for "performance" and the stock holders, workers, bond purchasers etc get left holding the bag.

$20 Trillion in fantasy wealth that never really existed in the first place. But what's much more important is what's missing from this article – any talk of foreign policy. The US has enjoyed economic health and stability because it has been powerful politically – but OBie has already shown that he will compromise away anything and everything. Welcome to Third-World America. Welcome to OBie's America.

I can't afford to spend at all anymore. In 2008 my rent went up $100 a month and my income didn't go up at all. This year my rent is up another $100 a month, my bus fares are up $120 a year and there is no pay increase once again. And, then there is the fact that utilities and food have all gone up too. I am sure many of us are in the same boat. I feel lucky to have a job but am going to have to find a second one just to pay the rent. How can we afford to spend anything with the cost of living constantly going up and income not going up? If I received another Stimulus check, I would have to use it to live on like the last one but it sure would help a little bit.

I love the idea that out of control spending leading to a crash, can be addressed by out of control spending. We are fooling ourselves into believing that this is going to work.

Lisa says that "As we embark on this journey, let’s learn some lessons from the past — trickle down does not work so let’s try bottom up for a change." Really it has failed? When the government pressures banks to give credit to people with bad credit... how is that a failure of the market? When people use this over abundant credit to make poor financial decisions, how is this a market failure? Your solution is to give more money to people who (1) don't pay taxes, and (2) have already proven fiscal that they are fiscally irresponsible. What color is the sky in your world?

Giving people money while letting companies (i.e., their employers) fail is a great solution for next month... once you're done punishing all of those evil companies, who is going to put "The People" you alleged to care about to work? Or is your plan that we should all for for the government? That has turned out really well in France... Huge unemployment and lines of people who's only ambition is to get a secure government job.

Time to grow up people, the government doesn't control the financial market and any country that has tried has failed. As "intellectuals" (i.e., arrogant citizens who refuse to analyze a problem honestly and instead fall back on political rhetoric) I would hope that you could learn from other countries past mistakes... instead, like lemmings, you are rushing to join them.

Well who didn't see this coming. Not to mention they are saying it's going to get alot worse. We will see how happy everyone is with Obama after a year in office. Just for some perspective for everyone, the estimated figure of 1.9 million people that were in Washington D.C. for the inauguration lost a job last year. Actually I think it was something more like 2.1 million. Think about that after looking at the crowd that was there. The next time that many people are in Washington D.C. is probably going to be to burn the city down.

Seeing as most of the "debt" is a result of shady mortgage deals run through corrupt financial institutions, why not eliminate the interest debt similar to what happens when the west forgives the debt for third world countries. The whole mess was a well schemed con job sanctioned by the Bush administration. I am not an economist or expert on world financing but Vanity Fair was writing about this nearly two years ago.

I think the party was over for most people after the election was finished. It's great, wonderful, amazing he's President, but it's back to reality. If I get laid off, where am I going to find money for my credit cards, school loans, and other bills?
Let's do a trickle up effect instead of trickle down. These bank don't need any more do overs. We do!

To add to my previous comment, I think Americans who can afford to spend, should spend. If many people who are well off start spending their money and buying real estate etc it would help in very large ways.

I also feel that something needs to be done about the insane salaries that so many top executives are getting. Including universities! It is terrible that our education system is in the dump, and who can blame people for not wanting to be a teacher with their salary...things really need to change..I hope Obama is really up to the challenge!

¿Que paso? B. Obama was to sign the stimulus package, first day in office? What happen? So, President B. Obama decides to free the killers that harmed America on Sept. 11th. Go figure?
Pelosi and Ried, are not team players?
In the meantime American, like you and I are suffering.
What happen to American, land of the free, maybe Mexico will take us back?

As ususal Mr. Gergen has summarized our current status as a nation beautifully. I feel that Mr. Gergen is the most impressive political analyst that I see or read. He is my favorite.

What is happening has been building for over 30 years. Selfish greed and no consideration for the American people and the overall good of the nation has been the norm and is gradually getting worse each year.

If it took 30 years to mess things up this bad, a one year fix is totally unrealistic. It may take 10. But it will happen if the Merican people want it too.

All of the lost jobs and industry must be brought back. The American people must return to work. Buying and selling real estate to each other while driving debt through the ceiling is not the answer.

Unneccessary $1,000,000,000,000 wars is not the answer either.

The election of Obama is a great start ot recovery. We have just elected the most talented leader of our lifetime. We will need those talents.

Be patient, pray for America and Obama to succeed and for the cooperation from the far right and far left (Coryn (R Tx) and Pelosi (D CA) and the Limbaughs, Drudges and Fox's of the world.

It is time to come together. For those who continue to divide, we need to tune them out or vote them out of office.

It is time for Change... Yes We Can!

Seriously.

It's already too late to save the big banks. Let them fail and lets move on.
Giving them billions with no accountability will not solve the problem.
You either do it right or you get eliminated.

Amen to everything Lisa Said.

Lisa, couldn't add a thing. You pretty much said it all, and quite eloquently at that! And Joe H., you hit the nail on the head with the media. Sorry media folks, but you people don't have the common decency to let mistakes go, stay out of the faces of the grieving and downtrodden and generally practice poorly in the name of getting the news out. Most of the time, I am ashamed of the media, and that was no exception.

Thank you David Gergen for trying to sober us up. I heard on Cspan this mprning from a Harvard Business School professor who said that it was his view that many of the leading banks had over 1 trillion in debt. I gather that the credit default swaps market is over 50 trillion and I read last year that some folks expect that the US will be forced to default on its treasury bills. I do not know if any of this is in fact true; what I do know, is that we are in dire straits, between Scylla and Charibdes and even with the best minds we have, any path we take is fraught with risk. It may also be true that we are running out of time and may already be unable to avoid a prolonged recession or more likely depression. In fact, I now believe that we are not being given the full story of what faces us.

For many years we have been living beyond our means. we have seen a redistribution of wealth not seen since the 1920's. There is I am afraid a period of reckoning, pain and hardship which most of us will have to bear and not just in the US but internationally. For years we in the US have been told to save and encouraged to spend on credit as an engine of the world economy. What will emerge on the other side of this crisis, is a system and a country that is very different from the one we now know. Social unrest is a real possibility as the crisis deepens and we become aware of how much poorer we are. There is hope however if we can learn to live with less, to consume less and live within our means. We need to lower expectations, set longer time horizons for our financial goals, and anticipate reductions in our Medicare Medicaid and social security entitlements as well a Defense spending. In deed we will have a lowered standard of living because countries will stop buying our debt which has been sustaining us. The stimulus package and the TARP billions are an attempt to buy us time but cannot change the fundamental reshaping of the economic world that is underway. we will have to share more and overlook our differences and pull together–very difficult when we hear idealogues say "I hope Barack Obama fails" which means I hope America fails if it does not succeed using my ideas–known to have failed!
So let is brace ourselves for the coming economic dislocation and revisit the lessons of our parents and grandparents. We cannot eat our cake and have it too!!

The honeymoon was short, wasn't it? It should come as no surprise that we are in this bad of shape. With the new policies of transparency, I forsee a giant rude awakening for all of us; the mess left behind by the last administration is most likely much, much bigger than anyone anticipated.
That said, this bleak background could prove to be a great opportunity for Obama and co. to draw a sharp contrast in effectiveness of policies. the new administration has a good chance to show it's mettle.

To Lisa...well said. I could not agree more with your point of view-which in my opinion is full of true hard facts. Thank you for that.

My friends and I are all in the same position...we earn good livings, but we have all seen hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity vanish in our homes....and more is vanishing daily. My wife and I can afford to eat out, take trips and buy expensive gifts, but we, like our friends and relatives, are doing none of this. We are afraid that our equity in our most valuable asset, our homes, will totally vanish. Until house prices stabilize, we are going to focus on saving money. The economy will not recover until the government offers home-buying incentives to bring some demand back. A tax credit for buyers, and lower mortgage rates from government-owned FNMA would produce some sort of quick response in the market and require little admininstrative cost. With 30-year bonds at 3%, the government could make a profit on 4% mortgages! A bailout that makes a profit! What a concept! Why don't you focus on this idea?

The sense of breathless excitment you cite is not nearly as wide spread as the media present. People seem instead to be, appropriately, cautiously happy that we now have a President who intends to use the Office to actually accomplish things rather than give the impression of accomplishing things.

As ususal, the people seem to have a far far more mature take on teh events of the day than does the media.

How about eliminating shorting of stocks, allow only people in related businesses (ie. refining for oil, mining for gold, farming for wheat) buy and sell commodity contracts, and cancel all credit default swaps except for institutions holding the debt...how hard could this be? Give short "mutual funds" 60 days to unwind. While we're at it, allow only american students in our graduate schools, revoke tax exempt treatment for universities assisting other countries with the creation of research universities, get rid of the Pell Grant and replace it with employment subsudies so kids "work" their way thru college....these are the no brainers. Maybe get a finance person and an engineer in the House and Senate.....live it up...maybe one each.

How can this be? The messiah is in office and he should already have the economy fixed and peace in the middle east should be a reality. Or is he not the almighty being that all his worshippers made him out to be. Maybe his is too busy walking on water in the Reflecting pool with an elephant under one arm and the cure for aids under the other. Obama is going to find out its awful easy to be a backseat driver and a heck of a lot harder to be driving the car your self.

The "profit motive" and "free market forces" are high-sounding terms for good old-fashioned Greed. Mammon rules the World – always has. A very rich man was once asked how much money was "enough". A poor approximation of his answer is "...just a little more than I have...".
And that is the reason why you cannot count on corporations and markets to monitor themselves. They cannot regulate themselves because Greed is a blinding factor.
And so, as much as we all hate the notion of it, Government will have to do it. It falls to Government as the protector of the Country and ensurer of the Common Wealth to act to secure the Wealth, Health and Prosperity of its Citizenry. If that sounds naive – so be it. We've tried it the other way long enough. The results are painful for Almost all of us.
I wish you well, Mr. President!

I am waiting, almost holding my breath, to see how the Obama team is going to demonstrate to the house and senate that the old policitical arguments and alliances don't apply. I'm looking down, to watch the ground shift under those who are already posturing, telling anyone who will listen that their long held postions must be considered in the new day. Free press versus transparency and the fact that you can change history by what you focus on. I am just waiting, holding my breath, to see something new here.

Well... I'm going to have to side with Nancy Pelosi on this one. Just a question for anyone that wants to answer; if a government were to nationalize all the banks in America and kept interest rates low, when the economy booted back up would there be a handover back to the rich? Is that a possible argument? Because I think all these CEO's have enough money to hold them over for a couple years, and why not go a little Roman and use the banks to get us out?

Many, while lost in their own personal joy over the first true African American elected and sworn into he office of President of the United States, continue to fail the reality of our economy and how very close we hang on the edge of collapse.

Will a hugh US Treasure bubble be the next to burst, bringing total collapse of our economic system with trillions of dollars unaccounted for in as of to date a failed bailout of our economy.

One can still smell the aroma of pork in Washington and with a new leader in the treasury who himself is guilty of crimes in avoiding to pay tax'es he owed be a leader that can take additional monies and account for the mass printing in this continued bailout.

Can a full blown depression be far ahead, or has it appeared before us, ready to blow the house down and scatter what remains of our system into the dust of corruption so rampant on Wall Street and through out congress.

Any plan that fails to begin before 2010 will be to little, to late as the economic Katrina come ashore with winds we have never before witnessed in our homeland.

While we, the people of America are left to run blindly in the aftermath, much like the victims of hurrican Katrina, with little hope of rescue and not a boat in site.

I'm sick of people always complaining. Give this new president a chance to work on these issues that are affecting our country. If you can do something better, you would have the office.

I am really tired of everyone staying way to the left or right of these issues. We have to work together to find answers, finger pointing is not going to fix the problems. No one from the right can drop their guard and hope that Obama and his staff can work us out of this problem. No one from the left can name any policies passed in the last eight years that got us into this situation. The lefties keep saying how the administration of the last eight years failed us. How? The righties actually want Obama to fail in his attempt to fix things. How will that help us? I don't think there are any answers right now. Economic theory tells us what to do based upon historical trends but none of that has worked. Time and the ensuing fallout of all the borrowing/lending we have done may be the only answer.

Excuses on day 1 for the new administration. Keep serving up the softballs, CNN, and let the obama admin keep knocking them out of the park.

I can't wait to start getting some of my fellow american's wealth redistribution!

C'mon, Commrades, join me in welcoming change.

I think Pres. Obama and friends will need to think outside the box on this one. Old ways of thinking (FDR for example) may not be enough. Perhaps some rule of conduct for Banks will help.

Disaster approaches...stay tuned!

The great contradiction we face is that if consumers (who account for 2/3 of the US economy) remain thrifty and turn to savers instead of spenders, the economy will contract. The mood is such now that tax cuts will be put toward personal debt relief or into guaranteed savings and will not stimulate the economy. On the other hand, if tax rolls are increased by extensive energy and infrastructure investment plans, the government will be addressing two issues at the same time: increasing the purchasing power of the American people and increasing its own tax collections to finance further work programs.

The motto says it all, "I Fraud We Trust". We live in a Technicolor Hollywood Movie and we still believe it's true.

Barak Obama from day one has told the American Public it will take time to recover from this dreadful economic condition. When you had a previous administration lead by a Cowboy Bafoon who squandered
Trillions of dollars left in surplus by the Clinton Administration this is going to take some time.

But, Obama has the stamina and confidence to make it right I am sure we will recover, but it could take at least 2-3 years of his first term in office. So let's not panick keep and trust GOD to give Obama the strength and confidence with a good Exective Team to pull us out of this mess left by Bush and his cronies.

Thank You George Bush! Giving more and more money to the wealthy really helped to grow our economy and a worthless trillon dollar war!

It's a stark reality that didn't go away just because a black president made it to the white house. While it shows how socially enlightened the United States has become we still turn and look the other way when it comes to our finances. That in itself seems to have become "the American way".
When honest, hard working people are unable to pay their mortgages, or even their taxes, how can we expect anyone to be jumping at the chance to take out a 1% loan on a new car? no one has any money to pay back the loan- interest or not. That's if you're even lucky enough to "Qualify" for the loan (which from what I hear is no easy feat).
So here we are, with all the opportunity in the world- this is America after all, where a black man can become president. Maybe it's time to stop distracting ourselves and falsely congratulating ourselves and start looking at reality, THAT is when we will see change.

Lori said it extremely well...the one thing I am still waiting for is a reduction in an interest rate on SOMETHING. So far I am able to make my mortgage, but I would like to re-fi my first and "home improvement" loan, but I can't even get my bank (Wells Fargo) to respond to me. We've paid interest only on the home improvement loan and the three years are up on that option, but haven't heard a word. Still waiting for ONE credit card rate to come down. I can't remember how many times I've heard if the Feds cut the rate, it will bring down credit card interest rates. It never, ever has. EVER... Did I say ever?

I do wich Obama well. But I feel sorry for him getting stuck with this mess and if he doesn't fix it within his first term, which is pretty much impossible considering what he's stuck with, I'm afraid he'll be out and we'll be stuck with another (Jeb) Bush. I shudder at the though.

Imagine what would happen to our economy if instead of giving billions and (did I hear right?) trillions to the very rich we equally divided that money among all of the citizens of the US. If we are going to bail someone out, why not bail out the people. What would you do with your share? Pay off your mortgage? Pay of credit cards? Fix your house? It seems to me that would be a much better use of the money then giving it to government cronies and wealthy bankers. Divided that way, the money would truly be a stimulus because it would eliminate debt and increase the disposable income of the middle class. Not only that, but, if we really want everyone to own a home what better way to make it happen? I really hate bailouts, and I believe in this silly thing called the Constitution. I would like to see a return to the government the Constitution authorizes. But if we are going to be forced to swallow a bail out, at least give us the money.

"It's the economy, stupid" was the clarion call that guided Clinton's 2-termed administration for 8 years leaving a surplus for the Bush administration. However, for 8 long years , George Bush was plain stupid by ignoring this dictum allowing Wall Street and his war-hawk VP Dick Cheney to run amok while the economy completely collapsed before his – and the country's – very eyes as he prepared to leave the White House and the judgement of history on his presidency. It would do President Obama and his advisors well to reclaim this proverb once again: "It's the Economy stupid."

Nationalize the banks and be done with it. The depositors need protection. The investors knew the risks.

Life in the fast lane, where the refrain has been "money for nuthin' and chicks for free" – is over.
It's got to be over for coked-up "Street gurus" telling us that PE ratios don't matter;
We need to start jailing more and more of these Accountants who keep telling us over and over again that 2+2=10 (or whatever their fee-paying clients want them to tell us);
CEOs need to understand that they will not be taking home obscene salaries and bonuses for meeting ridiculously easy-to-hit short-term targets;
Colleges and Universities need to learn that they are not not only outrageously expensive, but also that their graduates are not competitive in the global economy;
US citizens cannot permit its government to wage several wars while lowering taxes and telling them to "go to the mall"; and
The use of illegal drugs needs to be dealt with as an act of treason – because drug money, more than any other source, is what is financing terrorists in Afganistan and elsewhere.

How about we just confiscate the assets of Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz,, Pearle, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Paulsen, and all of their other cohorts, for a down payment on this disaster, after we through them in jail?

Do you want stewed algae or fried turtle noses? You have to choose one.

Do we want 16% unemployment, but a free market that will right itself after the company failures and bloodletting, or do we want to pay $5000 for a loaf of bread?

Either we bite the bullet and let the market correct itself with company failures and higher unemployment(no, I am not naive that political will will allow such a thing), or we will experience hyperinflation like other countries who have simply printed boatloads of money.

The answer seems to me to be to take on the credit card sector.

If the government used its 825 billion to pay off everyone's credit cards, then the people owning that debt would have more money to lend, the people owing the debt could start spending again (what a stimulus!) OR they would bank the money they used to spend on their credit card debt.

Of course I have a vested interest in this solution having a lot of credit card debt myself.

CNN seems so out of touch with reality. For the last six months, the network's constant talk about Obama, race and "what this means for America" have taken the place of any real news with regard to the continued economic, political, moral and social decay of the U.S. The pre-election hype that CNN masterminded to push his election has now been trumped by the network's efforts to paint he and his wife as the new saviors (CNN's polls about whether viewers like Michelle OBama's fasions have to be an absolute low point). God help Barack Obama ... he's been "set-up." With all of the incredible expectations being placed upon the new president, he needs a miracle to be able to deliver.

I look at what is being presented as a stimulus package and I don't see how fixing roads puts the country in better shape job wise. Are laid off
bank employees going to grab a shovel now and build roads and bridges? What needs to be fixed is not being fixed. People are losing their homes because of layoffs now. The sub-prime foreclosures are done. Now people who had homes they could afford are losing them because of those who had homes they couldn't afford. Greedy lenders caused all this. Now we are spending billions to help them and forgetting the real victims in all this. Quit pumping blood into a dying patient. You have to stop the foreclosures first. It's snowballing now and it will be too late if you wait. Freeze foreclosures for those who have been laid off or this economy is doomed! Washington, stop helping your rich friends and help those who put you where you are now.

I am a Canadian but I'm scared too. Even oil companies up here are laying people off. I think America came very close to a complete collapse due to the corruption and irresponsibility of the last 8, but even the last 40 years. Obama basically inherited a house of cards and a hurricane is coming. The question I have is where America will get the Trillions of dollars needed to rescue the financial system.

Having said all this, we should not just hoard money, we need to help this economy out, and the media must be aware of the chilling effect they could have by harping on the depression scenario – at this point we are in a self-fulfilling prophecy – the more scared we get, the less we lend or spend, and the worse things get.

Oh, it's okay. The Annointed One is in office. They'll just blame Bush for everything and it will be okay.
Dark skies are going to clear up! Put on an Happy Obama face!

Lisa, you have hit the nail right directly on the head. The middle class does indeed support the wealthy and the poor. Their would be no wealthy people and no poor people without the middle class. The middle class soley supports everyone in America... Period! The middle class should be bailed out which as you said, would automatically bail everyone else out. I hope you are listening Obama. You are the first president in my near 50 years of living that I have ever actually thought is a very serious, good willed, and intelligent person that really has the country best interest at heart. I know we are asking a lot in these troubled times. But we all have hope in you. Help us help ourselves. We will work very hard right beside you and do our part to make it happen.

My wife recently lost her job because it was oursourced to India. The people from India who have a job are the ones that my wife trained. With this happening all over the place and most common everyday items being made in China, how can anybody have confidence in our economy?
Good luck Mr. Prez. You will need it. The good feeling that people now have will only last so long.

Obama is talking the talk, like "green energy" to take one example. Now he has to walk the walk so to speak.

His inaugural speech would have been a great opportunity to announce an executive order to start installing solar panels on every Federal building in the US. The US government is the largest single user of electricity in the country.

We need projects like massive deployment of solar and wind to ramp up production in our woefully underutilized factories. Not to mention the jobs created.

Recently, I plastered my entire roof with solar panels. I have effectively eliminated my electricity bill for life.

If I as an individual can do it economically, what in the world is the Federal government waiting for?

We need to start with projects (like solar) that have an immediate payback, so people can see measurable results from day one, not nonsense like "clean coal" and nuclear power plants in the distant future.

Hey all you Obama supporters. Timothy Geitner is EXACTLY what we've been trying to get away from. He is a cheater, a liar, a dirt bag. Can't your amazing Obama make one moral move and make a statement that criminals are not going to lead our country out of crisis. Wonderful confirmation!

I think people expect "quick" way out somehow. By quick I mean perhaps 6 months to a year.

But how about we build super fast trains that run underneath electrical grid (not just gasoline locomotives) ....

Imagine this undertaking for entire country. But what if in 10 years we could board a train in Cincinnati and be in San Francisco next day while sleeping on the modern train, drink coffee eat dinner, watch TV etc on the train ...

The electricity in the grid could be partly from coal but also from other things like water, air, solar, etc.

There are solutions, just not short term, just not painless in the short run ...

Everyone,

Please ask for NESARA to be announced. If you don't know what it is then google it. There is more than enough money for all of us. Stop the WAR Machine. Become an economy based on peace and prosperity and not one based on bombing innocent children.

Our economic system cannot not continue as is because it is all based on debt.

Time for everyone to get theirs and stop making the TOP 1% richer and richer...

Actually LISA makes alot of sense! It's refreshing to see someone post without political rancor or bitterness – just plain truth!

I own a small business and we are being severely hit by our customer's cutbacks which in turn hurt us. If my company doens't make it, I don't make it – pure and simple. That means my mortgage and car payments default and the trend continues. ANY direct relief to small businesses in the form of guaranteed credit or direct credit from the government will keep my 10 employees afloat along with their bills.

Most of all – forget all the name calling and finger pointing and get on with the business of fixing this thing! Go Obama (I voted for McCain)!

Wake up folks – everyone's favorite whipping boy "offshoring" is not done to the extent that the media will have everyone believe. Many jobs are now being "shipped" to the middle of the US where labor is still cheap compared to India nowadays.

The fact of the matter is that we spend too much and do not save enough. We are a country of living beyond our means and until we stop that, nothing we do will pull us out of this recession.

Oh, how I wish I knew this "Lisa" Lady, how right on !!!!!!

None of us standing there on inauguration day thought that being hopeful for our new president was some how going to "magically" change where we stand in time. We have been going in the wrong direction for a long time thanks to Bush. He let his cronies rape and pillage this country with no regulations or oversight. And it is us the American people who will suffer the most with job lost and a sour economy. What is it going to take to change things around. I am sure many don't know cause it going to take time to go through all that was done and where we end up is yet to be discovered.

How can the american public ever expect to get out of this economic mess when the solutions are being solved by the very group of politicans that caused it all? Until the entire stimulas is taken away from Pelosi, Reid ,Franks,Dodd,etc and put into the capable hands of economists that do not have a personal agenda or political dues to pay, we are doomed to failure! If Obama was as smart as you would have us believe,he would be totally aware of this problem,but I believe along with many others that he is just their Painted Pony! I would get down on my knees if I was proved wrong and sing his praises!!
May the Lord help us!!!!!

What's the risk if government offers to buy one bank with less debt for a smaller amount and then nationalize them. Then they inject $700 billion dollar into it. Draft their own federal regulations for loans and credits that generate revenue to the government. Offer loans and credits to businesses and people at a lesser interest rate than other banks, who screw the general public with 10%-30% APR. For people who still want to get government money but keep talking about free market, let them compete with the nationalised banks. well, it is a free market, if bank of america can compete with citigroup, why don't they both compete with national bank by offering better services and lesser rates.

Cut the capital gains in 1/2 ... why not? there isnt any anyway..since its down 40%... It would encourage investment.... Just a little common sense...

"We will need every bit of the energy, unity and goodwill of the past few days to get us through the coming months."

If only you could convince your colleagues in the press of that. IF there was a moratorium on the reporting on all new presidents for the first 100 days instead of intense scrutiny, perhaps Americans could hold on to that hope a bit longer. I find it sad that many so-called news organizations are taking the hope that many Americans feel at this point and analyzing it down until they’ve picked apart every last bit of it and told how it’s impossible.
We know the economy is in bad shape, but when you have analyst after analyst saying it will be 2010, 2011, 2012 or even 2015 before things get better, what do you expect? People get arrested for inciting a panic…the nation’s news organizations are dangerously close to doing that every day. There’s a difference between reporting the news and dramatizing it to the point of hysteria.
If you and your organization are TRULY meaningful when you wrote that quote, why not back it up and spend the first 100 days of Obama’s presidency reporting ONLY the positive things that were accomplished, instead of going after every mistake. YOUR company truly has the power to foster that hope and grow it daily by demonstrating the strengths of America and the things its citizens and government are doing in the name of Hope. Instead it’s 2 hours and 59 minutes of horror and failure followed with one minute of hope with a man returning money to someone or an individual doing a selfless act. If you simply reversed that number…oh what a world it might be.

Now that the offensive waste of the $107 million dollar party is over, the real hard stuff is ahead, and the bickering has already begun.

Now Obama must actually produce, as a leader, and that will be a lot harder to actually do, than it was to just talk about it.

We see issues with his people picks, we see dissension among the dems, we see conflict stirring among the republicans.

Yup. The party is over.....now to see what really gets done.

I am so tired of these so called commentators. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox need to hire some fresh new people (young people). I am so tired of the same old people saying the same old things everyday. PRESIDENT Obama (which most of the commentators are still only calling him Obama which shows disrespect!!!!!!) represents new times and I am tired of all the old timers in Congress and on the air (especially Pat Buchanan) need to go home and retire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will never accomplish anything with these people representing the US. This is why I will be following this administration and assist the President in anyway (even if it means rallying and getting some of these idiots out of office) to make sure we are successful!!!!!

I wish a lot of these commentators would stop reporting such doom and gloom scenarios. Let's just talk about what is and what future economic plans hope to accomplish. It seems to me that commentators are reporting economic policies as failures even before they are put in place. Just back off and give Obama and his team time to try and straighten out what it took George Bush eight years to get us into. Give Obama time to assess the damage and figure out a way to reverse it. It will probably take at least two years before we see some real notable progress from his policies.
The biggest factor in our failure is the lack of morals which I guess people don't talk about since there is no policy you can put in place to make people have morals. God bless Obama though; he's trying to do the next best thing and that's creating ethical policies that will at least tie the hands of the corrupt. BOTTOM LINE IS PEOPLE NEED TO DEVELOP A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. This would help every problem we have because you will have people trying to do the right thing.

I am still at a loss how Geithner can be made to be Sec'y of the Treasury when for four years he showed blatant disregard for the collecting agency of the country? That does not make sense. Wasn't this the same Senate that bullied a Bush nominee for a Cabinet post into stepping down because she had employed an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper, and now the same "offense" committed by Geithner is swept under the rug? The guy might be incredible talented but if we are going to talk about transparency and a break from old-time politics then we ought to start with rejecting Mr. Geithner's nominee. I am sure there are other equally bright and talented Americans with cleaner ethical practices who can take his place.

In addition, if people are losing jobs all over, how about the networks cutting back on all these heavily laden panels each night chatting about everything from Mrs Obama's wardrobe to global warming and everything in between? Isn't that a costly venture? Come on. The economy is in bad shape but I reckon that the news media is overstating it to suit their ulterior motives.

Our country has looked for change so eagerly and so urgently that it sees a change of personnel as a vast and sweeping change that will someone rectify the numerous problems currently facing our nation.

The issues at hand should be tackled individually. Sweeping reforms or executive orders do little more than clog an already clogged system. Our economic woes require a serious and thorough attention to detail that will not only endeavor to solve the current problem but also curtail future problems. International issues cannot be dealt with by simply recalling troops and issuing well-wishes; each issue must be dealt with individually and with the care and patience it requires. Abandoning the Middle East and closing Gitmo's detention center may send the absolute wrong signal to those who would do great harm to our nation.

President Obama has many expectations set for him, and has committed himself to a worthy course, but to fix our nation's issues he will find that going slow with each individual issue will present a solution in the smoothest manner, and by rectifying issues individually he will resolve all our issues in the fastest manner.

Bush left a mess. I believe the Obama-Biden administration will do the best job possible to clean up and reverse the mess. I know they have a sincere heart for public service and goodwill for all Americans. I will do my part and follow their lead at the individual level.

I hope the media does not focus on petty things like what Ed Henry reported on the oath do-over. I hope the media shares positives and negatives when discussing every topic. I hope the media is responsible in what they broadcast as EVERYONE knows, media is AWARE of its impact on public perspectives and media is AWARE of its role in disseminating information to the public.

In my humble opinion, the answer, my beleaguered fellow Americans, is PERSONAL INTEGRITY and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

1. Don't spend more money than you have.
2. Save for a "rainy day." It always comes at some point.
3. "Instant gratification" is what children - NOT adults - manifest.
4. Try to see our beloved America as a "cup half full" rather than a "cup half empty."

This is NOT the worst time in our country's history (tune out the negative spinmeisters!) - and this, too, shall pass away.

America - my home, sweet home - still wouldn't want to be anywhere else on earth !!!!!!!!!!!!!.

To transform the current vegetable economy, as it is called by many people in our society, into healthy economy in my opinion the best remedy for President Obama's administration is to immediately create job openings in U.S. and keep engaged people to their individual talents and activities so as they earn well and spend well. By taking this measure the present mass of unemployed people will keep themselves busy once again so as to remain away of the fear of outside terror which the former Bush administration has created!

=KAWAS= JAN 22, THU 4:50 PM

Its not as if President Obama hasn't been warning everyone that there would be tough times ahead with the mess left behind by Bush. Its been two days. Everyone needs to relax and let the man at least carry out his plan before they start crying doom and gloom. Gergen is a conservative but not a rowdy one. He's the "good" Conservative as compared to O'Reilly's "bad" Conservative. Gergen still stirs the pot and this is his way of doing so by raising the bar to unrealistic heights only two days into the administration.

The greedy and unscrupulous traders and bankers got this country into this economic mess. Republicans want no regulations at all, so instead of curbing the selfish and greedy nature of human beings the government allowed them to do whatever they pleased, selling, then selling from the money on the first sale, then selling on the money from the next sale, and selling on the next, so on and so forth. Well, people made false money and the economy can only sustain so much. Call the debt in and there is nothing to back it up. There should have been regulations! The grossly greedy and unpatriotic selfish CEOs' paid themselves handsomely on someone elses money. They do not care about our country, they are the terrorists. If you ruin a country economically, isn't that just the same as killing innocents? Now millions of people are suffering, can't buy food, can't keep their homes, can't educate their children. That is the terrorism and we all know who did this and they should be prosecuted and sent to jail and stripped of all the wealth they stole from the American people. A starving child, and there are millions now, suffers just as much as a bomb victim. Also, because everyone is so emotionally distraught over the economy, they are equally suffering.

Although all of us want immediate actions, perhaps that is not the best for the nation because to in part or in whole nationalize our banks and certain industries is a major step towards socialism. An analysis of Sweden, Norway and Switzerland should be made available to the public prior to taking this drastic step.

JC nailed it.

Obama, i didn't vote for you, but i will support you. I think you will burn out very soon, your ideas, while good will only put our nation into a such deep debt we won't get out of it. Nobody is saying national debt? national debt? come on people, we borrow from china to spend here to get out of a recession to do good. We are selling America to the countries that buy our debt.

We are about to approve a treasury secretary that didn't pay $30k in taxes? People, this is ridiculous.....VERY ridiculous. This guy is supposed to be smart and beyond that the "most qualified treasury secretary" and he doesn't even know how to handle a tax return?

God Help us......

The poet Robert Frost once wrote that the best way out is always through. With the new Obama administration, we have taken the important step of beginning the journey through one of the darkest and most challenging economic periods in our history. If he puts the right policies in place, takes the right actions, pulls the right levers, we will emerge into the light stronger and more prosperous than ever. If he gets things wrong, a challenging environment could quickly become catastrophic. I hope and pray he and his new team make the right choices.

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying "intelligence is what you do when you don't know what to do". As I observe, no one has known what to do for years in government and their solutions are ineffective against the problems they brought about. Judging what they've done, there certainly isn't any intelligence here. The real problem is that these political animals never have to feel the pain of their bad decisions and will never learn from the mistakes in the historical record. When a President's face is plastered all over the media at a cost of a city budget and when this country becomes mesmerized by a flashy dress the First Lady wears, little hope is left that any right direction will be taken for the America so many lost their lives to build. Where are there people of substance and intelligence and integrity to run the country?

The Consumer Product Safety Information Act (CPSIA) effective February 10, 2009, will put a significant number of small business people, website owners, and crafters out of work unless clarification excludes the creators of personalized, made-to-order, and small quantities of items for babies and children up through age 12, such as hand-knitted clothes and accessories, room decorations, hand-painted and personalized tees, etc. We don't have access to, and cannot afford fees associated with "safety" testing and certification of our items. Please cover this law and demand clear guidelines, or delaying the effective date of implementation, before our government, in supposedly trying to "protect" us, actually puts good people out of business!

To Lisa: Well said! Might I add that all these money managers and everyone else who have made off with our invested monies be made to liquidate their personal assets and be forced to work a middle class job or worse a lower income job and wear a sandwich board sign that says something like I am one of the ones who helped drive my country into the ground – or a scarlet letter should be branded on their foreheads.

All executives who make over $150k and really didn't earn it should take a pay cut. It saddens me that all these men have messed up the country and all the other men let them. With all their supposed brilliant-ness, how come they couldn't see that what they were doing was wrong. Is greed so blinding? And it's these very same men who balked when the latino workers – the gardners, janitors etc went on strike to get better pay and benefits and were begrudged a mere pittance of a raise and benefits to these people who wipe their asses and clean up their messes. I don't get that. I would love to interview them and make them feel humiliated. These men actually really hate America and think she is a sucker and they should be made to leave – be exiled and not allowed to come back. Forget going on trial. Exile with no return date.

since he only offered false hope, do not expect much. Contrary to what people think, he is NOT a messiah. People who live in the ghetto now, will still be there 4 years from now. People out of work may still be out of work.

Mr. Gergen,

As usual, your comments are thoughtful and insightful and, perhaps most important in this era, do not smack of sensationalism.

In contrast, I was mortified at the CNN correspondent who carried on about the retaking of the oath in the absence of the media, the meetings that President Obama had dared to take in the absence of the media, and the formal complaint that CNN had lodged for these offenses. What a lot of fuss over a nonissue! Yes, the media needs to be tough on Obama as they would any other administration, but give the guy a freakin' break. Transparency doesn't mean that he will be conducting every second of his day with your cameras in the room!

Please, more Gergen, less sensationalism.

Sharon Dornberg-Lee, Chicago

Part of the problem is that the promises – and the translation by Americans of the promises – that Obama et al made during the election are truly unrealistic and unattainable given the current economic situation.

Now, undoubtedly, many of us realized that the future President was not going to be paying our mortgages for us and filling our gas tanks for us (I think you all know which news bite to which I am referring); however, many DID believe that would be the situation. So, not only do we have a near-impossible-to-fix economic situation on our hands, but we also have the multitudes which truly BELIEVE our President can not only fix this mess, but also improve their individual economic situation as well.

So, yes, the dark clouds are looming. Unfortunately, not just for the situation of which most of us are aware, but also for the perceived improvements our President promised during the election – perceived improvements that no person on this earth could see through to fruition.

Dark clouds indeed.

I agree ... The Blood Letting that has been taking place under the Bush Administration has been draining this country's resources for years, including that last minute 750 Billion dollar Cash Grab with No OverSight that the President and Paulson demanded in a sudden and near Panic .... It's hard to tell Obama to fix it when Bush has Set us on a course toward a Cliff with a Brick on the Accelerator .... everyday Gigantic Companies, like MiCroSoFt, are laying off workers by the thousands ... if people think that Obama can magically wave a wand and make all that go away, they're thinking like childish Imbecils .. this Bush Legacy of Economic Disaster simply has to play itself out ...

The economy is conceivably in the worst condition it has been since or during the Great Depression (it appears we may be headed that way). Additionally, the rate of information flowing around the world has revealed the problem in a way that wasn’t possible in the late 1920’s or 1930’s. So, I believe what we are observing is a phenomenon unlike anything we have seen. If public sentiment, fear, and anxiety are fueled, in part, by the flow of information and the manner in which it is presented, this economic crisis will play out in ways that are unprecedented. The multiple daily reports that fly across televisions and the internet are fueling the flames. Yes, it is unprecedented that Microsoft is now laying off employees and the concept of “nationalizing the banks” is frightening, but Obama and his team seem more equipped to guide us through this storm. I don’t fear that his every move will be a blunder. I don’t believe another penny of bailout money will be provided without oversight. The best minds in the country have come together to solve these big problems. And hope influences economic activity, especially when it comes to the stock market. So, I say, hold on for the wild ride, but Mr. Obama, our newly inaugurated President, will get us through this in the best way possible. It may not be pretty, but at least we know that somebody’s home.

BungeeJumper – Remember Congress had a HUGE hand in the bailout and they are the ones that wrote the legislation with no oversight. They are BOTH guilty – dems and republicans of the mess. Don't just blame the bailout on Bush – the Democrats and how beholden they are to Wall Street and Detroit had a huge hand in it.

If the legal counsel for President Obama felt he needed to take the oath over again, are all marriages (including Diana and Prince Charles) in danger of being illegal because the words were flubbed?
Diane
Napa, California

350 billion and not a penny to help tax payer . People are losing their home, their jobs, and their saving. Why dont they buy the mortgages and give a low mortgage to the people who are foreclosure on. Then the tax payers are getting interest on their money government well getting payment from the people the banks are getting pay back it good for every one.

The recent announcements of layoffs by Microsoft is another example of the malaise of leadership in America. We have one of the richest companies in the world, run and owned by some of the richest people in the world and yet they will not contribute one dime to helping America out of it's current situation.

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