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Bullish Obama Suggests Nation Should Buy! Buy!
March 03, 2009 1:29 PM
President Obama told Americans to take a look at investing in the stock market this afternoon, a remarkable utterance for an American president, especially as the Dow Jones Industrial Average proceeds on its course Southward.
"What you're now seeing is ... profit and earning ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it," the president said on a day that trading continued to hover under 7,000.
The president predicted that Americans' consumer confidence would improve as they see the stimulus bill "taking root."
"Businesses are starting to see opportunities for investment and potential hiring," he said. "We are going to start creating jobs again."
President Obama made his comments in the Oval Office during a photo opportunity with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, where the two world leaders took a handful questions from the media.
Asked about the troubles of the stock market, seeming to reflect investor insecurity about the Obama administration's economic plans, the president said he was "absolutely confident that they will work, and I'm absolutely confident that credit's going to be flowing again, that businesses are going to start seeing opportunities for investment, they're going to start hiring again. People are going to be put back to work."
Obama said he wasn't focused on "the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market, but the long-term ability for the United States and the entire world economy to regain its footing." he compared the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a daily tracking poll in politics. "You know, it bobs up and down day to day," he said. "And if you spend all your time worrying about that, then you're probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong."
But the president also made sure to convey that the problems in the economy were deep-seated. "The banking system has been dealt a heavy blow" due to "lax regulation, massive over-leverage, huge systemic risks taken by unregulated institutions, as well as regulated institutions." These issues are "working their way through the system. And it's not surprising that the market is hurting as a consequence."
The president said his "main message to the American people is to just recognize that we dug a very deep hole for ourselves. There were a lot of bad decisions that were made. We are cleaning up that mess. It's going to be sort of full of fits and starts, in terms of getting the mess cleaned up, but it's going to get cleaned up. And we are going to recovery, and we are going to emerge more prosperous, more unified, and I think more protected from systemic risk having learned these lessons than we were before."
Brown and Obama both said they'd been discussing the ways all the major countries around the world could coordinate stimulus packages as well as, Obama said, "a common set of principles, in terms how we're approaching banking, so that problems that exist in emerging markets like Hungary or the Ukraine don't have these enormous ripple effects that wash back onto our shores."
The president also took issue with a New York Times story today about a letter he'd sent to Russian president Dmitri Medvedev.
"I think that the report that was in the New York Times didn't accurately characterize the letter," the president said, arguing that the Times story "characterized" the letter as "some sort of quid pro quo. It was simply a statement of fact that I've made previously, which is, is that the missile defense program, to the extent that it is deployed, is designed to deal with not a Russian threat, but an Iranian threat."
Mr. Obama said it was a "very lengthy letter talking about a whole range of issues, from nuclear proliferation to how are we going to deal with a set of common security concerns along the Afghan border and terrorism. And what I said in the letter is the same thing that I've said publicly, which is that the missile defense that we have talked about deploying is directed towards not Russia, but Iran. That has always been the concern, that you had potentially a missile from Iran that threatened either the United States or Europe."
Mr. Obama said the letter stated that "obviously, to the extent that we are lessening Iran's commitment to nuclear weapons, then that reduces the pressure for the need for a missile defense system. In no way does that ... diminish my commitment to making sure that Poland, the Czech Republic, and other NATO members are fully enjoying the partnership, the alliance, and U.S. support with respect to their security.
-- Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller
March 3, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (457)
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I Pres. Obama is just doing what he think is the best thing to do w/ the country. I know to the fact that before he do things like this he do ask his advisers to what is best thing to do w/ the US economy.
Posted by: stock market | Sep 7, 2009 5:39:19 AM
obama is human he is doing the best he can. Do you think he is a miracle worker. He even said that it will not happen over night or the first two years it will take time so cut it out!
Posted by: me | Jul 2, 2009 9:25:50 AM
Are there really people in this country that still believe that Bush was a good president.....SICK MINDS....
Posted by: David | Jun 20, 2009 1:32:26 AM
The only kind of stock that a sensible small investor would buy now would be the kind that lives in a barnyard, so I'm considering buying a goose and a cow. While the goose is laying a golden egg, I'm taking the cow to town and trading her for a couple of magic beans along the way. I should be set for life after I've gathered the eggs and climbed the beanstalk and stolen the giant's treasure. And since we seem to be living in a fairytale where stocks are a good investment for the little guy who's out of the loop, I've decided to believe in the tooth fairy, too.
Posted by: FaithG | Mar 14, 2009 4:47:59 AM
What's a "profit and earnings" ratio, Mr. President?
If you don't know the market, don't tell people to buy stock.
This is what happens when the teleprompter's not there.
Posted by: Fabio Escobar | Mar 6, 2009 12:17:54 AM
If I give everyone the way out and the How we got here, without throwing daggers at Who and Why, will you listen and take action?
Posted by: Das Ram | Mar 5, 2009 8:48:00 PM
Duh...buy now? You gotta be kidding. That is Not very smart.
In particular, with what Omaba has been doing and promising.
There is only one direction for the market and it is much lower, unless Omaba changes his life time views.
Look for next rally and raise cash.
Posted by: LightnRod | Mar 5, 2009 4:30:30 PM
Did anyone hear obama say "Profit to Earnings Ratio" at 2:30?
I think he meant Price/Earnings Ratio...
He is a Poser!
That is akin to saying that a soccer player hit a homerun!!
Posted by: JoeS | Mar 5, 2009 12:42:36 AM
"Exactly! When Bush, Paulson and Cox are thrown in jail and we find out where they've hidden our money, we will see this market rebound."
I can't tell if that was sarcasm or not.
Posted by: Orion | Mar 4, 2009 7:02:46 PM
The failures of the Obama administration just keep racking up. The Stock Market is the lowest it has been since Clinton was in office, almost 700,000 jobs were lost in February, the housing market has gotten even worse, and even those in his own party are criticizing his ridiculous tax plan. This presidency is an absolute joke. At this rate, the country will be wishing Jimmy Carter was in charge in about a month.
What a total joke Obama is turning out to be. The market has no confidence in his ridiculous economic plan, as evidenced by the DOW dipping below 7,000, and even people who supported him, like Jim Cramer, are pointing out what an unmitigated disaster he is.
The Democratic response? Blame Rush Limbaugh. This doesn't just whiff of desperation, it stinks to high heaven of it. Obama is running out of people to blame for his failures. And if any of Bush's press secretaries would have mentioned a journalist by name, like Robert "I make Scott McClellan look like Socrates" Gibbs has done with Cramer, Santelli, Hannity, Limbaugh, etc. the left would have cried censorship nonstop.
Bush didn't get the benefit of the doubt when he inherited a recession from Clinton, and Obama shouldn't either. The problems are his now, and he is starting to get the blame.
What an absolute failure he is turning out to be. Can you say one-termer?
Posted by: Bill | Mar 4, 2009 12:06:01 PM
Atlas Shrugs huh...Interesting since one of the FOUNDING MEMBERS Rand's "Collective" and the Objectivist movement was Alan Greenspan and we know how much we love his applications of the "Self first, Capitalism and ignoring of the elderly, disabled and weak" Rand philosophy...
However, I agree with her that aggression or initiation of force is immoral and that organized religion is pointless!
Posted by: StoprConRhetoric | Mar 4, 2009 11:22:27 AM
rusty50, first they are called NINA loans, not Ninja loans...NINA's were WALL STREET CREATED No Income No Asset loans meant to help the good white suburban buyer looking to make his fortune flipping homes! Your attempt to tie these to lower income purchasers is WAY off base...Minimum 720 FICO and no primary residence clause to get a NINA, ensured that.
No what Companies like the one I worked for did was feed the greed of Wall Street and reduce FICO scores to sell more loans...
If you have no more candidates with a minimum 600 FICO, then make it 580...When I started at NovaStar minimum FICO required was 620, when I left you could get a loan with a 480 score...You can't even get a car loan with a 480!!!
Greed, not the government drove this train wreck...
Now common sense and NOT reacting to knee jerk day to day idiocy is what will turn this ship around...
Wall Street got us into this mess, let's not let those same Gordon Gecko's convince us that the methods that got us here are the solutions...
Posted by: StopConRhetoric | Mar 4, 2009 11:00:07 AM
Please, I don't ever want to hear the name of Ayn Rand.
Posted by: charles | Mar 4, 2009 10:05:59 AM
Love the Partisan GOP politics!! All you homers just begging Obama to listen to the Bernie Madoff's, Citibank and WaMu CEO's and all the other Wall Street "brains" who got us into this mess in the first place!!
The stock market is a day to day rollercoaster ride where Company stock can rise 5 points just because and NFL Stadium takes their name (remember the Patriots playing in CMGI Stadium!!!)
No different than the speculatory B.S. we went through with gas going to $4 a gallon...Nothing of substance made that ridiculous gas price run up!!
I don't want my President reacting to the day to day whims of the people who got us to this point! I want my President to have a plan that addresses LONG TERM growth, LONG TERM job creation (unlike the W model that used Home Equity to drive Consumers!)
In the end, the GOP and Conservatives have made the decision they are Republicans first, Americans second.
To that end they will say and do anything to ensure the failure of America.
As O'Reilly himself said, "it's time for Conservatives to stop the name calling and incendiary language and start presenting viable solutions.."
But for the GOP it's easier to throw stones and make watermelon comments.
Posted by: GOPjustgetsdumber | Mar 4, 2009 9:43:08 AM
Everyone I know lost about half their money in the stock market crash -- what does The One expect them to use to cleverly buy stocks now that the prices are low?
I'm beginning to think our President is a pretty shell with no brain in his head. He has a lot of radical theories to spin, but has never lived outside the cocoon of the little world of privilege.
Running a national government is not the same thing as community organizing scaled upward.
Posted by: Anonymous | Mar 4, 2009 8:48:14 AM
Sure is too bad you all did not let W invest your SS dollars in the market! See you got what you deserved in the end.
Posted by: CWM | Mar 4, 2009 8:14:23 AM
This time around, if the fat-cats get a discount, so should we!
---------
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Patricia Greenberg’s townhouse in Irvine, California, was losing about $10,000 a month in value when she received a letter in February 2008 that looked too good to be true: An investor was offering to cut her $472,000 mortgage by 26 percent and her monthly payment by a third.
“I didn’t want to get involved in a scam,” says Greenberg, a cosmetics saleswoman for Orlane Inc., who had bought the house with no money down eight months earlier.
It was no ruse. New York hedge fund manager Ralph DellaCamera Jr., says he’d purchased the mortgage for 60 cents on the dollar and forced the originator, MLSG Home Loans of Reno, Nevada, to eat the loss. Protecting his investment, DellaCamera lowered Greenberg’s debt to keep her in the home. She now pays $2,400 a month instead of $3,800 and plows some of her savings into upgrading the Cape Cod-style residence.
Posted by: Common Sense | Mar 4, 2009 7:04:19 AM
We welcome all in the United Socailist of America.We will surely hate life a year from now. He's destroying the country I defended. Hope you can speak Russian!
Posted by: JJ | Mar 4, 2009 7:02:00 AM
Obama is bogus. He promised a lot to the art community. I've yet to see any movement on his promise to create jobs for artists across the US. I don't see anything in the form of health care for creative professionals either. All I see is that he hired an infringer, Shepard Fairey, to design his poster. Why should I believe him about the market when he lied about supporting art.
Posted by: Rex | Mar 4, 2009 6:36:51 AM
To the person who ranted about Bush and others being corrupt. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there are now 7 top Democrats in trouble for not paying taxes. You can call Bush an idiot all day long but at least he paid his dues just like everyone else is supposed to.
Posted by: Winst | Mar 4, 2009 6:34:26 AM
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