I totally agree that the main problem with the Obama Presidency began right after he was elected. As Bernie Sanders put it, Obama told all the people who MOBILIZED to get him elected, --"That's okay, We'll take it from here." Reason -- getting the masses involved in making policy was dangerous -- Obama saw himself as a servant of the ruling class (he probably would never have put it that way, but how else can we explain the way he approached the crisis of the "Great Recession.") and didn't think the masses had any role to play in making policy. He relied on the technocrats from the Clinton Administration-- horrible choice.
As to causes of the different recessions, one can make the case that every recession is different in terms of proximate causes (some are caused by the FED raising interest rates --- 1981-83, 1974-75 --- some are caused by bubbles bursting (2001, 2009) --- and the 2020 one was caused by the COVID pandemic) but the general cause is the slowdown in aggregate demand growth --- whether it be investors, consumers (or rarely foreign buyers) --- The real question is how rapidly and strongly the Federal government responds to a recession --- Obama's government response was very very weak --- when it needed to be stronger than all the previous ones. On Thu, Jun 25, 2026 at 9:51 AM Mark Baugher via groups.io <mark= [email protected]> wrote: > > > On Jun 22, 2026, at 06:42, Michael Meeropol via groups.io <mameerop= > [email protected]> wrote: > > I have been interested in the way Obama's failed policies (in fact the > persistent failure of the Dems --- even the liberals who should know better > --- to counter neo-liberalism going back to Clinton's administrations began > the process of shedding working class support for the Dems) ultimately > gave us Trump after the failures of his alleged recovery policies ---- > > > Table 1 is central to the paper, and I have been studying that. I wondered > the different causes of recession. Table 1 treats the causes as uniform, > doesn't it? > > The argument that the slow recovery greased the skid for the Trump victory > in 2016. I often argue that Obama, himself, aided Trump by doing nothing as > 10 million families were evicted from their homes during his two > administrations ( > https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2016/december/end-sight-us-foreclosure-crisis > ). > > thanks, Mark > _._,_._,_ > ------------------------------ > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#42185): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/42185 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119906876/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
