Ben Stein is also a creationist.

So whatever praise the liberals will heap on him here for appearing to echo their idiotic ‘economic solutions’ is in fact praise of a creationist.

Let the pretzel-twisting begin.

What a surprise. A Faux News anchor blaming the economy on Obama. How about the thousands of points the stock market gained in 2009? I guess that had nothing to do with Obama. Ben Stein and Wayne Rogers are right. The actions of the president are not directly proportional to the ups and downs of the stock market. But, that would be counter to the anti-Obama ethos that dominates Fixed News. 

Wow, Fox is getting some characters lately. Ben Stein on O’Reilly, Jerry Springer on Hannity…
I love Ben Stein, but I doubt, though, the sentiment that the POTUS has no effect on the economy. Argue for positive, argue for negative, but nothing?

I watched that and O’Reilly got eaten alive, I’ve got to say.

I understand that it’s difficult for folks with cognitive challenges such as yourself to understand… but it’s possible to agree with one’s point of view on a particular topic without agreeing with that same person’s ideas on other topics.

It will likely surprise you, but lots of otherwise reasonable people embrace mythology…this singular weakness does not necessarily impugn their rational ideas.

I can see why you would say that, but I think the average viewer was shaking their head like BILLO was, while Stein tried to explain why Obama isn’t bad for the economy when there are record deficits, a down-grade and high unemployment. 

Well government doesn’t create jobs right Shelly? So lets chalk that unemployment up to the “job creators”….

It was Wayne Rogers’ comments that caught my attention.  He’s generally an intelligent guy with a conservative edge, and he pretty much disagreed with O’Reilly, who didn’t help himself by talking over everyone.

So if people embrace capitalism over socialism, believe in evolution, are atheists and are educated beyond college – and are tea party supporters – then they’re reasonable people. Nice to know.

Cause that makes smearing swaths of the population as racist neanderthal rednecks becuase they disagree with many policies of the administration a little harder for you, doesn’t it?

Government doesn’t create jobs.

It can only stand in the way of creating them. And it does. Well.

So you are blaming job creators for not hiring, but not blaming Obama for creating an environment that makes them weary to hire?  Got it!

Yeah, Barry has had zero affect on the economy.

From the liberal LA Times:

New national debt data: It’s growing about $3 million a minute, even during his vacation
August 23, 2011 |  5:32 am
 
Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It’s now $14,639,000,000,000.
When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS’ amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000.
That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That’s the fastest increase under any president ever.”

O’Reilly is all about messaging, these analysts are more concerned with the market forces.  Both sides were right.  A President has little direct impact on short term market fluctuations but at the same time a President coming out and saying something stupid or panicky can have a drastic effect.   Bush was derided for saying after 9/11 that Americans should go out and shop but he was right to say that and he was saying it for (at least) two obvious reasons:  The economy nearly ground to a halt for a time and the best stimulus was people going out and spending money.  The second was just as important, that people needed to not live in fear and hide out in their homes – go out and live your life, don’t let the terrorists shut you down.    Obama threatening to regulate small businesses out of existence doesn’t help the economy and does in fact harm it – how much is arguable, but to say he has no effect or has had a positive effect is ludicrous.

The “job creators” have gotten everything they’ve wanted out of this government and continue to do nothing but outsource and lay off employees while rolling in massive profits.

Blame the idiot for the deficits and halfway for the downgrade but to try to put the high unemployment numbers on his back just proves the point of you Baggers being nothing but shills for the rich….I mean “job creators” sorry.

The “job creators” have gotten everything they’ve wanted out of this government and continue to do nothing but outsource and lay off employees while rolling in massive profits.

Blame the idiot for the deficits and halfway for the downgrade but to try to put the high unemployment numbers on his back just proves the point of you Baggers being nothing but shills for the rich….I mean “job creators” sorry.

Ben, you are welcome to give everything you have to the government, and Wayne, keep kissing Obama’s butt…You’re both idiots….

By extending the Bush tax cuts and then refusing to raise them during deficit talks is standing in the way of creating jobs?

From what I’ve seen these corporations are taking in massive profits all the while refusing to hire.

But hell that must be the “liberal media” lying to me to make the “job creators” look bad huh?

I know!

Let’s raise taxes!

Surely, that will encourage job creation and private sector growth.

Extending the Bush rates for the rich costs $60 billion a year; extending the payroll tax cuts cost $120 billion a year. You can’t have it both ways.

I get that.  My problem is when Bush was President, Liberals blamed him for absolutely everything, including the weather, but under Obama, the President has no control over the same exact problems.  They can’t have it both ways. 

Stein’s words are shocking! I’ve never know him to say anything reasonable or fair about liberals or Democrats. One can only hope this is a harbinger of a A Huffington type conversion to reason and reality!

Yeah, Huffington is so reasoned and brilliant that she couldn’t even figure out her husband was gay!

These are men who know a heck of a lot more about business and the economy than you.

That’s a 10-4 regarding the double standard.  Like Herman Cain said, the libs love them some double standard.

Ben Stein did say that the President had a positive effect on the economy. Weren’t you even listening?

So if people embrace capitalism over socialism, believe in evolution,
are atheists and are educated beyond college – and are tea party
supporters – then they’re reasonable people. Nice to know.

Clearly your cognitive challenges include reading comprehension difficulties.

But, lucky for you, I’m here to help!

Start here: http://www.toonuniversity.com/quiz.asp?quizzes_key=260

And make sure to keep us all informed of your continuing adventures into the wonderful world of literacy!

So if people embrace capitalism over socialism, believe in evolution,
are atheists and are educated beyond college – and are tea party
supporters – then they’re reasonable people. Nice to know.

Clearly your cognitive challenges include reading comprehension difficulties.

But, lucky for you…I’m here to help!

Start here: http://www.toonuniversity.com/quiz.asp?quizzes_key=260

And make sure to keep us all informed of your continuing adventures into the wonderful world of literacy!

Really? Obama said he wants to “regulate small businesses out of existence”? when where?

Yeah, Larry Sommers sure did, didn’t he? So did Christina Romer? And Peter Orszag and Tin Geithner?

They knew a lot too!

Tell me what positive affect he has had?

As much as you’d all like to blame Obama for this economy keep one thing in mind. As President you can’t create just snap your fingers and create jobs. If he was a card carrying tea bagger, he still couldnt create 1 job.
The only thing a President can do is try to persuade Congress to enact laws that create or encourage job creation. And hey, THIS Congress isnt interested in that. Theyre only interested in more tax cuts for the rich, and driving this economy further off a cliff…….

Wow- talk about an ignorant comment. The Dems controlled both Houses from 1/2007-12/31/2010 and the executive branch from 1/20/2009 . Yeah, ya sure can’t accomplish anything with that type of control can ya?

But Obama has accomplished a number of things:

Record # on welfare
Record # living in poverty
Record # of foreclosures
Record debt
Record loss in housing values

”
New national debt data: It’s growing about $3 million a minute, even during his vacation
August 23, 2011 |  5:32 am
 
Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It’s now $14,639,000,000,000.
When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS’ amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000.
“That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That’s the fastest increase under any president ever.”

9.1% unemployment

He has accomplished those!

Many small busineses gross over $200k yet barely survive, their owners making only a modest salary so they can afford to hire one or more employees.  Raising their taxes and piling on regulations increases their costs and restricts their ability to operate at a survivable profit.  Do some research on challenges to small businesses, where I am in California there’s no shortage of horror stories about small businesses having to go out of business not because of the new Wal Mart down the street but because some government agency has hit them with new expenses or fines for things that were fine for years but now all of a sudden some moron decides is undesired and must be changed, or they just want more money so they raise taxes.

Actuall can add about $1.5 trillion to Bushs deficit because we were under Bushs budget for the first year of Obama’s presidency

yes, but can you explain how obama is personally responsible for that?

oh, yes, i know now:  he extended the bush tax cuts AND included the largest
tax cut in history with the stimulus package.

bingo….

and tax rates are PLENTY low to be able to create jobs……..so……where are the jobs?

obama also gave out the largest tax cut in HISTORY with the stimulus….

where was your anger under the Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43 presidencies?  As I have stated and the facts back me up on this.  In the last 40 years, Governments growth of debt and expansion have only occurred under Republican presidents.  Now I am not defending Obama, as he has as well, but thats a 3:1 ratio you got going on.  Why do you support a party that does increase debt and grows government?

sure you can have it both ways

you’re the only bitching about the deficit…..

GM and Goldmann Sachs are making a profit.

Bill was gasping for air on one hand he stated that taxing millionaires wouldn’t create very much revenue then stated they shouldn’t take that money from millionaires because it would harm job creation. He’s was towing the company line but was out classed on this point.

Stone, closing tax loop holes for corporations save 780 billion in ten years.

so why are you mad at Obama for doing the things Bush did?

bush wasn’t blamed for market forces

he was blamed for:

1.  signing two extraordinary tax breaks into law

2.  unnecessarily invading two different hostile countries

so explain 2001-2006

and even if you agree it’s a double standard, then you are de facto agreeing 
that bush destroyed the country.  

% of businesses who gross over 200,000/year:  5%

that means 95% of businesses aren’t included in your figure…

They sounded pretty smart last night

You do know that ball was rolling about a year BEFORE Obama got into office right? By the time Obama got into office that snowball was HUGE. His stimulus plan didn’t work as well as he would have hoped, but it was the Tea party that is sending us into the second recession by not getting a deal done on the debt limit. People got scarred when the dead line was approaching and they were the party of NO. and take $1.5 trillion off Obama’s debt and put it on Bush because that was Bush’s last budget!

you have to remember they suddenly became non-republicans on january 20, 2009

Oh to be black and a complete loser in Obama’s amerika.

Obama gets a pass simply because he is black from the left…..that’s racist as the day is long.

I’m glad you agree that the tea party is rational.

See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Just out of curiosity, who do you tell all those teachers, police officers, firefighters, construction workers on government projects created their jobs for them?

He did deregulate the markets, but to be fair, so did Clinton.

O’Reilly is an idiot… he should have had Rick Santelli to school Stein, Rogers and YES even O’Reilly would have learned how to make the case… not with feelings, but with hard fact… Why programs won’t interview Rick about the economy is beyond me… specially those so called conservatives.

Though I’m not disagreeing with you, but the double standard is a two way street here.  After all, aren’t you blaming Obama for everything, but getting upset that Bush got blamed for the same things?

This reminds me of a recent bit on the Colbert Report where Stephen Colbert pointed out that Hitler was a vegetarian. Therefore, hippies who are vegetarians must also be Nazis who are for exterminating the Jews. Obviously, if you agree with any individual point of view of a person, you obviously agree with every point of view that they espouse.

I was merely making sure Tony the First knew what Ben Stein said. You and Tony absolutely suck at reading comprehension, and I didn’t even write that much.

Yes! Because correlation = causation without any evidence to back up the claim he was responsible! Perfect logic! Likewise, my neighbor’s cat had kittens in Jan of 2009 and so we can blame her as well for the rising debt since then (as opposed to, I don’t know, other pre-existing economic conditions responsible for a recession or the multiple wars we’re involved in). I’ve asked my neighbor to get their cat spayed so as not to spur another economic setback.

Depends how (and how honestly) you look at it.  Most small businesses are owned by persons having an income much less than $200k, but the business itself grosses over $200k and because the business files taxes as an individual it is an individual making over $200k, so would be taxed.  

Ahhhhh, was their debt 100% of GNP or deficit over 10% GDP??

No

You take too many words to say nothing!

Pretty dang good video that people should take a look at, a response to the MoveOn.org “Jobs Not Cuts” video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0q8CXuo-3I

Wrong! The first 9 months child, and the deficit has gone up in 2010 and 2011.

Try again!

LOL

Government to lose $14 billion of auto bailout funds

Published: Wednesday, June 01, 2011, 12:44 PM  

GS received TARP money which was passed by BUSH!

meow. woof woof.

Ahhhh, poor libby child is hurt. Go back to your coma you ignorant child.

2001 -2006?

Unemployment?

Dec 2001: 3.7%
Dec 2002: 5.4%
Dec 2003: 5.7%
Dec 2004: 5.1%
Dec 2005: 5.1%
Dec 2006: 4.6%

How can you start Obama’s debt the day Bush left office? And you’re not counting the off budget debt Bush ran up with the wars.

you guys start with % of this then it goes to $ ammount you are just playing with the numbers when you do that. Then it’s we had a dem congress or when we had a republican congress it was a dem president anything to shift the blame.

you use meaningless % to say even less

This

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/01/09/bush-on-jobs-the-worst-track-record-on-record/

that’s from a liberal newspaper right?

I just said GM was profitable

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/04/us-gm-idUSTRE7730JW20110804

Also TARP was extended by Obama, but if you wish to continue the blame of today’s economy to Bush I won’t stop you.

By the way, how much money did we get back from TARP under Bush?

no they are blaming the republicans for saying tax cuts create jobs then the “job creators” don’t hire.
Thats the other thing that has been done to make corperations seem more personable the tea pee’rs have started calling them “job creators” how nice of them

Ahhhhhhhh- every president assumes the priors legacy or is Obama sacred? You guys gave Nixon Vietnam.

And Bush’s off-budget was carried in his debt and Barry is just $400 billion of Bush’s 8 years of debt in just 2.5 years!

Poor Don- always a loser, eh?

Finally you are succinct!

just don’t make shit up and start posting sheesh bring facts and links

so was Tom Mulky, John Krisphal, Barry Hart and Neil Patrick so what?

so was Tom Mulky, John Krisphal, Barry Hart and Neil Patrick so what?

FORD more profitable than GM and took no money- Auto bailouts cost $14 billion and Obama VOTED FOR TARP!

So we can now blame Jimmy Carter for Reagan’s recession? Thanks for clearing that up.

I was watching this segment and frankly the most annoying thing is the Bill just wouldn’t let people finish making their points, most broadcasters do this but he is exceptionally annoying with it

Let these guys make their points, THEN counter or agree, why is that so hard?

Obama has stated the business is the enemy. You can look it up.

Try this:

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/

OUCH!

http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/deficits.html

That’s from the heritage foundation. Not exactly what we would call non biased…

Ending the payroll tax cut saves 1.2 trillion over ten years.

You forgot this:

Obama Presides Over Most Jobs Lost Since 1940

By Julia A. SeymourBusiness & Media Institute1/8/2010 11:03:00 AM

Unemployment shot up in 2009 from 7.7 percent in January to 10.1 percent in October before settling at 10 percent in December. Behind those percentages were more than 4.1 million people who lost their jobs during the year. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s the most job losses in a year since 1940. (BLS could only provide data from 1940-2009)

BLS- Barry’s own labor dept. figures.

Obama to date has a net job loss of  3.2 million jobs.

Dispute Heritages figures. They are CBO figures- Oh, that’s right- the CBO is a right wing group!

LMAO

Try his $800 billion bogus Stimulus bill.

you have a link for that?

I did listen. I watched the entire segment. He said that it was positive to neutral. The other bloke said neutral. That means nothing. I don’t need your help.

so why did you use a Heritage’s link? Could you noit find the hard data?

I thought the CBO was a left wing group? Especially when it forecast a lowering of the deficit under Obamacare.

LOL

Thanks for that!

It shows Barry blew the debt and the deficit out of the water!

LOL

Built on the back of an already blown deficit. It also showed who came in 2,3,4. Bush, Reagan, Bush. So why do you vote republican again?

Built on the back of an already blown deficit. It also showed who came in 2,3,4. Bush, Reagan, Bush. So why do you vote republican again?

Dispute the CBO figures Heritage uses- I’ll wait!

your figures comparing Bush and Obama debt are way off 400b apart  you are wrong

I believe YOU are the loser

I think the average viewer lost some confidence in Bill as he was outclassed on this, I know I did

how about you posting a link since it was your statement

link them, hard data, and I will try or yield.

You can blame it on whom ever you want. Go ahead if it will chear you up.

OK you just showed more of your stupidity

The dems refused to present the FY 2009 budget to Bush, it was held over until Obama took office and it was Obama that signed it into law.  One huge omnibus bill that had over 8000 earmarks and increases across the board.  So, Obama gets that one chalked up in his column.

So Rio you are telling me that Bush’s budget only spent money untill jan 20 2009? You my dear sir are an idiot

Bill O’Reilly should be the first scheduled for a Rectal Encephalectomy as his head has been in the FOX-hole way too long! O’Reilly’s constant lying and badgering and goading into arguments speaks ill of those who give him credence or audience. Taxing the wealthy should first be along these lines. One idea to add solvency or extend Social Security is: First, raise the cap on income subject to FICA taxes from $106,800.0­0 to $190,000.0­0 as proposed by AARP in their current issue. They suggest this would close 31 percent of the gap. Workers who normally paid 6.2 percent had that reduced to 4.2 percent by the last Congress. The TEA party would raise that percentage back to 6.2 Percent under their proposal currently in the House. Employers now pay 6.2 percent towards FICA and if that were increased 0.1 percent to 6.3 percent additional easing on the gap would occur. By raising the cap in the first item to $250,000.0­0 and leaving the tax rates as they are now, would further ease the gap in tax revenues and spread the pain across more of the earnings of more Americans. The Republicans have, in the past, fought this issue for the well-to-do as they wouldn’t need Social Security in retirement. Yet these well-to-do would still draw from the “Social Security Well” even though they didn’t need to and didn’t add to it proportionally! Further the Republicans capped the monies on earned wages and not on all sources of income, further allocating the brunt of revenue source generation onto the middle class and working poor! If you think this would help to fix this problem or at least ease it, may I suggest you write and call your Representative and Senator in your home district and in Washington and make your voices heard! E-mails and written letters will be appreciated as well!

Any rational mind that hasen’t been destroyed and reconfigured into a mindless progbot can see Obama is bad for the economy. Obama took a bad economy and with the help of the Dem controled house and senate, made it worse beyond inmagin. I must admit, Obama’s need to fail… his URGE to fail is quite amazing.

That or Obama is a low rent Bond villain and destroying the economy is part of his evil plain. You never know.

You should teach a course in logical fallacies.Tell me if this makes sense.A car mechanic always rides his bike to work therefore people who get his opinion on car problems must also rides bikes to their work.

It’s called a fallacy and BillO is king of it.

Show specifically where Obama made the economy worse?
Is there ANY metric where the economy is worse than the month when he got elected? Any at all?

O’R is bad. He has a counterpart on MSNBC. That is Chris Matthews. Neither one of them can let anyone else complete a sentence, even when the other is agreeing with him.

Stein has a Ph.D. in economics and is a wealthy investor. O’Reilly’s money all comes from his mouth as a pundit.

I don’t always agree with Stein, but he is fair and credible. He is probably always going to vote moderate Republican, but he knows when a Democrat is right.

And that matters how?

Brilliant observation. Now explain in detail, please. What economic theory do you base your analysis on, and be sure to give as many references as necessary. 

The infamy of 9/11 did not cause a market disaster as Bin Laden hoped it would. We had been riding high just before 9/11 and the economy did take a down-turn, but that was a couple of months after 9/11, and we didn’t lose even one day of normal business activity as a result of financial disruption on 9/11.

You look it up!

You look it up!

Simple business finance:

Business A grosses one million dollars. That is the total income from all activities. Business A has $900,000 dollars in expenses, including wages and salaries, purchases of raw materials (manufacturing) or inventory (retail) and a multitude of other things like utilities, maintenance, insurance, the list goes on and on. Net income AKA profit is $100,000. That is well below the $250K level, and if there is a single owner, he probably only takes $80K as his “pay-to-self.” Now, his business has made only $20K taxable, and he has made $80K taxable.

In no case does the business or the owner come close to $250K after expenses, even though the business grossed $1 million. That is a typical “small business.” A few such Million Dollar Businesses may net $200K, but they are rare. Very rare. Those are the essential statistics that Republicans hide from you.

A thoughtless repetition of dogma.
A No Brainer because only people with no brain believe it. Ste how we got OUT of the depression. Some say it was the government ordered production of tanks, planes, and ships for WW II. Others say the recovery started before that, but after Roosevelt got his “socialist” strategies working. Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover led us into the Great Depression, and it stuck around for all of Hoover’s administration.

Upon accepting the Republican nomination for President in
1928, Herbert Hoover predicted that “We in America today are nearer to the final triumph
over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from
among us.” Hoover won the presidency that year, but his time in office belied his optimistic
assertion. http://millercenter.org/president/hoover

The quote is from a non-biased biography.

Where