Obama Disses Economics Blogs

[K Carlson]

The businessinsider quotes an article from the NYT, "Obama Disses Economics Blogs"
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama...eliable-2009-3

NYT: "(Obama) said he did not find blogs to be reliable, citing the economy as one example. 'Part of the reason we don't spend a lot of time looking at blogs', he said, 'is because if you haven't looked at it very carefully, then you may be under the impression that somehow there's a clean answer one way or another--well, you just nationalize all the banks, or you just leave them alone and they'll be fine' ".

The author of the businessinsider article, Joe Weisenthal responds,
"So there you go. We'll keep talking about this stuff, going back and forth, but understanding that nobody upstairs is paying close attention.
That being said, he's wrong. The bloggers we follow spend an amazing amount of time, deeply picking apart these messy questions".

There are some interesting comments that follow. My favorite is Dave's posting on March 7, 2009, 7:46 PM. After stating that he works at an investment bank, he writes that "you (the unprivileged blogger) are not privy to the details required to ananlyze the issues...and...must thus boil down intricate issues to 'blog bites' your readers can digest in a few minutes".

Here is my question for Dave; does he consider Simon Johnson, Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini and EJ to be nothing more than "blog bites"?

[D-Mack]

Re: Obama Disses Economics Blogs

Web-savvy Obama 'rarely' reads blogs, says they're misleadingJeremy Gantz
Published: Sunday March 8, 2009



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Although he owes his current job in part to the Internet's unique networking and communications tools – and his campaign's unprecedented ability to raise money online – President Obama "rarely" reads blogs because he considers some of them misleading and simplistic.

The comment, made during a wide-ranging New York Times interview aboard Air Force One, may surprise those who follow WhiteHouse.gov's own blog or those who followed his transition team's blog.

Asked about his news consumption habits at the end of the interview, during which he acknowledged that the United States is not winning the war in Afghanistan, Obama said he "rarely reads blogs," but reads newspapers – in their paper form – and weekly news magazines.

"[P]art of the reason we don’t spend a lot of time looking at blogs is because if you haven’t looked at it very carefully then you may be under the impression that somehow there’s a clean answer one way or another – well, you just nationalize all the banks, or you just leave them alone and they’ll be fine, or this or that or the other," Obama said. "The truth is this is a very complex set of problems and bad decisions can result in huge taxpayer expenditures and poor results."

...
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Websav...ften_0308.html

:rolleyes::eek:


It's quite funny, while Obama was talking about non-issues during the primary, the internet was full of what would happen.

Mr. Obama indicated that the end was not in sight when it came to the economic crisis and suggested that he expected it could take another $750 billion to address the problem of weak and failing financial institutions beyond the $700 billion already approved.

The budget plan he released last month included a placeholder estimate of $250 billion for additional bank bailouts — an amount that represents the projected long-term cost to taxpayers of a $750 billion infusion into the financial sector — and in the interview Mr. Obama indicated that those figures were what he was likely to seek from Congress.

“We have no reason to revise that estimate,” he said.
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/20...eeded-for.html

[blazespinnaker]

Re: Obama Disses Economics Blogs

The real amusing thing here is that Obama is over simplifying the nature of blogs, which is exact criticism that he is leveling at them!

It's actually a little worrisome though. He goes on about how he wants to invite transparency and oversight from the public, but then basically says he ignores it when they actually provide it.

Still, you do have to appreciate what a nasty headline it would have made if he admitted to shaping public policy on the basis of blogs. "Prez getting his ideas from forum trolls!"

[gwynedd1]

Re: Obama Disses Economics Blogs

Does George Soros have a blog? He might read that one.

[D-Mack]

Re: Obama Disses Economics Blogs

Does George Soros have a blog? He might read that one.

Soros-Funded Democratic Idea Factory Becomes Obama Policy Font

http://www.americanprogressaction.or...ngeforamerica/


He has a website but it's also available in book form