Irene Throws Obama Another Curveball Amid Push to Refocus on Economy

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

President Obama's been blaming "bad luck" lately for the state of the economy. Then along comes Hurricane Irene.

The storm that already has lashed the Bahamas was making its way toward the North Carolina coast Friday. Thousands of people were under evacuation orders as governors all along the East Coast declared a state of emergency.

The potential effect from natural disasters like this is a mixed bag. They can cause billions in property damage, sap up government resources, trigger a rise in gas prices and cut down on productivity in the near-term. Irene's bill may be inflated by its presumed landfall along the East Coast, where property values are high.

At the same time, the effects of hurricanes tend to be localized and not big enough to choke the national economy. Any drop-off from the immediate damage can also be offset later by the burst of spending on construction and relief efforts. Plus Irene has been downgraded to a Category 2 and is tracking a bit east of New York City -- a good sign.

Nevertheless, the storm and its aftermath pose another mess for Obama and Congress to deal with at a time when the administration is looking to roll out a new jobs plan for the nation. Money and time spent on storm recovery is money and time the federal government doesn't have for new economic proposals.

Obama, delivering a brief statement on the hurricane from Martha's Vineyard, where he is vacationing, made clear Friday that Washington would bring "all federal resources to bear."

He also urged residents to take all possible precautions and evacuate if instructed, taking care not to downplay the potential impact.

"We all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst," Obama said. "All indications point to this being a historic hurricane."

The administration has lamented the toll natural disasters and other events have had on the economy. Ahead of the hurricane's landfall, outgoing Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee cautioned on Fox News that the economy remains vulnerable.

"At the beginning of this year, we get earthquakes, tsunamis, revolutions in the Middle East, European financial crises -- now they even got earthquakes outside of Washington, D.C.," he said. "I mean we've had a series of things that have ... slowed the economy back down again."

Pat Michaels, a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute, said the storm will likely inflict significant damage on the North Carolina coast and Jersey shore. But he said the current track should not result in economic calamity.

"If this were Bangladesh you would notice it, but in economic numbers this thing is going to be worth a couple of tenths of something," he said.

Michaels said that even though the hurricane will cost homeowners, the subsequent repairs are a sort of "shovel-ready" project that can help the economy.

The impact depends in large part on where the storm goes and whether it intensifies.
________

Obama will find some way to blame somebody else for the hurricane...

[Valin]

WestVirginiaRebel

 

The guy just can't seem to catch a break! I mean none of the other modern Presidents have had to deal with all the bad things he's had to.

[NCTexan]

WestVirginiaRebel

 

The guy just can't seem to catch a break! I mean none of the other modern Presidents have had to deal with all the bad things he's had to.

I'm still waiting for "The One Whom We Have Been Waiting For" to turn Irene away and send her scurrying off to Greenland.

 

 

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

 

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 5, 2008

 

[Valin]

WestVirginiaRebel

 

The guy just can't seem to catch a break! I mean none of the other modern Presidents have had to deal with all the bad things he's had to.

I'm still waiting for "The One Whom We Have Been Waiting For" to turn Irene away and send her scurrying off to Greenland.

 

 

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

 

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 5, 2008

 

 

 

He'll pull a Pat Robertson.

[NCTexan]

He'll pull a Pat Robertson.

Valin!

 

More likely to pull a Rev. Wright or Louie Farrakhan.

 

 

"America... Your chickenzzz have come home to roost!" J. Wright, 2001

[Pepper]

A tropical storm just wouldn't do it for The Won. I'm wearing a tinfoil hat but you just know that Irene HAD to be a hurricane today prior to approaching and destroying New York City and everything in its path.

 

 

A storm of this size in the southeast would not get this hype. 24 hour coverage on Fox, PMSNBC and more.

 

It is now downgraded after destroying Long Island and Manhattan.

[Pepper]

[clearvision]

I know Irene has impacted a huge area to varying degrees, but this was nothing compared to a high end hurricane coming in. Anything along the coast should automatically assume damage every decade or two.

 

Anyway some horrific stories making the news for New York:

 

A foot of water rushed over the wall of a marina in front of the New York Mercantile Exchange, where gold and oil are traded, and floodwater lapped at the wheel wells of yellow cabs.

 

Hurricane Irene surge washes away guard tower on Long Island. Watch the self-proclaimed "dramatic video":

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wlHTjBw_k4

[Pepper]

Clearvision!

 

That is horrific and terrifying to watch ! Could not finish it, too much to contemplate to the poor life guards trapped inside.

[Pepper]

Cable news was utterly swept away by the notion that Irene would turn out to be Armageddon.

 

"Irene fell far short of the media’s dire warnings even before it was downgraded. Howard Kurtz on the scaremongering by television and local officials. "

 

"But the apocalypse that cable television had been trumpeting had failed to materialize. And at 9 a.m., you could almost hear the air come out of the media’s hot-air balloon of constant coverage when Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm."

 

 

"When will the course be dry?"

 

 

 

[clearvision]

It is going to be proclaimed the damage was drastically reduced because of Obama's leadership and in him in getting the state governments ready.

[Pepper]

Video Link to George Will Bashes Hurricane Irene Hype: Journalism 'Shouldn’t Contribute to the Manufacture of Synthetic Hysteria'

 

 

Obama’s “Dukakis Tank” Moment

 

Horray!… Obama Takes Photos Charge at Hurrricane Command Center

[clearvision]

Was that last picture taken after vacation? Seems well rested and rejuvenated, hardly any grey anymore....

 

Here he is Aug. 2....

[Pepper]

He looks more tanned

[SrWoodchuck]

He looks more tanned

That's the type of humor I like......black! Ooooooops......[/racist]

[clearvision]

The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, defended the mass evacuation and the dramatic warnings.

 

"We were unwilling to risk the life of a single New Yorker. The bottom line is that I would make the same decisions again, without hesitation. We can't just, when a hurricane is coming, get out of the way and hope for the best," he said. New York was expected to be back to business on Monday, with markets and offices open, but officials were warning that travel would be difficult.

 

Evacuating a million people, shutting off all public transportation. I wonder if anyone died just because of the evacuation. Car wrecks are not counted in storm totals unless clearly from storm. I wonder how many other decisions the city makes because they are "unwilling to risk the life of a single New Yorker".

[SrWoodchuck]

The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, defended the mass evacuation and the dramatic warnings.

 

"We were unwilling to risk the life of a single New Yorker. The bottom line is that I would make the same decisions again, without hesitation. We can't just, when a hurricane is coming, get out of the way and hope for the best," he said. New York was expected to be back to business on Monday, with markets and offices open, but officials were warning that travel would be difficult.

 

Evacuating a million people, shutting off all public transportation. I wonder if anyone died just because of the evacuation. Car wrecks are not counted in storm totals unless clearly from storm. I wonder how many other decisions the city makes because they are "unwilling to risk the life of a single New Yorker".

Lucky for us that there's still plenty of flood & disaster victim Alabaman's, Dakotan's, Iowan's, Tenesee-unn's.........all fly-over-country dwellers are expendable, unless they're in a swing state, in the United States of Obama.

[Argyle58]

The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, defended the mass evacuation and the dramatic warnings.

 

"We were unwilling to risk the life of a single New Yorker. The bottom line is that I would make the same decisions again, without hesitation. We can't just, when a hurricane is coming, get out of the way and hope for the best," he said. New York was expected to be back to business on Monday, with markets and offices open, but officials were warning that travel would be difficult.

 

Evacuating a million people, shutting off all public transportation. I wonder if anyone died just because of the evacuation. Car wrecks are not counted in storm totals unless clearly from storm. I wonder how many other decisions the city makes because they are "unwilling to risk the life of a single New Yorker".

Lucky for us that there's still plenty of flood & disaster victim Alabaman's, Dakotan's, Iowan's, Tenesee-unn's.........all fly-over-country dwellers are expendable, unless they're in a swing state, in the United States of Obama.

 

Gov. Christie waved tolls on the turnpikes so that people could evacuate....New York wouldn't even waive the requirement to have a Transit Authority Card to take a bus or train out of town.

[Pepper]

[clearvision]

Ouch.

[SrWoodchuck]

At Pajamas Media there is a great comparison between Barack Hussein Soetoro Obama & a sack of hammers. I truly believe that....a sack of hammers would have bested BO in his handling of the Great Eastern Quake of 2011 & the devastation of Hurricane Irene:

 

Comparing Obama’s Performance in Office with that of a Sack of Hammers