is Oba-me Trying to Crash the Markets ...

[GURPS]

WATCH: Obama's Remarks About Shutdown That Spooked Wall Street on Thursday

Many people, including myself, were pleasantly surprised that stocks remained stable during the first two days of this week’s government shutdown. Of course, it didn’t last long.

Stocks plummeted Thursday after President Obama remarked that Wall Street should be worried about the government shutdown and the debt limit:

When asked during a CNBC interview if markets were right to remain relatively calm during the debt limit, the president said, “No.”

“I think this time’s different. I think they should be concerned,” he said, adding that the crisis was being driven by Republicans who were “willing potentially to default on U.S. government obligations.”​

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Many Americans are questioning Obama’s intentions with his remarks:

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Some of the nation’s top economic analysts are concerned as well – not so much with the market decline, but with the President’s attempt to tell Wall Street how to react. After the President’s grim warnings yesterday, NBC analyst Chuck Todd predicted the market would react:

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The bottom line? It’s a big deal when the President tells Wall Street that it should be performing more poorly than it is. First of all, it’s never happened before. Second, it’s never happened before because it’s not the President’s role to do that.

 

[RPMDAD]

is Oba-me Trying to Crash the Markets ...

I vote for Yes, i think he is, and as always he is way out of line for opening his big fat mouth.

 

[GregV814]

Yes, there is no doubt there.

 

[GURPS]

OBAMA’S RECKLESS DEFAULT FEAR-MONGERING

Never before has an American president threatened and risked the U.S. economy and financial markets the way Barack Obama has in recent days. For his own narrow political ends, Obama and his minions have actually accused the Republican party of deliberately provoking a Treasury debt default because they don’t agree with the Obama position on the continuing budget resolution and the debt ceiling.

“As reckless as a government shutdown is … an economic shutdown that results from default would be dramatically worse,” Obama said on Thursday. Clearly targeting Republicans, he said a default would be “the height of irresponsibility.”

Then, on the same day, Obama’s Treasury Department released a brutal statement that said a default would prove catastrophic, causing credit markets to freeze and leading to “a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse.”

So who exactly in the Republican ranks is calling for a Treasury debt default? Who? The GOP disagrees with Obama on the budget and health care, but no Republicans have ever said they favor defaulting on the nation’s debt.

What’s going on here?

I have a strong suspicion that Obama and his troops are trying to provoke a massive sell-off in stocks and bonds to further their political position. And a massive sell-off like that could conceivably become a self-fulfilling prophecy, driving the economy into recession. Indeed, it could drive the whole global economy back into recession, since U.S markets are the epicenter of the world’s system.

This kind of political tactic is beneath the presidency. No president — not Nixon, Carter, Reagan, the Bushes or Clinton — has ever menaced and assaulted the financial world to achieve short-term political gains the way Obama has. This has never happened before.

And frankly, because of the extraordinary importance of our financial system, especially after the crisis of 2008, Obama’s selfish tactics border on the unpatriotic. Presidents don’t act that way. They are custodians of their office. They attempt to create a positive legacy for the future. And they don’t try to pull down the whole system for their own gain.

This is negativism to a fault. The people in the White House and Treasury know better. But apparently they know no political bounds.