Yep, he did....but he was talking about a proposal...

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President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) discuss government contracts reform at the White House. (Photo: Gerald Herbert / AP)

If President Barack Obama's response to the economic crisis is imperfect, as he acknowledges, and if the Congressional Democrats leave much to be desired as well, then Americans can at least be thankful that the nation's fate has not been consigned to the frozen minds on the other side of the aisle. Things are bad, and seem very likely to get worse - but the Republicans seem determined to plunge us into a real depression, gambling that catastrophe would return them to power.

The leaders of the Republican party simply ignore flashing red warnings from the unemployment offices, whose reports now indicate that joblessness in this recession will soon surpass the worst of the 1981-82 slump. They complain about "earmarks," a miniscule portion of the budget, and they suggest policies that would either have no effect at all or make matters much worse, even according to many of their own most venerated economists.

From those Republican politicians often deemed most thoughtful, such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, comes a droning chorus for tax cuts on capital gains. This is the conservative panacea in good times and bad, but it is of little relevance to the problems of the moment. Investors are not fleeing the markets because they worry about enormous returns that will be subject to punitive taxation; they are abandoning stocks and real estate because those assets are deflating like punctured balloons. Until there is a real prospect of capital gains, cutting taxes on them will scarcely affect investment and jobs.

Descending the intellectual scale brings us to the House minority leader, John Boehner. He responded to the frightening February data on job losses "more than 650,000 laid off in a single month" to demand a "freeze in government spending" and a presidential veto of the $400 billion continuing budget resolution.

While Mr. Boehner said he understood that the mass firings meant worsening economic conditions, he seems more worried about "wasteful pork-barrel projects," a problem that concerned him not at all when his party ran Congress. To him, an unemployment rate surging past 8 percent is a signal that the government should impose a spending freeze "until the end of this fiscal year." A spending freeze, of course, is precisely the opposite of the policies pursued by the Republicans during the last recession, when their own political butts were on the line.

So is Mr. Boehner suddenly crazy? Is he just economically illiterate? Or is he convinced, like the would-be revolutionaries of the Depression era, that the worse our general situation becomes, the better for his party? All three could be true at once, but his motivation matters less than his ideas, which would be ruinous to everyone if enacted.

What makes someone like Mr. Boehner important and potentially dangerous is not that anyone takes his stupid advice seriously, but that he and his caucus can block or stall policies that might rescue us from the worst consequences of the bust.

The fundamental issue not only in America but in the world economy is a crisis of demand. As the Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz has explained - most recently at a panel in New York City sponsored by The Nation magazine and the Nation Institute - average wages have fallen for more than three decades. Among the results of that invidious pattern was rising indebtedness, as banks extended usurious credit to working families struggling to maintain their living standards. Years of rising inequality has upset the equilibrium that resulted in rapid and sustained economic growth for most of the postwar period in this country, and created a prosperous, well-educated and optimistic middle-class society.

Back when America worked well, the gaps between the top and bottom of the income scale were far smaller, the public sector was more robust, the labor movement protected living standards and the rewards of work were more fairly distributed. There is only one way to stop the downward slide and begin to restore that proven pattern of economic dynamism with a wage-led recovery.

Public spending, even unto additional trillions, is the only instrument available to prevent a global depression, assuming that we have not already forfeited that chance. The stimulus bill and the Obama budget are only first steps. We will need another strong shot of stimulus before the summer-not a spending freeze-and we can only pray that the president and the Congressional Democrats will have the guts to push the Republicans out of the way.

who provides campaign funds. Do you know why lobbyists are making the headlines? Because they are bribing the politicians of both parties - lobbyists work for private interests (AIPAC) along with the pharmaceutical company ($280.00 for a bottle of pills? Only in America, folks), oil industry (record profits at your expense) credit card companies and unethical banking procedures (Funny isn't it how Visa wrote the reformed BK bill, making virtually everyone end up in ch 13 (garnishing income, including SS) after raising credit limits and offering transfer balances at 0 percent to everyone with a last name and a roof over their head? Along with mtgs that were bound to turn into bad loans when house prices dropped which they always do after a bubble. God, I could go on and on here but I get tired. The nation is in such trouble. Serious serious trouble. There is a huge loan to an unfriendly country (did you watch the Olympics? did you ever see Bush look more uncomfortable other than during the Stephen Colbert roast during the national press conference. lol.

Well I want you to know what fascism. And I want you to know that those treasury notes are backed up by the taxpayers (you) and real estate including roads and govt buildings and parks. Have you noticed why Save-Mart Center is owned by savemart and not a community business or the community itself? There is somethign happening slowly and surely and it is NOT going to benefit middle class america one iota. You must know that as a poor person, you have no power, no voice. Elections are rigged and the politicans cease to care whether you like them or not - oh wait, that has already happened.

Fascist governments nationalized key industries and made massive state investments. They also introduced price controls, wage controls and other types of Soviet-style economic planning measures.^[12] Property rights and private initiative were contingent upon service to the state.^[13].^[14] Fascists promoted their ideology as a "third way" between capitalism and Marxian socialism.^[15] Fascists in Germany and Italy claimed that they opposed reactionaries, and that they were actually revolutionary political movements that fused with conservative social values.

Saddam had gotten rid of the WMDs, said his son-in-law, quite a few years earlier. If your theory of invading a country that no longer is a threat, then would you also advise invading Germany since they used to have a Nazi regime?

I just mean in terms of the baby being passed around. That's what people do with babies. They share the love.

Biden answered each and every question very completely and very eloquently. They were more like accusations than questions, and the whole thing resembled an ambush more than an interview. Please WATCH THE VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW (link below) and tell me just which question Biden DIDN'T answer.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00354

civil service where my 16yo daughter goes to the barracks for 3-4 months to learn training as if a war was coming. That is what Hitler used to do to his country.

Wait just a minute. I'm middle class, I'm responsible and I pay a house payment every month. If you put money in my hands, I would probably pay off my mortgage, which in turn helps the bank. Instead they just want to bail out the banks, give us middle class nothing and give the poor even more. Putting money in the hands of people who will spend it has nothing to do with your class. I am sick and tired of being a responsible citizen only to see people who do nothing get more hand outs so they can go to WalMart (with free money, which according to you will help the economy even though they are killing us with Welfare), have another kid with free healthcare and get another pitbull (the accessory for all Welfare moms)! The economy is not just about spending money on stuff and going to the mall. It is about paying our own bills, taking care of our own children, buying our own food and making sure our banks are stable. Get a clue!