Tonight, President Obama is reiterating his plan for getting the country’s economy back on track, the emphasis again on investments in health care, energy, education and infrastructure — the tangible, bricks- and-mortar types of things that are decidedly notreliant on housing bubbles and credit default swaps.
Responding to a question from NBC’s Chuck Todd, Obama implied that too much of the nation’s economy in recent years has hinged on the imaginary gains of the finance industry.
When AIG sells an enigmatic derivative and that’s considered a part of the GDP, Obama said, “then that’s not a model for sustainable economic growth.”
The comments arrive exactly seven days before Detroit’s automakers will submit viability plans in hopes that the White House will reward them with more bailout money. Would the president call for an economy based on more tangible things, then turn around and deny the car companies — once the country’s greatest manufacturing engines — the next round of emergency loans?
We’ll know shortly.