# Should we really be trying to turn the economy around? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 8, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804 "2012-08-08T00:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/21 "2012-08-08T13:49:39Z")
> [@cutman74](#): > > thank you for your replies. As many have said, they keep playing lip service to this idea of turning things around. If I were Obama, I would do my best to remind the people what turning around memeans, relative to our economic situation. Good thing he doesn’t have you as an advisor. He’d sound foolish playing semantic games like that. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/22 "2012-08-08T13:58:14Z")
Is no one going to address the idea that they mean what they say? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/23 "2012-08-08T14:04:04Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Is no one going to address the idea that they mean what they say? We have no quotes of what they actually say, only a paraphrase in the OP, in which he says “to turn the country or economy around”. A significant majority of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. The ads probably address that, but without exact quotes, there is no way of saying for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/24 "2012-08-08T15:56:31Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It’s just political-speak. If you’re unhappy with the current situation, you want to turn it around, even if it’s going slowly in the direction you want it to go. I’m not as offended by that as I am “take our country back” which really means “take our country backward”. I disagree. I think the real meaning of “take _our_ country back” is an appeal to those people who divide the country into two groups; real Americans (ie people like me) and “those other people”. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/25 "2012-08-08T16:02:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I disagree. I think the real meaning of “take _our_ country back” is an appeal to those people who divide the country into two groups; real Americans (ie people like me) and “those other people”. True, that is the target. The implicit message I get is to take us backward to those days when women, blacks, and gays all knew their places. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/26 "2012-08-08T16:17:08Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > True, that is the target. The implicit message I get is to take us backward to those days when women, blacks, and gays all knew their places. You mean [Like this?](http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/28/Richardson-Obama-will-take-country-back/UPI-18801219970488/) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/27 "2012-08-08T22:09:49Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Is the economy heading in the right direction, though? > > There’s plenty to not vote for Romney for, but him promising to turn the economy around isn’t one of them. You’re reaching too far. But him promising to do so without a clue how is a good reason not to vote for him. We know he promises to cut taxes on the rich and pay for it by closing loopholes in things to be defined later. Anyhow austerity would turn the country around in the sense the OP is implying, so Romney may be totally honest. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/28 "2012-08-08T23:57:38Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > It’s just political-speak. If you’re unhappy with the current situation, you want to turn it around, even if it’s going slowly in the direction you want it to go. I’m not as offended by that as I am “take our country back” which really means “take our country backward”. No, “take our country back” means “put the WHITE back in the white house”. The opposition to mr. Moderate Obama have made it perfectly clear why they hate him so. ---
**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/29 "2012-08-09T00:58:33Z")
John, I was merely saying that this would give the president a chance to focus on the fact that, while not moving forward at the pace we would like, we are moving forward. Harping on this doesn’t seem worse to me than constantly taking sentences spoken out of context and using them as a gotcha. The right uses semantics and flat out distortions of fact as a bludgeon regularly. I just think this point would get some of the fence riders to listen a little bit harder to the ideas the people who want to run this country are putting forth and sometimes the simpler the better. I just don’t think it would hurt to remind the people what these people actually want to do with their power. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/30 "2012-08-10T02:12:19Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Good thing he doesn’t have you as an advisor. He’d sound foolish playing semantic games like that. Consider the source of this statement. Hey, anyone in the Obama White House reading this, you really should get a piece of the action on cutman74’s point! Can’t you hear Barack saying, “I don’t want to turn the recovery around and start shrinking! I want to speed the recovery up! I want to catch up! So when I hear Romney say he wants to turn the economy around, I gotta wonder: Turn it around to where? Another crash?”? ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/31 "2012-08-10T02:14:18Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > But him promising to do so without a clue how is a good reason not to vote for him. We know he promises to cut taxes on the rich and pay for it by closing loopholes in things to be defined later. > > Anyhow austerity would turn the country around in the sense the OP is implying, so Romney may be totally honest. Agreed. Romney is wrong for the economy. I’m arguing against the idea that him saying “turn the economy around” is him admitting he wants to ruin the economy. That’s just silly, but somehow people are running with it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/32 "2012-08-10T02:57:53Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Agreed. Romney is wrong for the economy. > > I’m arguing against the idea that him saying “turn the economy around” is him admitting he wants to ruin the economy. That’s just silly, but somehow people are running with it. Why is that silly? He, his financial backers, and others of that ilk will end up better off. Before Obama turned the economy around, Romney and his ilk were growing increasingly wealthier, and even devaluation of their assets from Bush’s economic crash left the richest with a larger slices of the pie. He may be deceiving the fools who believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, but he might mean what he says. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/33 "2012-08-10T03:30:32Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > True, that is the target. The implicit message I get is to take us backward to those days when women, blacks, and gays all knew their places. > [@rogerbox](#): > > No, “take our country back” means “put the WHITE back in the white house”. The opposition to mr. Moderate Obama have made it perfectly clear why they hate him so. Oh, you silly SDMB rascals. Always trying to say we hate blacks and women, always underestimating how much we hate liberals. Why don’t you understand that we don’t _need_ any other reason to despise you? > [@TriPolar](#): > > Before Obama turned the economy around 😛 Heh. Tell me another. Man, you guys will do or say _anything_ to maintain your delusions, won’t you? “turned the economy around”…I can think of 8.2% of the population that would vehemently disagree with that statement. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/34 "2012-08-10T03:46:13Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Man, you guys will do or say _anything_ to maintain your delusions, won’t you? “turned the economy around”…I can think of 8.2% of the population that would vehemently disagree with that statement. So 91.8 percent disagree with them then? ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/35 "2012-08-10T04:03:10Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Oh, you silly SDMB rascals. Always trying to say we hate blacks and women, always underestimating how much we hate liberals. Why don’t you understand that we don’t _need_ any other reason to despise you? Your side has made it quite clear, repeatedly with the use of imagery that you despise him because he is a black man in the white house. I don’t need a cite for my claim because it’s self evident to non-racists. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804/36 "2012-08-10T06:17:30Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Man, you guys will do or say _anything_ to maintain your delusions, won’t you? “turned the economy around”…I can think of 8.2% of the population that would vehemently disagree with that statement. Just out of curiosity, how high was that number in January 2009, when Obama took Office? Okay, I admit I’m not asking out of curiosity. I’m asking because it directly contradicts the point you’re trying to make, and I want you to admit it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-really-be-trying-to-turn-the-economy-around/630804.md?page=1)