At a moment of economic stress greater than most living Americans have ever experienced, it is no wonder that every move made by the administration of President Barack Obama to address the multiple simultaneous crises afflicting the economy has been greeted with howls of criticism from the left, right and middle. Now is a fertile time for a harvest of Cassandras, all preaching apocalypse. But it can be confusing — is the stimulus too big, or too small? Should banks be allowed to fail, or should they be nationalized?
Hard answers are in short supply. But here’s a guide to the prophets of doom. We’ve identified them, attempted to ascertain the moment when they first turned against the White House, and summarized the basic points of their critique. We’ve included economists, members of the business community, bloggers and, just for fun, two of the most anti-Obama Republicans we could dig up.
I mean, come on. I invented this category. In August 2004.