It's The Economy, STUPID!.....

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by FOTD

Lessons to be learned....

http://www.ft.com/indepth/recession


Fed Chief Bleak on Economic Outlook

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/business/economy/16econ.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

"The bottom line is this: We're going through a tough time," Mr. Bush said. "But our economy's continued growing, consumers are spending, businesses are investing, exports continue increasing and American productivity remains strong."

The bottom line is this....Nobody has confidence in a liar who runs this supposide free world.

An Economy Thrown Into Turmoil
U.S. Financial Crisis Increasingly Infecting The Rest of the World

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071500999.html?wpisrc=newsletter

"But others have argued that soaring energy prices, rising inflation and a weakening dollar are already zapping the strength out of the world economy, with a full blown U.S. recession likely to take the wind out of the sails of global growth. "

Fresh data add to US economic woes

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/70c62b4a-5272-11dd-9ba7-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

The result of a neo conned, right of atilla the hun, economy.....

The Lorton's World reported today that city sales tax collections are up 10.7% compared to the same month a year ago.

Isn't that about what the rate of inflation is running.....?

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectID=11&articleID=20080719_16_A18_hFeder529258

[FOTD]

Real inflation, like the way it was measured under Carter, is more like %16 IMHO.

Bin Laden said the $144 per barrel cost of oil would bring the US to it's knees. The Busheviks did us in with their war and code orange. Now? Code red.

Meanwhile, home values have dropped %30 in California. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-housing18-2008jul18,0,2776611.story
Depression?

TOTAL FAILURE!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PELOSI_BUSH?SITE=WHIZ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by FOTD

Real inflation, like the way it was measured under Carter, is more like %16 IMHO.

Bin Laden said the $144 per barrel cost of oil would bring the US to it's knees. The Busheviks did us in with their war and code orange. Now? Code red.

Meanwhile, home values have dropped %30 in California. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-housing18-2008jul18,0,2776611.story
Depression?

TOTAL FAILURE!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PELOSI_BUSH?SITE=WHIZ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Several working mothers, who buy a lot of food for their families, have mentioned to me that they think average grocery prices are up about 20% this year.

Fuel is up 30%.

Natural Gas ...?

Electricity.........?

The only things still low are Interest Rates and my morale.

Interest rates can only go UP to help the Federal Reserve control an insipid growth in Inflation.

Higher interest rates will further hurt the home construction industry and pre-owned home sales.

Welcome to the New World Order, Kameraden!

[FOTD]

WHY NO OUTRAGE!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121642367125066615.html?mod=home_we_banner_left
"Have the stewards of other people's money not made a hash of high finance? Did they not enrich themselves in boom times, only to pass the cup to us, the taxpayers, in the bust? Where is the people's wrath?"

"The American people are famously slow to anger, but they are outdoing themselves in long suffering today. In the wake of the "greatest failure of ratings and risk management ever," to quote the considered judgment of the mortgage-research department of UBS, Wall Street wears a political bullseye. Yet the politicians take no pot shots."

James Grant rules......why no outrage?!

Such sheep.....those American whinners....

READ THIS IF YOU CARE ABOUT AMERICA!

[FOTD]

85% of US Unhappy with Economy

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1823668,00.html

"Most intriguing, a majority of those surveyed believe in the power of Big Government to solve the biggest problems of our time. They support major government investments that create jobs — 82% favor public works projects — and they remain sympathetic to the economy's victims: 70% say more government programs should help those now struggling. "

Devilish thinketh of a new word to express what state the republicanised economy resembles:
A Distression

[Crash Daily]

I believe that the Dims have been in control of congress long enough to have done something. Oh yah, fuel was 2 dollars a gallon when they came to power. I think they've done plenty.

Good thing they are in power so we can get the energy resources we to need. Oh wait, Dims won't let us drill where we need to. They are starving the world and further driving up fuel prices with ethanol, http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/cooke/2007/0202.html they are forcing us to try and depend on new technologies that will take 10 years to develop and 20 years to for the maturation of any required infrastructure.

Dims tax the crap out of our fuel http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/1054.html while blaming "Big Oil" and windfall profits which, by the way, are only 1% earnings, for the high gas prices.
 
Republican or Dimocrat, big government doesn't solve jack sh*t. Big government is always the problem and never the solution. I know that Republicans are responsible for some of what i mentioned above, but they are RINO's. Those are Dimocratic principals being exercised. Real Republicans know better.

[FOTD]

Now that's lame.

Just some republicans. Reagan, Bush, and Dumbya.

[Crash Daily]

Reagan was the greatest President in modern history. He was a Conservative and we were at the height of power when he left office, economic, military and other otherwise.

I don't defend either of the Bush's a whole lot. They are only partial conservatives and there's been no true Republican to elect since Reagan. So we keep getting these week @SS RINO's to choose from, or we'll end up with someone like Gore, Kerry or Obama. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Clinton wouldn't let us start drilling 10 years ago and Nancy (The Freak'n Biznitch) Pelosi, THE WORST Majority leader in the history of this nation, won't let us drill now.

If we pushed it, we could have more of our own oil and several new refineries in 5 to 7 years, while we continue to work on alternative energy sources.

Although there are many factors, including the weak dollar, for the cost of fuel, our dependence on foreign oil is the primary cause.

Speculators know the supply is going to be strained even further, as China and India continue to emerge. If we were drilling and refining and had been all along, anywhere we were able, we FLAT OUT wouldn't be in this mess right now.
D-I-M-O-C-(R-A-T-S)!!!

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by Crash Daily

Reagan was the greatest President in modern history. He was a Conservative and we were at the height of power when he left office, economic, military and other otherwise.

I don't defend either of the Bush's a whole lot. They are only partial conservatives and there's been no true Republican to elect since Reagan. So we keep getting these week @SS RINO's to choose from, or we'll end up with someone like Gore, Kerry or Obama. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Clinton wouldn't let us start drilling 10 years ago and Nancy (The Freak'n Biznitch) Pelosi, THE WORST Majority leader in the history of this nation, won't let us drill now.

If we pushed it, we could have more of our own oil and several new refineries in 5 to 7 years, while we continue to work on alternative energy sources.

Although there are many factors, including the weak dollar, for the cost of fuel, our dependence on foreign oil is the primary cause.

Speculators know the supply is going to be strained even further, as China and India continue to emerge. If we were drilling and refining and had been all along, anywhere we were able, we FLAT OUT wouldn't be in this mess right now.
D-I-M-O-C-(R-A-T-S)!!!

California defense contractors (Weinberger and Schultz as proxies) were those that selected and promoted a Grade "B" actor into the Presidency.

Armed with a well-written script, he could deliver his well-rehearsed lines very well.

He had really only three goals as President:

1) Reduce the top marginal tax rate from 70% down to 33%.  He did that his first year in office, to benefit the super-rich.  Middle class taxpayers saw no change in their tax burden.  

In fact, in 1986, Tax Burdens on the Middle Class were actually INCREASED under Reagan.  Many tax preference items such as the deductability of interest on student and car loans disappeared, and the deduction of sales taxes disappeared from Schedule A of IRS Form 1040.

2) Massively rebuild and modernize our military, and in doing so, bankrupt the Soviets.  He accomplished this as well about one year after he left office, with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Baltic Republic Uprising in 1990, and the collapse and splintering of the U.S.S.R. in 1991.

3) Continue the War on Americans, a.k.a. The War on Drugs. His Attorney General Ed Meese led the charge to end the Federal Parole System.  This humane concept no longer exists under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, and hasn't for the past 20 years.  

Mr. Meese is currently a board member of an organization that exploits prison labor as virtual slave labor, even charging the prisoner back a per diem charge for their incarceration costs.

What a sweetie!

The U.S. is now the WORLD LEADER in our prisoner incarceration rate.

#1.

Land of the Free?

[FOTD]

Repiglican Presidents have been more interested in getting re elected than in helping give a hand up to the poor, the unemployed, and the uninsured. They gave America the shovel....

Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/business/20debt.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=login#

"the lucrative lending practices of America's merchants of debt have led millions of Americans — young and old, native and immigrant, affluent and poor — to the brink. More and more, Americans can identify with miners of old: in debt to the company store with little chance of paying up."

"And recent changes in the bankruptcy laws, supported by financial services firms, make it all the harder for consumers, especially those with modest incomes, to get out from under their debt by filing for bankruptcy."

"Just two generations ago, America was a nation of mostly thrifty people living within their means, even setting money aside for unforeseen expenses.

"Today, Americans carry $2.56 trillion in consumer debt, up 22 percent since 2000 alone, according to the Federal Reserve Board. The average household's credit card debt is $8,565, up almost 15 percent from 2000. "

"By contrast, the nation's savings rate, which exceeded 8 percent of disposable income in 1968, stood at 0.4 percent at the end of the first quarter of this year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

More ominous, as Americans have dug themselves deeper into debt, the value of their assets has started to fall. Mortgage debt stood at $10.5 trillion at the end of last year, more than double the $4.8 trillion just seven years earlier, but home prices that were rising to support increasing levels of debt, like home equity lines of credit, are now dropping.

The combination of increased debt, falling asset prices and stagnant incomes does not threaten just imprudent borrowers. The entire economy has become vulnerable to the spending slowdown that results when consumers like Ms. McLeod hit the wall."

Trickle down never really did.....it was a credit down delivery.

[FOTD]

Debt capitalism self-destructs
By Henry C K Liu


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JG22Dj09.html

"Former Fed chairman Paul Volcker expressed concern that by expanding its role of lender of last resort to institutions beside commercial banks that previously were not allowed to hold positions in equities, the Fed may have opened itself up to moral hazard dangers if large institutions believe their adventurous behavior will be bailed out by the Fed. "

"Neoliberal economists were celebrating the US miracle of mass capitalism that does not need capital."

"The problem of this good policy intention was that during the era of neoliberal ascendancy, the light regulatory environment was used to negate a more fundamental economic law: the need to increase worker income to match mortgage payments, subsidized or not. "


"Yet in all the current talk about finding ways to deal with the crisis, not one single voice is heard from official circles about the need to increase worker income. Instead, false hopes on one-time stimulant tax rebates are hailed as the magic bullet. "

"More than capital adequacy is at risk. The credibility of the team with responsibility for the nation's monetary system and its financial market is heading for a meltdown. Unfortunately, credibility is much easier to lose than to regain."

"While many expect Congress to have no option except to approve the Paulson plan, a few skeptics were voicing their opposition in public hearings. Senator Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky, described Paulson as "asking for a blank check ... for this unprecedented intervention in our free markets." He also vowed to try his best to stop a proposal that would give the Federal Reserve sweeping new powers aimed at protecting the nation's shaky financial system. Bunning said the Federal Reserve "can't be trusted with the power it already has". He says the Fed's policies in recent years have contributed to economic woes, including surging inflation, a declining dollar and the housing bust. "

""When I picked up my newspaper yesterday, I thought I woke up in France. But no, it turns out socialism is alive and well in America. "


Good read.


Indeed, just as we are witnessing now. We are being "third worldized".

[FOTD]

Cheeze Whiz.....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080728/pl_nm/usa_economy_deficit_dc

Does it get much worse than this?

Asleep at the wheel has led us into a train wreck. Actually, a train wreck will be a minor accident compared to what awaits the US.

[akupetsky]

quote:Originally posted by Crash Daily

Reagan was the greatest President in modern history. He was a Conservative and we were at the height of power when he left office, economic, military and other otherwise.

I don't defend either of the Bush's a whole lot. They are only partial conservatives and there's been no true Republican to elect since Reagan. So we keep getting these week @SS RINO's to choose from, or we'll end up with someone like Gore, Kerry or Obama. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Clinton wouldn't let us start drilling 10 years ago and Nancy (The Freak'n Biznitch) Pelosi, THE WORST Majority leader in the history of this nation, won't let us drill now.

If we pushed it, we could have more of our own oil and several new refineries in 5 to 7 years, while we continue to work on alternative energy sources.

Although there are many factors, including the weak dollar, for the cost of fuel, our dependence on foreign oil is the primary cause.

Speculators know the supply is going to be strained even further, as China and India continue to emerge. If we were drilling and refining and had been all along, anywhere we were able, we FLAT OUT wouldn't be in this mess right now.
D-I-M-O-C-(R-A-T-S)!!!

I think your blame is misplaced.  Even T. Boone Pickens says that we "can't drill our way out of" this gas crisis.  Today, crude dropped dramatically and is expected to drop further - not because people expect more drilling or more US-based supplies, but because people are using less oil:  
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080729/oil_prices.html
This is not a Republican or Democratic issue = limiting usage will reduce prices in a way that will dwarf any positive effect from additional drilling.

It may be that some drilling should be allowed (not too close to the beaches, please) as part of an overall deal to put more emphasis on alternatives and demand reduction, but Republicans should quit trying to make political hay by deluding Americans into thinking that more drilling is the cure-all.  Ultimately, this presidential election is going to come down to competence, and those who suggest that drilling is going fix our problems are showing that they are not competent to lead the nation.

[FOTD]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25804814/page/2/

Economy hitting the elderly especially hard

"But inflation and stock plunges are eating away at retirement accounts, while Social Security is shrinking — the 2.3 percent increase in benefits announced in January was the smallest in four years. By comparison, consumer prices rose more than twice as much over the past year, the Labor Department said last week."


""I have been saving every year for some 40 years now trying to get ready for this moment where I might be able to have a little more time for family, for friends," Looney said.

Now he expects to have to work for at least five more years.

If anyone should know, it's John Looney. He works for AARP."

Boomers are screwed. Generation Yuppie, underwater, and todays teens skilled less. It sure is hitting John McCain pretty hard.

[FOTD]

Jobless Rate Climbs to 5.7% as 51,000 Jobs Lost in July

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/business/02econ.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1217610259-0plcEpuF4jNgSmT2uQZZ1A


So Mista Bush, is the economy working? And wil McSame (R-Idiot) do better? We won't know unless he starts talking issues instead of throwing dirt while flip flopping.