@ a high-falutin' lawyer re: The "cash for clunkers" program is a ridiculous boondoggle for the middle class when there are a lot of other people who need help badly and to whom those $3B could have and should be directed.

Indeed.

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Prolonged Aid to Unemployed Is Running Out

Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution.

http://tinyurl.com/njx7sw

The real boneheaded aspect of "Cash for Clunkers" is the underlying idea that somehow by the government spending this money it will precipitate a return to the halcyon days of consumers going into endless debt in order to fuel the mindless consumption needed to prop up the economy.

That ain't gonna happen.

Millions are about to lose their last lifeline, and millions more will be joining the ranks of the unemployed. There are NO new jobs out there to replace the millions lost and offshored over the years. America's manufacturing base and the middle class have been gutted.

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The US economy gives the illusion of recovery - but to what? Back to a "consumer" credit card shopping orgy? Another house-buying fiesta? I don't think so. Households are drowning in debt. They're using their credit cards, if they still can, to buy staple foods. Those are the lucky ones who still have lines of credit left. Soon, many of these families won't even amount to households because they won't have a house. There is absolutely no way we are going back to that particular bubble economy. The only bubble left is the government debt bubble, now leading to such extravagant excess that it can only end up wrecking the government, and perhaps American society with it. In the meantime, how much remaining wealth is Goldman Sachs and its cohorts vacuuming off the floor?

http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/07/evil-syndicated.html#more

Watch:

On the Edge with Max Keiser - Guests: Dmitry Orlov & Dr. Housing Bubble

http://blip.tv/file/2424985

...auto sales will fall right back into the tank.

Absent such a program, it is manifest that almost no one will buy a new car.

SEE:

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Deeper Than We Thought

The recession was worse than we had thought, or at least worse than the previous G.D.P. numbers seemed to indicate.

From the fourth quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2009, we had been told the G.D.P. fell at an annual rate of 2.8 percent. The new number is 4.3 percent.

What made the difference? In general, the things we thought were bad turn out to have been worse.

Personal consumption spending was lower than we thought, falling at a rate of 2.1 percent rather than 1.5 percent as previously reported. That was largely due to the decline in spending on durable goods — such as cars and furniture. Instead of falling at a rate of 11.5 percent for the period, we are now told the rate was minus 13.5 percent.

Every type of investment — from housing to equipment — was also worse. We thought residential investment fell at a rate of 34.5 percent. Make that 35.9 percent. We thought spending on nonresidential structures fell at a rate of 9.4 percent. Make that 13.1 percent. (MORE)

http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/deeper-than-we-thought/

And these are the official numbers.

It isn't.

"Fiscal juicing" may affect the reported numbers, albeit temporarily, but they do nothing to address the fact that hundreds of thousands of jobs continue to be lost each month and there are NO replacement jobs on the horizon.

Massive unemployment = no money to spend = continued decline in housing prices and consumer spending = massive unemployment = etc.

The long-term economic prospects for the vast majority of Americans is very bleak.

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Consumer confidence typically is swayed by “good news” hype. The drops in the Conference Board’s and the University of Michigan’s measures of consumer confidence in July suggest that Americans are becoming inured to recovery hype and are realizing that the government and the media lie about the economy just as they lie about everything else.

http://counterpunch.org/roberts07292009.html

re: We're now starting to see the impact of the real estate bubble on more expensive properties

Exactly.

"Median prices" are misleading since they do not take the mix of properties into account.

As the ratio of expensive homes to lower-priced houses sold increases, median prices over the entirety of the housing stock will rise even if prices on all individual houses are falling.

re: when businesses slash payrolls to show profits, consumers end up with even less money in their pockets to buy the things businesses produce

When businesses slash WAGES to show profits, which is what so-called "globalization" has wrought, consumers end up with even less money in their pockets to buy the things businesses produce.

This one-two punch to the average working person -- while CEOs rake in bazillions of $ in bonuses for offshoring jobs and increasing "efficiency" -- is what has killed the economy. Once the housing bubble burst and everyone's personal ATM went kaput, no one but the CEO-types had any money left to spend.

The consumer-driven economy was killed by the greedheads who have rewarded themselves so lavishly at everyone else's expense. Since the express purpose of current economic policy is to somehow reinflate the bubble economy and not reestablish a strong, vibrant middle class, it is doomed to failure.

The real economy will continue to decline. The majority of real people are hurting. With no replacement jobs on the horizon for the millions lost and offshored, we're basically screwed.

re: BHO is the face of 21st century fascism

He may wish to consider the face of 20th century fascism:

http://tinyurl.com/49eyr