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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Mr. Bernake might have hoped that by lowering the Fed rate that banks would have eased credit requirements by credit, for the average consumer/small business is thighter than ever. Being able to borrow cash to help out in a economic crunch has all but dried up and disappeared.
And here we are arguing about Reverend Wright and the Bosnia landing.
Al,
just read your posts and I completely agree with you. With a 4.5% unemployment rate, how is it we are in a recession. The last recession was 24% unemployment and the one before that was 33% unemployment.
I have seen other posts about how bad the society is, yada, yada, yada, and bottom line is there are ALWAYS issues with the economy, no matter which country or how well it is doing financially. It is a part of life and some people would say the economy was aweful even when we were in our huge economic boom..It's unfortunate, but that happens. However, these articles make people freak out and to not spend there money on fruvalous things. Sorry folks, the petty items that we buy is what makes the economy strong. If we don't buy a new car because we are worried about the economy, car dealers, car makers, and employees are all effected by it. And in turn, there are layoffs due to no money coming in, then those people who were laid off no longer spend money on things like TV's or CD's. So on and so fourth, and that is how you get in to a recession. We as a country may not be booming with new technology or new ideas, but we are stable, money is still being spent, and last time I checked the stock market is still higher then it was in 2000.
Again, we may not be as strong as we were last year, but the economy is still moving forward and people shouldn't worry as much as they are. The worrying puts us into a recession because we worry about spending money. And for those who think we will be in a depression and to tell us, we told you so, don't count on it. Most of the country is victim to the housing prices and land sky rocketing out of control and banks giving out loans that are extremely unrealistic to ever be paid off. Once this society gets through this, we should be fine. It will be a stinger on somes credit and a stinger to banks, but the society can and will bounce back from that.
Hope your commentary on my post made you feel better, but it doesn't change the universally accepted and documented facts. Just because you say something is so, doesn't make it true. I'm imagining you are plugging both of your ears and shouting "Lalalalalalalalala!" By the way, I am a socially left-leaning Libertarian who cares about people but believes government programs are not the answer. Government promotion of privately run programs are.
that individual citizens and those who need to should tighten their belts and live within their means, I cannot agree with those who say we have no right to blame the government or hold them responsible in any meaningful way. Would we be fighting with the Mexicans over jobs if most manufacturing jobs had not been sent to China, India or other 3rd world countries? The same companies who export jobs get federal subsidies. This doesn't bother conservatives? Would small towns be dying out and devastated the way they are ir this hadn't taken place? Have you read about how gas station owners are struggling while gas companies post record profits? It's the same with the pharmaceutical companies. Drugs cost a fortune while they are not necessarily reliable.
I don't have a car. I make about 35,000 annually. I have all used furniture. I shop at Goodwill and take the bus to the library downtown just to get out. I live in an inexpensive apartment complex, and yes I see a lot of my poorer neighbors have flat screen TVs, and this weirds me out because the TV I have was given to me, and it's color and it's 17 inches, but compared to the sets we had as kids, it's great. My kids and I are not suffering or starving, but things could be better. I am not asking that anyone GIVE me anything, just that they stop stealing from the rest of us. A lot of the gainfully employed who work for the government have way better safety net programs than the rest of us (legislating for pharmaceutical companies then going to work for them, better health care and similar) and they don't do their goddamn jobs. I could point to a bunch of scandals within the past year to prove it, but what's the point.
Since I have to know how to stretch my money and how to be self-sufficient, I have been. How bout the folks in power do the same.
Please give me evidence that this is just a cycle. Our international debt is going in ONE direction, and the value of the dollar is therefore going in ONE direction. This is not ebb and flow. Obviously floating the economy by individuals also going into deeper debt has an ugly endgame. Unless the US starts producing something that the rest of the world needs and cannot get without the US, this trend continues (probably accelerates). What is that something? Please tell us. Your posts, that "things always work out" is more akin to plugging ones ears than those who are worried.
Again, the only way out of debt is to produce something the world needs and can't get without the US. What is that? Imaginary derivatives? That seems to have run its course. Patents on food genes and medicine? Like that's gonna last. Please tell, what's that magic bullet?
They still claim it was all "liberal propoganda"
What Republicans don't get is that you cannot run a NATIONAL ECONOMY on low wage Wal-mart jobs and credit cards.
They keep whining, "But unemployment is less than 5 percent!"
Super!
So we have an entire nation mowing lawns, sacking groceries and working at Wal-mart while living off their credit cards! And how long can we actually last doing that? Not very long and we're watching the crash happen in real time.
The only reason the economy has remained strong for the last decade is because the MASSIVE flood of credit to poor Americans.
Ordinarily when the populace goes broke consumer spending goes down.
But what happened was that while wages fell everyone also got about $25,000 in credit cards. Everyone! 14 years old. Unemployed. Illegal alien. Didn't matter. Everyone got credit instead of actual wages. Credit (silently) supplemented low wages!
Well, we're totally out of credit. It's gone. We've ALL maxed out our cards.
Now we have massive debt and low wage jobs.
We can't buy ANYTHING.
And here are the Republicans not understanding what the concern is. NO MONEY equals NO PURCHASES equal NO DEMAND equals NO PRODUCTION equals MORE LAYOFFS.
You can't run our national economy on minimum wage jobs supplemented with credit cards!
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
