The US Economy Is Shrinking, But It Isn't Alone

Today the revised gross domestic product report came out, and it showed that the United States economy shrank by 0.5 percent in the third quarter. How does this compare to other countries?

A lot of big economies are contracting. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development today predicted "the most serious recession since the early 1980s." Here are just some of the developed countries that have been declared to be in a recession and/or whose G.D.P.'s shrank in the third quarter: Japan, Eurozone, Italy, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland and Iceland.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Hirnlego]

30 min I.O.U.S.A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_TjBNjc9Bo

[Beninn]

If nobody knows exactly how much debt is out there, then how do you keep throwing money at that which you have no idea what it will take to restore confidence, IF, after you throw $700 billion at it (thinking that should settle Nervous Nellies) more Citibanks or AIGs or Big 3 automakers continue to show up almost daily on your doorstep on the verge of collapse?

Doesn't the time come when you say, "Everybody stop! Let's try to get on top of this by figuring out how much debt is out there (hungry mouths), and then we'll figure out exactly how much money we have on hand (or in this case, how much we would have to borrow from China, Japan, Saudi Arabia) and THEN make the decisions about who gets bailed out and who doesn't"?

[ObjectiveRealist]

All those countries are net oil importers. I believe they all define their currency relative to the US dollar, except of course for the United States, whose currency *is* the US dollar.

[wagadog]

If everything in the universe shrank at exactly the same rate, nobody would ever know the difference.

[SailFree]

Semi-cute! Thanks.

In a more serious vein, said the vampire, many of these loans, currently valued as worthless due to the destructive mark-to-market rule, have been sold as packaged investments all over the world. One can thus say that the congressional Democrats have managed to wreck the economy of the entire world by mandating worthless loans, preventing their correct evaluation, corruptly attesting to their solvency, marketing them to investment banks...and the damage rolls on.

[curiousasheck]

And your solution?

[SailFree]

1) Let unprofitable companies fail.
2) Stop pretending government bureaucrats can manage an economy.
3) Stop propping up failure.
4) Stop backing unions. Hasn't anyone noted that the auto industry segments which are most unionized are the failing ones?
5) Cut capital gains taxes to encourage investment and risk-taking.
6) For heaven's sake don't let the Bush tax cuts expire!

[TAIsabel]

You should join Sarah's campaign for 2012. Wrong administration, wrong ideas already proven wrong by their implementation during the last 8 years. Some people refuse to develop and learn.

[Hirnlego]

30 min I.O.U.S.A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_TjBNjc9Bo

Revealed: US comptroller says US taxes would have to double to pay for Bush budget in 2040
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Government_watchdog_says_control_spending_or_0115.html

Start paying up or face total bankruptcy!

[ObjectiveRealist]

7) Trust-bust anything "too big to be allowed to collapse" ie big enough to need a bailout