Ten Reasons The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think

Wall Street Journal:

The recent unemployment numbers have undermined confidence that we might be nearing the bottom of the recession. What we can see on the surface is disconcerting enough, but the inside numbers are just as bad.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[spinns17]

http://www.newsweek.com//frameset.aspx/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businesscycle.com%2F

[CHARLESTHETENTH]

Our nation peaked some time ago and what most don't realize is that it is in a state of decline. Slowly disappearing is that wonderful standard of living that we so enjoyed just a short time ago. Those days will never return in earnest. This nation of ours is to deep in debt and is not able to provide for an economic recovery that would take us back to better times. There are no longer better times for us or for that matter just keeping even times...Mo­st Americans seem oblivious to what is happening around them and still see a bright and better future just over the horizon...­it ain't happening !! It could be a slow process and drag on for some years...or we could wake up one morning and find our Nation in a state of collapse. Either way we are becoming another repeat in History and a second rate power. No Nation can stay on top forever and sooner or later they all fall to some extent. We are there, within that window and falling. China may be the emerging Super Power in the near future and the US will have to settle for 2nd or 3rd place. It will happen....­.our wonderful standard of living will crumble... it's only a matter of time. It was great while it lasted !!

[LeeCalif]

Now, if McCain was the Prez, the author of this article, Mort Zuck erman would have entitled it:

Ten Reasons Why The Economy Is Better Than You Think

[Imago]

Teehee!

And Lee in Calif...I'­m Leigh in Calif! :-)

[kewe]

c'mon already, it's been a full 10 months since the meltdown that took 10 years to boil over. i mean, sheesh, shouldn't we be back on our merry way of being the world's #1 economic power, demonstrating how capitalism works for all, rich and poor alike? you'd think given the enormous expertise and years of experience involved solving this that 90 days would've been enough. I mean, really, doesn't Net 30 mean anything to anyone anymore when it comes to paying bills on time?

well, i guess the answer is a giant conspiracy orchestrated by some secret world organization intent on ensuring centralized wealth is meted out only to the privileged.

"Help! I'm being repressed!" "Come see the violence inherent in the system"

Good lord there are some major pieces of work among us - really redefines the term "melting pot"

[ThePeacemakers]

And it's going to be worse than previous Depression because Wall Street looks at Consumer Spending, Consumer spending and consumer spending.

Then people say, well, Americans don't make as much and can't get credit...s­o less consumer spending.

Still businesses lay off.

What does that tell YOU?

That big biz isn't too worried, being international companies and all, because they are developing NEW super consumers in China and India (just for example). So it doesn't matter what your salary is here in America. And will matter even less under current trade rules and with the way things are going.

[MadHeart]

We all know it's not just mfg being shipped out of the country--call centers, airplane maintenance, IT, any and every job that can be done out of the country is or has been outsourced. This just didn't start recently, it's been going on for 40 years. In 1972, Philco-Ford shipped all its color TV production to Brazil. No black and whites were being mfg in the US at all at that time. Richard Nixon opened up relations with China...we know the results.

[BabblingBrooks]

This is worth reading. It should be retitled "How to Kill an Economy in One Easy Lesson." (Elect Democrats!)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124753106668435899.html

[blastocyst]

(To Clean Up The Mess)

[kesmarn]

Excellent!

[MadHeart]

Could someone tell me who is hiring? What private, free enterprise companies or corporations are hiring in the US? All the production jobs have pretty much left the country. Freightliner, owned by Daimler Corp., announced yesterday that it is re-hiring a "few dozen" employees (out of hundreds laid off) at its Mt. Holly, NC plant; a few dozen people in the US will get jobs, while they are hiring hundreds--­hundreds--­in Mexico.

You cannot expect the govt to provide millions of jobs through funding when businesses are neglecting workers here in the US and only hiring in large numbers out of the country.

[blastocyst]

And still, Mexicans, among others flock here. And when they are in communities as they are in North Carolina, they will happily work for less, lacking documentation as many do, and undermine the prevailing wages for that community.

[getoffthecross]

Actually, there's been significantly less flocking (for those paying attention).

In several ways, GWB was a kind of savant: Having problems with illegal immigration? Destroy the economy so there's no work for anyone! Having problems with military recruitment? Just shave the education budget and limit those kids' options! Want to limit personal freedoms? Set up a color code system so it looks like we're ALWAYS under attack!

You have to admire the brilliance on some level.

[OG]

You don't like this recession maybe we need more deregulation! Maybe we need more lies and deciet to increase profitability! Hey lets go shopping at Walmart low prices everyday. Everytime you shop there you increase the prospect of another company moving overseas and that your childern will be able to live in poverty!

[blastocyst]

They've decimated many once-thriving downtown areas and created the need for their 'services' and their own brand of mercantilism.

[gypsy508]

Unfortunately, people can't afford to shop anywhere else.

[icemilkcoffee]

The US News article got one thing right: the tax cuts in the first stimulus, which were put in to placate a few moderate republicans, does NOTHING to create jobs. Even the right wing mor0ns at US News understand what so many republican congresscum failed to understand.

[orwell]

Bingo...we have a winner.

[lovbug]

No one prefers unemployment over a livable wage. You can't live off that little money. It pays enough to get by on some of your bills but you may have to skip meals.

[Gonzorunner]

The economy is on a downward trend and many are holding on to what they have to survive this recession. So along comes Obama promoting a new health care plan and a Cap and Trade tax to penalize all of us. In business there is something called crisis management. When you are in that situation, that is your total focus. So why is Obama pursuing so many other agendas when things are bleak. If he doesn't get, "Its the Economy Stupid", then his approval ratings will plummet and so will the jobs of our obnoxious Senators. Why we elected an inexperienced community organizer to lead our country is beyond comprehension.

[blastocyst]

"Crisis Management". More made-up finishing school drivel.
"Lean Manufacturing" which cuts into muscle and must compete with 800 million Chinese workers earning a bit of rice in the slums and a similar number of Indian laborers that may never even see the sun before they di e.

[Gonzorunner]

I'm not sure what you are saying but it sounds like you have more compassion for the people in the slums of India than the people out of work in this country. Maybe you should go over there and help them!

[icemilkcoffee]

Has it ever occur to you that the new Green industries might be the next boom to rescue us from the depression? Now is precisely the right time to push for environmental innovations. I only wish there is more stmulus spending on creating the green jobs.

Why do we elect a community organizer? Because he is a million times better than the ne'er-do-well jacka$s that occupied the same office and created this mess to begin with.

[blastocyst]

We lack the cohesive will to press for this. Why? I don't know.
A Manhattan Project-styled push to achieve that which we need is required.

[Sam1234567]

"The goods producing sector is losing the most jobs -- 223,000 in the last report alone."

You can't create "Green" jobs by crushing other industries. Guess what solar, wind, etc.. require steel, plastic, coal, natural gas, oil all to make.

So why is Obama about ruining the energy, health, and manufacturing markets with bogus legislation that does nothing for the environment or improvement of healthcare?

That is why we shouldn't elect a "community organizer".

[markinaz]

Cause the alternative was far worse.

[VOTERremorse]

This recession is still not as liberals put the worst since the great depression. No it is the worst since what jimmy carter left for ronald reagan. Stagflation, high interest rates, double digit unemployment, cold war.

[KCFreedom]

But Americans were not saddled with as much debt to service as they are now. That's not defending them, but the reality is, we haven't even hit midpoint yet as more Americans default on their debts. So the worst is yet to come, in my opinion.

[Liberal2]

Heh, VotingStup­id....OPEC and US auto companies conspired to create that stagflation. OPEC quintupled oil prices, auto companies weren't building energy efficient cars. Volker made it worst by rising interest rates so industry couldn't retool with energy efficient equipment.

Carter proposed steps to end US reliance on foreign energy. You criminal rethugs pissed on his plans.

Come back when you understand history and economics.

[Sam1234567]

People who bought houses they could not afford creating an over valued housing market, then defaulted on them in record number are. The slowing of all other markets was a reaction to this, not oil.

And we all see how well Carter dealt with the middle east...see Iran 1979.

Please, come back when you understand history and economics.

[lovbug]

Give me a break! The American economy will never be what it use to be unless we keep printing money. All the money is gone out of the country. IT WONT COME BACK! Before Obama came on board, the economy was not growing. The country was in trillions of dollars in debt, people were in debt, people were loosing their houses by the minute and living in tents, people were getting laid off from their jobs left to right, jobs were disappearing overseas, wages were not going up, banks were collapsing, businesses were going bankrupt, CEOs were parachuting out of failed companies with bankrolls of money, etc. -- do i need to list more. Obama stabilized the economy but he could not stop the hemmoraging of jobs, the root of the problem were too severe and far gone.

[blastocyst]

Behavior which grew from overly optimistic and unreasonable assumptions we made.
Behavior which grew from Investors demands for unrelenting quarter-ov­er-quarter growth on Wall Street.
Behavior which was naive and child-like in its essence.

[samjung23]

I always knew that was stupid.

[BabblingBrooks]

Valuable money cannot simply be printed. If it were that simple, the solution to all the problems would be to just run the presses day and night and give everybody $100,000,000 bucks.

The problem with that "solution" of yours is that it leads to worthless money! Money is only made valuable by the productive economic activity that it takes--WORK!--to earn it.

Your plan would result in the hyperinflation that has been created in many countries when they tried printing more money.

[WorkingClass]

The United States government cannot repay its debts. Not now, not next year, not ever. It is insolvent. It is bankrupt. "We" will inevitably monetize the debt. "We" will be required to adjust to a standard of living similar to Mexico or Brazil.

[blastocyst]

Few can realize, visualize or grasp this.
It causes emotional seepage and acting-out.

[WorkingClass]

Believe me blastocyst. This has caused me some "emotional seepage".

[KCFreedom]

Unfortunately, I agree with you.

Getting into another major war will not "fix" the current depression. It will only accelerate the bankruptcy. Tell that to the "group think" in Washington D.C. but it might not do any good.

I say we build a wall around D.C. and cut off their water & electricity, and only let the black people out. Then the states take matters into their own hands.

[samjung23]

Only let the black people out?

HAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!!

[WorkingClass]

I have been advocating throwing things. Throw a siege around Washington and throw the congress in the Potomac. I like your idea about letting the black people out. Thanks.