Is the Recession Over?

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Just the other day, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said, Iit is very likely that the recession has ended."

Well, let me just suggest to Mr. Bernanke that today we have about 17 percent of our workforce - 26 million Americans - who are either unemployed, have given up looking for work because they no longer think a job is possible, or they are working part time when they want to work full time. That's 17 percent of our population.

For those folks, I don't think they believe this recession is over.

In fact, what they believe is that they are mired in the worst economic mess since the Great Depression.

One of the really disturbing statistics out there is that it is taking unemployed people a lot longer to find a job than used to be the case. On average, it's taking about six months.

But it's not just losing your job or working part time. People are losing health insurance, losing their homes, losing their pensions. What it's about is slipping out of the middle class and into poverty and not having the capability of sending your kids to college. That's what the economy is about today.

So to my mind, most importantly, we have got to stay focused on the reality that because of the greed, the irresponsibility, and the illegal behavior of people on Wall Street, we are plunged into a real economic mess, and we're going to have to work together and we're going to have to think real hard about how we get out of that mess.

I've talked before about some of the ideas we're working on, but let me just reiterate what some of them are.

We need to get a handle on Wall Street so that they do not go back to the horrendous ways of the past. They are spending millions of dollars right now on lobbying and campaign contributions to make that happen. What we must demand - and this is enormously important - is a new Wall Street, not designed to make hundreds of millions of dollars for their CEOs, but a Wall Street designed to help increase manufacturing in the U.S., create decent jobs, help small businesses, do something for the productive economy.

Another area that we need to return to is our disastrous trade policies which allow corporate America to throw American workers on the street, move to China, pay people 50 cents an hour, and then bring those products back into the country.

So there is a lot of work ahead of us in terms of the economy. Let's stay focused on this issue, and don't believe anybody who's telling you "the recession is over."

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Comments

[wilsonveteran]

Yes the recession has eased up a bit except for unemployment. With the huge amounts of money this administration has funneled into banks and other industries in the form of bailouts or buyouts the economy will show a slight up tic. However I believe that with all this spending and printing of money the bill will come due sometime next year. That bill will be high inflation, high interest rates, and higher unemployment. If Cap and Trade is passed through the house that will be another death sentence for American industry since the cost of energy will skyrocket, Obama's own words during the campaign, thus closing a lot of industry and businesses. The last auction for our debt was bought by European countries. What was bad is we bought it back 3 weeks later with money printed by the Treasury. That is not good. That always leads to inlation. So everyone hold on to what you have the worst is yet to come.

[Viper]

So energy costs will increase under Cap and trade... well it increased 300% under Bush w/o cap and trade.

Cap and trade will force conversion away from OIL to natural gas and renewables.. which will drive the demand for oil down, which will then over all reduce the cost of energy. And the plus die is any reduction in trade deficts.

Regards

[LMPE]

A Wall Street that works for common Americans as opposed to trying to make money?

That's the most wishful thinking that I've heard in a long time.

[mamalisa38]

Senator Sherrod Brown, D. Ohio, has a sign on his desk that says it all: NAFTA + CAFTA = SHAFTA

[marxisadeadwhitemale]

Actually many Chinese vendors cannot match the quality levels required by American ISO corporations; firms are returning to the US. for orders. On a recent visit to Chicago I learned one such company is doing very well and is expanding to various US regions. Put simply, there is no creation of wealth without manufacturing.

Personally I gauge the recession to be far from over; there is rough road ahead.

[SonofLiberty1]

THANK YOU SENATOR...I GUESS YOU HEARD ME AND THE MILLIONS OF OTHER AMERICANS WHO SHARE THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT DUE TO HAVING THEIR JOBS OUTSOURCED.

NOW,WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT AND BRINGING THE JOBS BACK?

[doogiedude]

As I've said before we need 99 more Senators like Senator Sanders.

[jjsardo]

The tyrannosaurs on Wall Street are blaming the government for the mess. Twisted minds never stop twisting.

[paddio]

Break up the big box stores- especially Walmart. Walmart is a direct conduit from Chinese manufacturers. They hire part timers with no benefits. Make them either retail in one or two areas, for example.... toys and clothing or become wholesalers ( and >not< the Sam's Club ruse). A cell phone would be the size of a small dog if Carter wasn't forced to break up AT&T...which started the communications explosion. Teddy Roosevelt broke up the Trusts ...the same medicine is needed today. Where I live they are still furiously building retail strip centers as I am sure they are still doing across the country. How many nail shops, beauty salons,Kinko's and pizzerias will be able to fill them all? Bring back real retail stores not Chinese money laundering.

[leduck]

Ideologues from both the left and right have blinders on.
While I agree we are far from out of the woods, unemployment is a lagging economic indicator.
That being said, let me explain the crux of our problem. Although greed doesn’t help, $4.00 gas was the main reason we ended up in this mess. When gas is 4$.00, there is less discretionary spending, and inflation kicks in. Although politicians have weird ways of measuring inflation, like ignoring energy prices and food prices, believe me, when oil goes up, so does the price of everything else.

[paddio]

Four dollar a gallon gas stopped the national cash flow...I know ...it directly ruined my business.

[leduck]

Why has oil been so volatile lately? World oil production hasn’t increased since 2005. Since then it’s been on a plateau. If demand rises but production remains flat, then prices rise. $4.00 gas caused a recession which lead to a drop in demand which also lead to a drop in oil/gas prices. If the recession starts to recover, and oil production remains flat, or worse, begins to decline due to PEAK OIL, then gas prices will begin to rise again. As long as we remain on the oil plateau, expect gas prices to remain volatile. If the era of cheap oil is over, then growth can only be maintained by an increase in gas and coal production. But at some point there will be a peak of all hydrocarbon production – that is when all growth will come to an end. Even growth our growth in population; let’s hope we didn’t overshoot the Earth’s carrying capacity for people living a third world life in a post hydrocarbon world, or there will be a population crash.

[YogiBarrister]

The three best politicians in the US, all hail from the Green Mountain State, Howard Dean, Patrick Leahy, and Bernie Sanders. Thank you Vermont!

[Steve1]

Bernie is the only honest man in Congress. He deserves all or our support and if he thinks we need to get out in the street to fight for healthcare reform, then we should follow his request.

[1logicalthinker]

While I have the utmost respect for Senator Bernie Sanders, I don't think he is the "only honest man in Congress." I think Dennis Kucinich is also an honest man.

[Montanagramma]

I love Bernie Sanders style. I wish he lived in my state. But, sadly, instead, I have Max Baucus.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

JOBLESS RECOVERY?
OXYMORON

[1logicalthinker]

Jobless recovery? That's like when you go into a restaurant and the only thing on the menu is a calorie-free meal, consisting of a vegetarian steak with a glass of dehydrated water, but now you're supposed to feel full ;)

[OpposingViewpoint]

The original tsunami with the Sub-prime moniker struck the USS America from astern in the dark of night, thieving the breeze from her sails, and detaching fellow voyagers from their chattels. The captain and crew, presented abundant forewarning the tsunami was growing in intensity as it sprinted toward the America, failed to develop pre-emptive measures and proactive strategies designed to protect the America and her travelers from the resultant ravages of Sub-prime’s ferocity. So blinded were they by their passion to enrich or empower themselves and assemblages to the detriment of their fellow voyagers with whom they are embarked aboard this ship. Sub-prime, the first-born tsunami has two menacing siblings, Alt-A and Option Arm, each spawned from three seismic disturbances with epicenters on Wall Street in New York and along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The three tsunamis share the universally recognized surname of Mortgage. Alt-A and Option Arm are much larger than Sub-prime, and if permitted to collide with the already struggling America unabated, catastrophic and incalculable damage will be inflicted to her. As with the tsunami Sub-prime, the captain and crew have fundamentally ignored the ominous nativity and swift nascent of Alt-A and Option Arm, while appallingly striving to dispense culpability for the America’s present challenges to surrogate bureaucracies and institutions, thus affording both Sub-prime siblings an unhindered course to America’s broadsides. These are the perils threatening to propel the great ship America into the abyss.