Tag: Recession

The “Gang Of 6” Proposal

There seems to be some good news coming from Washington…..first of all, it is NOT that the people are happy with their Reps…..

When asked how they felt about the federal government, 80 percent of poll respondents said that they felt dissatisfied or even angry about the work the government is doing. The last time such a peak of ill will was felt was during 1992′s economic slump, under President George Bush’s leadership.

This is something that could impact the 2012 election…watch and learn…..

The happy is coming from the negotiations of the “Gang of 6″….they 3 Repubs and 3 Dems, that have come up with  a plan that the Prez seems to like and the media seems to like and the Reps are torn…..but there are other views of this plan and I have read one that I will agree with after hearing all the proposals within the Gang of 6 deal…..

This was written by jcase for a Google discussion board……..

The plan is said to be “balanced,” meaning there will be big cuts in
spending plus some revenue increases from closed loopholes and
abandoned deductions like mortgage interest. That’s alongside, of
course, an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and not revisit it until
after the 2012 elections.But the deal is also a big step in the direction of Austerity Economics
– the lunacy of fighting recessions with more layoffs.

Cuts in basic entitlements – Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid – will
not drive more customers into the empty parking lots in stores across
America, nor fill up the order books of manufacturers. Those empty
parking lots and order books are the number one and two reasons why
economic recovery is sputtering.

The framework that says debt is more important than jobs is
fundamentally backwards. The president’s deficit reduction plans – and
those of the “Gang of Six” – rest on a series of predictions and
assumptions about employment, none of which has proved accurate. And
based on the past quarter’s private sector hiring of only 18,000
workers (far less than the swell of the workforce), these predictions
and assumptions will be flat out wrong for the future. The lesson: if
employment does not increase no deficit reduction plan will work.

I have said from the beginning of all this …..that cuts will NOT do it alone; it must be coupled with revenue and jobs creation…..without those 3 there is NO debt reduction….unless that is what is intended….and in this political climate I would not put it past some of the amateurs in Congress to work for a default……basically we have turned away from fighting for prosperity to embracing austerity ONLY!  The concept of prosperity is NO longer relevant….that only austerity will make the economy strong again…….a pile of steaming bovine fecal matter (to use a fav analogy)……..

The Race Is On!

The economy looks like a piece of crap!  Workers are losing jobs at an alarming rate.  And yet every time stocks go up 2 points we are told by the financial media that the recession is showing signs of improvement….and for a couple of years I have been saying that it is just NOT so…….and that a double dip is coming, at least in my analysis…..

Thanx to Michael Snyder of BLN.com for doing the research for me (Not solely for me but I thank him)…….there are signs that say that the worse is yet to come…….

The following are 18 signs that global financial markets smell blood in the water….

#1 Banks stocks are absolutely getting hammered right now.  Bank of America hit a 52 week low on Monday.  Bank of America shares declined 4 percent to $9.61.

#2 So far this year, Bank of America stock is down about 27 percent.

#3 Bloomberg is reporting that Bank of America may be forced to increase its capital cushion by 50 billion dollars.

#4 Shares of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are near two year lows.

#5 Shares in Citigroup fell 2.5 percent on Monday.

#6 Moody’s recently warned that it may be forced to downgrade the debt ratings of Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.

#7 Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are all either considering staff cuts or are already laying workers off.

#8 The deputy European director of the International Monetary Fund says that the Greek debt crisis is “on a knife’s edge“.

#9 Moody’s has slashed Ireland’s bond rating all the way to junk status.

#10 The yield on 2 year Portuguese bonds is now over 20 percent, the yield on 2 year Irish bonds is now over 23 percent and the yield on 2 year Greek bonds is now over 35 percent.

#11 Shares of Italy’s largest bank dropped by a whopping 6.4% on Monday.

#12 On Monday, the yield on 10 year Italian bonds was the highest it has been since the euro was adopted.

#13 On Monday, the yield on 10 year Spanish bonds was also the highest it has been since the euro was adopted.

#14 Shares of Germany’s largest bank fell by a staggering 7% on Monday and are down a total of 22% so far this month.

#15 Citigroup’s chief economist, William Buiter, says that without direct intervention by the ECB there is going to be a wave of sovereign defaultsacross Europe….

“Nothing stands in the way of multiple sovereign defaults except the ECB: they are the only game in town, there is nothing else”

#16 Cisco has announced plans to axe 16 percent of its workers.

#17 Borders Group has announced that it will be liquidating all remaining assets.  That means that 399 stores will be closed and 10,700 workers will lose their jobs.

#18 During times of great crisis, many investors seek safe havens for their money.  On Monday, the price of gold shot past $1600 an ounce.

The indicators are staring us in the face……will anyone blink first…….who will be on the hook this time?  None of the indicators are as good as the media wants you to believe they are……the world is about to get a cold slap in the face…they know it!  Now you know it!

Prozac Anyone?

If you are one of the lucky ones that still has a job you have noticed how everything you touch is costing more for less……..you will notice that you are losing pay and benefits while Washington fiddles…..the economic fire is NOT good…..we have a dysfunctional system in the Capital but yet the politicians keep telling us just how good the economy will be if we will just buy into their schemes…….the truth is….it is all so much B*LLSHIT!

Sorry to do this to you and after you read this you may go on a Prozac search……Black Listed News writer Michael Synder has another set of reasons why…..why there is NOTHING good happening in our economy…..that’s right….you heard it right….NOTHING!

#1 A newly released National Federation of Independent Business polldiscovered that U.S. small businesses let go of more workers than they hired in June.  Previously, the poll had registered four monthly gains in net jobs in a row.  Some analysts believe that this may be another indication that the employment market is getting softer once again.

#2 Another newly released jobs report found that the number of job cuts being planned by U.S. employers increased by 11.6% in June.

#3 There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million people to the population since then.

#4 There are officially 6.2 million Americans that have been unemployed for more than 6 months.  There are millions of others that have also been out of work that long but they have become so discouraged about looking for work that the U.S. government considers them “to no longer be in the workforce”.

#5 It now takes the average unemployed worker in America nearly 40 weeksto find a new job.

#6 Paychecks are not keeping up with inflation.  In May, the average hourly wage in the United States was 1.6 percent lower than 12 months earlier.

#7 Food and gas prices have been absolutely soaring over the past year. McDonald’s, Hershey and Coca-Cola have all announced price increases this year.  One recent survey found that 9 out of 10 U.S. workers do not expect their wages to keep up with soaring food prices and soaring gas prices over the next 12 months.

#8 There are disturbing indications that the business community expects the economy to slow down even more in the months ahead.  For example, pre-orders for Christmas toys from China are way down.

#9 As of April, there were 6.39 million home loans in the United States that were either delinquent or in foreclosure.  Included in that were 675,000 home loans that had not had a single payment made on them in two years.

#10 Approximately 28 percent of all home loans in the United States are currently “underwater”.

#11 Overall, American households are about 7.7 trillion dollars poorer than they were back in early 2007.

#12 As a percentage of GDP, the total amount of debt in the United States is now far higher than it ever has been in any other era of U.S. history.  Things were not even close to this bad during the Great Depression.

#13 One of the key measures of consumer confidence in the United States has hit a seven-month low.

#14 According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans that lack confidence in U.S. banks is now at an all-time high of 36%.

#15 According to one recent poll, 39 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. economy has now entered a “permanent decline”.

#16 Another recent survey found that 48 percent of Americans believe that it is likely that another great Depression will begin within the next 12 months.

Maybe we should pull our heads out of our butts and realize that our beloved country is in serious trouble…..and all the partisan crap is doing NOTHING to help.  Every plan to reduce the debt…..all I can say is do the MATH!  The truth of any plan will come down to the math……

Depressed?  You should be!  It is the choices we all have made in the last 20 years that has gotten us to this place in economic history…..both parties have destroyed a once thriving economy…..and our choices for representatives has done nothing to make things better…..until Americans learn how to put the country ahead of personal little issues….this country is doomed and Prozac will NOT help.

What Happened To The Economy?

We all are asking that same damn question…..well, at least those of us that have to toil for a living, that is…..and if you are looking for a simple answer to a complex issue…..this may help……

bullet points (thanks to Stephanie Kelton):

  • The economy doubles since 1980, but wages flat.  Where did the money go…
  • All (or most) of the gains went to the super rich.  And…
  • With money comes political power.  Taxes on super rich slashed, revenues evaporate.  This leads to…
  • Huge budget deficits.  Middle class agitated, fights for scraps…
  • Middle class divided.  Buying and borrowing slow.  Resulting in:
  • Anemic recovery/economy.
Check out the video on the link above…..maybe this would help dis-spell some of the confusion that we all seem to suffer from in our attempt to explain the problems we are having…..or why we need to worry.

Damned If I Know!

For the last couple of days I have been studying Fed chief Bernanke’s latest press conference……and have come to the conclusion that he has NO idea what to do next to save the economy…..and the title says it all!

Michael Snyder has made an excellent point……

Is the U.S. economy improving?  That is what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would have us believe.  Bernanke declared today that the “recovery appears to be proceeding at a moderate pace” and that everything is going pretty much as planned.  Sadly, the mainstream media and most of the American people still seem to have faith in the economic pronouncements of Helicopter Ben.  They seem to have forgotten all of the Bernanke quotes from before the financial crisis.  Bernanke pledged that there would not be a housing crash and that there would not be a recession.  It is amazing that anyone still believes that Bernanke has any credibility left.

Bernanke for once was pretty honest with his analysis……(okay, that is sarcasm)

Brutally honest, Bernanke admitted that he had no clue what was actually causing the current fragility in the U.S. economic recovery. While the FOMC statement assigned blame outside of the U.S., pointing at Japan along with rising food and oil prices, Bernanke was put on the spot by a reporter who noted the inconsistency behind that explanation and a lowering of long term forecasts. Bernanke took the hit, admitting only some of the factors were temporary and that he didn’t know exactly what was causing the slowdown, but that it would persist. “Growth,” said Bernanke, “will return into 2012.”

Come on!  Bernanke knows damn well what is causing the lag in the economy……his policies as well as the spending frenzy that politicians have been on for 20 years has everything to do with the condition of the US economy……..there is only one thing that we should recognize……

Sadly, this is about the best that our economy is going to get.

What we are experiencing right now is “the recovery”.  As we move forward things are going to get progressively worse.

A lot of people don’t like to hear that we are in the middle of a long-term economic decline, but that is the truth.

The era of tremendous economic prosperity for America is coming to an end.

An economic nightmare is coming.

You better get ready.  (thanx to Michael Snyder)

We Are Recovering!

Daily Agitator

Are tired of the spin yet?  Well, let us be honest and call it what it is…….LIES!

We hear daily that the economy is recovering….that the markets are up….that there are jobs being created (but at a slow rate) ……..corporate dividends are rising…….CEOs are making out like bandits……..yada…yada……but are we truly recovering?  According to many media outlets the recession has ended……but so far as I can see and I am not looking through rose colored glasses, it still sucks and many others are worse off than I…….

Let me see……8.9% unemployment with the real figure more like 19%……housing starts down to a 5 year low……home sales down…..foreclosures still rising……food prices up 6%…….gas prices rose by 4%….so what part of those figures look like a recovery is occurring?

OK, I will admit that if you can afford it and by it I mean investments, then you are in the middle of a recovery….but unfortunately, most Americans are NOT that heavily involved in the investing in stocks and bonds…..

But the American do not seem to see the recovery that the airwaves are reporting….

A new CNBC survey finds the percentage of Americans who believe the economy will get worse in the next year spiking to 37%, a 15 point gain from December. It’s now just five points below the all-time high of 43% in June 2008, which came in the midst of a surge in gasoline prices.

If you are an average middle class working family…..then you have NOT seen the recovery that those on Wall Street tell you that you are experiencing…….funny how that works……one part of society is doing fine and even maybe prospering and the other is stuck scratching out a living day to day, pay check to pay check…….

All the cheer leading for the economy is for those with cash to invest…..not you…your investments are such things as home payments, food, gas and the necessities….you have NO room for luxuries….what would you call this phenom?

Are You Sure You Want Cuts?

College of Economic Knowledge

Class is in session……..

Here a cut….there a cut….everywhere a cut, cut……..the news is just crammed with this story or that….this program needs a cut or that…….nut what is the truth?

A little history from the way back machine (a time machine of TV fame)…..

We all know the story of the days before and after the Great Depression, whether you think FDR was right or wrong, we did come out of the depression in a much better place than it began….But…….

In economic terms, it’s the New Deal on steroids. The top tax rate goes up to 91 percent. Nonetheless, government spending is so high that by 1945 the deficit is 123 percent of GDP. Unemployment is ended by employing 16 million people directly in the armed forces and millions more producing war material and supporting the military.

The Great Depression is finally over.

When taxes were raised the economy improved. Every time. Deficits had no negative effect on the economy. Indeed, when deficits were at their highest, the economy boomed.

After spending was cut — to balance the budget — a recession immediately followed. When taxes were raised and government spending resumed — with deficits — that recession ended.
When taxes were raised again, and government spending went sky high, the Great Depression finally ended.  (Thanx to Political Wire for the reports)

Most creditable economist say this is not the time for massive spending cuts….and the nickle and dime stuff of the GOP is just plain moronic……you will NOT get the deficit under control by attacking NPR or Planned Parenthood or a program for infant children….in other words this is all a pack of tightly packaged CRAP!

The GOP promises of deficit reduction is a FRAUD!  Why else would abortion, marriage, etc be more important than immediate work on the budget?  People!  It is a FRAUD!

Recently a company that got its “fair” share of the bailout money, Goldman-Sachs, has said in a report that spending cuts would hurt a fragile recovery….and they are not alone in those findings……

Just after a Goldman Sachs report predicted that proposed House Republican budget cuts would hurt economic growth, a new Moody’s report finds the same.

Key finding: “The House Republicans’ proposal would reduce 2011 real GDP growth by 0.5% and 2012 growth by 0.2 percentage points This would mean some 400,000 fewer jobs created by the end of 2011 and 700,000 fewer jobs by the end of 2012.”

Furthermore, the report claims “a government shutdown lasting longer than a couple of weeks would do much more damage to the economy.”

We can ignore a lot of things but this report CANNOT be ignored…..

The spending cuts in the Republicans’ budget proposal would cost the country up to 700,000 jobs and hurt the country’s economic growth, according to Moody’s chief economist. Mark Zandi estimates that the proposed budget would reduce GDP growth by 0.5% in 2011 and another 0.2% in 2012, hurting job creation, Politico reports. “While long-term government spending restraint is vital,” Zandi wrote, “too much cutting too soon would be counterproductive.” The economy is currently adding 100,000-150,000 jobs a month. But Zandi says that until that figure hits 200,000, significantly cutting spending “would be taking an unnecessary chance with the recovery.” John Boehner scoffed at the report. “The fact that a relentless cheerleader for the failed ‘stimulus’ refuses to understand that ending the spending binge will help the private sector create jobs is sad, but not surprising,” he said. But Zandi isn’t the first economist to make the case. A Goldman Sachs analysis last week concluded that the House plan would cut economic growth by 1.5%-2% this year.

How much more evidence do you need?  Cuts bad…to put it in terms that are easily remembered…..but if you need to do some research (and God I hope you will) then try this…..politifact.com/subjects/feder…..

These companies have NO reason to lie….ergo the GOP plan is a FRAUD!  The world will NOT end!

Pay attention!  Things can get worse and they probably WILL!

Can We Be Real For A Moment?

This just in!  Retail sales were the strongest they have been in months this September….the recovery has begun!

That is what all the financial pundits want you to believe but there is more to this story than the increase in sales thanx to Black Friday and Cyber Monday….really!  There is more to it!

But now…for something completely different……..

The Middle Class will keep their tax cuts…..hooray!  But so will the wealthy……..and the promise is that they will start creating jobs because now they know they can keep their money…..think about that logic for a moment……..(pause here for reflection)….but at least the unemployed will keep some of the benefits that come with that stigma…..

By the by…..the tax cuts for the wealthy will add about #4 trillion to the debt….which apparently is NOT that important to the GOP  when it comes to aid for the wealthy…..but that is something that they will coat over with some sort of silver lining…..

The whole argument from the GOP was that if the wealthy kept their tax cuts they would start investing in the economy again and thus would start creating jobs….so the GOP held up the unemployment to get their buds more cash in their pockets….think about that for a minute……(another pause for reflection)……….

Another point and this one from the head doodah of the FED…….

The nation’s unemployment rate, which has been over 9 percent for a record 19 months, is not likely to return to “a more normal unemployment rate” of about 5 percent or 6 percent for four or five years, the Federal Reserve chairman said in an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday night.

And then there is this bit of news……

Most observers expect no signs of a turnaround anytime soon. The Federal Reserve has predicted that unemployment will be around 9 percent by the end of 2011, and around 8 percent by the end of 2012. As Dean Baker of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research wrote Friday:

Does not sound like he expects too many jobs to be created for an extended time…..and yet the idea has been sold that if the wealthy keep their cash they will start up and begin created jobs…..think about that, please…….(a pause for reflection…one more time)…..

The GOP is correct in their thinking….the jobs will start pouring in on or about 01 January 2011.   Or could it be that they will just continue buying luxury items and say “screw the jobless”?

My money (both physically and literally) is on the latter!

And guess what….if the jobs do not magical appear, then it will somehow be all Obama’s fault…….well do not hold your breath…besides there is NO proof that tax cuts create jobs….only in the lying heart of a politician…….

Hey voters!  You asked for it….you got it…..what?  A good humping!

Allow me to be blunt here……IT IS ALL A LIE!

To quote a famous pitch man…….”can you hear me NOW!?”

Jobs–Issue #1

2010 Election series

Lecture #5

In less than week we have our thrilling yet somehow moronic mid-terms–and we all have heard the boring ads…..that healthcare is killing America….tax cuts will create jobs….the unemployed are lazy……social security is killing the country…..that the car is in a ditch….and on and on……all in all it is all a mind f*ck….no matter which side of the spectrum you wish to stand……it is ALL a mind f*ck!

The only thing Americans and I mean real Americans…you know the type…they work for a living and scratch out a small existence month to month….are worried about is….JOBS!  Where are the job?  Will I have a job next month?  Will job market improve?  All in all….this mid-term is about JOBS and JOBS alone!

Now friends…ask yourself, which one of the babbling idiots will really have a plan to create jobs?

Tax cuts?  Let’s see how many have the tax cuts creating so far?  Will privatization of SS create jobs?  Tell me, oh great sage, which one of the “people” and I use the term loosely have a REAL plan for job creation?  Would like an answer?  Alrighty then……not one of the candidates has a real plan to create a single job…they do have a slick tongue to deceive the mindless…and this mid-term will illustrate just how gullible the American voter really is…..sorry guys….YOU HAVE BEEN DUPED!  Again!

You know an intelligent being would learn from their mistakes…not so with the American voter…..they just keep flushing their vote down the toilet….time after time……a pathetic indictment of the American political system….

Mortgage Plot Thickens!

If you have been listening to the news then you are aware that there is some shenanigans going on with people’s mortgages….and the game is all about the foreclosures….not the rescue of the homeowners home…..if you have a mortgage it might be a good idea to keep an eye on what is happening behind your back….

I posted these two articles on Twitter…if you dislike Twitter or just do not have it I have posted them here also….it is a bunch of reading….but if I were you and had a mortgage then I would be interested on the games that these dicks are playing with my home…

Own a home? Read this! http://bit.ly/aEGmFj

Or read this! http://huff.to/ccWxq4

There is one more mortgage thing….http://bit.ly/deFshT

Do not ignore the stories or roll your eyes….your mortgage could be next!