Global cooling

GURGLETROUSERS · Joined: 30 Dec 2009 Posts: 2643

Statement yesterday from governor of The Bank of England.

'The recovery is in sight!'

mac · Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:09 pm Post subject:

Keynsian spending seems to have brought us out of the severe recession caused by Republican de-regulation and gambling policies. But when you only get your facts from Fox, you actually don't have any facts.

techno900 · Joined: 28 Mar 2001 Posts: 4161

Mac said:

keycocker · Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 3598

It is our fault. We are the teachers. When Congress has a 8% approval rating and we re elect nearly all of them we are sending a clear message to continue with what you are doing.

mac · Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:54 am Post subject:

Oh techno, you are so sad. So devoid of facts. The Federal, state, and local governments shed jobs like a dog in the spring. You might try consulting a few facts, try this: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3252

Job losses were greatest, in the private sector, in the area of the economy that had been running on funny money in the real estate bubble. Construction lost close to one million jobs, the auto industry lost about 300,000, and the finance and real estate sector lost about 500,000 jobs. All directly due to allowing gambling by banks--and squashing regulation of funny business by Bush's man at the SEC.

The loss of government jobs hindered recovery, and limiting those losses was one of the goals of the stimulus. At all levels, government had lost 580,000 jobs by mid-year 2012. We can see the results in, for example, soldiers trying to get benefits from the VA--which has fewer employees than it used to have, but far more veterans.

It is interesting to look a little closer at the causes of the recession, and use the Wall Street Journal as a source. They note here: http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-06-08/commentary/32103077_1_debt-private-sector-slowest-pace

mrgybe · Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 5180

For the rose tinted glasses crowd who deal in the reality of an alternate universe here are a couple of real facts:

- in fiscal 2011 the cost to service US debt was $454billion......the highest ever despite historically low interest rates.
- if rates on US debt return to the historical average, debt servicing cost will more than double. If rates return to the halcyon days of Jimmy Carter, it will quadruple.
- we are on track to reach $20 Trillion in debt by the end of this President's term. Yet he and his followers are seem blissfully unconcerned by this looming tidal wave as evidenced by the Senate budget and the President's public comments.

And what have we have received in return for this massive anchor around the necks of our offspring? Persistently high unemployment, a huge increase in those dependent upon government assistance and incredibly weak growth for approaching five years. Sad indeed.

Erskine Bowles has called the nation's compound interest burden one of the biggest long-term challenges facing the United States. "We'll be spending over $1 trillion a year on interest by 2020.[He's assuming rates remain low] That's $1 trillion we can't spend to educate our kids or to replace our badly worn-out infrastructure. What makes it doubly bad is that trillion will be spent principally in Asia, because that's where our debt is."

No amount of finger pointing is going to solve this problem. Neither will closing White House tours. We need some real leadership here. I'm not optimistic.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

MalibuGuru · Joined: 11 Nov 1993 Posts: 9300

Mac, food stamp usage has doubled. Number of employed people falling. Wages falling. Welfare growing. Poor growing. You can only drink so much koolaid.

And yesterday, Hagel in response to N Korean nuclear threats says we desperately need more nuclear defense bases on the west coast. However, he needs EPA approval. We will have to wait.

Either we need them or we don't. Hagel and Obama are horrible leaders who might gamble with a nuclear detonation in Seattle so the EPA can waive their hand. Bullshit.....I assume we really don't need them.

The only good thing happening in the economy is asset inflation caused by a monetary system on steroids. The middle class is being devastated. Wages are falling.

swchandler · Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588

mrgybe, given the position that our deficit and debt situations are so dire that they threaten the well being of the nation, are you supportive of increasing tax revenue as an important avenue to help pay down our debt obligations?

One wonders, as bad as many in the Republican party believe our debt problem is, why are they so vehemently against any efforts to raise revenues through higher taxation? I have no doubt that we can afford it, and with their complete control over the House of Representatives and the government purse, they could easily require that any new revenues generated through increased taxation be applied directly to bringing down our debt. Moreover, given the fact that tax rates have been at historically low levels for better than a decade, how can the Republicans irresponsibly ignore such an obvious path to help craft a balanced solution to our problems. Certainly, you can't cut your way to prosperity. Leadership requires tough decisions, and that means everything must be on the table. Do Republicans have what it takes?