Everyone should be thrilled to see the USA is not in a recession

[MarNav1]

Econowonks! I like that term! Great stuff sir.

 

[jtr1962]

You're posts are insulting, Lux. Those of us who disagree with you shouldn't all be labeled charlatans and manipulators and hate-mongers attending a bonfire. Couldn't we be more civil than that, please?

Thank you, js. When I first saw this thread yesterday I started writing a really nasty response, then decided against posting it. Suffice it to say I'm sick and tired of all the "everything is hunky dory" people, starting with the man on top (whom I voted for twice, incidentally, but only because I felt the alternatives both times were worse).

Maybe the recent rate cuts staved off the inevitable a bit longer but will make the eventual contraction worse. A lot of the fundamentals in both the US and world economy point to a disaster in the making. This has been discussed ad infinitum in a couple of threads here in the last few months. I don't know anybody who isn't struggling. By most measures my generation is doing worse than that of my parents. Believe me, nobody will gloat when the US goes under, least of all me. It's the inevitable price we'll be paying for at least 50 years of increasingly short-sighted leadership, but it's not a good thing.

It's also no surprise there's "growth". In fact, I'm suprised it's not even higher. The way the dollar is deflating their could be dollar growth of the GDP even if we were in the midst of a major recession. Recession? Heck, the ways things look I'd say we're already in, if not close to, a depression. I don't remember things looking this bad in my entire life. It's the fundamentals again I'm talking about, not a bunch of numbers like GDP or the DJIA. The infrastructure is crumbling, the economy is mostly based on crap, low-skilled service jobs, the real-estate market is still suffering overpricing due to the after effects of years of rampant speculation, that great experiment called suburbia is close to entering failure mode. The government can't get its act together and spends more than it brings in. So do most individuals for that matter, borrowing every penny in equity to finance a lifestyle well beyond their means. We're near the point where everyone has to cash their chips in. Many will find they have a negative net worth. The end game to this isn't going to be pretty. I wish our leaders would have the backbone to tell the general public the truth but I guess pigs will fly before then.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I'm not going to argue whether or not we're in a recession or not. Let's just agree that it's close enough to one that it might as well be. 0.6% growth for each of two quarters is 2.4% growth a year. Remember that on average, inflation is usually 3-5% a year. Adjusted for inflation (if it hasn't been already) 2.4% a year is a loss. The next thing we'll be hearing is that unemployment isn't as bad as people thought it would be. Remember that unemployment is a state in which a person is without work, available to work, and is actively seeking work. When people give up looking for work, they're no longer unemployed. This screws up the average and will make the unemployment rate sound better than it actually is. The truth is nobody is going to be thrilled just because we aren't technically in a recession. Gas and food prices are at an all time high, the housing bubble burst, the value of the dollar is dropping, and our money is quickly becoming worthless for those of us that haven't lost our jobs yet. It doesn't matter if we are in a recession or not. If you look at the big picture, you can come to the conclusion that the economy is going down the drain.

 

[clg0159]

Thank you, js. When I first saw this thread yesterday I started writing a really nasty response, then decided against posting it. Suffice it to say I'm sick and tired of all the "everything is hunky dory" people, starting with the man on top (whom I voted for twice, incidentally, but only because I felt the alternatives both times were worse).

Maybe the recent rate cuts staved off the inevitable a bit longer but will make the eventual contraction worse. A lot of the fundamentals in both the US and world economy point to a disaster in the making. This has been discussed ad infinitum in a couple of threads here in the last few months. I don't know anybody who isn't struggling. By most measures my generation is doing worse than that of my parents. Believe me, nobody will gloat when the US goes under, least of all me. It's the inevitable price we'll be paying for at least 50 years of increasingly short-sighted leadership, but it's not a good thing.

It's also no surprise there's "growth". In fact, I'm suprised it's not even higher. The way the dollar is deflating their could be dollar growth of the GDP even if we were in the midst of a major recession. Recession? Heck, the ways things look I'd say we're already in, if not close to, a depression. I don't remember things looking this bad in my entire life. It's the fundamentals again I'm talking about, not a bunch of numbers like GDP or the DJIA. The infrastructure is crumbling, the economy is mostly based on crap, low-skilled service jobs, the real-estate market is still suffering overpricing due to the after effects of years of rampant speculation, that great experiment called suburbia is close to entering failure mode. The government can't get its act together and spends more than it brings in. So do most individuals for that matter, borrowing every penny in equity to finance a lifestyle well beyond their means. We're near the point where everyone has to cash their chips in. Many will find they have a negative net worth. The end game to this isn't going to be pretty. I wish our leaders would have the backbone to tell the general public the truth but I guess pigs will fly before then.

I take the check that was just deposited into my account as a direct communication from our "leaders" about just how well we are really doing. I only wish it wasn't coming from a government in debt up to its eyeballs!

 

[Empath]

Everyone, hold that thought. It shouldn't be long before the Underground is back online

The Underground contains some forums designed particularly for political discussion. It also offers the freedom to discuss the controversial angles, and you would have to get pretty far out before a moderator would step in to interfere with your efforts to promote your thoughts.

There are several here that for some reason or another FEAR the Underground, and refuse to take their comments there. It's clear that they enjoy injecting their political beliefs and opinions into a thread as long as they can depend on the nature of our board restricting the activity of opposing view. What a wonderful arrangement for them. Imagine, a board where you can grab every opportunity to state your controversial views, and then depend on others to remain silent because others recognize the limited controversy permitted, or depend on board moderators or administration to stop it before they can get their views in.

Does that seem fair? No, and it's not fair either when you FEARFULLY start hiding behind your "moderators shouldn't participate" nonsense. Guys, if you're too FEARFUL to take your strong views to the Underground, you're going to have to put up with being silenced here.

This is the wrong forum. Use the right forum or hold your silence.

Thread closed.