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2008-12-14 Home Front Economy

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Posted by tipper 2008-12-14 00:32|| || Front Page|| [11140 views ] Top

#1 Yada, yada, yada. We're the experts---after something happens (totally unexpectedly) we'll explain why it did.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2008-12-14 04:50|| 2008-12-14 04:50|| Front Page Top

Millions have lost their houses. Millions more have lost their retirement savings. Tens of millions have had their portfolios smashed. And the carnage in the real economy has only just begun.

This paragraph, from a "former Wall Street insider" shows why I believe the current financial crisis is primarily moral. And perhaps the author agrees. I only read page one.

But have "millions lost their house"? How many people do you know who have? I suspect more people have lost their second home than have lost their first. And a lot more speculators are stuck with empty condos than are residents being thrown out of them.

And how many have "lost their life savings"? Aside from those who gave their entire life savings to Madoff? Sure we've taken big hits to our 401(k)s, but while some may be gone for our lifetimes, some will come back.

And the "carnage in the 'real economy'"? Well, it's only begun, but were all going to think real hard to make it happen. These negative waves are going to sink us.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-12-14 05:58|| 2008-12-14 05:58|| Front Page Top

#3 The more negativity, the closer we are to the bottom of the morass.

Posted by Jusoque Dark Lord of the Jutes3360 2008-12-14 07:26|| 2008-12-14 07:26|| Front Page Top

#4 True, but just because you're at the bottom doesn't mean you begin to climb out. You can wander for a long time in the Slough of Despond.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-12-14 09:08|| 2008-12-14 09:08|| Front Page Top

#5 Nimble has a point. We're being told that we're entering 'Great Depression II'.

In the real Great Depression, unemployment hit 25% and industrial output fell by a third.

So far in our recession, unemployment has hit 6.5% and output has fallen by 0.2%.

Not saying things won't get worse: they will. But we have a long, long ways to go before we hit a depression. That's something we'd better remember when Bambi and the Dhimmicrats try to take over our economy to save us from 'Great Depression II'.

Posted by Steve White 2008-12-14 11:04|| 2008-12-14 11:04|| Front Page Top

#6 Exactly, Steve. While I've been to lazy to track things closely, seem to recall that there were decent-sized majorities surveyed against many of the recent bail-outs. I'm expecting (and of course hoping) that Bambi & Co. will find the politics of effing up the economy, er, "change," rather more sticky and complicated than the delusional media-sphere would lead one to believe.

Posted by Verlaine 2008-12-14 12:55|| 2008-12-14 12:55|| Front Page Top

#7 Starting on the day after The One is sworn in, the exact same economic data (or worse) will be reported in a much more positive light. By June, we'll be seeing MSM articles about how the new administration's deft maneuvers prevented Great Depression II, cured cancer, and restored Madonna's virginity.

Posted by Matt 2008-12-14 13:06|| 2008-12-14 13:06|| Front Page Top

#8 The economy will continue to deteriorate for the forseeable future. We are a long way from the bottom of the housing bust and non-U.S. demand is collapsing. The remaining strong sectors in the U.S. are defense and energy, and both are targets for the new administration. The unfortunate reality is that the layoffs have just begun.

State and local governments have stopped hiring and will also step up layoffs next year as revenues have plunged. I predict a big part of the trillion dollar "stimulus" will take the form of grants to blue states to help maintain their workforces. I say blue states because that's where the major problems are, particularly New York, California, New Jersey and Michigan.

I believe you are all correct about reporting, but the MSM's most important role will be to hide the actual use of the money being spent and to help minimze the impact of government corruption on the ruling party.

Posted by DoDo 2008-12-14 14:21|| 2008-12-14 14:21|| Front Page Top

#9 DoDo:

If you'd like another serving of misery, try living in a once quiet, bedroom community, in a county where the Community Reivestment Act (CRA) has resulted in a demographic migration from the metro. Couple that with a neighboring county which has lost it's State educational accredidation (read that no more college HOPE GRANT money) due to poor schools and they too are migrating your way. Now builders and construction are dead in their tracks, and foreclosures abound as people take one look at the high school football team and run the other direction.

Posted by Besoeker 2008-12-14 15:16|| 2008-12-14 15:16|| Front Page Top

#10 Price floors may have caused the Great Depression by making it impossible for people to afford a lot of goods. The resulting collapse in demand, followed by a collapse in supply resulted in a depression that gave Democrats huge majorities in both houses, as the 70+% with jobs thanked them for letting them keep their jobs, and the 20+% without jobs thanked them for not letting them starve. Why did the Great Depression end? The beginning of WWII meant the sweeping away of price floors - the goal now became making stuff at the lowest possible cost, i.e. the partial restoration of free markets. It wasn't the war that got us out of the depression - it was the repeal of anti-free market legislation instituted by Hoover and Roosevelt (that caused the depression in the first place).

Posted by Zhang Fei 2008-12-14 15:36|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2008-12-14 15:36|| Front Page Top

#11 One thing to consider - a very large portion of those "millions" of defaults in the Mortgage industry are by illegals, not by "normal" workers. they are loans that should never have been made.

That in itself is a pointer toward an argument that the bottom is near, or at least that the deltas are going to get smaller from here out.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-12-14 16:05|| 2008-12-14 16:05|| Front Page Top

#12 Here in Colorado Springs, the foreclosures are growing in numbers. Most of the people who are facing foreclosures are NOT "illegals", but people who either started their own consulting businesses when there was plenty of money, or mid-managers that used to run departments that were merged or eliminated. Most of the houses foreclosed upon are in the $200K and up range, not cheapies. Local government is doing its best to raise taxes and further make life miserable for citizens. In the meantime, the county is threatening to stop plowing roads and the city says it will no longer plow residential streets (not that they did a very good job of it before). "New Deal II" will be DOA. Nobody will be willing to give up anything to allow things to be done that need to be done. We haven't hit bottom yet, although both Bush and the Democrats are working hard at it. There are still plenty of "corrections" that need to take place, in all manner of industries. The next four years are going to be "interesting". After that, there needs to be a monstrous house-cleaning take place, both in elected and appointed officials and bureaucrats. We may be able to actually do that, if our "government" remains as clueless as it is today. Keep track, make notes, and be "ready to rumble" when the time comes.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2008-12-14 19:44|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2008-12-14 19:44|| Front Page Top

#13 "restored Madonna's virginity"

I call bullshit on that one, #7 Matt.

Even The Lightworker™ isn't that good.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2008-12-14 21:27|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2008-12-14 21:27|| Front Page Top

#14 LOL Barbara

Posted by Matt 2008-12-14 22:47|| 2008-12-14 22:47|| Front Page Top

23:36 Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division
23:31 SteveS
23:31 trailing wife
23:24 SteveS
23:16 Barbara Skolaut
22:57 eLarson
22:56 Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195
22:47 Matt
22:18 Mullah Richard
22:16 trailing wife
21:56 Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo)
21:49 JosephMendiola
21:42 JosephMendiola
21:39 Barbara Skolaut
21:36 JosephMendiola
21:35 Barbara Skolaut
21:27 Barbara Skolaut
21:25 JosephMendiola
21:24 Barbara Skolaut
21:22 JosephMendiola
21:04 Richard of Oregon
21:01 Richard of Oregon
20:57 SteveS
20:42 Frank G