Is the US in a Depression?

[georgephillip]

Depends on how one defines a DEPRESSION, of course.

Taking the current definition that most economists will accept, NO, we did not have a depression.

Looking at the economy from the POV of many Americans?

We've been in a depression for decades.

The bottom quintile has been in a depression for about 40 years, folks.

Speaking as someone who started working full time in the mid-60s, I'm starting to appreciate how the frog in a kettle-full of slowly boiling water must feel.

It is almost like two different lifetimes when I consider how a single minimum wage job in the 70s paid the rent on a brand new one-bedroom apartment and allowed me to support a six year-old Malibu.

I haven't been able to afford any one bedroom or automobile since early '95, and it is looking like the next sixteen years will make '95 look like the good ol' days.

AND I still don't see any non-violent way of changing this dynamic that involves "choosing" between Republican OR Democrat at the polls.

 

[georgephillip]

Yes we are depressed that democrats have stolen our grankids future and gave it to democrat interests calling it a stimulus plan.


Poverty up
Unemplyment high
Foreclosures up
Gitmo Open
Gas prices up
Democrat Lobbyists control washington
Earmarks on every bill
Illegal Libyan wars that cost 40 million per day borrowed from China
More division than anytime since the civil war


Of course we are depressed


Democrats create ghettos



and are right on track


Bankrupting the country





Democrats are scum

Ah, blow it out your ass. Politicians, bankers, and corporations have indebted this nation (and the world) into oblivion, in broad daylight mind you, and it has nothing to do with the farcical two-party system.

That said, the economy will never recover. Ever. The collapse of the United States is at hand.

After $17 trillion in lost wages, savings, retirements and homes the richest 1% of Americans increased their share of national wealth by two percentage points.

Only Republicans AND Democrats serving the class interest of those who fund their campaigns could accomplish that AND stay out of prison.

And the richest 1% are not through stealing.

Hold tight to your Social Security.

 

[KissMy]

If you lost your job or your business failed I bet you are DEPRESSED!

Over the last 4-1/2 years of Democrat control they have created over 14 million more depressed people than we had before.

 

[boedicca]

Well, I'll tell ya what, according to the BLS website, the total unemployment number in 2009 was 81,659k and 83,941k in 2010. The number of unemployed not seeking a job due to being discouraged was 778k in 2009 and 1,173k in 2010. I'm thinking those people and their families and friends are thinking we're in a depression.

Don't know what the numbers look like so far in 2011, maybe a little better. Hope so anyway, we need more jobs bad.

Any ideas?

National high-speed rail?

Universal internet?

More domestic oil and gas production?

Here's the only idea that will actually work: THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR WAY.

 

[william the wie]

Higher gas prices working their way through the food chain will over the next 2-5 months cripple the Obama presidency but that won't necessarily get us to a better place politically.

 

[georgephillip]

If you lost your job or your business failed I bet you are DEPRESSED!

Over the last 4-1/2 years of Democrat control they have created over 14 million more depressed people than we had before.

Of course, not all Democrats (and Republicans) are depressed.

Between 2000 and 2008 14 major Wall Street players received cash compensation of about $2.6 billion.

"Of this amount, around $2 billion was received by the five best-paid individuals, who were also central to creating the highly risky asset structures that brought the financial system to the edge of the abyss: Sandy Weil (built Citigroup, which blew up shortly after he left); Hank Paulson (greatly expanded Goldman Sachs, lobbied for allowing more leverage in investment banks, then moved to the US Treasury and helped save them); Angelo Mozilo (built Countrywide, a central player in irresponsible mortgage lending); Dick Fuld (ran Lehman Brothers into the ground); and Jimmy Cayne (ran Bear Stearns into the ground)."

"The public losses are massive in comparison: roughly $6 trillion, if we limit ourselves just to the increase in federal government debt.

"And leading bank executives still insist that they should be allowed to run highly leveraged global businesses, in which they are paid based on their return on equity – unadjusted for any risk."

Rich Republicans AND Democrats are not through taking.

Keep a tight grip on your Social Security and Medicare.

Arrogance and Authority | Truthout

 

[georgephillip]

Well, I'll tell ya what, according to the BLS website, the total unemployment number in 2009 was 81,659k and 83,941k in 2010. The number of unemployed not seeking a job due to being discouraged was 778k in 2009 and 1,173k in 2010. I'm thinking those people and their families and friends are thinking we're in a depression.

Don't know what the numbers look like so far in 2011, maybe a little better. Hope so anyway, we need more jobs bad.

Any ideas?

National high-speed rail?

Universal internet?

More domestic oil and gas production?

Here's the only idea that will actually work: THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR WAY.

The private sector is sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash, unable or uninterested in creating US jobs.

Only government can supply the missing demand, unless you are opting for third world standards when it comes to human rights, environmental protections, and wage levels.

Only the Soviet Union in the last decade of its existence lost more jobs than the US since 2000. You should begin thinking hard about what economic system comes after capitalism and communism.

They are both as dead as Elvis.

 

[georgephillip]

Higher gas prices working their way through the food chain will over the next 2-5 months cripple the Obama presidency but that won't necessarily get us to a better place politically.

What's you current guess about how the US economy will look in November 2012 compared to November 2008?

Any idea how much improvement Obama would have to produce to get a second term?

 

[KissMy]

Higher gas prices working their way through the food chain will over the next 2-5 months cripple the Obama presidency but that won't necessarily get us to a better place politically.

What's you current guess about how the US economy will look in November 2012 compared to November 2008?

Any idea how much improvement Obama would have to produce to get a second term?

Improvement!

Democrats have been running this country for 4-1/2 years now. In that time they have spent $15.8 Trillion ($5 Trillion more than they took in) & destroyed 14 million jobs. Hell at this point we don't care about improvement. We would settle for getting back to even. We can't even get back close to the day Obama took office. Can you read a chart?

I think Ben Bernanke's new Federal Reserve Q & A sessions are the modern version of FDR's Great Depression "Fireside Chat". We are really fucked!

 

[georgephillip]

Higher gas prices working their way through the food chain will over the next 2-5 months cripple the Obama presidency but that won't necessarily get us to a better place politically.

What's you current guess about how the US economy will look in November 2012 compared to November 2008?

Any idea how much improvement Obama would have to produce to get a second term?

Improvement!

Democrats have been running this country for 4-1/2 years now. In that time they have spent $15.8 Trillion ($5 Trillion more than they took in) & destroyed 14 million jobs. Hell at this point we don't care about improvement. We would settle for getting back to even. We can't even get back close to the day Obama took office. Can you read a chart?

I think Ben Bernanke's new Federal Reserve Q & A sessions are the modern version of FDR's Great Depression "Fireside Chat". We are really fucked!

If you believe the current public-debt increase in the US and elsewhere is due more to the loss of tax revenue that comes with deep recessions, blaming Democrats OR Republicans exclusively only guarantees a further fucking.

Wall Street banks blew themselves up in 2008 by employing securities and control fraud and Republicans AND Democrats made sure to shift those loses off Sandy Weil and Hank Paulson and onto the US middle class.

You can't solve this problem without criminal prosecutions of Wall Street and their DC enablers, and both major parties have closed ranks to prevent that from happening. Just as they collaborated to inflict the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans, an unfunded Medicare prescription benefit, and debt financed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If you want real Change, FLUSH as many Democrats AND Republicans as possible from DC starting in 2012.

Arrogance and Authority | Truthout

 

[RachelMadcow]

everywhere there is democrat control, there is utter punishing poverty.

Detriot, South Chicago, Phili, Wyatts, Bed Sty, the Bronx, Compton, etc etc etc.....


Democrats create ghettos


Nothing more.

 

[georgephillip]

You're confusing cause with effect.
Democrats didn't create the ghettos.
Rich people create ghettos.

Once upon a time Democrats were more likely than Republicans to support Americans who were not among the richest 1% to 10% of the population. Hence their support in places like the Bronx and Compton.

When US manufacturing started its slow process of outsourcing in the mid-70s and organized labor lost its ability to provide campaign funds for Democratic candidates to the extent it had earlier, Dems running for office turned to the richest 1% of Americans.

That's lead to a point where the richest 1% control 34% of US wealth with Republicans AND Democrats working overtime to ensure the rich get even more.

No matter how many new ghettos that requires.

 

[RachelMadcow]

Democrats subsidize poverty................and it works

they create more


See Obamanomics for reference

 

[georgephillip]

"Every time government gets bigger, somebody's getting richer."

This jacket blurb from Timothy P Carney's Obamanomics describes every Democratic AND Republican administration since Jimmy Carter, at least.

More poverty is an unavoidable consequence of giving millions of middle class US jobs to workers in China and India. As the middle class shrinks, poverty increases in inverse proportion to the gains of the richest 1% of Americans.

I don't see how you expect to solve this problem by voting for Republicans (or Democrats)?