Combatting rising indicators of looming recession

Somehow, I know this must be Clintons fault.

How long will it take RNC Bruce and his ilk to blame Dubya's mess on:

1. Bill Clinton
2. Jimmy Carter
3. Hillary Clinton
4. United Nations
5. F.D.R.
6. Chelsea Clinton

It's all just a matter of time...

The drive-by media must have gotten its marching orders to bury the good news about the economy (e.g., 4.9% growth rate) under a blizzard of editorials by former Clinton administration officials.

For another take on the economy--one that the DNC Swamp won't report--see the AP article from Nov. 29th. An excerpt:

"WASHINGTON - The economy barreled ahead in the summer, growing at a 4.9 percent pace. The performance was the strongest in four years, but isn't expected to last through the current quarter amid the continuing housing slump and credit crunch.

The Commerce Department's new reading of the gross domestic product from July through September, released Thursday, was even better than the government's initial estimate of a brisk 3.9 percent growth rate for period. Stronger U.S. exports to overseas buyers and more inventory investment by businesses were the main reasons for the improvement."

Bruce, since when do you believe the AP? Why didn't you provide a link to the article so that we can do a search and see which candidates the author contributed to?

From the small snippet you offered:
The performance was the strongest in four years, but isn't expected to last through the current quarter amid the continuing housing slump and credit crunch.
-
A temporary buzz, and Bruce hails it as an economic volcano that should make Americans happy to see their jobs shipped overseas.

Bruce just doesn't miss a beat with his incessant crybaby antics!

Doug,

Glad to see that sharp econimc insight is back.

Assuming Morici's conclusion is true (all economic expansions end up in a recession), the 6+ year run this economy has had is good. However, if the economic expansion is to continue (I think everyone should want that), then it is time to cut back gov't spending and enact another round of incremental tax rate cuts.

If world supply of oil is 85mbo/d and demand is 86mbo/dw and increasing, why is the world (many recent newspaper articles) anticipating that an increse of half million or one million bo/d will make oil prices go down? Is it not more important to pay attention to fundamentals (worldwide supply-demand facts)then it is to pay attention to an incidental pipeline fire or OPEC's slight increase or decrease in supply on any given day or month?

Interesting how the media seem to be pulling for a recession, even though they will be the ones most immediately affected when their advertising and profits tumble due to their maligned advertisers losing business. I suspect the media owners do not share their business writers' enthusiasm for economic disaster. The loss of jobs in news departments appears not to have hit home yet.

Terry,

Republican Economics in Wonderland has been seen through by Americans from sea-to-sea. get used to it.

Until we learn from big business and fire the CEO(s), we can't expect to correct this mess. Impeach Bush and Cheney.

Doug,

You mean the tax cuts that have generated record tax revenues? The tax cuts that took us from the economic downturn, which became a blimp of a recession, left by the Clinton (remember it cam just 38 days after Bill Clinton left the White House). The tax cuts that pulled us from the recession that occurred at the same time as a terrorist attack not just on our nation, but that the financial center of the world.

More tax cuts will spur this economic upswing to continue on for years.

Rick,

If President Bush and Vice-President Cheney have committed impeachable offenses, isn't it the sworn duty of the Speaker of the House to bring these impeachable offenses before the Hosue for a hearing and a vote? If the Speaker does not perform her sworn duty, shouldn't she be impeached?

These liberal media sorts have been hawking recession ever since Bush took office. Here we are with under 5% unemployment, while they praise europe's economies with over 12% unemployment. Is it any wonder people are staying away from buying their propoganda rags in droves? Funny ... I don't recall cries of recession in 1999 under Clinton, when we actually were sliding into one.

There is only one solution,more and bigger tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% who earn 350,000+.

From 2000-2005 the wealthiest 1% seen their income rise 18%,and the middle class wages were stagnant.

Now tell me trickle down economics doesn't work!

And if you can't provide health insurance and food for your children,you must be lazy.

Bush would rather send billions and billions of your tax dollars to Iraq and Africa than help you lazy bastards.

One way to spur economic growth is to cut taxes. Sure, that goes along with less money for patronage-soaked, poorly run government programs, but realistically, they never get cut much.

Here in Illinois, however, the guv has never even mentioned a tax cut although he has tried to hold the line on sales and income tax increases. And of course, he never should have given those legislators that lavish raise that will allow them
to easily handle any tax increases to come.

But Blago's failure to act aggressively on taxes pales beside Todd Stroger, who wants a billion-dollar property tax increase so he can hire more relatives and pay relatives on the payroll more...much more, while continuing to shore up the badly managed Stroger Hospital. And we all know Madigan and Julie Hamos want to raise our sales taxes to bail out the severely dysfunctional CTA. Not to mention Da Mare's
real estate transfer tax.
And now the feds want us to bail out people who followed their greed and signed loans to buy houses they couldn't possibly afford.

Middle class taxpayers who try to manage their money wisely just can't catch a break in all-blue Illinois.
They just get the government in our pocket...again.

Rick,

If President Bush and Vice-President Cheney have committed impeachable offenses, isn't it the sworn duty of the Speaker of the House to bring these impeachable offenses before the Hosue for a hearing and a vote? If the Speaker does not perform her sworn duty, shouldn't she be impeached?

Posted by: Terry | December 2, 2007 12:37 PM

Terry,
You are correct. I won't apologize for Pelosi et. al's lack of action, and would not oppose impeachment of the Speaker. Because she has not acted doesn't mean that Bush and Cheney are not guitly of impeachable offenses. They are, and should be impeached.

Terry, you made a mistake in assuming Doug has some sharp economic insight.

Mark is just taking orders. He and his media bosses want a recession and they will do anything they can to make the American people think there is a recession so one happens.

Mark, while the trade deficit stinks, hasn't this country had one for decades now?

Home prices have slumped this year, but when looking at the escalation of home prices in the past 10 years, folks who bought 10 years ago will make a huge profit if selling today.

The GDP was revised UPWARD in the third quarter to 4. 9 percent, a pretty healthy clip. Even if it "falls" to 3 for the 4th quarter, that is still a pretty healthy clip.

But Mark Silva and his biased minions in the media will report nothing but bad news.

Like the stock market. When it falls 300 points, the Trib puts that on the front page and leads it website with the news. When it rises 330 points like it did on Wednesday, it ends up somewhere buried in the business section and remains the last item of the business headlines on the website.

Bad news gets elevated. Good news gets hidden.

John D,

My comment to Doug was sarcasm. It doesn't come across well on a blog.

Terry, I know you were being sarcastic. I was just making fun of Doug or anyone from the Left having any understanding of economic issues. The Left understands economics like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro understand freedom.

I suppose all these liberals on Wall Street predicting a recession are part of the looney left bunch.

Bad news gets elevated. Good news gets hidden.

Posted by: John D | December 2, 2007 5:38 PM

Yeah, like this uplifting article from that bastion of liberal media, The Wall St. Journal:

Ex-Wall Street Journal Editor: Dollar Collapse Will Cripple European Economy
Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury says world economy could return to barter system
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Friday, November 9, 2007

The father of Reagonomics and former Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts has warned that the collapsing dollar will eventually cripple the European economy and may even return the world economy to a barter system as financial chaos ensues.

Roberts served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration and is a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Scripps Howard News Service.

Speaking on the Alex Jones Show yesterday, Roberts cautioned that "The loss in value of the dollar is becoming so rapid it's alarming....we've got unmanageable trade deficits, budget deficits, the economy is set for recession, the wars show no end."

(Article continues below)

Asked how bad the dollar crisis can get, Roberts responded, "It can get awfully bad - the trouble is where can they go?"
"If China removes the peg and all the surplus dollars drive up the value of the Chinese currency then given our dependence on China....it's going to drive the prices up here a tremendous amount and Americans don't have any discretionary income left," said Roberts.

"At some point the foreigners will stop financing our budget and trade deficits - then we're going to have a massive crisis the likes of which we've not experienced....if you're totally dependent on imports of manufactured goods and you can't pay for them, what do you do?" asked Roberts, explaining that the only recourse would be to print more money, pushing the dollar down even further.

Citing the fact that the dollar had lost more than 60 per cent of its value against the Euro since 2001, Roberts said that the flight from the dollar could eventually wreck the European economy because it would cripple their exports.

Asked how low the dollar could go, Roberts said that there was a limit because "There's simply so many dollars, there's not enough room in other currencies to absorb them - at some point the flight of investors from the dollar to the Euro will cause amazing troubles in Europe - they won't be able to export anything because the prices are driven up so high."

Roberts said investors will eventually desert the Euro as a safe haven from the dollar and the same process will cause a crisis in Britain as the pound is devalued due to exports being hit.

"Wages are being frozen, profit margins are shrinking, exports are down - so it's starting to impact on Europe," said Roberts.

Roberts warned that the potential destruction of the dollar as the world's reserve currency could eventually return us to a system of barter, completely altering the landscape of the economic structure as we know it.

"More tax cuts will spur this economic upswing to continue on for years."

Possibly.

But assuredly more tax cuts will spur deficit spending for years, saddling our children with even more debt.

Terry wants to leave his children a bankrupt nation.

The discouraging thing about these comments, taken as a whole, is the presence of the extreme political partisanship which poisons most of the debate on the serious issues confronting our society and prevents effective action to combat them. Unmentioned is the fact that those who have profited most from getting us into this economic quagmire are entirely bipartisan in their campaign contributions. They know how to get things done without having to worry too much about the consequences.

What the system needs is catharsis. If an institution is "too big to fail," it will not fail.
On the other hand there are plenty of failures already booked which need to be recognized and aired, starting with Greenspan and his cohorts at the Federal Reserve. The entire concept of securitization of debt needs review, along with consideration of controls and fair taxation.

Those who have committed crimes should be brought to justice, but just as important, a wide net of civil actions should be cast for those who have profited, or stand to profit, at taxpayer expense.

The poster boy for all the greed and deception which have brought us to this pass is in my opinion
the case of Goldman Sachs
reaping huge profits from shorting the very securities which they had sold to unsuspecting investors.
Isn't this like a parachute salesman buying life insurance on his ustomers?

"The tax cuts that pulled us from the recession..."

Posted by: Terry | December 2, 2007 12:37 PM

I love it when Repukes revise history. When Bush campaigned in 2000 his tax cuts were to give back "your money so Washington beaurocrats don't spend it". They were never designed to combat recession until the Democrats insisted that everyone receive a refund immediately. Thanks for playing Terry.

AJF,

Two things:

First, my quote: "it is time to cut back gov't spending and enact another round of incremental tax rate cuts." - Notice the cut back gov't spending part. Second, lowering tax rates has generated more tax revenue it has been tried.

I don't want my children tied to useless inefficient gov't programs.

Jethro,

Yes in 2000 he campaigned on returning money from the surpluses back to the taxpayers as opposed to creating more gov't programs with the excess money. In 2001, 38 days after he took office a recession hit. Guess what the best cure for a recession is - TAX CUTS. They serve multiple purposes.

You would pay good money at you local college for that economics lessons. Next time you play the game, know the rules.

Guess what the best cure for a recession is - TAX CUTS.

Posted by: Terry | December 3, 2007 1:21 PM

Tell that to George Herbert Walker Bush. He raised taxes and somehow that created the longest sustained expansion of the economy. Love it when you try to revise history and ignore reality.

Guess what the best cure for a recession is - TAX CUTS.

Posted by: Terry | December 3, 2007 1:21 PM

I agree fully. I cut taxes and the great Depression ended in 1930. Didn't it?

Jethro,

Thank God the personal computer and the internet came along to sustain the economy.

HH,

Remember that Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act you signed?

The Neoconservative Republican crowd messed up the economy… big time.

What average American, the Bush Administration, Fed and Wall Street can’t see coming is the American Economy, which purchases over 30% of all goods manufactured in the world, has been “debased.”

Under both Regan and the Bush’s Neoconservative Republican leaderships, who’s creed was “Greed and Supply-side Economics’ ”, the administrations legislated tax breaks for corporations and the Elitist top1% of Americans at the expense of the other 99%. Couple this with a collapse of the mortgage banking industry & housing prices, a liquidity crisis and pending student loan catastrophe. Then add in years of Union busting, NAFTA, CAFTA, Vietnamese, Central America and other Trade agreements, hundreds of thousands of H1-B & L-1 work visas, years of outsourcing jobs to 3rd world countries and open borders which eliminated the higher paying jobs, pensions and benefits for a majority of Americans.

The huge amount of spendable income/benefits these high paying jobs formerly supplied America and the World Economy has disappeared… gone forever. Resulting in a gigantic transfer of wealth from average Americans to the world’s Elitist top 1% and coffers of Corporate America.

As HBO’s lead character in John From Cincinnati once said… "The end is near".

Gee,

Income tax cuts for those that pay income taxes.
What a novel idea.

The collapse of the mortgage banking industry & housing prices is caused by loose credit rules of the mortgage banking industry - not the federal gov't. As a matter of fact Rev Jacckson, a lib, was complaining a couple of yrs ago, that mortgages were not being made to low-income people. BTW, were you complaining as housing prices were incraesing?

NAFTA - that trade agreement championed by President Clinton also. Convientiently left him off your list.

If you get your advice from a character from HBO, nuff said.