Where is the US economy headed?

actually for the most part i don't disagree with you on the economy. I just like to know what the facts are.

I don't disagree with you, CI, on the direction of the economy. It looks bleak. I was simply questioning your cynicism regarding the Commerce or Labor Department reports on the economy.
I am quite confident that the data coming from those sources is "accurate," or at least as accurate as any other source you can cite.

(I swear I did not see Dys' response before I posted mine. Great minds lie in the same gutter).

Here are a few of the reasons for a sluggish economy. Unions, high taxes, over-regulation, high health care costs, and environmental activism, to name a few off the top of my head, all of which can be traced to liberal Democratic policies.

You don't need to mention anything about the trillion dollar debt created by Bush, and how much more the war in Iraq is going to take away from helping our own citizens. Bush has created the biggest gonverment in the history of our country. Naw, Bush has done such a good job, at least 30 percent of Americans still believe in him.

The national debt has lots of people to blame, ci, not the least of which includes a Democratic Congress for several decades that created a whole lot of entitlements and new bureaucracies. The problem did not begin with Bush, this has been going on a long long time. Many Republicans share the blame as well.

Hey, okie, have you learned how to read pictures yet?

May 3, 2005
Policy Analysis no. 543



The Grand Old Spending Party: How Republicans Became Big Spenders
by Stephen Slivinski



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Executive Summary

President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson. Even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years. His 2006 budget doesn't cut enough spending to change his place in history, either.

Stephen Slivinski is director of budget studies at the Cato Institute.

More by Stephen Slivinski
Total government spending grew by 33 percent during Bush's first term. The federal budget as a share of the economy grew from 18.5 percent of GDP on Clinton's last day in office to 20.3 percent by the end of Bush's first term.

The Republican Congress has enthusiastically assisted the budget bloat. Inflation-adjusted spending on the combined budgets of the 101 largest programs they vowed to eliminate in 1995 has grown by 27 percent.

By CHARLES HERMAN
ABC NEWS Business Unit
March 6, 2008

A record number of homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure in the final months of 2007.

At the same time, an increasingly larger number of borrowers were late making their payments, setting the stage for possibly even more foreclosures in the months ahead.



At the same time, most businesses are cutting back based on decreasing demand for goods and services. The DOW took a big hit today, dropping by 214 points, but that's only the beginning of the blood-bath that will come this year - and possibly the next. I see the DOW going below 12,000 this month.

How about overlaying the graph with who controlled Congress? After all, isn't that who actually passes the budget and spends the money? The president signs it, but Congress usually amends what the president proposes in the first place, and the president is almost abliged to sign it after all the negotiations, which often a president must give into Congress on most of it. Am I right on that, ci?

okie, FYI, the president approves all budgets.

So does Congress.

AFTER congress, the president signs off on it for his "approval" before enactment.

You live in denial if you claim the Congress has no blame for overspending. I am not claiming the president is not responsible, but I say they both bear responsibility for overspending. And if Congress created entitlements, what choice does any president have to deny the entitlements? None, ci.

Ofcoarse the congress is also to blame; both houses must approve the budget for it to become law. You must remember that it's the president's budget they are approving. That's also one of the reasons the congress' performance rating is lower than the presidents' today. They are fiscally irresponsible with pork at a time our economy is struggling to survive.

Hold onto your hats: the stock market is on a downward trend that has nothing to stop it More bad news will be forthcoming during the coming months.


Job losses: Worst in 5 years
Payrolls sink in February, fueling recession anxiety. Unemployment rate declines, but that's because there are fewer people in the workforce.



NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers made their deepest cut in staffing in almost five years in February, the Labor Department reported Friday.

There was a net loss of 63,000 jobs

Is it obvious yet? Bush said his tax cuts will create jobs; we're still waiting. It's unfortunate that thousands of Americans are not only losing their jobs, but their homes and cars to boot.

What a guy! He knows how to create jobs for Americans. I wonder what his legacy will be when the historians write about him in about ten years?

His three trillion dollar war in Iraq really helps our economy, because Halliburton is, after all, an "American" company.

ci, a question here, if you are running a business and it starts to lose money, how do you return to profitibility?
Raise prices?
Lower prices?
Cut Expenses and how? Such as cut wages, fire employees, cut operating cost, or cut corners on product to reduce cost, or ?
Improve product or service?
Eliminate some of the products or services that are losing money?
Raise wages for some employees, while firing others?
Reduce benefits for employees?

Pick from the above or if your solution is not in the list, feel free to insert another answer.

Good managers know what to do in any circumstance. Unfortunately, Bush was never a good manager of anything.

Truth be told. I may even go so far as state Bush is a ne'er-do-well.