Where is the US economy headed?

Quote:

Mortgage rates have also been climbing. An estimated nine million homeowners owe more than their homes are worth and could find themselves with few options if they lose their jobs or if their mortgage bills rise substantially

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/washington/29housing.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

And some where else I read that home values have at least another 10% down to go if most of the experts called it right. Ouch, that is a lot of people reversed, this is going to suck.

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According to some media reports, the US lost 62,000 jobs in June, but the unemployment rate remained the same. That's what I call creative math.

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The feds continue to shy away from calling the present downturn in our economy a recession - while millions lose their jobs and homes.

Bush has all of them tongue-tied - or something. Can't be having job losses for the past six months with all the bad economic news and not have a recession.

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cicerone imposter wrote:

According to some media reports, the US lost 62,000 jobs in June, but the unemployment rate remained the same. That's what I call creative math.

Well, it wasn't really enough jobs lost to shift the unemployment figures; 62k isn't that big a percentage of 180 million or so.

Cycloptichorn

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Cyclo, Where'd you get 180 million? Seems awfully high to me!

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I did a Google search using "Job gains losses by sector 2008 U.S." and came up with a Bureau of Labor Statistics report dated today.
It is a little difficult to wade through because sometimes they talk about non-farm employment and sometimes about civilian employment (excluding government). It looks to me that Cyclo's number is close. A number I see there is 155 million, but I might be missing something.

Unemployment rates are complicated by the creative definition for "unemployed. A person who has not looked for work for 4 weeks (eg given up or is sick or carrying for someone) is not considered unemployed.

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Having reconsidered, I can now understand that 62,000 is but a small number compared to 155,000,000. I've just gotten skeptical about numbers produced by our government.

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The economy is relatively stable at this moment, but a big Hurricane hitting the US would definitely shake things up.

Further down the road ... Our economy will suffer big time if Obama is elected and if he raises taxes as planned.

http://www.athenswater.com/images/NOBAMA.jpg

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Without the creative thinking used by the government in establishing the criteria for unemployment. The true unemployment in the US now stands at 9.9%

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Even that number "seems" low to me, but thanks for sharing it, au.

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Here's a good sense of what's happening in America.

Americans' unhappy birthday: 'Too much wrong right now'

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Another reason I posted the above article is that our ZIP code has shown an increase in sales by 18%, the only one in Santa Clara County for the last reporting period (last May vs this May). Many are showing sales decreases as much as 65%. The overall bad news is that our county had 213% increase in defaults, 542% increase in forclosure sales, and 546% increase in sales value.

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cicerone imposter wrote:

Another reason I posted the above article is that our ZIP code has shown an increase in sales by 18%, the only one in Santa Clara County for the last reporting period (last May vs this May). Many are showing sales decreases as much as 65%. The overall bad news is that our county had 213% increase in defaults, 542% increase in forclosure sales, and 546% increase in sales value.

CI,
I'm just thankful! Nothing has gone right since Nov. 2000! I'm not in the best of health, but I'm thankful, as hell! Now, on to November, unless, we get an October surprise! :wink:

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teenyboone wrote:

cicerone imposter wrote:
Another reason I posted the above article is that our ZIP code has shown an increase in sales by 18%, the only one in Santa Clara County for the last reporting period (last May vs this May). Many are showing sales decreases as much as 65%. The overall bad news is that our county had 213% increase in defaults, 542% increase in forclosure sales, and 546% increase in sales value.

CI,
I'm just thankful! Nothing has gone right since Nov. 2000! I'm not in the best of health, but I'm thankful, as hell! Now, on to November, unless, we get an October surprise! :wink:

In politics, almost anything is possible. I think most Americans are disgusted with the current administration and their handling of our economy - even republicans (they're not all wealthy like some on a2k who continued to tell us our economy is just fine), and many will be voting for Obama.

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cicerone imposter wrote:

In politics, almost anything is possible. I think most Americans are disgusted with the current administration and their handling of our economy - even republicans (they're not all wealthy like some on a2k who continued to tell us our economy is just fine), and many will be voting for Obama.

not in the short term. The American political system has been corrupted by the corporate class, nothing major gets fixed until the people take back the political process. You can't look at Obama now and not realize how the system has made him conform to the norms of the system. To expect that Obama as president could change much of anything is naive.

The economy has been sunk by the gross mismanagement and greed of the corporate class, and it will not be fixed until the political system is rid of the corporate class corruption and reformers are allowed to alter the economic landscape. We need changes on the scale that FDR imposed, though not necessarily the same ones. We will not be willing to do that till the recession turns into a depression. This could take up to a decade in my opinion.

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hawkeye, How does government correct the corporate class corruption? They're part of the problem by accepting money from them.

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cicerone imposter wrote:

hawkeye, How does government correct the corporate class corruption? They're part of the problem by accepting money from them.

Once the corporate class is no longer able to corrupt the political process with money their hold over the process will wither. Unfortunately, so long as the supremes view passing out wealth as free speech, with corporations entitled to the same free speech as individuals, we are kinda screwed.

Wealth is a societal asset, and those who hold societal assets should not be afforded the ability to use that wealth to further their desire for more wealth in a way that violates democratic society principles.

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What are the "democratic society principles?"

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cicerone imposter wrote:

What are the "democratic society principles?"

one person one vote....you don't get to add weight to your vote or invalidate other people vote by way of the fact that you hold assets. This is the very tyranny that we rejected at the founding. The switching of the asset allowed to allot power from land ownership rights to money ownership rights matter not at all.

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Where is the US economy headed?

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