Double Dip Recession in Sight?

[werepossum]

Yes, we still have an active economy. The question is what direction are we going in. And for the reasons Engineer mentioned, things don't look like they're going in the right direction.

I have not heard of one good reason that employment would rise meaningfully in the near or long-term future. With high unemployment and underemployment we're not going to be able to sustain our consumer economy.

First it was the industrial workers who lost their jobs and nobody cared because most people had their office jobs and just told the industrial workers to get a college degree. Now it's been the generic office workers who can't find jobs even with a degree. Many professionals are going to suffer the same fate next (we see it in some industries) if something doesn't turn around.

I agree completely with regards to long term prognosis. We've outsourced a great deal of our wealth-producing jobs, and the combination of low to nonexistent trade barriers, relatively high wages and benefits, & expensive regulations guarantees that this will continue. I'm thinking more along the lines of consumer confidence and the immediate future. I'm just not seeing the kind of fiscal panic that kills businesses and hoards cash against an economic crash. I'm sure people are holding more cash than they did five years ago - and that's a very good thing - but I'm also seeing a lot of spending on VERY discretionary things, like Halloween decorations, including in my own household and those of our neighbors. None of us are holding our cash as tightly as we did a year or two ago, yet the news says this should be just the opposite. (Although perhaps this isn't a good example since I did buy a new motorcycle last year.)

Unfortunately, none of these Halloween decorations (or my motorcycle) are manufactured in the USA, so much of that spending flows straight out of our economy.

 

[werepossum]

Oh woe is me wake me up when the sky actually falls

I'm getting tired of the same old worn out gloom and doom prognostications by the Republicans played in an endless loop.

The liberals will kill your grandma
The liberals will crash the economy again
The liberals are coming to get your guns
The liberals will raise your taxes

and repeat

and repeat

and repeat

Meh.

The conservatives want to take away your Medicare.
The conservatives want to teach your child Creationism instead of science.
The conservatives want to take your health care premiums, then let you die if you get sick.
The conservatives want to crash the economy again.
The conservatives want to make everyone poor with just a very few, very wealthy individuals ruling.
The conservatives want to put women back into the kitchen and minorities back on the plantation.

You've got an uphill battle to convince any sane person that the party of the health care crisis, the affordable housing crisis, the affordable education crisis, the uncontrolled firearms crisis, the day care crisis, etc. is the injured party here. In the best of times, the right wants to keep everything the same. In the best of times, the left has at least one major crisis that can only be solved via a massive government program. To the right, the sky is falling any time they aren't in charge. To the left, the sky is falling any time, period. And only a massive government program can save us.

 

[IGBT]

Oh woe is me wake me up when the sky actually falls

I'm getting tired of the same old worn out gloom and doom prognostications by the Republicans played in an endless loop.

The liberals will kill your grandma
The liberals will crash the economy again
The liberals are coming to get your guns
The liberals will raise your taxes

and repeat

and repeat

and repeat

when did George Soros become a republican??

 

[brencat]

In the best of times, the right wants to keep everything the same. In the best of times, the left has at least one major crisis that can only be solved via a massive government program. To the right, the sky is falling any time they aren't in charge. To the left, the sky is falling any time, period. And only a massive government program can save us.

Just saw this. Perfect summation :thumbsup:

Translation: both parties suck azz

 

[werepossum]

Just saw this. Perfect summation :thumbsup:

Translation: both parties suck azz

Pretty much. It's just a matter of selecting the least painful suckage.

And really, isn't that life? Life sucks and then you die, or as the Goo Goo Doll song goes, "everything's made to be broken." If you don't dwell on the suckage of life, it's a pretty good ride. If you don't dwell on the suckage of party politics, it's still a pretty good life in the USA.

 

[Craig234]

Just saw this. Perfect summation :thumbsup:

Translation: both parties suck azz

Sigh.

Still clueless about the difference between corporatist and progressive Democrats.

 

[werepossum]

Sigh.

Still clueless about the difference between corporatist and progressive Democrats.

We're not clueless; we know progressive Democrats suck the hardest.

 

[brencat]

Sigh.

Still clueless about the difference between corporatist and progressive Democrats.

Nope, well aware. But here's the thing: there just aren't enough of them that truly care about the public enough to sway the vast majority in govt that don't. It's just that simple. So my cynical NYer self concludes that the only solution is to minimize govt's involvement in our lives to the maximum extent possible.

That may not be progressives as you think of them or want them to be in your mind but that is reality, plain and simple. Progressives are the epitome of big govt activists. Plus their views on taxation, curtailing military expenditures too much, gun control, increased regulation, etc., are bridges too far from where I sit.