Posts with the tag Depression
About the Author
Economy and its relation to the government is akin to a person in his relation to a doctor. While the economy is healthy, there is no need for the government intervention, and government intervention does more harm than good. When the economy gets seriously sick, it does take government intervention to fix it. But this intervention is only good for as long as it takes for the economy to recover; after which the government should again leave the economy to its own devices and practice the Hippocratic Oath of "do no harm."
When Obama came into power, the patient was very sick. Eight years of mismanagement, corruption and fiscal irresponsibility brought America to the worst place it's been since the Great Depression. Obama's intervention prevented the sickness from getting worse. And now that the economy is no longer as sick, it's time to reduce the government intervention and leave the economy again in charge of its own well-being.
When FDR created welfare, he meant it as a temporary fix rather than as a lifestyle. When Clinton saved the Mexican economy from collapsing in 1995, he used loans rather than outlays - loans that Mexico repaid ahead of deadline. Corporate welfare is as unnecessary and as unsustainable over the long term as is classical welfare. It suffocates business activity while using taxpayer money to reward bad business practices; and policies of this sort are destructive to the nation's economic health.
Right now, the government debt stands in the way of economic well-being and sucks investment funds out of the private sector. Right now, economic uncertainty is preventing businesses from investing. For the economy to actually recover these self-defeating policies should be brought to an end and replaced with the successful policies of the Clinton administration, in which America had both vast economic growth and fiscal sanity. These policies - spending control, government efficiency, deficit-fighting pollicies and slighly higher taxes on people who can afford to pay them - gave America its greatest period of peace and prosperity; and it is to these policies that America should return if it is to again come to such a place.
A Great Depression scenario has been avoided. More application of the same medicine is counter-productive. The economy does not need any longer to be helped; it needs to be allowed to stand on its own. The government has done its part. The medicine has worked. Now it is time leave the patient in charge of his own well-being.
When Obama came into power, the patient was very sick. Eight years of mismanagement, corruption and fiscal irresponsibility brought America to the worst place it's been since the Great Depression. Obama's intervention prevented the sickness from getting worse. And now that the economy is no longer as sick, it's time to reduce the government intervention and leave the economy again in charge of its own well-being.
When FDR created welfare, he meant it as a temporary fix rather than as a lifestyle. When Clinton saved the Mexican economy from collapsing in 1995, he used loans rather than outlays - loans that Mexico repaid ahead of deadline. Corporate welfare is as unnecessary and as unsustainable over the long term as is classical welfare. It suffocates business activity while using taxpayer money to reward bad business practices; and policies of this sort are destructive to the nation's economic health.
Right now, the government debt stands in the way of economic well-being and sucks investment funds out of the private sector. Right now, economic uncertainty is preventing businesses from investing. For the economy to actually recover these self-defeating policies should be brought to an end and replaced with the successful policies of the Clinton administration, in which America had both vast economic growth and fiscal sanity. These policies - spending control, government efficiency, deficit-fighting pollicies and slighly higher taxes on people who can afford to pay them - gave America its greatest period of peace and prosperity; and it is to these policies that America should return if it is to again come to such a place.
A Great Depression scenario has been avoided. More application of the same medicine is counter-productive. The economy does not need any longer to be helped; it needs to be allowed to stand on its own. The government has done its part. The medicine has worked. Now it is time leave the patient in charge of his own well-being.
On any given street corner, in any given city throughout the United States of America there is someone holding a sign that reads, "will work for food."They need not be a drug addict or have made horrible decisions throughout their lives to have found themselves in such a predicament.
Now we, as a nation, capable, eager, knowledgeable and willing, have found ourselves on such a street corner holding up the same sign.
"Will work for food."
We will work. We can work. We want to work, but there isn't anything for us to do. With the economy quickly spiraling out of control, with major corporations announcing massive layoffs, with 500,000 jobs being lost monthly, as President Obama has said, "only government," can get us out of the whole we're in.
We need work. We need to produce. We need financial stability. The horrible failure of the previous administration was to undermine the importance of science and technology, so after eight years of academic and intellectual stagnation we have relatively few innovations, which means relatively few products needing assembly.
We need to keep our jobs here. The benefits of outsourcing jobs overseas have cost not only taxpayers billions of dollars in lost wages, it has undermined the value of the American brand. So, tax corporations that opt to establish manufacturing plants overseas and appropriate and reinvest those tax dollars in further stimulating the economy.
And who said education wasn't simulative? Ridiculous! Without an educated workforce we're only patching the whole rather than addressing the problem. It's about sustainability.
I will work for food! My wife, my daughter and my son all depend on that desire to work for food, for my food and for theirs. I have a responsibility for my family and my government certainly has a responsibility to me and to us all. The time of waiting patiently has long since past.
No one's asking for a handout. We just wanna work!
Jason J. Campbell
Now we, as a nation, capable, eager, knowledgeable and willing, have found ourselves on such a street corner holding up the same sign.
"Will work for food."
We will work. We can work. We want to work, but there isn't anything for us to do. With the economy quickly spiraling out of control, with major corporations announcing massive layoffs, with 500,000 jobs being lost monthly, as President Obama has said, "only government," can get us out of the whole we're in.
We need work. We need to produce. We need financial stability. The horrible failure of the previous administration was to undermine the importance of science and technology, so after eight years of academic and intellectual stagnation we have relatively few innovations, which means relatively few products needing assembly.
We need to keep our jobs here. The benefits of outsourcing jobs overseas have cost not only taxpayers billions of dollars in lost wages, it has undermined the value of the American brand. So, tax corporations that opt to establish manufacturing plants overseas and appropriate and reinvest those tax dollars in further stimulating the economy.
And who said education wasn't simulative? Ridiculous! Without an educated workforce we're only patching the whole rather than addressing the problem. It's about sustainability.
I will work for food! My wife, my daughter and my son all depend on that desire to work for food, for my food and for theirs. I have a responsibility for my family and my government certainly has a responsibility to me and to us all. The time of waiting patiently has long since past.
No one's asking for a handout. We just wanna work!
Jason J. Campbell
We're in a depression. More evidence from Wave 3 TV news here in Louisville.
I would add to that the fact that the number of people at the closest "Dare to Care" food bank (free, "fresh" food) has increased from about 30-40 a year ago to over 80 today and gradually clmbing.
McCain will simply make things worse even IF (and it's a big if) he doesn't start more wars we can't win.
Obama must win and carry a lot of Democratic congressional reps with him.
The goals of corporations are not indifferent to those of a political party. The purpose of a Corporation is to be profitable. In order to be profitable, you place your company on the Stock Market. The Press Releases will affect stock value in good and bad ways. These press releases can be either good news or bad news. In order to keep the price of stock up, Executively Appointed departments of the Federal Government want to 'guarantee' the 'risk' which will reduce the risk altogether, and make the corporation profitable again. While that company makes a profit, those who helped to make the company profitable will get nothing. The people who made the poor decisions will be rewarded. Since the company is profitable, they will get their financial bonus. While those who have already suffered, and the 240 Million people who will also suffer afterward, are hurting, there would be no credit of America left to assist them. If the Federal Government has no money, the States also will have no credit. (The two existing in a symbiotic form.)
In Politics, the goal is to get elected for the next term. Everything you do will determine (or should) whether you get re-elected. Politicians rely on ignorance. Whether or not you vote on bad decisions, or good. Either way, you're vote should represent the people in your district. They will do anything in order to convince you to vote for them. If they lie, the cost to call you out by your opponent would need to be extremely high in order to reach enough people. I can only guess that most people don't pay any attention to c-span. But I try to catch it as often as possible, and this deal smells like crap. The body language of the Sec. of Treasury and Federal Reserve Banks.
Either way... both will manipulate through media. That includes these committee meetings and interviews. No provision of this bill will make a difference. If there isn't a full audit of these corporations, and a full audit of the 'assets' they wish to offload onto the people, then there is no reason to even consider such a thing. Both have been opposed by the writers of the plan. Manipulating the public is the goal. If this "Bill" ends up like FISA, then this means that nobody truly cares about the people, and care more about their own safety (financial and physical) at the cost of our General Welfare.
....Continued.... Read More »
In Politics, the goal is to get elected for the next term. Everything you do will determine (or should) whether you get re-elected. Politicians rely on ignorance. Whether or not you vote on bad decisions, or good. Either way, you're vote should represent the people in your district. They will do anything in order to convince you to vote for them. If they lie, the cost to call you out by your opponent would need to be extremely high in order to reach enough people. I can only guess that most people don't pay any attention to c-span. But I try to catch it as often as possible, and this deal smells like crap. The body language of the Sec. of Treasury and Federal Reserve Banks.
Either way... both will manipulate through media. That includes these committee meetings and interviews. No provision of this bill will make a difference. If there isn't a full audit of these corporations, and a full audit of the 'assets' they wish to offload onto the people, then there is no reason to even consider such a thing. Both have been opposed by the writers of the plan. Manipulating the public is the goal. If this "Bill" ends up like FISA, then this means that nobody truly cares about the people, and care more about their own safety (financial and physical) at the cost of our General Welfare.
....Continued.... Read More »
And with such an economic mess that we are in today, with so much of it directly traceable to a Republican congress that ruled and bullied from 1995 until 2007 and their cowboy president who has ruled for the past almost 8 years, will there still be Americans making less than $200.000 a year who will vote for a Republican?
REUTERS: HUNDREDS OF BANKS WILL FAIL
NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The United States is in the second inning of a recession that will last for at least 18 months and help kill off hundreds of banks, influential economist and New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini told Barron's in Sunday's edition.
Taxpayers will pay a big price for helping bail out the rest of the financial services industry as well, Roubini said -- at least $1 trillion and more likely $2 trillion.
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0344130720080803?sp=true
Read More »Another fantastic article by Chris Hedges; if you have not read it yet, please take a few moments and do so: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080804_a_war_of_self_destruction/
Jim Kunstler has a great blog with wonderful posts regarding our national and international predicaments. One of his recent and very interesting posts is titled "NOT YOUR GRANDMA'S DEPRESSION". In it Jim points out, using his eloquent language, how it is that American society is sliding into a greater depression than the one Grandma lived through.
As Jim points out, we are a very different country than we were in 1932. In the Great Depression, few people had any money but they still possessed fantastic resources. We had a railroad system that was the envy of the world and millions of family farms (despite the dust bowl). These farms were owned by people who retained age-old skills not yet degraded by agribusiness. We had ten thousand small towns with local economies, local newspapers and local culture.
". . .The banks have been doing their death dance for an entire year now, pretending that their problems are those of mere "liquidity" (cash on hand) rather than insolvency (no cash either on hand or in the vault and nothing else to sell to raise case except worthless "creative" securities that nobody would ever buy.)
But the destruction of money (resulting from loans not paid back) is not so intense that the game of pretend has reached its terminal point. The question for the moment is exactly who and what will be crushed as these institutions roll over and die."
According to Jim: "So where we are now is the equivalent of standing in the slop by the ocean shore under a gathering hundred-foot-high wave that is about to come crashing down on our heads."
TO READ THIS POST IN ITS ENTIRETY AND MORE OF JIM'S ENLIGHTENING POSTS GO TO THIS LINK. He is a joy to read--even if most of his news is not all that comforting.
America was insulated from ME (Middle East) conflict before Israel was pushed into Arab territory. Middle class America had seen continuous improvement in standard of living for centuries, excepting the Great Depression, and industry and commerce were alive and well.
During the Second World War America bailed the world out in the Pacific and in Europe. When the state of Israel was created, America was handed a choice. We chose to follow Europe into a millennia long conflict between the Muslim and Christian states. We have since defended European territorial interests loyally.
The ME saw it's heyday long ago. Deforestation and the usual accompanying bundle of conflict and failing economy ended the supremacy enjoyed in the north of Africa and along the eastern Mediterranean, the AAC or Arch of Ancient Civilization. Like the Atacama on the West Coast of SA, poor environmental management has resulted in permanent conditions of climate and topology that ensure continual poverty in low-key arid and semi-arid human habitations. Globally, these conditions signify failed human settlement. The ME is no exception. As it happened, the Muslim faith did well in geophysically impoverished nation states, and Christianity did well in newer, not yet depleted green states. Barrack Obama's backer, Al Gore is not on a child's fool errand. Change in climate and soil are seriously threatening much of the continental United States. That's an issue Obama will have to manage. Read More »
During the Second World War America bailed the world out in the Pacific and in Europe. When the state of Israel was created, America was handed a choice. We chose to follow Europe into a millennia long conflict between the Muslim and Christian states. We have since defended European territorial interests loyally.
The ME saw it's heyday long ago. Deforestation and the usual accompanying bundle of conflict and failing economy ended the supremacy enjoyed in the north of Africa and along the eastern Mediterranean, the AAC or Arch of Ancient Civilization. Like the Atacama on the West Coast of SA, poor environmental management has resulted in permanent conditions of climate and topology that ensure continual poverty in low-key arid and semi-arid human habitations. Globally, these conditions signify failed human settlement. The ME is no exception. As it happened, the Muslim faith did well in geophysically impoverished nation states, and Christianity did well in newer, not yet depleted green states. Barrack Obama's backer, Al Gore is not on a child's fool errand. Change in climate and soil are seriously threatening much of the continental United States. That's an issue Obama will have to manage. Read More »
From MSNBC: "Shiller: Housing slump may exceed Depression."
I have been calling this a recession for over a year; and I do not believe depression is too strong a term at present. It may be fine for the very upper middle and upper class; but for most of us it, at the very least is DEPRESSING. We wanted a great president; and we got a Herbert Hoover wannabe.
McCain has already admittted he knows little about economics; and his responses so far are worse than feeble. We MUST have Democrats in the White House and congress.
You can read the article here:
I am asking all of you on PB to consider your fellow Democrats.
Soon one of our candidates will win the nomination. That means one will not.
As our numbers get closer, things can get really heated.
There are people on this site and around the country who will feel profoundly sad when this ends. Post campaign depression is a real thing. The comedown can be a crash. That is true for winners and losers. At some point, win or lose, the race will end. I know how I hope it will go, but lots of things can happen.
This continues to be a hard fought race. Passions have run high. People believe strongly in their choice for president. As the Community of the Democratic Party, we should be sensitive to the feeling of our brothers and sisters. How can we ask our leaders to care about us, if we don't care for each other.
Please, at this stage, remember that some of the people here have worked very hard to promote the candidate of their choice. They are patriotic Americans who love their country and the party. They have made calls, answered phones, knocked on doors, raised money....... Whether you agree with them or not, is irrelevant.
We owe them the respect and honor they deserve for their service to our country.
It is not only the soldiers who serve democracy.
They may not have served our candidate but they have served our party and our nation.
Without them our candidates would not be able to run.
Without them we would not have choices.
WITHOUT THEM WE ARE NOT A PARTY.
Please, remember in your posts that we are all here because our beliefs are very much the same. Only our choice was different.
Remember to soften the grief of your neighbors after the nomination.
You will, to one degree or another feel the same after the general election.
It is just the right thing to do.
peace,
marsha
Soon one of our candidates will win the nomination. That means one will not.
As our numbers get closer, things can get really heated.
There are people on this site and around the country who will feel profoundly sad when this ends. Post campaign depression is a real thing. The comedown can be a crash. That is true for winners and losers. At some point, win or lose, the race will end. I know how I hope it will go, but lots of things can happen.
This continues to be a hard fought race. Passions have run high. People believe strongly in their choice for president. As the Community of the Democratic Party, we should be sensitive to the feeling of our brothers and sisters. How can we ask our leaders to care about us, if we don't care for each other.
Please, at this stage, remember that some of the people here have worked very hard to promote the candidate of their choice. They are patriotic Americans who love their country and the party. They have made calls, answered phones, knocked on doors, raised money....... Whether you agree with them or not, is irrelevant.
We owe them the respect and honor they deserve for their service to our country.
It is not only the soldiers who serve democracy.
They may not have served our candidate but they have served our party and our nation.
Without them our candidates would not be able to run.
Without them we would not have choices.
WITHOUT THEM WE ARE NOT A PARTY.
Please, remember in your posts that we are all here because our beliefs are very much the same. Only our choice was different.
Remember to soften the grief of your neighbors after the nomination.
You will, to one degree or another feel the same after the general election.
It is just the right thing to do.
peace,
marsha
Behind the tenth of a percent analysis of GDP and unemployment rates; the anecdotal evidence is piling up that people are hurting.
Even the every booster-ish Orlando Sentinel had two disturbing pieces today.
In an article titled, "Hunting for jobs in Orlando area is getting tougher" the Orlando Sentinel reported:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/ucf/orl-employ2908mar29,0,4882120.story
In an opinion column titled, "Groups fighting hunger have their plates full" Daryl Owens writes:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-owens2908mar29,0,7964532.column
Watchamacallit? Depression? Recession? Call it hard times.
Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
Even the every booster-ish Orlando Sentinel had two disturbing pieces today.
In an article titled, "Hunting for jobs in Orlando area is getting tougher" the Orlando Sentinel reported:
Only eight of Florida's 22 metropolitan areas gained jobs in February compared with the same month last year. The Orlando region was among them, but the 4,100 jobs it added was a fraction of the 36,500 jobs it had picked up during the same month from 2006 to 2007.
The construction industry, the most battered sector of the economy, continued to shrink in February, shedding 77,400 jobs in Florida -- a 12.1 percent year-over-year decrease -- including 8,200 jobs in Metro Orlando.
Little effect on tourism
The nation's economic downturn, which started in residential real estate and spread to the financial sector, has had little effect so far on tourism, Central Florida's key industry. Metro Orlando has added 4,100 leisure-and-hospitality jobs during the past year, a 2.1 percent gain.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/ucf/orl-employ2908mar29,0,4882120.story
In an opinion column titled, "Groups fighting hunger have their plates full" Daryl Owens writes:
"The folks needing food today are invisible," Krepcho says. "People aren't going to talk about it. . . . Outside disaster times, I have not seen anything like it."
Two years ago, Second Harvest served about 53,900 people in a given week. Tack on 15 percent to 20 percent above that today. And it's not just food pantries quieting more rumbling tummies.
The Women, Infants, and Children program, which feeds mothers and their kids, has enrolled 43,000 participants since February 2007. The food dollar doesn't buy as much with milk flirting with the $4-a-gallon mark and the price of other staples on the rise, so more people supplement with food pantries.
Meanwhile, a perfect storm brews:
While the rising cost of living drives demand for supplemental food, the supply is shrinking. Cutbacks in USDA commodities, which make up about 25 percent of Second Harvest's stores, haven't helped. Neither has the fact that retailers who once donated distressed items now often sell to dollar stores or prison systems to beef up the bottom line.
"We turn people away all the time," says Robert F. Stuart, who heads the Christian Service Center for Central Florida Inc., which feeds the hungry through its Daily Bread program. Once clients came in every 90 days for a care package that lasts several days. Now, he says, "we're seeing them coming every two weeks."
Meanwhile, food providers, too, are feeling pinched. Tiny outfits are negotiating gas-saving partnerships. And with diesel at about $4 a gallon, Krepcho may need to park one of the eight trucks that pick up food.
"My budget on fuel is totally blown. But I can't cut back on the diesel fuel because if the trucks don't roll, the food doesn't arrive here and it doesn't get out to the people."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-owens2908mar29,0,7964532.column
Watchamacallit? Depression? Recession? Call it hard times.
Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
A malady has taken hold of the social fabric of our time that is so pervasive and unrelenting that its current washes all towards the rocks of moral depravity. Our governments, private citizenry, and organizations focus on one thing at the expense of all others - "self". All interests act in accordance with aggrandizing, obtaining complete fulfillment, and the satisfaction of self over community. Nothing is to come before "self", any cost is to be endured, and any archaic moral among all morals is relegated to the oblivion of obscurity and vanquished.
What is apparent is that scandal, deception, and dishonestly are moving humanity towards an abyss of insecurity, tumult, and instability. A changing surface whereby economic and political dynamics are assisting in the evolution of a world that is neither silent nor hospitable to the individual. Only, the interests of "self" dominant on a sphere where influence and corruption are byproducts of moral debauchery - a debauchery that originally started seeping down through the cracks of the once representative governments. The ooze of "self" then covered every aspect of private life until once habitual non-confrontational social intercourse became infused with the goo of confrontational "self". Effective government and business cannot perpetuate when all interest exists for the sole benefit of "self". Society is no longer social, family is no longer familial, government is no longer impartial with an eye toward the betterment of all, and business is conducted dishonestly.
Also visit http://structuralEconIssues.blogspot.com/ Read More »
What is apparent is that scandal, deception, and dishonestly are moving humanity towards an abyss of insecurity, tumult, and instability. A changing surface whereby economic and political dynamics are assisting in the evolution of a world that is neither silent nor hospitable to the individual. Only, the interests of "self" dominant on a sphere where influence and corruption are byproducts of moral debauchery - a debauchery that originally started seeping down through the cracks of the once representative governments. The ooze of "self" then covered every aspect of private life until once habitual non-confrontational social intercourse became infused with the goo of confrontational "self". Effective government and business cannot perpetuate when all interest exists for the sole benefit of "self". Society is no longer social, family is no longer familial, government is no longer impartial with an eye toward the betterment of all, and business is conducted dishonestly.
Also visit http://structuralEconIssues.blogspot.com/ Read More »
Gretchen wrote a post about John Bennett. Please keep it in the posts or write a new one when it falls off. We need to keep John surrounded with our electrons until we know he is ok!!!
(Explanation - your thoughts move electrons to make EEG machines move! If that can happen, your thoughts are VERY powerful! Make some waves toward John!
Link
(Explanation - your thoughts move electrons to make EEG machines move! If that can happen, your thoughts are VERY powerful! Make some waves toward John!
Link
I am a former pastor; and in one of my churches I learned from a member that he and his wife (who married before WW II) had to move into an apartment with another young married couple to be able to afford rent.
With Franklin Delano Roosevelt came a new America, a little bit more socialistic, perhaps, but also much more balanced between rich and poor. The rise of labor unions helped with this; and in my first 35 years of life I saw our middle class continue to grow. We had a great economy, lots of "extra" money, and even most of the poor were in much better shape than in the years prior to WW II.
Then came the "Reagan Revolution" and subsequent "busting" of labor unions like the Air Traffic Controllers, tax cuts for the rich, reduction of money in the budget for care for the mentally ill, and the list goes on. Bush I continued in the same way for the most part and even got us IN and OUT of Iraq with minimal damage. Bill Clinton helped create some more problems for the middle class and poor with things like NAFTA and the limits on "welfare." Then came our current president with even more cuts for social remedies and great tax cuts for the very rich.
We've seen airlines go bankrupt, Enron, and Blackwater in Iraq since then. We've seen this president get us into an illegal, immoral war. The list goes on to ad nauseum. Read More »
With Franklin Delano Roosevelt came a new America, a little bit more socialistic, perhaps, but also much more balanced between rich and poor. The rise of labor unions helped with this; and in my first 35 years of life I saw our middle class continue to grow. We had a great economy, lots of "extra" money, and even most of the poor were in much better shape than in the years prior to WW II.
Then came the "Reagan Revolution" and subsequent "busting" of labor unions like the Air Traffic Controllers, tax cuts for the rich, reduction of money in the budget for care for the mentally ill, and the list goes on. Bush I continued in the same way for the most part and even got us IN and OUT of Iraq with minimal damage. Bill Clinton helped create some more problems for the middle class and poor with things like NAFTA and the limits on "welfare." Then came our current president with even more cuts for social remedies and great tax cuts for the very rich.
We've seen airlines go bankrupt, Enron, and Blackwater in Iraq since then. We've seen this president get us into an illegal, immoral war. The list goes on to ad nauseum. Read More »
I suffer from clinical depression and sometimes even when you are working with doctors and therapist it can get away from you. This is one of the reason we need universal health care that include equal parity for mental health. We also need better understanding about these issues so that people who are suffering from them are not afraid to reach out to others. Read More »
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