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Jan 4, 2008, 22:16 GMT
Bush expresses concern on US economy
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In the final year of his Presidency, and with Congress tied up fixing the bill for war funds that he pocket-vetoed, Bush cannot contribute anything to the progress of the American economy. This is the usual 'response photo-op' to a problem with no solution from the White House.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqz8NTw6DVWo&refer=home
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Hiring in the U.S. slowed more than forecast in December and unemployment jumped to a two-year high, raising the odds that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by half a point this month to ward off a recession.
Payrolls rose by 18,000, capping the worst year for job creation since 2003, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate increased to 5 percent from 4.7 percent in November, while the Institute for Supply Management said growth in U.S. service industries cooled last month.
Excluding a gain in government jobs, payrolls fell last month for the first time since July 2003, hurt by losses in manufacturing, construction and the retail industry.
``This tells you that the strains from credit problems and so forth that have been developing the last six months are starting to bite and they're biting in a way that now finally draws consumption into question,'' said Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse Group Inc. in New York.
www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dollar-extends-losses-disappointing-ism/ story.aspx?guid=%7B2FDC8282-8283-4A71-B455-FA43D7F3B453%7D
The dollar extended losses against most major rivals Wednesday, plunging against the yen after the Institute of Supply Management said the U.S. factory sector contracted in December, crude-oil futures hit $100 a barrel for the first time and minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed little opposition to an interest rate cut. The minutes 'suggested that the Fed remains concerned about the economic outlook, with members agreeing that the housing correction could be deeper and more prolonged than originally anticipated,' said Matthew Strauss, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets. 'The minutes leave the door wide open to further cuts, he said, adding that RBC expects the Fed funds rate to fall to 3.75% by the end of the first quarter.
Financial institutions realize that their mortgage holdings, plus the paper backed by mortgages, do not reflect current real estate values. There will be many interest rate hikes coming in 2008 on existing mortgages, and more defaults, and in many cases the banks sold the mortgages to others - so many people do not even know who holds their paper.
Based on many commonly accepted indicators, the nation is already sliding into recession - the last thing that GOP incumbents want to hear, facing funding for Iraq one more time.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aROBkKxFM.RM&refer=home
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy may be on the verge of -- or already in -- a recession, based on the increase in 2007's unemployment rate, economists said.
The jobless rate rose to 5 percent in December, the highest in two years. The figure was 0.6 percentage point higher than March's 4.4 percent, which was the lowest reading of the expansion that began at the end of 2001.
``Since 1949 the unemployment rate has never risen by this magnitude without the economy being in recession,'' John Ryding, chief U.S. economist at Bear Stearns Cos. in New York, said in a note to clients. ``We now put ourselves on recession watch.''
...knock yourself out!
Granted, you hit historic all-time lows in unemployment, record tax receipts, historic high houseold wealth and low inflation, but staggering commodity prices, outsourced everything and 30 years of industrial destruction from a series of foolish presidents and a blind Congress cannot sustain us forever!
We've done our part GW. Yu have lot's to be proud of but like your predecessors, you're leaving it for the next guy.
...knock yourself out!
Granted, you hit record low's in unemployment, record highs in tax receipts, record houseold wealth and job creation, and record lows in inflation
but
After 30 year of destruction to our industrial base, outsourced everything, and rampant anti-business climate, the party's coming to an end.
Try not to leave it for the next guy, I think they are New Dealers...maybe we can get Obama to pass another free trade pact!
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
(Now we know where Rush's drug stash ended up)
Thanks to GWB, the National Debt has expanded from 5.7 trillion to over 9 trillion, and we face a total final cost for the war in Iraq of over 1.3 trillion. Add to that lost earnings potential of those who were serving multiple tours, rather than working at home with their families and paying taxes. Add to that future costs of expanding the V.A. to care for the severely wounded.
Bush took credit for improvement via tax cuts, but the REAL boost came from Greenspan's rate cuts, leading to the ability of U.S. industry to borrow at low rates for expansion - ALSO, and importantly, the TRILLIONS of dollars from home mortgage refinancing, FAR MORE than the puny amounts of tax cuts that filtered down to the bottom 95 percent of earners.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$1.49 billion per day since September 29, 2006!
China's economy is growing far more rapidly than ours, and that puts demand pressure on oil prices. Bush's trade policies have done more for other countries than for us. In the 6 years of GOP majority, Congressional spending ran far ahead of any earlier Administration, and he vetoed NOTHING. NOW, he complains about earmarks, because it's a Democratic majority.
americanresearchgroup.com/economy/
December 20, 2007
71% of Americans Disapprove of George W. Bush's Handling of the Economy
While 66% of Americans disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job overall, 71% of Americans say they disapprove of the way Bush is handling the economy according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.
Among all Americans, 32% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 66% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 28% approve and 71% disapprove.
Among Americans registered to vote, 31% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 66% disapprove. When it comes to the way Bush is handling the economy, 27% of registered voters approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 72% disapprove.
While Bush's overall approval among Republicans is at 65% (67% in November), 51% of Republicans approve and 45% of Republicans disapprove of the way Bush is handling the economy. In November, 70% of Republicans approved of the way Bush was handling the economy and 25% disapproved.
www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10431059
Mr Bush has little going for him in 2008. Only one in three Americans thinks that he is doing a good job. Almost all of his closest political advisers have decamped. Congress is determined to get its revenge and block anything that he sends it. And in reality he has much less than a year to play with. Congress leaves for its summer break in August (thereafter it will do little but pass appropriations bills). If the Republican Party chooses a champion in the next couple of months, he will to some extent cede the leadership of his party; if it fails to choose a champion, as many people are now speculating, the country will be agog at the prospect of a party convention at which the nomination is still up for grabs. Mr Bush's last chance to command the national spotlight may come as soon as the state-of-the-union address on January 28th.
And, with his power ebbing, he faces a mountain of problems at home and abroad. The economy is softening. A wave of foreclosures is damping consumer spending and spreading anger. The fires of populism are burning ever more brightly. There are widespread calls for a stimulus package to revive the economy.
More than most presidents, Mr Bush is also a hostage to foreign events over which he has little control. The current implosion in Pakistan is just one more reminder of the instability of the greater Middle East. If the surge continues to be successful, Mr Bush will have some reason for self-congratulation; if it falters and fails, he will leave office a broken man.
www.house.gov/budget_democrats/analyses/08The_Bush_Economy_FINAL.pdf
This economy has left many American workers and families behind. nder this Administration, unemployment has risen, job creation has been ow, the real income of a typical family has actually fallen, and national aving has declined. As energy and health-care costs rise, it is becoming arder for families to make ends meet.
Republican fiscal policies have made the problems worse, by financing tax uts for the most fortunate with an explosion of the debt–owed in large part to foreign investors–while chipping away at funding for education, healthcare, and other investments critical to the strength of the U.S. economy.
Jobs Have Become Harder To Find — The economy, which created more than 200,000 jobs er month between 1993 and 2000, has averaged only 72,000 new jobs a month since 2001 –only about half the pace needed to keep up with the growth of the working-age population. This weak job market has left over 900,000 more workers unemployed and increased long-term unemployment by 65 percent. The manufacturing sector has been particularly hard hit, with a loss of 3 million jobs.
American workers are more productive than ever, but they are not benefitting much from their increased output. Productivity has grown robustly since 2001, yet the real income of a typical family has fallen by almost $1,300.
Was anybody ever been able to explain to George, in simple words, what an economy is?
www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm
Under President Clinton the growth in debt ceased, but note the radical change in direction since George W. Bush entered office. There is no question and a lot of mathematical proof that the steepest upward rises in debt since the end of World War II, started with President Reagan and continued with other so called Neo-Conservatives.
Unbiased mathematical proof exists to support the claim that since 1945, Republican presidents have borrowed more than Democratic presidents regardless of the inflation rate.
Since 1938 the Democrats have held the White house for 35 years, the Republicans for 34. Over that time the national debt has increased at an average annual rate of 8.7%. In years Democrats were in the White House there was an average increase of 8.3%. In years the Republicans ran the White House the debt increased an average 9.7% per year. Those averages aren’t that far apart, but they do show a bias toward more borrowing by Republicans than Democrats even including World War II.
If you look at the 59-year record of debt since the end of WWII, starting with Truman’s term, the difference between the two parties’ contributions to our national debt level change considerably. Since 1946, Democratic presidents increased the national debt an average of only 3.2% per year. The Republican presidents stay at an average increase of 9.7% per year. Republican Presidents out borrowed and spent Democratic presidents by a three to one ratio. Putting that in very real terms; for every dollar a Democratic president has raised the national debt in the past 59 years Republican presidents have raised the debt by $2.99.
At no time since 1945 when Republicans have been in total charge of both elected branches of government have they reduced spending. They talk about it a lot, but they never deliver.
It does not matter if you call it a war or an occupation, supporting Iraq is expensive. It just boggles the imagination of any fiscally responsible person that the Republican Congress and President have repeatedly cut taxes during this overly aggressive and very expensive era for our military. The nation is borrowing money so that the we can spend more on our military than all the other nations on Earth combined, and still the Neo-Cons are calling for even more tax cuts and even more military spending.
Mr. Bush is constantly claiming that the economy is great! What he leaves out is that he is buying that simulated good economy with his borrowed dollars; it is a false economy that could very well crash the minute the borrowing stops, yet for the sake of our future it must stop.
When President Bush II came into office in 2001 he quickly turned all that progress around. With the help of a Republican controlled Congress he immediately gave a massive tax cut based on a failed economic policy; perhaps an economic fantasy describes it better. The last year Mr. Clinton was in office the nation borrowed 18 billion dollars. The first year Mr. Bush II was in office he had to borrow 133 billion[8]. The first tax cut Bush pushed through a willing Republican Congress caused an upswing in government borrowing that was supposed to stimulate the economy, but two years later Bush had to push through yet another tax cut. The second tax cut was needed because it was clear that the first one did not work. Economic history tells us the second did not work either.
As a result of all his tax cutting with no cutting in spending, in 2003 President Bush set a record for the biggest single yearly dollar increase in debt in the nation’s history. He did it again in 2004, increasing the debt more than half a trillion dollars. Since 2003 total borrowing has exceeded $500,000,000,000 per year. Even Mr. Reagan never increased the debt that much in a single year; Mr. Reagan’s biggest increase was only 282 billion, half of GWB’s outrageous spending. As a result of the fact that the debt was already pretty high when Bush II entered office, his annual rate of increase is only averaging 7% per year so far. In 2006 he was holding press conferences bragging that the debt was increasing at the rate of only 300 billion dollars a year, yet in reality it was twice that. Again the facts do not match Neo-Con rhetoric.
Of course 7% growth is a misleading figure as it does not make clear that by so drastically increasing the total debt, the amount of the annual US budget dedicated to service the debt has grown to over 20%.
What a shame, a man that probably cannot even balance his own check book is in charge of trying to clean up in less than 1 year what took him 7 years to create. Good luck!
Aaaah yes, the Democrats lost on Afghanistan and Iraq and now are going to try and turn it into a referendum on the economy.
LOL!
If you are not getting rich there is something seriously wrong with you, perhaps you are spending too much time on the internet whining about Bush.
But hey, the Democrat congress has done something to 'boost' the economy... Oh wait, they haven't. As a matter of fact their ONLY accomplishment has been to increase minimum wage. Laudable perhaps, but it comes at the price of a small percentage increase in the unemployment figures.
Unemployment is STILL not what it was at the end of the Clinton administration BTW, and that is when we had $11 a barrel oil as a result of Bush Sr.s first gulf war.
You can blame the legislative logjam on the GOP, which threatens a filibuster every time legislation is put forward. The topper was Bush pocket-vetoing the very bill that he asked for.
The nation will only move forward out of this mess by electing a Democratic President, and along with him/her, a blowout of the fossils in Congress who have supported the mess of the past 7 years along party lines.
LOL = Loser On the Loose
www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm
Since 1938 the Democrats have held the White house for 35 years, the Republicans for 34. Over that time the national debt has increased at an average annual rate of 8.7%. In years Democrats were in the White House there was an average increase of 8.3%. In years the Republicans ran the White House the debt increased an average 9.7% per year. Those averages aren’t that far apart, but they do show a bias toward more borrowing by Republicans than Democrats even including World War II.
If you look at the 59-year record of debt since the end of WWII, starting with Truman’s term, the difference between the two parties’ contributions to our national debt level change considerably. Since 1946, Democratic presidents increased the national debt an average of only 3.2% per year. The Republican presidents stay at an average increase of 9.7% per year. Republican Presidents out borrowed and spent Democratic presidents by a three to one ratio. Putting that in very real terms; for every dollar a Democratic president has raised the national debt in the past 59 years Republican presidents have raised the debt by $2.99.
At no time since 1945 when Republicans have been in total charge of both elected branches of government have they reduced spending. They talk about it a lot, but they never deliver.
Seeing our jobs move overseas was not a factor in 2001, and the manufacturing sector was still alive and kicking. Bush's job numbers have come basically from service jobs, which pay considerably less - as well as Government's own hiring. Now we import goods from overseas, send dollars overseas in return, and then Bush finances the war with the very same dollars. I'd suggest, assuming you're even capable of reading something other than Newsmax, looking into the rise of sovereign funds. The hike in oil prices, and China in competition for oil supplies, only raises the stakes.
news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1384762.php/China_ says_its_advance_on_Central_America_is_"irreversible'
'The Republic of China is increasing its ties with Central America with a view to establishing diplomatic relations with all countries in the region, Chinese ambassador to Costa Rica Wang Xiaoyuan said Friday.'
www.reuters.com/article/managerViews/idUSORM63499820071206
'SEC's Cox sounds warning bells on sovereign funds'
Now China and other countries can produce and engineer goods, and Ford just lost second place to Toyota.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aAyvk4noY1b0&refer=home
Year-end sales reports yesterday showed Toyota taking the No. 2 U.S. spot held by Ford since 1931. Ford, which hasn't finished third or lower since 1905, also said it expects lower industrywide sales in the first half.
The economy, which created more than 200,000 jobs per month between 1993 and 2000, has averaged only 72,000 new jobs a month since 2001 – only about half the pace needed to keep up with the growth of the working-age population.
www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/05econ.html
The unemployment rate surged to 5 percent in December as the economy added a meager 18,000 jobs, the smallest monthly increase in four years, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
Economists viewed the report as the most powerful indication to date that the United States could well be falling into a recessionary downturn. Evidence of widening unemployment heightened anticipation that the Federal Reserve would further cut interest rates this month, perhaps by an unusually large half a percentage point, in a bid to prevent the economy from sliding into the muck.
“This is unambiguously negative,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “The economy is on the edge of recession, if we’re not already engulfed in one.”
Everyone has this figured out by now - Bush screws up, so it's everyone else's fault. This is the tired litany of the LOLosers.
Try making a direct case for what Bush is (not) getting done, for a change. You have a choice of upcoming useless photo-ops - the State of the Union where he'll suggest another tax cut in the face of a recession, or a visit to the Mideast where nothing will be accomplished.
No one listens to Bush anymore, and no one listens to his acolytes, either. Al Qaeda has added Algeria to their to-do list, and is busy trying to knock off the Sunni in Iraq standing against them.
www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html?ref=middleeast< br />
Meanwhile, al-Maliki resents the attention being paid to the Sunni.
www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/world/middleeast/04iraq.html?em&ex=119959560 0&en=4eee44cdf4c888cf&ei=5087%0A
'While the rise of these groups has been the most promising development for the American military, the partnership has drawn deep skepticism from the Shiite-dominated central government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The Shiites fear the Americans have created an armed parallel force that one day could turn against the official Iraqi security forces, which are dominated by Shiites and Kurds. Last month, the government declared that it would eventually disband the groups, though it has said it would integrate some members into the official security forces.'
Not good news for the GOP in an election year; but perhaps they can explain how the National Debt grew so significantly since 2001. Just go to Google news and enter Bush and recession, and stand back.
www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/01/04/afx4495952.html
The chances of a recession in the US economy are likely above 50 pct after this morning's employment report, said Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein.
He was already predicting a 50/50 chance before today's report, but now 'I'm probably over, I'm probably over,' he told Thomson Financial News on the sidelines of the American Economics Association meeting here.
Feldstein said he was 'not expecting' a 5 pct reading on the unemployment rate. 'It says that consumer confidence will be weaker, that household income will be lower, it says that consumer spending won't grow as fast, so I think it increases the risk of very slow growth or an actual downturn in 2008,' he said.
(Leave it to Fox News to disinter this coffin)
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319728,00.html
NORFOLK, Va. — Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson predicted Wednesday that 2008 will be a year of violence worldwide and a recession in the United States, followed by a major stock-market crash by 2010.
Sharing what he believes God has told him about the year ahead is an annual tradition for Robertson.
It's Bush's fault that you are a loser.
Riiiiight.
why would bush be concerned he's the one who wreck the economy.
remember when this ashole said there will be poor people in america?
well thats what is happening .only the rich will prevail like him.
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