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Jan 18, 2008, 22:16 GMT
Bush seeks emergency boost for US economy (Roundup)
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Older Talkback
I find it hilarious that you entitle one of your latest rants 'More imbecilic comments', pb. At least you weren't outright lying on that one.
Regardless, I wouldn't worry too much about the state of the economy; people like me will continue to pay for big blocks of cheese to go to people like you. Personally I think a short recession would be good and natural for the business cycle.
Seriously, you can downplay the economy all you want. (As you tried to do with our efforts in Iraq.) It isn't going to get Obama in to office. :-D
When I'm rich then I can be a Republican!
I Could not agree more!
Let's recap:
Hillary: voted to invade Iraq.
Now, how is she going to spin that one? Blame Bush? Good strategy except her sheeplike constituants have already forgiven her. Hell, to get a democrat, they'd run Osami Bin Laden!
Why would she do such a thing? Because she believed he had WMD's( he did)No, because she got Bush to get Saddam and then she could blame him for the war if it went bad. Otheriwise, these dems would have it at their backs.
Too bad we're winning...now, he gets to prattle on about troop withdrawls.
They thought they were so smart, offering Bush the bear trap. Dumb ol GW just figured all he needed to do was win in 04 so he said 'suuure!' and stepped right in. He won in 04, and they were flabbergasted. Hell, what were they thinking, he was out in 08! What does he care about the political ramifications??? He gets Saddam, the war goes on and he just goes to the next thing. He leaves the war fro the next person, and if it's a dem, THEY get to tell the american public the truth: we're not leaving.
He manages to get almost everything he wants in a so called democratically controlled Congress. At every turn, they roll over, on war funding, and just about everything else.
Who are the stupid one's now? Why, after this supposedly dumb assed president just outplayed them all to hell, would they want these lemons for a president? How did Bush manage to play all these supposedly smart political operators?
Simple.
He just sat back and let them do all the work for him. All the bullsh-t war resolutions, all the defunding talk, all the worthless votes, just played ino his hands. He has been one step ahead for 7 years, and the opposition has never got it right about this guy, not once.
So prattle on kids. Ol GW is going to be sipping java with Muther Sheehan in 12 months and Hirrary is going to need more than bundo's to make this war work for her.
Think about it: She'll be pimping it like Bush was just a year before!
Right now, you're just brainwashed.
Per Mort Zuckerman on McLaughlin; a very experienced man in financial matters:
We will have a recession second in impact to the Great Depression, which will last for over a year. Unemployment will rise to 7 percent, and interest rates will drop down to 3 percent or lower. No short-term action will help long-term; but Bush knows from nothing but glorified photo-ops anyway.
The current 'rebate' talk is irrelevant, because it does not change the fundamentals - the same fundamentals that this Administration has refused to deal with. One failure after another, to the theme music of the support of idiots.
Per Zuckerman, again - a sharp drop in home values yet to come, and over $500 billion in misvalued instruments (i.e. bad debt) sitting in the banks.
The lowering of credit rating on Ambac exposes many municipalities whose debt was insured by Ambac, and a few competitors. Certain institutions cannot, by charter, have less than AAA-rated investments in their portfolio. That means a sale at lower prices to other institutions, to make the yield (which is tax-free for Munis in many cases) more attractive.
That makes it harder for States and other jurisdictions to issue debt at low coupon rates, and will complicate financing of their deficits. New Jersey is looking to sell off the freeways to companies who would charge higher tolls, so that lands smack on the public. You will see more sales of U.S. infrastructure and companies to foreign ownership, as they have $5 trillion of our money to invest.
Bush has made all of this more complicated by driving up our debt and destabilizing the economy, most of which will happen after the dumbbell is back in Texas making speeches to bigots. Who pays for Iraq, and the health care of the vets?
Zuckerman was sanguine back in March, and now is a real bear:
www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/070311/19edit_2.htm
Bush is an imbecile with an overweening ego, and a Rasputin for Vice President.
Nice role model, craphead.
Hidden Dum-Dum we all gave up on long ago as giving a damn about the people of the country. After all, it's all about HIM - right?
Where did I diminish the importance of the economy? 'It's the economy, stupid' will be the mantra, taking the people's minds off Iraq for a change, while even a Conservative blonde bimbette on McLaughlin predicted that al Qaeda's influence in Pakistan is growing in their cities, and she predicted that Musharraf would lose control of the country.
'Victory', Bush-style. Leave it for everyone else to mop up the crap.
I'm afraid the USA is going to tumble in a recession which will have consequences for the entire world ,it being the biggest economy.If this crisis would be constricted to the most wealthy,I wouldn't give a rat's ass about it .It is know that 109 billions dollars in mortgage loans will never be paid back to the banks in the USA simply because house owners cannot cough up the money.the measures taken by Bush do not address this problem at all,given the trillion dollars of deficit there is simply no margin for tax cuts possible .The stock market's response to the measures introduced by Bush are indicative for his credo;they continue to tumble .
Even Napoleon knew that 'gouverner c 'est prevoir ' ,which translates into governing is foreseeing .Exactly there nothing has been done by the White House at all,the financial market was left in total liberty to do whatever it deemed necessary to maximize profits .It is only when they started losing big that Bush intervened .Not to protect the lower classes from losing their houses or their purchasing power ,but rather to cover the bankers for their misjudging the consequences of their risky loan policies.
I guess one of the first measures that need to be implicated is to cut some of the scandalous payments these irresponsible bankers reap from thiir jobs .Considering the crisis that shakes the foundations of the economy,is it normal that the CEO of a bank gets an end of the year bonus of 69 millions of dollars for 2007?
It is the disproportionate distribution of wealth in the USA which is partly responsible for the current crisis too.The lower classes have been standing in the rain during the Bush years,the prices of food and basic life necessities are booming since a few years .But Bush ,or rather the people that realy exercise power in the USa ,were too busy spending taxpayer's money on a useless war in Iraq,just to provide the sponsors of the republican party with super gains .Only LOckheed,Blackwater,Raytheon and the usual lot profit from a war.Everybody else loses .
These doomsayers don't realize we have one every 10 years.
Zuckerman thinks 7% unemployment is second to the great depression????? Hell, it's at 4.9 NOW!
The Great depression had 30% unemployment....
I think this proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that some of you are just-a-little-more-than-full of crap.
It defnintely looks like Bushie is having to admit the economy is heading straight down the tubes while he has been trying to play soldier games.
If things don't straighten out, why worry about other countries trying to destroy the U.S. - there won't be anything left to destroy. And why bother to try to get SP4 to see the light - his one-track mind is going full force, and he's not open to anything that goes against his god regardless of all the evidence to support it! Let him have his idol. When someone goes through a second childhood, they get testy and stubborn!
has dropped over 2000 pts in 3 months. Yeah, we're great shape.
RE: Zuckerman thinks 7% unemployment is second to the great depression????? Hell, it's at 4.9 NOW!
=======================
That was only ONE syndrome he listed; and a 7 percent unemployment rate understates the problem, jerk, because ONLY those still receiving unemployment benefits are counted in that statistic. Anyone who has benefits run out is no longer counted - that's what happened in 2001. Some freelanced or did off-the-books work, and the government did not collect taxes. The system is built so that anyone 'on the books' pays FICA until a cutoff level is reached, and also pays taxes - the incentive is that anyone 'on the books' is building S.S. credits, so if they lose the new job, they could potentially draw unemployment again.
The big problem is over $500 billion of bad debt at banks, and no one willing to take it from them. Your mortgage may well be owned by someone OTHER than the original lending institution, so no one really knows who will take the writeoff in case of foreclosure.
www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jan2008/db20080117_873508. htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5
'Bernanke now admits falling home prices, higher-than-expected energy costs, and a weak stock performance are expected to drag down U.S. growth this year. Consumer spending is falling, and the unemployment rate edged up by a 'disappointing' 0.3 percentage points in December, to 5.0%, while new jobs declined. The Fed chairman acknowledged the central bank has 'consistently underestimated' the impact of rising oil prices and other commodities on the U.S. economy.'
Retail sales will remain down, suppressed by home heating bills as well as pump gasoline prices
(Remember when Bush Sr. did his part by buying a pair of socks, and was surprised at the electronic cash registers?)
seekingalpha.com/article/60772-prepare-for-a-multi-year-decline-in-cons umer-spending
The weak results of the holiday shopping season have set the stage for a dismal 2008 for retailers, or rather, holiday season results have forced the retail sector to confront realities around consumers who find themselves financially squeezed. Many retailers, analysts and trade associations were significantly more optimistic a few months back and now have a rather dour outlook for 2008.
The National Retail Federation [NRF] held its annual conference in NYC this week and the predictions from the various analysts in attendance were all rather dire. The CEO of WSL Strategic Retail even went so far as to say that the current situation amounts to “anarchy”; Deloitte provided similarly dour predictions, however they noted that retailers with exposure to overseas emerging markets should be able to offset declining sales in the U.S. The usually optimistic NRF predicts weak sales in 2008 noting that retail sales are likely to rise at their slowest pace in six years; considering that the NRF is usually rather optimistic it could mean that retail sales could be far worse than they expect.
Luxury retailers are seeing a pullback in spending, as retailers such as Nordstrom, Saks and Neiman Marcus all saw tepid sales during the holiday shopping season. American Express (is seeing a decline in card usage as well as an increase in card delinquencies, and Tiffany is seeing lower spending within its U.S. stores. The slowdown in luxury spending is probably due (primarily) to the removal of the “wealth effect” caused by the booming housing market and consumer credit bubble. In other words, consumers aren’t as able to use credit cards and HELOCs to spend above their income level. However I do suspect that some upper income households are tightening their purse strings, as they weren’t immune to abusing mortgages and other forms of credit.
(Lost equity as well as buying power also affects home remodelers. Some owners may choose to remodel cheaply rather than trading up to a larger home, but it still impacts the homebuilding industry, along with the furniture and large-appliance sectors, who enjoy sales to those buying new homes. Auto sales are already depressed, along with luxury goods. What's left, besides the staples that Wal-Mart or Target sells? Meanwhile, Sears is going through a re-org, after having profits battered)
www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/business/08borrow.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5089& en=66843b4729553708&ex=1352178000&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
But now, in an ominous portent for the national economy, Mr. Whittey has grown tight with his money. His home is worth far less than it was a year ago, and his equity has evaporated. And like many other involuntary adopters of a newly economical lifestyle, he can borrow no more. “It used to be that if I wanted it, I’d just go and buy it and finance it,” Mr. Whittey, 33, said. “I’m feeling the crunch, and my spending is down significantly.”
The Whitteys and others like them are at the center of deepening worries that the economy is headed for a substantial slowdown, possibly even a recession, as the artery of cash from Americans borrowing against the value of their homes has sharply narrowed.
“Everybody was basically using their house as an A.T.M. machine,” said Dave Simonsen, a senior vice president for NAI Alliance, an industrial real estate firm in Reno. “Now they are upside down on their house without that piggy bank to go back to.”
'We will have a recession second in impact to the Great Depression, which will last for over a year.'
LOL! Second in impact to the 'great depression' eh? (1929-1941) yet it will last all of a year! I guess that means we have only had 2 recessions in the USA's history? Well no, that isn't the case so I guess that means you are an ignoramus.
'Unemployment will rise to 7 percent, and interest rates will drop down to 3 percent or lower.'
gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/11/bush-unemplyment-rate-bests-clinton. html
' Bush Unemployment Rate Bests Clinton Years
Don't expect to see this in the MSM headlines any time soon...
Despite inheriting the Clinton Recession and managing through the corporate scandals and the 9-11 attacks that crippled the US economy, the average monthly unemployment rate during the Bush years now bests the Clinton years:'
'The current 'rebate' talk is irrelevant, because it does not change the fundamentals - '
Well, there shouldn't be one then....
'That makes it harder for States and other jurisdictions to issue debt at low coupon rates, and will complicate financing of their deficits. '
Good, they should cut waste. (The whole point of a downturn in the business cycle)
' New Jersey is looking to sell off the freeways to companies who would charge higher tolls, so that lands smack on the public. '
Serves them right for living in New Jersey.
'Hidden Dum-Dum we all gave up on long ago as giving a damn about the people of the country.'
Not at all, YOU are the one who had passionately argued for a US defeat in the middle east so you could have the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so'. (By the way, I TOLD YOU SO) You are the idiot who has compared the terrorists in Iraq to the minutemen in our revolution. You are the flipfloopper who changes his mind on positions on a minute by minute basis in order to take a stab at your scapegoat. You have shown nothing but contempt and disdain for the USA and our political process. Get the hell out of my country you moron.
'Where did I diminish the importance of the economy? '
Had you bothered to read what I wrote you wouldn't have asked that.
'while even a Conservative blonde bimbette on McLaughlin predicted that al Qaeda's influence in Pakistan is growing in their cities'
Well then, we should invade Pakistan.... Oh wait, you are against that, but you used to be for that, before you were against it, before you were for it.... Idiot...
'has dropped over 2000 pts in 3 months. Yeah, we're great shape.'
Well, you should have bought Apple computer... Too late now, sucks to be you!
:-D
'Remember when Bush Sr. did his part by buying a pair of socks, and was surprised at the electronic cash registers'
Nope, none of us are obsessive compulsive like you.
'Homeowners feel the lost equity'
Yup, it is a business cycle... Last time around it was the tech-stock bubble that popped, this time real estate, next energy, probably. You expect Bush to stop people from buying things they can't afford? Probably.
'
“Everybody was basically using their house as an A.T.M. machine,” said Dave Simonsen, '
Gee, not a smart idea, is it? I blame the Clinton's for deregulating the banks... Actually, to be serious, I blame those cashing in false equity and the greedy banks that let them.
(While the headlines have been focused on the economy and primaries, the situation in Iraq continues to be both miserable and expensive, with daily reports of violence continuing, even Shia against Shia. Subtract al Qaeda, and the resident sectarians will try to kill one another)
news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1387662.php/At_leas t_22_killed_in_Iraq_violence_90_suspects_held__Roundup_
A US military spokesman, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, told reporters that 18 security offensives launched as part of the Operation Phantom Phoenix have led to the arrest of 121 gunmen and 1,023 suspects and the discovery of 350 weapons caches in northern Baghdad. At least 50 gunmen enter Iraq monthly from Syria and Saudi Arabia, which marks a drop from about 100 last year, VOI quoted Smith as saying. Smith attributed the drop in the number of infiltrators to an increase in the number of checkpoints set up by Syria and Saudi Arabia on their borders with Iraq.
Al-Qaeda fighters have increased their presence in the northern Nineveh province because of its proximity to Syria where they are still getting help, Smith explained. About Iranian influence in Iraq, Smith said the US was trying to understand more about Iran-sponsored smuggling of weapons and training of Shiite militias and its financial support to them.
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/iraq/2004135060_iraq20.html
Tensions rise between Shiites, al-Sadr
BAGHDAD — A police raid Saturday on an extremist Shiite Muslim mosque thought to be the headquarters of an extremist cult capped a weekend of violence in Southern Iraq, while elsewhere tensions between Iraq's Shiite-led government and renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continued to escalate.
Iraq's national-security adviser said he was briefly taken hostage Saturday in a Baghdad mosque and implied that his captors were al-Sadr supporters. Mowaffak al-Rubaie was released only after intervention by Iraq's interior minister, who oversees the police.
The Bush ass-wipers are out in force today ...
(Other countries are not stepping up to help with reconstruction, so this will be more expense for the American taxpayers down the road).
www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSCOL838278
BAGHDAD, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Electricity cuts that blacked out Iraq's northern oilfields and main refinery this week were a timely reminder that its hopes of boosting oil production rest on something it does not have -- a dependable power supply. Iraq has managed to sustain production of around 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), but levels were close to 3 million bpd before the U.S.-led war on Iraq in March 2003.
While sabotage attacks have constantly interrupted the country's attempts to increase oil production, power cuts are nearly as detrimental. The latest major disruption was on Wednesday, when Iraq's largest refinery at Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, was shut down by a power cut.
Iraq has also stopped pumping crude oil from its northern Kirkuk oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan after the main power station feeding the fields ran out of refined fuel.
www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10183375.html
Baghdad: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki is facing discontent as residents blame the government for the lack of electricity, fuel and water.
'Where's the kerosene and the water?' asked Amjad Kazim, a 56-year-old eastern Baghdad resident. 'We hear a lot of promises but we see nothing.' Little kerosene is available on the state-run market at the subsidized price of $0.14 a litre. At the black market, it goes for more than $1 a litre–more than what the average Iraqi can afford.
'I have had no electricity for a week, and I cannot afford to buy it from neighbourhood generators,' said Hamdiyah Subeih, a 42-year-old resident of Baladiyat district. Electricity supply in Iraq is sparse and unavailable for days in many areas and on only after a few hours daily on average, residents say.
...the economy is cyclical. We all know this, don't you? What did you think, people were going to spend ever more, pay higher and higher prices for real estate? For stocks? For commodities? What world DO you live in? Bush has had record employment, tax receipts, low inflation and historic high household wealth for most of his term.
This is all coming to a stop.
Do any of you live in the USA? We have a slowdown every 10 years or so. Here's the part you're really going to hate:
It's over for Bush! Anything he does, won't work until AFTER the election, making it the next guys problem! He's going to make noise about it and maybe get the tax cuts made permenent, but othetr than that, he's doing nothing.
Yep, the dems greenlighted this war, just like the repubs and now they want it wrapped up before 08, something Bush will never do. They got ol GW to get saddam for them, and then thought they could use the war to unseat him in 04.
How'd that work out for the dems????
No, OL GW just called their bluff, getting them to vote for it before they voted against it, and the dem sheep:????
They forgot all about Hillary backing this lemon! Heck, she's one of the war protesters now! Golly! Whooo knew?
Yep, OL GW just doubled down and now, the war is looking pretty optimistic, with more democracy in Iraq than in Pakistan!
All of this added some real money to the national debt, and I'd be the first to ask just what the benefits are supposed to be, but Hillary and Kerry and the rest HAD THAT opportunity 5 years ago, didn't they? And what did they do? They played presidential politics and spent a trillion to get into office, but failed.
So, go home, sit in a chair, pour a cool drink and realize the reason your rectum hurts is because these folks bent you over and stuck it in just like Bush did to them!
Once the McLaughlin transcripts are up on Web, I can extract his comments precisely. They extended beyond a sentence or two, and bear in mind this is from someone who 6 months ago thought the risk of recession a minor problem.
The panel was in agreement that Bush and the Fed should have acted faster - that's the recurring theme of this miserable Presidency, from Katrina on down. I call him the 'Late President Bush', because he always waits for problems to take hold before doing anything. Remember when he wanted to wait until the State of the Union to lay out policy, which would then require several months to pass and enact?
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