U.S. fallen into ‘a recession of choice.’
By on Mar 20th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
U.S. fallen into ‘a recession of choice.’
The “well-respected” Economic Cycle Research Institute has been “reluctant to join the rising tide of economists arguing that the economy has fallen into a recession.” But today the economic forecasting firm changed course and said the economy is now in a “recession of choice.” ECRI managing director Lakshman Achuthan placed the blame on Congress and the Bush administration for acting too late. “If they had done all this in the fourth quarter, I think we’d be having a different discussion,” he said.
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“Recessions are not man made” — Reichsters
March 20th, 2008 at 3:34 pmGDumbya . . . acted too late? Oh, come on now. Just look at how this guy has been on top of things throughout his whole presi-dunce-y.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:35 pmI think 2mil is ahead of the game, by the way.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:36 pmIs that like a “war of choice”? Just askin’…
March 20th, 2008 at 3:37 pmWill the stimulus package have a vibrating effect?
March 20th, 2008 at 3:38 pmWhat does he know?
He is just an economist. And probably a liberal too.
/sarc off
March 20th, 2008 at 3:38 pmBig surprise- Bush is clueless and Congress is ball-less. Wake me up when something new happens…
March 20th, 2008 at 3:39 pm“Take, for example, John McCain’s admission that economics isn’t his thing. “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” he says. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”
His self-deprecating humor is attractive, as always. But shouldn’t we worry about a candidate who’s so out of touch that he regards Mr. Bubble, the man who refused to regulate subprime lending and assured us that there was at most some “froth” in the housing market, as a source of sage advice?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/opinion/14krugman.html
Oh well, maybe McCain can ask the Rothschilds for some economic advice while they’re counting the money they raised for him in London today. They can whisper in one ear while Lieberman whispers in his other ear.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:43 pm“If they had done all this in the fourth quarter, I think we’d be having a different discussion,” he said.
If Bush had fallen off the face of the earth before his second term, we’d be having a different discussion.
Don’t we wish…
March 20th, 2008 at 3:44 pmOf course it’s a “recession of choice”. It serves so many purposes of the right-wing that it’s scary.
Other than all but insuring that they lose the White House, that is.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:50 pmMore GOP willful ignorance….the economy is strong….the earth is 6,000 years old…..the surge is working….Tax cuts pay for themselves….deficits don’t matter….we will be greeted as liberators…ad nauseum
March 20th, 2008 at 3:50 pmgigi has a complete catalog of American made vibrators and sex toys for your pleasure, at http://www.gigigasm.com
March 20th, 2008 at 3:51 pm“An Open Letter to Sen. Barack Obama on the Subject of Faith”
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/an-open-letter-to-sen-barack-obama-on-the-subject-of-faith/
March 20th, 2008 at 3:52 pmWell, maybe they did nothing on purpose, to make it so Americans will take any job they can get, (or two jobs) at any wage they can get, it’s what Repukes call “making us competitive with child and slave labor over seas”. Nothing says profits more than having Americans working for 6 dollars a day.
Bush/Cheney
March 20th, 2008 at 3:54 pmHague Trials ‘09
Buckie Boy,
March 20th, 2008 at 4:02 pmBuck Fush?
Depends on what you spend it on.
Buy American.
Unfortunately I’m going to have to spend mine to pay off some lingering medical bills that were not paid for by my insurance.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:02 pmThey weren’t going to act sooner. They only started acting when the neocon-job buddies of theirs started losing money. Their globalization plan had to include destroying the world’s economy first.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:05 pmA recession of choice caused by a war of choice.
How poetic.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:05 pmDoes this sound like a great idea or what…government encourages banks to borrow billions and use junk (high risk loans) as collateral.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:51 pmhttp://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1724418,00.html?xid=feed-rss-netzero
Let’s see we’re running a 12 BILLION PER MONTH EXTRA-BUDGET DEFICIT have a an insane tax cut draining the Treasury, have transfered income from consumers to the wealthiest top of the heap and we wonder why the economy isn’t chugging along? We have uncoupled the engine from the economy and wonder why the train ain’t chugging up the mountain singing, “I think I can, I think I can, . . . !”
March 20th, 2008 at 5:19 pmHey, go easy on them. I CHOOSE to have my house reposessed. I CHOOSE to pay $4 a gallon for gas. I CHOOSE to not have enough money.
Choice is a great american value.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:21 pmPaulson’s Gift to His Bankster Buddies
One picture tells the whole story. It’s a photo of five grim looking men in gray suits staring ahead blankly like they were in the dock with Saddam awaiting sentencing. Every one of them looks downcast and dejected; shoulders rounded and jaws set. This is what desperation looks like, which is why the photo was kept off the front pages of the leading newspapers.
snip
The Plunge Protection Team is a panel that includes Fed Chairman Ben Bernankee, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, and acting Commodity Futures Trading Commission head Walter Lukken. According to John Crudele of the New York Post, the Plunge Protection Team’s (PPT) objective is to redirect the stock market by “”buying market averages in the futures market, thus stabilizing the market as a whole.”" In the event of a terrorist attack or a natural disaster, the group’s activities could play an extremely positive role in saving the market from an unnecessary meltdown. However, direct intervention into supposedly “free markets” is less defensible when it is merely a matter of saving an over-leveraged banking system from its inevitable Day of Reckoning. And, yet, that appears to be the reason for the White House confab; to buy a little more time before the final explosion.
snip
This may sound like technical gibberish geared for market junkies, but it is critical for understanding the gravity of what is really going on. The Fed’s rate cuts are not normalizing the lending between banks. In fact, the situation is actually deteriorating quite quickly. When banks don’t lend to each other (because they are worried about getting their money back) the wheels of capitalism grind to a halt. The banks are the essential conduit for providing credit to the broader economy. If there’s a slowdown in traffic, economic growth begins to slow immediatly. Presently, the banks are hoarding cash to cover the losses on their mortgage-backed investments and to shore up their skimpy capital reserves. As a result, consumer spending is sluggish and GDP is beginning to shrink.
final snip
So all it took was a little nudge from his banking cohorts for Paulson to swing into action and firm up the deal. That says it all. The interests of the American people were never even considered. It was all choreographed to bail out the financial industry. No wonder so many people believe that the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury are merely an extension of the banking establishment. The Bear bailout proves it.
http://blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5948
It’s a long article but well worth the read. It reinforces the fact that none of the financial help/assistance will go to the people who need it the most. Instead, those who foreswear “welfare systems” are standing in line with their mugs waiting for a handout from the feds.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:34 pmHey, I posted this in two threads earlier today, and 2 mil?
March 20th, 2008 at 5:45 pmBuy American. That way you’ll keep your money, since there is so little to buy.
Thanks for ruining the nation, Bush, and for 9/11, as always.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:59 pm#24 I went back and saw you did post a comment (#88) in ThinkFast. This has happened to me – often within the same thread! I think we get in such a hurry, we don’t read things through. Didn’t mean to “take away” from your posting. This, obviously, is a great read.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:03 pmNo where is the impact of looming recession and the near-meltdown on Wall Street clearer than on the White House web site. Just days ago, the site boasted about President Bush’s glorious stewardship of the U.S. economy. Now, the White House’s economy web page reflects the mad scramble to ward off the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system.
For the details, see:
March 20th, 2008 at 8:00 pm“White House Scrubs Web Site on the Economy.”
In the event of a terrorist attack or a natural disaster, the group’s activities could play an extremely positive role in saving the market from an unnecessarysohbet
March 28th, 2009 at 9:40 pmBedava mp3 indir
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meltdown. However, direct intervention into supposedly “free markets” is less defensible when it is merely a matter of saving an over-leveraged banking system from its inevitable Day of Reckoning.