Economic Signs Turn From Grim To Worse

[onehandle]

Source: Washington Post

On the eve of what is expected to be the clearest evidence yet of the nation's deepening recession, bad news rolled in from across the economy and the world.

Sales of new homes in December plummeted, corporations announced plans to cut 13,000 more U.S. jobs, unemployment claims jumped, and a troubled icon of U.S. manufacturing, Ford Motor, yesterday announced a massive loss.

Early this morning, the Japanese government announced that factory output had fallen 9.6 percent and that joblessness in the world's second-largest economy jumped to 4.4 percent, in the largest increase in 41 years.

The accelerating pattern of grim indicators has led up to a report scheduled for release this morning on U.S. economic performance in the final three months of last year. Many economists think the economy shrank by as much as a 6 percent annual rate -- that would be the worst quarter for the economy since 1982 -- and they see little potential for growth until later this year.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/29/AR2009012902248.html

[4dsc]

1. a long recession is called a depression...

Its only a matter of time before we have another GOP caused depression..

[Baby Snooks]

3. The depression has been here...

The depression arrived in the fall. The recession arrived in the spring.

Our fearless leaders in Congress of course hoped no one noticed while they poured almost a trillion dollars into Wall Street coffers hoping to "stimulate" the economy and apparently only "stimulated" the annual bonuses for the crooks with what they had left over from cooking the books some more.

Our fearless leader in the White House called $18 billion in bonuses shameful. Our fearless leader in the White House should have called the cops and reported a theft.

I am doing fundraising for two organizations. One a paid position, one a volunteer position. My rent will be late again. Suffice it to say the rich ain't rich anymore. Lots of other people's rents will be late.

Many positions I applied for in the fall were never filled. And they don't exist anymore.

I look at the second "stimulus" and get ill simply because it will not create jobs and I doubt it will "stimulate" the economy. As for tax credits, they don't help people who have no jobs and have no income and therefore owe no taxes to take the credit against. But it sounds good.

We have a president and a Congress who likes things that sound good. Never mind if they are good or will work. Sounds good is all that matters.

[Azlady]

7. Baby Snooks, thanks for your post, totally agree n/t

[OhioChick]

9. Well said and I agree with you 100%. n/t

[HughBeaumont]

2. So can we FINALLY end the "miracle" of Freidman Free Market economics?

Please?

Absolutely NOTHING about it makes ANY sense, yet we're still run by people who practice it aided and abetted by more than a few million useful idiots that believe it will work eventually.

It DOESN'T work.

A paradigm shift needs to happen; in all likelihood, it WILL happen, regardless of the whining by the McConnells, Marcuses and Boehners of the world.

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[bemildred]

5. How about "grave", can we call it "grave" yet?

We are still unwinding all of the Ponzi-scheme capitalism, and will be for some time yet.

[OhioChick]

6. K&R

:kick:

[uppityperson]

8. "Exxon Mobil shatters US record for annual profit " k&r for juxtapositioning.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3714501&mesg_id=3714501