Even WSJ writes: 'Dearth of Demand Seen Behind Weak Hiring'

[flpoljunkie]

Emphasis mine

THE OUTLOOK
JULY 18, 2011

Dearth of Demand Seen Behind Weak Hiring

BY PHIL IZZO

The main reason U.S. companies are reluctant to step up hiring is scant demand, rather than uncertainty over government policies, according to a majority of economists in a new Wall Street Journal survey.

"There is no demand," said Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics. "Businesses aren't confident enough, and the longer this goes on the harder it is to convince them that they should be."

In the survey, conducted July 8-13 and released Monday, 53 economists—not all of whom answer every question—were asked the main reason employers aren't hiring more readily. Of the 51 who responded to the question, 31 cited ...

Subscribers only: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303661904576452181063763332.html

[mdmc]

1. the working class is being crushed - no wonder there is scant demand

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Well, duh.

Any of us could have told them that a long time ago.

[flpoljunkie]

4. No Republicans have cited a lack of demand as the problem. They lie, cite business 'uncertainty.'

[Cherchez la Femme]

8. The president himself talked about 'giving

companies the confidence they need'

[annabanana]

3. I'm sure the beltway is shocked..SHOCKED!

I have never seen such a crowd of willfully ignorant boobs.

[Qutzupalotl]

5. Demand, not tax policy, creates jobs.

And as to uncertainty, only the Republican side ever floated the idea of letting the U.S. default.

[Fearless]

6. Our free trade agreements need to be balanced with what is really going on.

Sure it is nice to think that we should have free trade, but if the tables are balanced against us (cheap foreign labor) then it kills the American economy. We need a free trade affirmative action plan to balance the tables.

[July16th-20th]

7. Kick!

This should be read.

[Cherchez la Femme]

9. Yet they don't take it to the next step:

that there is a dearth of expendable income.

That there is a dearth of expendable income because wages are low.


How they can expect low wages and high sales to coexist is beyond me, these brilliant John Galts...


...if only they WOULD go to the gulch

and stay there.

[Peacetrain]

10. Where the largest job losses are.. are in the public sector jobs..

that is the republican plan to keep job recovery from happening.. private sector jobs have grown.. even last month when it was an 18,000 gain.. there were over 150,000 private sector jobs that increased.. the reason there was only an 18,000 gain was because of the losses in the public sector

[OhioBlue]

12. exactly n/t

[uponit7771]

17. Teapublican governers wont accept stimulus funds

[FlyByNight]

11. I see they have a knack for the obvious

Prolonged 9%+ (official) unemployment will do that.

[DCBob]

13. Yet the Republicans keep saying over and over that its fear of fed policies.

and they get away with it over and over. It seems our side and the media is reluctant to correct them.. and I dont know why.

Another lie they keep getting away with is the notion that cutting tax loopholes for big business will hurt jobs while making massive cuts to social programs will somehow help with jobs. That is such bogus non-sense but the media and many Democrats dont seem to want to challenge them on this. It makes your hair hurt sometimes.

[Cali_Democrat]

14. Yes indeed!

[Bake]

15. Wh do they think is going to buy their shit when jobs suck so bad?

And they're outsourcing them right and left?

It would help if they could manage to see beyond this quarter's earnings estimates. Dumb fucking shits.

Hire people here, and maybe we can afford to buy the shit you produce overseas! Fucking idiots.

Bake

[whosinpower]

16. Good lord

Finally - some talk of sense.

I AM a small business owner. I can't help but wonder if President Obama has somehow gotten himself thoroughly insulated from the real - aka - main street world.

They had to take a SURVEY to figure this out?!? It is as obvious as the nose on your head.

The current crisis is one of CONFIDENCE.

Talk of Austerity - the condition that we see the UK going through witht their austerity measures, the Arab spring, the Iceland, Ireland, Greece problems - have all completely sapped or tapped out confidence.

There are two things, we, expect after two wars, and a blow up of the financial giants of Wall Street. WE expect austerity measures to pay back what we have spent. WE EXPECT IT. We are BRACING OURSELVES FOR IT. And that, along with less cash in our pockets leads to a weak growth.

Austerity does the exact opposite in regards to confidence. IT ERODES it even further. Nowhere in these deficit talks is ANYONE forcing the issue of high unemployment. No one is talking about a JOB CREATION bill. No one is talking about rebuilding America's infrastructure. Oh, we hear about the creation of an infrastructure bank - but the investment in such is a joke. They gave 700 BILLION in aid to the banks for their treachery....and they will contribute a few billion to the infrastructure bank. Give me a break.

Now, we have a democratic president who has put SS and medicare on the table of deficit reduction talks. If any bill passes with cuts to either - I guarentee you, the economy will grind to a halt and become a deep depression. Cutting SS and medicare might warm the hearts of fascists, but it will do nothing to encourage customers to consume, and businesses will continue to feel the squeeze, and they will not hire, and government revenues will continue to fall.