Home › Forums › Financial Markets/Economics › Do you feel the economy getting better?
- This topic has 124 replies, 32 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 8 months ago by
paramount.
-
AuthorPosts
-
February 13, 2012 at 8:42 AM #737838February 13, 2012 at 9:19 AM #737843
scaredyclassic
ParticipantI come from a long family line of periodically sad people, some of us much worse than others. Booze is not the answer.
Lots of exercise sometimes takes some of the deep sadness off of it and leaves you like a tired dog.
I know it passes eventually.
February 13, 2012 at 9:21 AM #737845ParticipantHugs don’t help.
Nothing much helps.
I forgot why on the he’ll I would want to lift weights while lifting a few days ago.
February 13, 2012 at 9:33 AM #737848Navydoc
ParticipantGod I can’t wait until I can buy wine in a supermarket again. Being a lush in Maryland is so damn hard.
February 13, 2012 at 10:21 AM #737856no_such_reality
Participant[quote=sdrealtor]Can we at least say things arent getting worse?[/quote]
No.
And no I’m not being cynical or anti Obama. His budget proposal just came out, another $900 billion of debt.
Insanity as at current revenues, president Bill Clinton’s last budget when increased by inflation and population WOULD BE BALANCED!
Actually it would have somewhere in the $50 to $100k billion surplus.
So no it’s not getting better. Our spending is speeding is toward Greek status.
February 13, 2012 at 10:25 AM #737860poorgradstudent
ParticipantWell, Greece passed its austerity bill. Obviously Europe isn’t out of the woods, but the current outcome is superior to a Greek Default or Greece leaving and destabilizing the Euro. The debt crisis is still worth watching.
The Average weekly jobless claims for unemployment insurance continues falling every week, especially the 4 week moving average which is viewed as the most reliable barometer. Manufacturing and construction are both growing http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manufacturing-grows-at-fastest-pace-in-7-months-as-new-orders-rise-employment-dips/2012/02/01/gIQA32BfhQ_story.html
February 13, 2012 at 10:33 AM #737863Anonymous
Guest[quote=no_such_reality]And no I’m not being cynical or anti Obama. His budget proposal just came out, another $900 billion of debt.[/quote]
Debt or unemployment.
Those are the short-term choices.
Actually, pay cuts for federal employees are another choice that should be on the table. Would not affect unemployment because they aren’t gonna go work somewhere else.
February 13, 2012 at 10:57 AM #737865ParticipantBS. Show is how the debt spending is actually increasing employment, it’s not. A balanced budget would do more to instill confidence and stimulate hiring than an faux job from debt spending.
As for Greece, well burning and destroying seems to be the response to not enough government spending. Truely pathetic.
February 13, 2012 at 11:01 AM #737866GuestHow do you cut govt. spending without cutting govt. employees?
Unemployment numbers include the postman as well as the UPS guy.
February 13, 2012 at 11:43 AM #737871CA renter
Participant[quote=no_such_reality]BS. Show is how the debt spending is actually increasing employment, it’s not. A balanced budget would do more to instill confidence and stimulate hiring than an faux job from debt spending.
As for Greece, well burning and destroying seems to be the response to not enough government spending. Truely pathetic.[/quote]
It’s the response to broken promises and the feeling that citizens are being shafted in order to benefit the financiers.
February 13, 2012 at 1:28 PM #737877Participant[quote=CA renter][quote=no_such_reality]BS. Show is how the debt spending is actually increasing employment, it’s not. A balanced budget would do more to instill confidence and stimulate hiring than an faux job from debt spending.
As for Greece, well burning and destroying seems to be the response to not enough government spending. Truely pathetic.[/quote]
It’s the response to broken promises and the feeling that citizens are being shafted in order to benefit the financiers.[/quote]
It’s shame they’re too stupid to realize they aren’t going to have their cake and eat it too.
But, we’re doing the exact same thing in the US.
Since 2001
Annual US population growth 0.8%
Annual US Inflation 2.0%
Annual US GDP growth 3.1%
Annual US Federal Tax Revenue growth 3.6%
Annual US Federal Spending Growth 5.95%February 13, 2012 at 2:35 PM #737896CDMA ENG
ParticipantBTW liked your piece davelj…
CE
February 14, 2012 at 12:24 AM #737945Participant[quote=no_such_reality][quote=CA renter][quote=no_such_reality]BS. Show is how the debt spending is actually increasing employment, it’s not. A balanced budget would do more to instill confidence and stimulate hiring than an faux job from debt spending.
As for Greece, well burning and destroying seems to be the response to not enough government spending. Truely pathetic.[/quote]
It’s the response to broken promises and the feeling that citizens are being shafted in order to benefit the financiers.[/quote]
It’s shame they’re too stupid to realize they aren’t going to have their cake and eat it too.
But, we’re doing the exact same thing in the US.
Since 2001
Annual US population growth 0.8%
Annual US Inflation 2.0%
Annual US GDP growth 3.1%
Annual US Federal Tax Revenue growth 3.6%
Annual US Federal Spending Growth 5.95%[/quote]Here’s where most of that money goes. Where would you make the cuts, and how would you implement those cuts?
………..“As shown in the graph below, three major areas of spending each make up about one-fifth of the budget:
Defense and security: In 2010, some 20 percent of the budget, or $705 billion, paid for defense and security-related international activities. The bulk of the spending in this category reflects the underlying costs of the Department of Defense and other security-related activities. The total also includes the cost of supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which totaled $170 billion in 2010.
Social Security: Another 20 percent of the budget, or $707 billion, paid for Social Security, which provided retirement benefits averaging $1,175 per month to 34.6 million retired workers in December 2010. Social Security also provided benefits to 2.9 million spouses and children of retired workers, 6.4 million surviving children and spouses of deceased workers, and 10.2 million disabled workers and their eligible dependents in December 2010.
Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP: Three health insurance programs — Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — together accounted for 21 percent of the budget in 2010, or $732 billion. Nearly two-thirds of this amount, or $452 billion, went to Medicare, which provides health coverage to around 47 million people who are over the age of 65 or have disabilities. The remainder of this category funds Medicaid and CHIP, which in a typical month in 2010 will provide health care or long-term care to about 60 million low-income children, parents, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Both Medicaid and CHIP require matching payments from the states.”
February 14, 2012 at 5:49 PM #738027The-Shoveler
ParticipantWhile I still keep my overall “yes things are getting better” bias,
Looking at the recent surge in car sales, it turns out a higher percent of them than usual were fleet sales,
(rental cars, police, gov agency’s etc…)Maybe they are trying to get the momentum going.
February 15, 2012 at 8:40 AM #738052ParticipantCAR, It just requires a bunch of political sacred cow gorings.
As I’ve stated before, under President Bill Clinton, we’d didn’t suffer from lack of Government services. Start will Bill’s last budget and increase it 3.1% a year on spending.
That means some draconian cuts to things like DOD. The growth in DOD is insane.
At 3.1% funding growth, we end up $80 Billion short on social security.
At 3.6% (the rate of tax revenue growth), we end up $50 Billion short. So we’re going to need to find $50 billion in cuts or taxes. SS needs a goring though, the road is DOA. Future benefits for people currently not retired will need drastic cuts.
Medicaid faces the same challenge as SS.
Homeland security, will have a 60% cut in their budget. A 300% growth since 2001 is nuts. I’ll also say, increase passenger fees to pay for it.
Tax increases, no brainer, the Bush cuts expire.
Every other department will similarly have rollbacks to Clintonian levels which means many will face 20-30% cuts.
Get over it, we can’t grow spending at 6% when the economy grows at 3%.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.