...and those who will be forced to return to the workforce when they run out of money. Every 6 seconds someone turns 60 for the next 10 years. How many of these people really have enough money to retire? 20% at best??
Worry not. They'll be "revised up" next month (even if they have to fudge the report). They wouldn't want us to stop piling on more debt to buy cheap crap from China, you know.
In their mind, it's not really a problem. They have no intention of every paying it back (except by printing more fiat). All of this debt bidness is a problem for future generations.... and by then, all the current thieves will be dead. See how it works?
They may have been a surprise to those living in the la la land of wall street. In the real world there's no surprise at all. If "they" are saying a 4K decline it's probably more like 40K.
Fractional reserve banking meets fractionally declared economic numbers.. 10:1 sounds about right! "There is a 35 - 40% chance of a recession" says executive at Wachovia. How much do they pay these people to say shit like this?
We may already be in a "real" recession right now... no way to tell. Gummint lies about the inflation rate to pump GDP.