It's not only laughable, but it's a played card. They've been "accomodating" the equity markets for at least the past 15 years or so, as a "make up" measure to encourage debt based consumption and borrowing beyond the limits of earned income. The problem with the strategy is you can only go to it a certain number of times before those who have been burned by it completely forego any more leveraged borrowing. That's where the government steps in, to take up the role of the surrogate consumer and ensure that this economic model can live a few more years. Of course, we also have all of the fools around here who are too dense to distinguish between organic demand and government sponsorship. With regards to the Great Depression, I agree. Total unemployed is many multiples higher than the official figure. Food stamp participation is astronomically high and consumer bankruptcies continue unabated. It's the "e-Great Depression", IOW, the unemployed now avoid the long lines and other embarassing symbols of poverty, they simply live a life of quiet desperation.
The US economy is in a temporary bubble. The US will soon enough revert to recession or slow growth. The time has come for China and India to dominate. The USA has had its chance and has failed as an economy and its countless aggressive wars have made it unpopular throughout the world. I welcome the rise of China and India which will challenge and defeat American dominance. The USA must step down gracefully. Its days as a superpower are numbered. It must also withdraw from Afghanistan asap and stop interfering in the middle east. - This century belongs to the hardworking, not the lazy. - This century belongs to the able, not the uneducated. - This century belongs to the East, not the USA, which is a spent force. The USA needs to spend much more money on education, not only in schools but also on families. The divorce rate in the USA is 50%. There is little to no respect of elders and family values in the USA. Drug use and crime is rife in the USA. The cure for all this is education. I pity the USA but pray for its people. China needs to stop bailing out the USA through its purchase of US government bonds. The USA should learn to stand on its own feet rather than behave as a highly embarrasing begger. God bless Capitalism, for Capitalism will be the undoing of the beligerant and the savior of the wise.
Is the US economy really "BOOMING" or is it all part of an illusion? You be the judge...("Bank bailouts explained") http://omidmalekan.com/?p=324 Enjoy!
I'm going to assume this is a serious question. Before you can have more jobs, you have to have more work. As a result of the huge recession, the amount of work to be done was falling until the middle of 2009, when it began to expand: This doesn't automatically lead to more workers. First, employers make existing employees work longer hours, and second, they will of course try to save as much money as they can by making them more productive as well. Only when both of these alternatives are exhausted do they start to hire more workers: In the first chart, you can see the hours worked increasing starting towards the end of 2009. In the second chart, you can see the number of workers employed begin a slow rise at the beginning of 2010, but the rate of change is at first slow and only begins to get a little quicker towards the middle of the year: it lags behind the hours worked because of what I noted above. It has since leveled off a bit, while the hours worked in private industry continues to increase. Mostly this is because strapped state & local governments have been laying off, but private industry's been hiring. Once governments have finished laying off, the progress being made in private industry will become more obvious.
they are. american jobs are booming. in china. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/28/job-market-booming-overseas_n_801839.html Job Market Booming Overseas For Many American Companies Corporate profits are up. Stock prices are up. So why isn't anyone hiring? Actually, many American companies are â just maybe not in your town. They're hiring overseas, where sales are surging and the pipeline of orders is fat. More than half of the 15,000 people that Caterpillar Inc. has hired this year were outside the U.S. UPS is also hiring at a faster clip overseas. For both companies, sales in international markets are growing at least twice as fast as domestically. The trend helps explain why unemployment remains high in the United States, edging up to 9.8 percent last month, even though companies are performing well: All but 4 percent of the top 500 U.S. corporations reported profits this year, and the stock market is close to its highest point since the 2008 financial meltdown. But the jobs are going elsewhere. The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million jobs overseas this year, compared with less than 1 million in the U.S. The additional 1.4 million jobs would have lowered the U.S. unemployment rate to 8.9 percent, says Robert Scott, the institute's senior international economist.
trefoil-Thank you for an explanation and charts. as for IWM-yes,it's more likely the combination of re balancing and current rise in market. perfect reason to own such ETF (if you want exposure in US stock market)over mutual funds..
more pain for savers. just got an email from small bank. there is a lot of them,paying 3-4% APR on small MM accounts,as long as you using their debit cards.here is the letter: one more little nail in to a middle class coffin. thanks to fellow US lawmakers
Obama needs the most time he can get for his vision for America to be grounded... Naturally the GDP numbers for the masses are upbeat... Think about it... My prediction, Obama will be re-elected. My Opinion...Obama and his vision, conclusions and beliefs makes him a very dangerous man. ES P.S. On the walk toward a one world economy we will see things happen that we never dreamed could come to pass...there is nothing you can do about it either.