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Bush: gas prices making it hard for economy to grow
It's just too darn bad because this economy was doing fine and then we had the housing issue and then this gasoline issue is making it even harder for the economy to recover. - President Bush, May 12, 2008
Our country sure has had a lot of recovery issues in recent years. First it was the dotcom issue. Then it was the Iraq War issue. Then it was the housing issue. Now it is the gasoline issue.
Perhaps there is too much alcohol (ethanol) in the Kool-Aid.
Alcoholism
The primary effect of alcoholism is to encourage the sufferer to drink at times and in amounts that are damaging.
ICE: Mortgage Delinquency Rate Increased Year-over-year in October
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From ICE: ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: Serious delinquencies hit
17-month high while foreclosure activity remains historically muted
• At 3.45% ...
3 hours ago
7 comments:
Stag,
The primary effect of alcoholism is to encourage the sufferer to drink at times and in amounts that are damaging.
Swap the words alcohol & credit and it describes our current economy quite well.
I remember a quote from a mafia movie that went something like: You can shear a sheep a thousand times but slaughter it only once.
We've out-sourced jobs, cut pensions, cut health benefits, allowed wages to continually trail inflation, trashed the stock, housing & consumer credit markets, and lowered interest rates way below inflation to keep the party going.
We've gone way beyond shearing.
MAB,
Perhaps with proper substitution, shear luck can save us, although I must admit the logic seems fuzzy.
November 12, 2001
Shear Luck
http://nymag.com/nymetro/shopping/sales/columns/sb/5381/
Fuzzy logic: Fur may be out of your league, but faux comes at a price that won't leave you in the cold.
Hey, there's a thought.
Faux of Prosperity!
Care to be a founding member of FPOSH (Faux of Prosperity for an Overleveraged Society's Hedonism)?
Motto: We put the F'in Posh!
Stag,
It's just too darn bad because this economy was doing fine and then we had the housing issue and then this gasoline issue is making it even harder for the economy to recover.
I never thought we were doing fine. Massive deficit spending, negative savings rates, declining real incomes, declining currency, a fraudulent housing boom, record numbers of people on food stamps (almost 28 million), rising inflation, unaffordable housing prices, wealth concentration - the list goes on and on.
For most, the recession started somewhere around 1999 and never ended. Something is seriously wrong when ficticious asset prices and an out of control financial system are more important than the viability of a middle class family.
The stock market boom from 1980 to 2000 fooled way too many into believing that Wall Street could provide prosperity. Exactly how is that supposed to work? We hand over our money and frat boys with spread sheets magically make it grow? Sounds like a government sponsored ponzi scheme to me.
Perhaps people keep getting burned in false booms because the gov't steers them into a school of sharks. Or maybe, it's their only hope to make ends meet long term. Declining real wages and disappearing pensions can't inspire optimism about the future.
I suspect the bottom (if we ever see one) will arrive when Americans stop looking to the fed, the gov't & wall street to provide for their wants & needs.
MAB,
I never thought we were doing fine. Massive deficit spending, negative savings rates, declining real incomes, declining currency, a fraudulent housing boom, record numbers of people on food stamps (almost 28 million), rising inflation, unaffordable housing prices, wealth concentration - the list goes on and on.
You are such an optimist! You don't have the uninsured on your list but have deferred it to the fine print foot notes on page 314. You keep this up and we're talking Dow 100,000!
Truth be known, we're talking Dow 100,000 anyway no doubt. Someday, if they can drive the currency into near worthlessness. Just not sure what Dow 100,000 would buy at that point. A new car? A loaf of bread?
Stag,
You are such an optimist!
I'll feel better once commodities go completely vertical. I'm getting really impatient waiting for the next bubble to get completely out of hand. We definitely need another 100bps cut on the funds rate.
MAB,
You think times are good? You haven't seen nothin' yet. My next post should inspire even more optimism.
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