Okay, the economy is BOOMING! So they say. Tell me how.

[Skidmore]

For the whole weekend, every news show had some component talking about this golden economy. Is it just a talking point? Is the crapshoot of the stock market the only measure they are using? Someone please explain this to me.

[knowbody0]

1. stock market only

[NewJeffCT]

18. The stock market has been pretty sucky for 6 years now

It's barely kept ahead of inflation since Bush has taken office, if that. Investors in the market are worried about our deficits, shrinking middle class and the weak dollar, as well as the war in Iraq and now inflation.

[KAT119]

26. Goldman, Sachs & Co. is enlisted by Bushco to keep numbers UP 4" national

security" purposes. Articles in Yahoo News last September decried the unfair advantages Goldman has in their unilateral market manipulation power. They annually have highest profits of all financial firms. http://www. sprott .com is the Canadian asset firm that writes about Goldman's unconscionable advantage....No numbers from this Gov't are true.

[corporate_mike]

2. GDP grew at an annual rate of 4.8 percent in the first quarter

The gross domestic product, the widest measure of the country's output, grew at an annual rate of 4.8 percent in the first quarter, as Americans bought more computers, furniture and cars. Businesses invested more in office buildings, industrial equipment and transportation equipment, and the government spent more on national defense.

Growth was widespread and appeared to be unhindered by higher energy prices and rising interest rates.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/28/business/usecon.php

[Roland99]

11. Well, based on prior quarters, taking out Mortgage Equity Withdrawal left

GDP growth pretty much at or near 0%.

[BillZBubb]

3. GDP, the measure of business activity, is up 4.8% last quarter.

4.8% is a very high number for GDP. That means business activity is growing quickly. GDP is usually thought to be very good when up just above 3%. So, if you just look at GDP, this economy is roaring.

If you look deeper, you see the real truth. Although business activity is high, the wages people take home are actually decreasing when adjusted for inflation. So, workers don't see a strong economy, they see their standard of living in decline. Business owners and executives do see a roaring economy, because they are getting paid handsomely. The majority of Americans are getting the shaft.

Also, much of the GDP growth is fueled by reckless Republican borrowing and spending. They are borrowing trillions now to pump up growth, but someday that money will have to be repaid with interest. The US savings rate went negative last year for the first time since the Depression as workers fought to maintain their standard of living.

The stock market has almost made it back to where it was when the Chimperor took office. That's hardly a sign of economic success.

[Skidmore]

6. I'm not an economist nor do I play one on teevee, but it would seem to

me that business activity within the US can only remain high as long as the American worker can do his/her other job--be the American consumer. As incomes keep taking hits and prices keep going up, wouldn't the GDP start going south too as supply adjusts downward to keep pace with a reduced demand? Or maybe those up and coming Chinese will be able to afford to be consumers, and Americans will lose their second jobs.

Is the business activity you refer to the mucky-muck of buying and selling businesses?

[TreasonousBastard]

10. That's true, but...

when they talk about the economy "up" or "down" they only look at GDP, which is the total goods and services sold in the US, including business to business. They might mention employment if it's significantly off the charts, but they like to add the stock markets as a barometer of how things are going.

They don't complicate it with rising or declining incomes or inflationary effects. Or whether the business purchases were capital investment, inventory, or other stuff. All the other indicators are available elsewhere, and they get mentioned as they are released.

Remember, that all this stuff is government agency press releases that are put out regularly and just repeated, as they should be. Commentary on them is a little harder to find.

Biggest problem I have isn't that excessively rosy numbers come out, all administrations try to spin the numbers, but that this administration is suspected of actually lying about the numbers. That's an absolute no-no and corrupts the entire system.

[hfojvt]

39. if you look at most of the jobs I have had

they are the business of providing luxuries - satellite dishes, pre-made pudding snacks, Winnebagos, etc. The top 20% get 50% of the income, so they can do their own spending, they really do not need the peons. As worker incomes go down, corporate profits and CEO incomes go up, so there is still the same amount of demand it is just distributed differently - towards the things rich people and corporations want to buy instead of the things ordinary workers need and want.

An economist would not consider buying and selling businesses to be business activity because nothing is produced - the part of the sale proceed that goes to sales commissions, lawyers, accountants and such would be considered business activity because those people are providing services.

[Joe Fields]

24. when you factor in the phenomenal oil company profits,

it's no wonder the numbers look good. But keep in mind that the model for determining growth was inexplicably changed early in Bush's first term to appear more favorable.

[bowens43]

4. If you r were rich when the idiot was appointed

you're probably richer now.

[TX-RAT]

5. Booming like hell around here.

But we are right in the middle of the Permian Basin. Huge oil fields in this area, takes 6 months to get a rig in to drill. New rig manufacturing company's are popping up all over the place. Since theres 39 oil producing states, i suspect the oil booms being felt most every where.

[0007]

22. You got that right. Lot of available work cuz most everyone

is now working for the oil companies.

[TX-RAT]

46. Hey neighbor!

Just seen where you live. I'm about 30 miles east of ya, just south of Forsan.


Yep, either them or oil related company's. Thats pretty much been the case as long as i've been here, and thats been a long time. Had it not been for oil most these towns wouldn't even exist.

[Frustratedlady]

7. It Must Be On The Way UP!

Most of my monthly payments took a severe jump UPWARDS -- vehicle insurance, water/sewer, home insurance, utilities, etc. Someone must be benefiting, but I sure don't notice any improvement.

Must be that 2%, again.

[DetroitProle]

8. nobody here thinks the economy is booming.

Because it's imploding. However, this is Michigan. Republicans around here like to blame the Dems in office.
I don't blame the Republicans entirely, but they are the king outsourcers, one of our main problems.
Also, if people could make a living wage in the crappy service industry, things would be a lot better, and the Republicans like to prevent things like a living wage and unionization.
I also blame people who buy foreign cars. We're dying.

[raccoon]

9. Is Michigan blue?

Looks like it would be, they used to have so many good living wage jobs, and over the years so many of them have gone.

[DetroitProle]

16. yes, strong blue

However, the State Legislature is packed with Republicans(the Western and Northern part of the state are very conservative, religious). Detroit, its suburbs, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Flint, Saginaw...all the cities are Dem, naturally. Any manufacturing communities are blue.
So we go blue with Senators and in the Prez election but not in the State House, which really sucks.

[InkAddict]

28. Well, count at least 2 dead in O-HI-O. eom

[DetroitProle]

31. noted

I imagine Ohio would have it pretty rough as well.
We're all in this together, but we all die alone

[conflictgirl]

38. Agree

Michigan resident here too. My husband's been out of work for the past three months and hasn't even gotten one interview yet, let alone a job. His mother works for Charter and was just told on Monday that they're closing the office she works in.

Michigan IS often a lot worse than the rest of the country, but I really find it impossible to believe that we're this isolated pocket where the economy is shit, while everything is just great everywhere else.

And if Dick DeVos gets in as governor, we're totally screwed.

[robertpaulsen]

12. Booming like a mushroom cloud!

Here's your economy folks:

Dollar may feel sting after G7 complains about China

by Kevin Plumberg
Reuters
Washington
Saturday, April 22, 2006
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gata/message/3805


The overall message that markets will take away from finance officials from the Group of Seven rich nations who met on Friday is quite simple: The dollar will decline.

The ominous combination of a widely forecast slowing of the U.S. economy this year, growing fiscal and trade deficits, and increasing international pressure on China to allow its currency to strengthen ultimately puts a spotlight on the dollar's weak underbelly.

"You would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to see that as pointing to a direction for the dollar," said David Gilmore, partner with FX Analytics in Essex, Connecticut.

In its post-meeting statement, the G7 finance ministers and central bankers stepped up pressure on China by naming -- twice – the world's fourth largest economy as one of the "emerging economies with large current account surpluses" that needs to allow more flexibility in its currency.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/050306_world_stories.shtml#0

[robertpaulsen]

15. Oh yeah, I forgot about that Iran Oil Bourse.

The Inevitable Collapse of the Greenback
Mike Whitney

May 2, 2006

"The ultimate financial impact of trading oil in Euros rather than dollars is a complex one, but according to many experts, such a move could lead to a collapse in value for the American currency, potentially putting the U.S. economy in its greatest crisis since the depression era of the 1930s." "Petro-euro: a reality or distant nightmare for the US?" AlJazeera.com

Today, Iran fired the first shot in a battle that will ultimately change the global economic system. Mehr News Agency announced that the long-anticipated Iran Oil Bourse (OIB) will open sometime next week on Kish Island competing head-on with the US dollar. Currently, all oil transactions are denominated exclusively in greenbacks (via the London and New York oil exchanges) giving the US a virtual monopoly on the oil trade and maintaining the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency. This privilege has allowed the US to generate massive deficits as well as a national debt of $8.4 trillion without fear of economic collapse but, the "time’s they are a-changin’". If Iran proceeds with its plan, the central banks around the world will convert some of their reserves into euros sending billions of dollars back to the America. This will result in either recession or depression.

The notion that the bourse poses a serious threat to the US economy has been widely dismissed as a left-wing, internet-conspiracy theory. In fact, there is nothing conspiratorial about it, unless the fundamental law of "supply and demand" no longer applies.

If fewer people want the greenback it becomes worth less. Is that conspiratorial?

more...

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m23009&l=i&size=1&hd=0

[Imagevision]

13. The economy is taking a hit due to gas price hikes -shipping/deliveries

just a matter of time before the CNN's start to cover it.

[skids]

14. It's the FI index.

FI "frighetened idiot", as in "work like a frightened idiot," as in how the middle class manages to turn itself into the lower class by getting themselves into so much debt they have no time or leverage to negotiate higher wages. Ergo, they will do anything, anything to pay the bills at the end of the week so they don't get kicked out onto the street or find themselves eating cat food.

I'd say money cannot buy that kind of servitude, but obviously it can...

So, if you're one of the people that simply lives on the backs of the worker, the economy is great: you are getting much more frightened idiot sweat for your buck now than ever -- and in the formerly progressive USA no less, you don't even have to go overseas to exploit people unfairly. Though you're perfectly free to do so, if frightened idiots aren't the type of slave you need for your particular line of business.

So the economy is doing just sooooper! For you, the "slave" "owner."

For the slave, well they don't really matter now do they? You don't ask how a transistor feels if the computer is working fine! :eyes:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

25. Yes, by all means, let's blame the common person for what's....

...happening. Great idea.

What control does the common person have over the cost of housing, food, gasoline, utilities, cloting, and anything else that they must have to survive day-to-day? Let's throw in the cost of healthcare, too...if you still have it.

What control does the common person have over the pay they receive for the work that they do? How come they are now receiving 40% less than they were earning six years ago while paying 40% more?

Is any of the above the fault of the common person? If not, then why are you wanting to dump on them?

I don't get it.

[skids]

41. I think you should reread...

...because I was not just dumping on the common person. The situation I describe obviously wouldn't exist were it not for the predatorial people profiting from it.

That said, the "common person" had an option, years ago, that they didn't persue: save money so they have financial flexibility. They didn't. They bought into the delusion that they were a notch or two above where they actually were, and spent it on extravagant vacations, more or more expensive cars than they needed, the occasional boat, houses that they couldn't really afford, improvements to houses that they couldn't really afford, and tons of plastic crap. Or they tried to and in the process fell for some financial investment scheme and got ripped off royally.

Sure, you could say that I'm blaming them... but what am I blaming them for? Stupidity, and self-centered indulgance. The former is no crime (more a sickness really.) The latter is only partially their fault because our culture encourages it and it's rare not to become that way unless there is some outside mentorship.

Those who encourage and consciously profit from that stupidity and narcisism are the people I was dumping on.

[NewJeffCT]

17. Corporate profits are at record levels

Corporations haven't come close to the levels we've been seeing the past few years since the Roaring '20s. However, the boom has not trickled down to the middle class or lower. The hiring normally associated with past booms is taking place in India & China.

[uppityperson]

19. my economy has boomed, is merely a smoking shell of past

people are not spending money on medical services that insurance doesn't pay for, or on gas to get to medical services even if insurance does pay. Money is tight. My income has crashed. Send me some booming economy please.

[InkAddict]

27. Some medical specialties are doing well now that don't depend

on insurance because tax refunds are in. As that "season" gets farther away, it's likely to die on the vine, however, except for those of the elite who need a younger face, better curves, and a chiseled nose to eliminate the lumps and bumps they got from brown-nosin'up the executive ladders and those lines of snow.

Meanwhile, the docs back office personnel that were once skilled administrative aides have been automated out to Indian button-pushers. Back office staffers have had their hours cut, been raped of benefits, and have seen no salary increases for years. In some cases, their expertise in coding, transcription, and the knowledge of the technology demanded of the automated cost-effective software has made slow-time and made them feel evermore dumbed down. With the reduced hours and sure-to-keep-increasing costs of everything else basic and necessary for life as we know it like housing, utilities, and food and transportation, they fear for what little remains of their daily duties and the coming economic implosion of America. They're not bandage rollers, they're business office workers with little funds to invest in a new career. The young ones are still going to school on loans, some are married w/children to raise, and the > 40's know they're basically has-beens that no longer have the "IT" factor, yeah sexiness of youth, even w/Botox and a daily cardio-workout.

Never fear, the docs in any specialty will have plenty of work autopsying the die-alones and rescuing the mangled battered bodies of violence that will surely come if bird flu or the NUKE in retaliation for another one of *'s insane plots don't get us first--Yup, the Sir Robert Baden-Powell's scout "be prepared" motto must have always been a gigantic joke, for who can plan on anything past the next 1-7 days with any certainty, life notwithstanding. After all, with enough $$, one can buy one's way out of anything and still RULE THE WORLD. Just ask Limbaugh, Kenny Boy, ditzy Congressmen who have given away America to the KING OF THE WORLD, * and his smooching Saudi buddies. Even Alexander, pedofile, the Great knew that love was where ya found it!

[Hekate]

20. The avalanche comes down with a boom -- ya think that's it?

:evilgrin:
Also when your house caves in on you...
Or when there's a big earthquake -- boom!
Or -- I know -- a trainwreck goes boom!

Yeah, the economy is booming for all us little people. Pass it along.

Hekate

[InkAddict]

30. Halliburton Excavation to the rescue.

Blow it up, start all over again.
Tobacco Road

For I've seen the ruin of many a poor boy,
And God, I know, I'm one.
House of the Rising Sun

I got plenty of nothin'
Nothin is plenty for Me
Got my gal, got my song
Heaven the whole day long! (YEAH, RIGHT.....)

[Yollam]

21. Well, the amount of money being spent on gasoline has doubled in 5 years..

...that translates to a big boost to the GDP on its own, and yet fuel is NOT included in inflation stats. Go figure.

[InkAddict]

32. That happens when you've been out of work for two frickin' years

and then you've got to drive 100 miles to a job that pays less than previously held ones (though very grateful for it anyway) while you bunk at your kids house (how humiliating-we're not decrepit yet and SIL is unemployed now anyway that's quite another story, DOUBLE humiliation)instead of with your honey and quick-rent your mortgaged home at a $400 loss against mortgage cause it's on the BAD side of this narrow-minded *-brainwashed polarized town, though in a nice area, and would take too long to sell to be of any use as a bailout and besides, there's more to that story that can't be told--just to keep the cash flowin' and the deduction intact so you can pay the bills they'll no longer allow to be written off in a bankruptcy that's another disgrace while, your other half has rented an apartment at a net gain of $100 against the rental of the house and can walk to work, saving at least the other $300 in monthly gasoline commuting costs - guess what, it's a wash. Net gain--naught! Strained to breaking point here. I'm ready for the pitchforks to come out! Already been to the hospital once for the exhaustion of the stress; now no healthcare (but a bigger check)and no drugs to ease the anxiety either (a refill should eat up the funds added by dropping the healthcare) I'm considering just screwin' the bills and buying a large dome tent and some hiking boots Grapes of Wrath style. Then, where will I vote--that's a laugh a minute too here in Ohio. What to do with my long-time doggie buddy and kittycats??? That's a problem! Should I buy a gun too? The system SUCKS! I can't go to my relatives...they're REPUKE bootstrap people who have no life outside of the church who can't be bothered with their own grandchildren; got theirs and won't share! My choices have been based on goodness and mercy, belief in education and work, but I see little compassion in what's going on in America today! I've seen how those who make the only choice they can by law to care for the poor and infirm are likewise treated with disdain and an eye on their meager assets. Your ideas and prayers would be appreciated. I thought things might work out, but it don't look good and is probably just prolonging whatever the inevitable is going to be bringing to all of us very soon! Please don't put me on Ignore - I really need some support tonight and am having trouble looking on the bright side. There is one, right????

[conflictgirl]

40. Try to hang in there

I don't have any answers and my own husband is out of work right now - I returned to college and he is going to be doing the same this fall. It often feels like a race against time just to keep up, doesn't it? I'm the kind of person who really depends on security and these days, there just isn't any.

Please remember you're not alone. Bad times can't last forever. We just have to ride it out. :hug:

[Hekate]

42. I will never ignore you, Ink. Hold on, hold on.

:hug: It sounds like you are doing all the right things, everything in your power -- even renting out your house to try to save it. I'm glad you found renters -- hope they are good people too. As hard as it is to have to live with your kids, this IS family values (about which GWB knows diddly) working itself out. You won't be separated from your spouse forever.

Don't buy a gun just now. A personal bias on my part, but I never think it's a good idea to make that purchase when feeling depressed and angry.

Anti-depressants --> a lot of them are now generic, and as a result very cheap, if you can find a doctor who will help you experiment until you find the right one. You no doubt already know this, but they all have various side-effects, so working with a doc is essential. County clinic? This is all alien to you, as it would be to me, and what little I know is based on my state, not yours.

I don't know what else to say, except you have friends here. There will be better times again some day... people are pulling for you, and you and your family are pulling for yourselves. Blessings will surely come to you.

Hekate

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. This is a very simple mathematical equation that I'll put in very....

...simple terms:

Less money coming in + More money going out = Less money remaining

That's the way it's working for me, how about you? Do you know anyone where that equation is not working, other than somebody in the Top 1%?

I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem abrupt or angry, but I don't see how anyone in the Lower 99% could be taken in by this rampant horse-crap.

[Rosemary2205]

Bolten's 5 point plan

One of the "strategeries" is to give more money to Corporate shills so they'll go all over the country and talk about how great we all have it.

[tlsmith1963]

29. It's the Rich in Their Deluded Dreamworld

If they are doing well, then the economy is great. Our opinions don't matter to them. We really live in separate worlds, & maybe that's the real problem with America these days. The rich have no idea how much people are suffering. That's why they think $100 rebates will help people deal with high gas prices. They don't realize that an average person will go through the $100 at the gas pump so quickly that it won't even make a dent.

Tammy

[EstimatedProphet]

33. Well, gold is WAY up!

:sarcasm:

[samsingh]

34. the economy is as much a lie as bush's presidency

both are fiction.

[Initech]

35. Well, the following dont help with the economy:

- Insanely high gas prices? Nope.

- Job outsourcing? Nope.

- China and India experiencing high demands for gas? Nope.

- Imminent war with Iran? Nope.

- Low minimum wage? Hell no.

So um, can the freepers explain this better?

[taught_me_patience]

36. For the first time in a while, i'm getting enthusiatic about

the economy. Hiring is definately up and its much harded to find qualified applicants (I've been trying to find an analyst to work for me for 1 month now). My sister just got a 3% pay raise because her company needs to pay starting applicants more to lure them to working there (top5 consulting firm).

[Skidmore]

43. Well, I'm unemployed and I don't see a lot of jobs in this

area in my field now. Plenty of retail and Mickey Dee jobs though.

[taught_me_patience]

47. If you don't mind me asking

where do you live? and what is your field? I believe the growth in the economy is very regional.

[Imagevision]

37. Let's see how long booming economy lasts with truckers pulling over

it's only a matter of time before we begin seeing the effects when we go shopping.

[Tsiyu]

44. The only business news I watched claimed that gold is up

I didn't want to watch any more

[Seattleman]

45. Selective Inflation and Wage Stagnation

The long term systemic problems of selective inflation and wage stagnation are eroding the buying power of the middle class. I have worked in construction for over 30 years and have seen wage stagnation effectivly reduce my purchasing power dramatically. When I started work, a decent non-union carpenter could easily earn $12-$13 per hour. Here in Dallas, 30 years later, non-union carpenters (I don't think they have carpenters unions here in Texas now) earn $9-$14 per hour. And yet, the price of autos, fuel, insurance, housing, taxes, medical, food, etc. have double, tripled, or quadrupled in that time.

If this trend continues, it will be the end of the middle class.