They knew they were going to lose so look what they did. Fucked our President before he's even

[lonestarnot]

sworn in!

U.S. Economy: Jobless Rate Climbs to 14-Year High (Update1)

By Bob Willis and Rich Miller

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. unemployment rate rose to the highest level since 1994 as companies slashed payrolls, setting the stage for the steepest economic decline in decades and a tough start for Barack Obama's presidency.

The jobless rate rose to 6.5 percent in October from 6.1 percent the previous month, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. Employers fired 240,000 workers after a loss of 284,000 in September. Revisions to the previous month added 25,000 more to the jobless lines than previously reported.

The surge in unemployment, coupled with other signs the economy nosedived last month, puts pressure on Obama to quickly name his economic team and spell out his planned remedies. It may also spur congressional Democrats to enact in coming weeks a second fiscal stimulus package.

``The economy has entered the very deep portion of the recession and should remain there over the coming six to nine months,'' said John Herrmann, president of Herrmann Forecasting LLC in Summit, New Jersey. ``These numbers imply a stimulus package of closer to $500 billion, ranging over the remainder of this year and through 2009.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a5R951BQWpxI&refer=home

[Burma Jones]

1. This has been on the horizon for 28 years......

[lonestarnot]

4. What are you saying? 28 years makes it alright?

[Burma Jones]

11. No, just that Obama was 19 when the Reagan Era started.....

Now he can oversee the recovery.......

[lonestarnot]

15. It's a long slow road.

[babylonsister]

2. President-elect Obama has a (thankless) job: it's everyone else

they screwed with.

[midnight]

3. Nancy Pelosi said they would cut checks after the election.

Anyone hear about those checks for those on Main Street?

[Leopolds Ghost]

6. I call it walking-around money for those voting to uphold Wall St. Sweeteners.

[Cleita]

5. If Obama follows in the steps of FDR and Keynesian style economics

he should be able to weather this and come out smelling like a rose. If he listens to those DLC types he's already started to bring into his administration then I don't think it will be very easy for him. This is the guy I wish he had picked for his Secretary of the Treasury, Dr. Ravi Batra. http://www.ravibatra.com/

[galileoreloaded]

7. If you mean "weather this" as in 20-22% unemployment, and we are halfway there,

and the ability of our nation to borrow at competitive rates (not to mention us, the people), then I don't know if I want to see what that looks like. wether

Many of us, scratch that, most of us, are going to hurt badly, and previous policies since 1968 are to blame. There is really no political answer to this, unfortunately, nature will have to run its course.

Before people begin labeling me as a freeper, think for a moment about previous FDR solutions like the WPA. Many here advocate an infrastructure investment, and they are correct, especially if you structure that on a cost plus basis.
BUT, the conditions do not exist today as they did in the thirties, when an an engineer and a bunch of workers went out and built a road, recorded it, and kept going. Now, it would take 2-3 YEARS to get through the design, entitlement, and regulatory agencies, only to have to put down a big fat 20% down payment on the work, which no agency does or is set up to do legally, because the majority of local US contractors probably don't have the cash to make the first payroll or equipment payment.

This will take many, many years to recover from, and my biggest fear is that the Repubs threw this thing, knowing that the next prez will be relatively shackled by massive government borrowing costs and horrendous socio-economic issues, and will be readily compared to Herbert Hoover, with his Hoovervilles, albeit with a high visibility, mass marketed 2008 style political lynching thrown in for good measure.

Remember, at the end, FDR had to withhold oil from the Japanese to instigate Pearl Harbor, which is the real reason people went back to work, to fight, fly, sail, and build. Don't believe me?? Google is your friend.

Edited for spelling

[Cleita]

8. Well, let's not do then what has been proven to work in the past then and

just continue with failed policies. Our infrastructure is failing and we need to work on an energy grid that will make us independent of foreign oil. These two projects will put millions of Americans to work and those workers will build up the economy by spending the money they earned. This is not my idea but has been put forth by economists who know a lot more about it than I do. It's based on the same ideas FDR had by adopting Keynesian economic principles.

Your friend Google must be in an alternate universe because my friend Google tells me that WWII slowed up the progress in the economy by diverting spending to military rather than civilian manufacturing. It was only after the war that our nation sailed to the prosperity that was enjoyed by my parents and later me until the Republican supply side goons came and ruined it all leaving us where we are today. Also, I was around in WWII. It was a time of shortages, rationing and limited goods to buy in the stores because everything was diverted to the military. Yes, there were few homeless and unemployed because they were working for the war effort or in the military fighting a war but the economy was at a stand still. Also, WWII was only four years. How about the rest of those three terms FDR served as President in after the depression. Surely, WWII was only one of them.

[ben_meyers]

9. FDR was elected in 1932

the depression wasn't "declared over" until 1943 by which time we had started the lend-lease program in Europe and been at war for 2 years with over 17 million Americans in the military. That more than anything else took care of the unemployment problem.

[Cleita]

10. It took care of the unemployment problem but not the economy.

After the war was when the building boom started with returning soldiers marrying, going to school on the GI bill and having babies. This could have happened sooner without a war. I witnessed these events so don't tell me what I know and saw with my own eyes didn't happen. The war only put people to work. It did nothing for the economy because there was nothing to spend money on, no cars, rationed gas, nothing being manufactured like refrigerators. What FDR did before the war to get us out of the Depression was turning the economy around before the war came along and actually delayed the prosperity that was coming.

[ben_meyers]

12. Well you should write an eyewitness account to

correct the flawed history of that peroid. It's possible that your perspective is much more insightful than "Freedom from Fear" and "No Ordinary Time".

[Cleita]

18. Get off your high horse.

I know what I witnessed was my POV and it's every much as valid as anyone else who has written about that era. btw you forgot your sarcasm emoticon.

[galileoreloaded]

13. If I offended you, I apologize. I was just pointing out the practical

differences, and that ideology and theory's don't always translate to effective action.

Sorry.

[Cleita]

19. You didn't offend me. Your opinion that WWII saved the USA from

the Depression is one that has been used as a excuse in board rooms since then to start wars for profit. It simply isn't true. WWII slowed the recovery of FDR's New Deal and the economy only picked up after the war and after the foundation was laid for the recovery. It also gave us the deadly legacy of the industrial, military complex. It has to stop if this planet is to survive. Any time someone tries to push this opinion and that's all it is, an opinion, I will fight about it because it's simply not true.

[lonestarnot]

16. Nails it!

:cry:

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Would Have Happened Anyway

They don't think about losing. That's why they think Rove is a genius. They not deep thinkers, only devious ones.

They didn't set this up. It's just a compound effect of 28 years of failed economic principles.

They didn't know McCain was going to get creamed. They just didn't see it coming. They thought all their ideas were solid gold, when in fact that were made of crap.
The Professor

[lonestarnot]

17. No. I think they saw it coming. Compound effect was just their luck was just all the better for

ignoranuses.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Well Then We Disagree

I don't think they're as clever as you do. Focused and lucky, yes. Smart and prescient, no.
GAC