The economy is improving, and pigs are flying out of my ass!

[Hugabear]

I've heard from several sources over the past few weeks that "signs" are pointing to an economic recovery.

Really? I guess if you're a wealthy Wall Street corporation, maybe. After all, now that they've gotten rid of all that dead weight surplus workers, they're probably making a little bit more money now. But those jobs aren't coming back. Oh, they might hire an extra worker here or there, and I suppose we're supposed to cheer about that. But what about all those outsourced manufacturing and other jobs? Don't see many of them coming back.

Anyone notice their gas prices rising? Only going to get worse. Same with food costs, surely you've noticed your grocery bills steadily going up.

So in a nutshell, the jobs are gone, the ones that are still here are paying LESS than they did before, but the cost of living is going up, up, up.

THIS is improvement?

[villager]

1. Unrecc'd by the "don't be mad at the Banksters!" crowd

n/t

[Catherina]

2. Rec'd. I get so angry when I hear them repeat that lie. n/t

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. be sure to wipe.

I'd use industrial strength asbestos coated sheets.

There is a mood shift. There is the shadow of a hint of a recovery. But it is easily scared off.

[tridim]

4. I'm looking for a tech job in Kansas City..

And yes, the market is improving. It's very obvious since I started looking at the height of the recession.

The good jobs are back, and big companies are hiring again.

I know that doesn't tell the whole story, but stating "the jobs are gone" is just not true.

[Kermitt Gribble]

52. Tech jobs are much more plentiful now than they were a year ago.

I'm a web developer and have been in the market for a better job for about a year (St Petersburg, Fl area). I was hired a month ago by a big company and it's been a dream job so far. Most other industries still seem to be struggling, though - at least in this area, and prices are going through the roof.

[elleng]

5. Private Employers Have Added 1.1 Million Jobs Since the Affordable Care Act Became Law.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x593926

[eridani]

18. Leaving us a mere 10 million more to go before we get back to

--the employment level before the meltdown. And states and cities will be firing a hell of a lot more than a million as well.

[Common Sense Party]

6. Yes, "the economy" overall IS improving, but it's never uniform.

Not all improvements happen to the same degree or at the same time in all locations. Same thing when the economy first began its freefall--the downturn was not felt at the same time in every industry in every part of the country.

Many of my clients are, as you say, hiring "an extra worker here or there." You don't have to cheer about it, but I wouldn't b*tch about it either. Things are at least BEGINNING to move in the right direction.

But this was a MASSIVE recession, and it will take a long, long time before things are all better--and about that time, the next downturn will happen.

[Hugabear]

8. Maybe so, but many of these jobs are gone forever

The hiring going on right pales in comparison with the total # of jobs that have been lost, and I'm afraid that quite a few of those jobs will never come back. Factories that have been shut down and moved to places like China aren't coming back. Call centers that have moved to India or Bangladesh won't be back anytime soon. Sure, there will probably be a few exceptions, and for those workers I'm glad, but overall it doesn't look good for several key industries.

[BOG PERSON]

11. if it makes you feel better

those call centres in bangladesh will probably be underwater soon.

[Exilednight]

27. Only because they will outsource Bangladesh to Bejing. n/t

[mwooldri]

48. Doesn't make me feel better at all I'm afraid.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/01/19/article/american_express_to_close_greensboro_facility

[Common Sense Party]

14. Most of those jobs were lost long before this recession, and you're

right, "those jobs" aren't coming back. Those industries won't come back as long as there a lower-cost producer elsewhere in the world.

The only thing we can hope for is new industries, new innovations, to create all-new jobs. And the government and business have to partner in job-training...because while the U.S. still leads the world in manufacturing, we have a much more high-tech, automated manufacturing sector than do other countries like Malaysia and China. We need more high-tech training.

[rhett o rick]

25. Corp profits up, wages down. That's what Wall Street calls "recovery".

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/10/15/business/doc4cb904115f67d027927556.txt?viewmode=2

[Laelth]

7. k&r for the truth, however depressing. n/t

-Laelth

[emilyg]

9. knr

[Drale]

10. pigs are flying out of your ass?

Thats got to hurt! :sarcasm: :rofl: Actually around my house the price has gone done a good 5 cents in the last week. I know its not much but I guess its something.

[petronius]

17. Sounds like good news - free bacon!

That's gotta help with the finances... :)

[RedCloud]

50. Are they fascist killer pigs?

[Webster Green]

12. Same shit the chimp told us every month.

The chimp is out, but the bullshit remains as deep as ever.

[readmoreoften]

13. Hey one of your flying ass pigs just knocked me upside the head.

I went to the hospital and they said that they'd be able to fix it in a jiffy--and at a reasonable cost--because the flying pigs performed a health care policy change miracle too.

[Festivito]

15. The job numbers HAVE IMPROVED. Let's say it's like a train...

We start in the middle, in Colorado, instead of heading to California, a place for some reason we want to go, the train was moving backwards under engineer Boosch.

10 MPH
20 MPH
40 MPH
60 MPH ... all backward, away from California.

So, we get a new engineer, O'Barry.

Train starts slowing:

60 MPH, the same rate backward, then
40 MPH
20 MPH
10 MPH
STOPPED

then, we start moving forward instead of backward.

10 MPH...

BUT, WAIT! Someone looks out the window!
We're in Virginia!
We've never been this far back from where we wanted to go!

Kick O'Barry out, and put Boosch's people back in.

And, thus the Americans move forward complaining all the way.

It's true that they have never been so far from their destination. But, would they rather have run into the Atlantic Ocean and drowned? I begin to wonder.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. On the bright side

free bacon.

[JCMach1]

19. Inflation is the next BITE out of your pocket... it is already hitting places like the Middle-East

hard... and is, at least, partially responsible for the Tunisian uprising.

[ipaint]

20. Once enough people are economically disappeared they won't need to create but a couple million jobs

and we will be fully recovered.

The much pandered to comfortable classes will ignore that we now have a massive underclass living in or near poverty, as they always have, and the american dream will once again be alive for them and their lucky children.

[Donnachaidh]

32. Bingo -- sad to say

but you've nailed it. The *disappeared* lists will grow longer, and the shrillness of the recovery crowd will grow louder, to drown out the disappeared.

[sendero]

21. The "signs" are quite the opposite....

... and I've been trying to tell folks THERE IS NO RECOVERY, the idiotic "recession" indicator is MEANINGLESS in this environment. All of the happy talk is WISHFUL THINKING to motivate more CLUELESS PEOPLE to spend their money or even more stupid put it in the bogus rigged stock market for one final fleecing.

2010 holiday retail sales were DISAPPOINTING as the last two years and there are NO JOBS coming on line because there is NO GOVERNMENT POLICY to create or retain jobs onshore.

There IS NO RECOVERY and there is not going to be as long as there are people like Obama in the white house.

[mmonk]

22. Did one of them fly over my neighborhood last week?

[JBoy]

23. The early signs are showing: Overtime and Temp Hours

In every recovery, before rehiring - overtime hours increase, and temporary employee hours increase.

This is happening:

[Exilednight]

28. There was a study done. Those overtime and temp hours have been proven to be from

corporations that had recently laid people off.

Companies are finding out that it is cheaper to lay off three workers and hire temps or have the remaining employees work the extra hours to make up the difference.

Summary: It's a new cost saving tactic by corporations, but it sure as hell is not a sign of possible growth.

[JBoy]

31. I'd be interested in seeing that study.

[Donnachaidh]

24. “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is

“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”

Joseph Goebbels quote

[Safetykitten]

26. There has been no real improvement, and the gas increases this spring and summer

will drive it deeper in the hole.

[Taitertots]

29. You are confusing recovery and recovered

The objective measures of reality disagree with your opinion. Things are getting better, no matter how much you wish it wasn't so.

[girl gone mad]

42. What a rude reply.

I bet you're the type who spits on homeless people because you think they're faking it.

[Taitertots]

43. The pot is calling the kettle black

Why don't you keep your opinions to yourself or discuss this like an adult?

[girl gone mad]

44. Right. I'll defer to the "adult" who accuses others of..

hoping for bad economic outcomes.

[Taitertots]

45. They shouldn't do things that will cause bad economic outcomes if they don't want to get called out

Constantly bemoaning the economy and repeating false memes about pending destruction are certain to make the economy worse. Not only are they hoping for bad economic outcomes, they are also actively working toward it.

[Rockholm]

46. Thank you for calling them out.

There are plenty of people who want a bad ecomomy, as one can profit by betting against the market. Enough of talking the economy down.
Certain people talked real estate down and profited from shorting REIT's. Still happening.
My community's economy has improved as has my county and my state. My income has certainly increased over last year.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

30. still too many desk jockeys where I work ... odd though, that is Not where

we are cutting back..................................

[earth mom]

33. Right now in my area, several long standing and locally owned businesses are closing.

Main Street has been screwed over.

We are indeed on VERY shaky ground folks. :yoiks:

[remember2000forever]

34. LOVE your Avatar

I had that poster on my wall in college. Classic, and hard to even find on ebay.

[social_critic]

35. The US economy is recovering, it's just uneven, that's all

You got to understand definitions. The economy as a whole is recovering. The problem is it's not recovering the same for everybody. You just got to be patient, and keep on eating peanut butter and bananas for another year or two. Or three.

[liberation]

36. That's because the stock market has been elevated as the principal indicator for the "economy"

There is a difference between the "economy" that the investor class experience, and the "economy" that the working class lives through.

[dmallind]

37. Define "improving" before I ca aghree or not

It SEEMS like you are defining it to mean "everything is hunky-dory and nobody has any tough economic situations to face". Without definition you will of course always be right - that "improvement" will never occur.

A more plausible definition though is more like "aggregate economic wellbeing is better than recently". In that case the jobs numbers, mfg indices, trade balances etc do point to improvement.

Is a man who had horrible compound fractures in both legs improving when he is still in pain and on crutches but his bones are inside his skin and have been reset? I would say yes. The analogy seems apt. Seems like you might say "no". I might ask what the difference between improvING and improvED is in your view.

[Hawkowl]

38. Profits ARE recovering

Since 5% of the people own about 85% of the profits, good for them--BAD for you! The economy is now measured in profits only. The greatest good for the greatest amount is COMMUNISM! or FASCIST ISALM! or Whatever.

It used to be that one of the Fed's goals was full employment. HA.

[The_Casual_Observer]

39. The gas prices are bound to slow things down again. Don't forget

that the "housing bubble" burst coincided with a gas price spike similar to what we are seeing right now.

[russspeakeasy]

40. Just wait...some knob job will say that we won't all feel the recovery

at the same time.....First, the builders of yachts, then the
banks, then the insurance companies....
Eventually, we'll get to you...trickle, trickle, trickle.
Oh, I see somebody already said it...obviously an optimist, or
a chamber of commerce member.

[girl gone mad]

41. Regulatory reform is the answer.

Relax, Obama's got it all figured out.

Step 1: Remove regulations on business.
Step 2: ??????
Step 3: Profit + Jobs, baby... yeah!!

:eyes:

[wisteria]

47. A job that pays less is better than no job at all. The Wall Street crowd have the upper hand

right now, and there isn't a damn thing we can really do about it. Those manufacturing jobs are gone forever. The administration did offer incentives to go back to school and learn a new trade, but some people didn't take advantage of that and unfortunately for some people the jobs they have grown accustomed to for years are never coming back. At least we are moving in the right direction.

[TBF]

54. The gap between rich and poor is wider than ever and you call that

"moving in the right direction"? Only if you are a billionaire.

[wisteria]

59. I am a pragmatist. I see this as inevitable. I wish it were different, but I don't see what I can do

to change things. We may be heading on a course of disasters for America, but as long as the odds are stacked in favor of those who have, I see us as being mostly powerless to change things. Other than becoming one of the haves instead of the have-nots, I don't see what we can do to change things.

[TBF]

60. Then you need to be quiet and move out of the way. The rest of us are ready to fight. nt

[Buns_of_Fire]

49. You know, of course, that this thread is worthless without pictures.

That, and I need some quantification. What is your pig/minute rate? Is it sustainable? And are they REALLY flying, or merely gliding? (I've been deceived by this aspect several times now.) Can they be genetically altered to eat nothing but Wall Street banksters and excrete hydrocarbons?

[AtheistCrusader]

51. Came for the pigs. Thread does not deliver.

[tavalon]

53. Where are the jobs, Boehner?

Hell, I ought to make that my sig line, I use it so much.

[Marblehead]

55. that must hurt

[Fuddnik]

56. It's kind of tight around here. Could you spare a ham or two?

I'll have to wash it off first, I suppose.

[Fumesucker]

57. Welcome to DU..

I hope you enjoy your stay.

You might want to use some zircon encrusted tweezers when you wash that sucker.

[bluestate10]

58. Feral pigs or domesticated pigs. Ummm, both?

I have a good vantage point on the economy. It is improving, with the pace of improvement quickening.