Quietly...really quietly around here...the news is: the US economy is strong...

yep

 

Economy is strong?

Ask yourselves, people, do you feel it?

Economy is strong on the paper. Lie.

 

The American economy is still the biggest in the world...

 

Good news. Not new news.

 

I gotta ask, where are you going with this?

 

Here!

 

More trash and junks pile up in your house do not mean the economy is stronger. Ask real questions: is your income higher? Is your purchasing power bigger? Are you gainfully employed? do you make ends meet easier? Do you have savings? Can you afford health insurance? Can you afford college tuition? Do you incur more debts?

To most people in this country, the answer is negatvie.

Therefore saying economy is stronger is on the paper, or simply a big lie.

 

You've got to understand for whom KKK advocates. The economy is strong, KKK thinks certain op-eds think, from whose perspective?

Once to understand that advocacy, you can place mutterings in their proper context...

 

How's that tank of gas?

Oh, that's right. You could afford a tank of gas ten years ago.

How's that job hunt coming along?

Oh, that's right. We had a president who could create jobs ten years ago.

How's the surplus going?

Oh, that's right. We didn't have Reaganomics on crack ten years ago.

How's the dollar doing?

Oh, that's right. We didn't have a currency weaker than the Baritarian spitwad ten years ago.

How's that trade deficit?

Oh, that's right. You could find a store besides Wal-Mart selling stuff not made by Chinese slaves ten years ago.

How's the auto industry?

Oh, that's right. We hadn't sold Detroit back to the Huron tribe for a refund on those glass beads ten years ago.

Why does the Wall Street Journal opinion page inhabit a separate reality from the rest of us?

Well, not everything changes in ten years. I'm sure they're still looking for Vince Foster's real killer.

 

Dan Loney, excellent post!

 

THE ECONOMY IS STRONG FOR THE RICH AND SUCKS FOR EVERYBODY ELSE. UNEMPLOYMENT IS RISING, AND WHERE JOBS ARE BEING CREATED, THEY PAY SHYT AND SCREW THE EMPLOYEE MAKING THEM WORK LONGER AND GIVING THEM LITTLE OR NO BENEFITS . DIE YOU CAPTIALIST ********************!!!!!!!!

 

That 10 years ago we had a great president.

 

Sounds Like Dr. Dean!

 

Truth is the economy bottomed sometime ago. We are generally going sideways but the fear of recession still lurks.

The price of oil is a huge issue. Oil will likely never go under $50/barrel again. We have reached peak oil output. China and India are starting to use oil at an alarming rate. This will have to be offset with alternative fuels. Hybrid cars are a stop gap. Look for fuel cell technology and more nuker plants.

I would say the economy is "stable, for now". However I fear that some more bad news could drive it further south.

But Karl will paint things the way he wants.

Karl get off your soapbox and stop being so abusive, or is that what you live for?

 

Oil is huge issue? In terms of real dollars, the price was 50% higher in the early 80s. And look how the economy did for the next 15 years after that. And look where prices went.

Really? I have that hard to believe when I see articles like the Denver Post had a couple weeks ago. It was about WOlverine Oil (?) finging oil in Utah using new techniques w/ new technologies. Wells had been drilled there and didn't work. They came in, could see exactly where and how to get the oil out, and now have got people in Richfield holding their breath that it'll bring a ton of more jobs to the town as a lot of oil gets extract.

High growth but when you start with hardly anything, it doesn't take a lot of volume to make sexy growth percentages.

Look at oil futures right now. The 84 month future contracts are selling for less than $56 / barrel. That means people are willing to commit to selling oil at that price 7 years from now. You may confident that it'll never go under $50 / barrel again. And the markets aren't disagreeing....depending on inflation. Assuming 3% inflation over the time period, that $50 / barrel level would need to reach $60/ barrel just to stay constant in terms of real dollars. So the market is actually saying that at this point in time, it believes that oil will drop below that floor price.

 

I believe Karl is right. The economy is growing. It did bottom out, and it is growing again. Consumer confidence is unpredicatable, but surprise -- Americans just can't stop buying stuff. Ask M.C. Hammer.

Unfortunately, it does seem to be a jobless economy, in that the higher echelons of corporations are making cash, their bottom line is doing better than, say, a few years ago, but they are making this cash with increased productivity and outsourcing.

Therefore, the liberals are right too, in suggesting that CAFTA and oil prices and risky housing-bubble based personal debt will eventually have to be paid back.

It's very simple. The WSJ is for the investor class and the corporate class, who focus on short-term growth and right-now results. Ideas such as planning for the future, keeping the economy viable long-term, and ensuring that America is a MARKET for products is no longer part of the shareholder agreement.

I'm not saying that this can't keep up for a while. I'm saying it can't keep up indefinitely.

 

Sorry, Peak oil output is predicted to be reached by the end of the year.

Most of the cheap oil is gone. Nice analysis on the market prices and I'm not disagreeing, but I will say that people don't really know how much is left. Also, and I can't find the link right now, but the Saudis were producing oil at an extraction cost of 1:50 and now its somewhere around 1:30-35. Meaning to me we are now tapping dirty oil.

Without cheap transportation, the costs of all goods will go up, and that spells tough times ahead unless alternatives are developed. Thankfully some are coming out but I don't know if it will be mainstream fast enough.

Those are my opinions and I don't know about you, but my next vehicle is a Hybrid or Fuel cell. I paid $2.33 for regular unleaded today. Soon we'll be paying $3 bucks.

Anyway, theres alot more here: http://www.oilcrisis.com/

 

Well, the markets, the people risking their money and businesses making decisions, disagree.

And why is that "really not knowing how much is left" automatically means "we're going to run out"? That one goes both ways.

Have fun buying the hybird. I'll continue to enjoy taking the bus.

 

Good points, I'm certainly not sure either. Regardless, I am long 2010 oil futures.

Lastly, I learned alot the last time the government told us we were in recession after we had been in one for a year already.

Bush sees these reports, might of had something to do with his decision to invade Iraq without any evidence.

 

Also don't forget that the corporate class, for the most part, in their focus on the next quarter, same-store sales, shareholder value, etc., very rarely produce indicies that reflect "back-end" or long-term or societal costs. They just roll it all together.

GNP/GDP is a great example. More prisions? Building them adds to GDP. CLeaning up more toxic waste? Adds to GDP. They have a measure for telling us the contributions single moms are making to the workforce, but nothing to tell us how that affects the children of those women being raised by the television.

Myopic in the extreme, and certainly not coming at it in terms of ALL the stakeholders in the matter. Why? Because they have a leadership, top-down, and a defintion of "freedom" "progess" and "success," border to border, that affirms such half-calculations.

 

Man, it must rule to be rich...

...as for the rest of us

 

A big FU to whoever thinks the economy is grand. Tell that to the towns that depend on GM factories or any other factories which produce products domestically.

I'm in a city which lost 40,000 steel making jobs more than 25 years ago. The town has not bounced back nor shown signs of recovery. (Springsteen wrote a song about it BTW). In fact, we're reaching new depths I thought I would never see in a city in this great country.

Today the city's entire East side was shutdown as a gang war went on in broad daylight. It was bad. And we're used to this ******** here. We've had one of the worst homicide rates in all of the country for several years now, but the violence and lawlessness is spiraling into depths that would scare any resident of Fallujah.

The years of neglect, poverty, poor schooling and high unemployment rates have borne monsters. And it's a good bet it's happening elsewhere.