We are drifting. We take comfort in bits of good news, but we are in dangerous waters; the Great Recession is being starkly revealed as a global crisis with the US, the traditional engine of recovery, sputtering on every cylinder. The US government responded with dramatic financial support by transferring money to the household sector. But outside of these transfers the personal income of Americans is still declining; the residential market remains stagnant at best; consumer growth is nominal. The only real energy in the economy has come from the cessation of inventory liquidation, which is now the main factor in rising industrial output and any modest improvement in the economy.
The mood of US households is despondent. In May only 11.3 per cent believed they would see their income rise in the following six months, while 16.6 per cent thought they would see it decline. This is the first time in over four decades that more people believe they will be worse off than better. Any massive fiscal and monetary stimulus that might reverse the trend is likely to be politically unsustainable given the growing concern over the exploding national deficit.
Wherever you look the scene is bleak. Leading economic indicators fell in April ”“ unusual at such an early stage in the up-cycle. Jobless claims were up by 25,000 to 471,000. And up again above expectations in the first three weeks of May ”“ raising the four-week moving average to a level consistent with 100,000, or more, net job losses. For the past several months, claims have been nowhere near the levels of 400,000 and less that in the past were consistent with sustained job creation. We are not enjoying the normal cycle of economic improvement.
If the U.S. economy is sputtering on all cylinders it is because the Obama regime has put water in the gas tank, forgotten to change the clogged fuel filter, and put a severe crimp in the fuel line.
Actually, Daniel, a better analogy is that government and industry are trying to suck massive quantities of fuel through the fuel line and, in addition to all the true things that you indicate, it will be industry, not government, that is starved for fuel.
Well, we (the voters) elected this government on purpose.
Don
I didn’t.
Although it’s easy to point to the failings and shortcomings of the
Obama administration, it is helpful to recall that the U.S. economy
was in an almighty mess even before Obama was sworn in. The
anger recently expressed against longtime congressional incumbents
is proof that voters will tolerate only so much of the machinations
and buffoonery of our elected officials. Witness the defeat of
Arlen Specter and Scott Brown’s shock defeat of the Democratic
candidate for the “bullet-proof” Senate seat left vacant by the
death of Ted Kennedy. I did not vote for Obama, but I don’t
believe all of our economic travails can be laid at his feet.
“…it’s easy to point to the failings and shortcomings of the
Obama administration…”
Then what’s the point fo the remainder of your post?
“I don’t believe all of our economic travails can be laid at his feet”,
Really? He is the President. The buck stops with him. He applied for the job, no one forced him into it. It is his job to move the country forward. He is clueless, he doesn’t care, and he won’t because to do that means he would have to dump his leftist, socialist faith and he won’t do it, aka, Bill Clinton.
Now we know what being “ruled” by a true socialist believer is like. Count that up as education in the school of “hard knocks”.
Actually, if you have historical amnesia, it’s pretty easy to blame Obama for the sins of 28 previous years of economic utopianism. With deregulation we got the S&L, Long Term Capital Management, Enron. Businessmen gambling with pensioner’s money, and getting away with taxpayer’s money when they fail.
And if you elect people who hate government, don’t expect to have a government that works.
My, how the liberals howl when the blame game they used and still use against Bush comes back to bit them in the rear. I am quite content to see Obama get the roasting he so freely dishes out.