The loss of 65,000 jobs in February after losing 22,000 in January was very unexpected. Most manufacturing jobs have gone overseas, and it's easy for the US business to react quickly to a slowing economy. Retailers had a lousy 4th quarter and as we know abut 70 percent of the US economy is consumer driven.
Posted by Prabhata at March 10, 2008 02:33 AMBushco's Hands-off-the-Rich policy has sunk the country. This won't just be a recession, it will be a transformation to a country with a much lower standard of living for ordinary schmoes. The rich will likely flee with whatever gains they fleeced and can hold onto.
The Fed can start "buying" all this worthless paper from the banks, but many banks will still fail. We'll have to bailout the govt sponsored mortgage buyers Fannie and Freddie, but that will just increase the mounting deficit, and where exactly will the money come from to do it? New taxes, ha-ha?
Think foreign investor are going to buy bonds for that purpose? And how much will the interest have to be to get that new capital? Or will we just "print" it and get additional inflation?
Goldman Sachs recently estimated that 30% of US mortgages would be underwater by year's end. Think the price of those houses will ever rise to make those mortgages viable again? Think "owners" of those properties are going to keep paying on those mortgages?
This is all the result of foolish bank deregulation (advocated and signed by Clinton), greed and fraud undertaken by Wall Street in the past 10 years, a ridiculous interest rate policy by Greenspan, and Bushco and Fed hostility to doing ANYTHING to regulate the mortgage and securities markets despite being presented with serious warnings on numerous occasions.
Just wait another six months, as there is NO easy or cheap answer to this, clearly. And we're wasting $12 billion a month on Bushco's endless "wars" to boot. And the price of oil is going ever upward due to peak oil finally rearing its head. Basically, disaster wherever one turns....Heckuva job, Deadeye!
Posted by euzoius at March 10, 2008 05:09 AMGreat support guys. Way to get behind 'our' guy, build him up.
Posted by peter at March 10, 2008 05:55 AMDon't worry, George's stimulus package of throwing a few bucks to the bottom feeders will save the day.
Posted by Judith at March 10, 2008 06:23 AM"The US faces a pretty stark choice right now: it can let the losers take their losses...OR, in an effort to let these losers off the hook we can wreck the whole machinery of capital by making our medium-of-exchange worthless."
Going Going... Clusterfuck Nation by Jim Kunstler, March 10, 2008
http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2008/03/goping-going.html
Accountability? National interest? This crew? The choice is obvious.
Posted by Pvt. Keepout at March 10, 2008 07:29 AM"...We'll have to bailout the govt sponsored mortgage buyers Fannie and Freddie, but that will just increase the mounting deficit, and where exactly will the money come from to do it?...."
can you say Social Security? Medicare? Bush doesn't give a rat's ass about the Federal debt which he exploded because it gives the right-wing another chance to attack Social Security and Medicare.
Posted by Gay Veteran at March 10, 2008 10:47 AMNorthern Ohio/Southern Michigan has been in a recession since Bushco took over. We hear that you all are in a recession. Well, welcome to the party. I must admit that all the campaign crap about NAFTA was just that -- crap. NAFTA is really not that big a thing here in Ohio... unless you include China somehow as part of it. Until this past year we were ruled by a Republican jihad. It took its toll on the State. Manufacturing all but closed up shop here in 2000. The jihadists raped and plundered what was left and made our education system a shambles. Smart, young, liberal people left the state in droves.
What was left voted for George Bush and against Gay marriage in 2004. Don't put us on your short list of "places with great quality of life" anytime soon. We're thinking of turning the state into a nuclear waste dump. At least, then, we'd all have some jobs.
Posted by LuigiDaMan at March 10, 2008 08:18 PMMarch 14, 2008
Feminist Policy on Iraq and Afghanistan
This is a special post to all Hillary-voting feminists.
We all want to do an action together - to begin to act as 3rd wave feminists in our own worlds, yet together.
I believe we must begin to articulate a feminist foreign policy for Iraq and Afghanistan that Hillary can adopt which will be accepted by the majority of US citizens. A Feminist Foreign Policy will have as a goal the liberation of middle east women from Sharia law and will elevate the goal of equal gender rights in a civil democratic society, maybe even based on Israeli democracy.
Maryam Namazie writes:"In 1973, as a result of international attention and widespread opposition to the apartheid system in South Africa apartheid was recognised as a crime against humanity.
On the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, let’s together proclaim that sexual apartheid is a crime against humanity. "
Feminists Democrats should offer a platform that addresses the needs of women in Iraq and Afghanistan. The feminist position on would advocate equal rights for Iraq and Afghanistan women with reconstruction democracy training and the implementation of a civil secular law system.
We should eventually offer amendments to the constitution which will form a secular society with secular non-religious law. But it is better if democracy comes from the bottom up. So reconstruction should begin at the surge level.
At the beginning some separate gender activities may be needed to protect women and enforce their rights.
Democracy training reconstruction in Iraq instead of rapid withdrawal can be the feminist democratic platform. The CNN reports from Iraqi citizens say this is what the people of Iraq are asking the US to do now. A soldier said: We need a book of democracy because what we want is personal freedom. That is what we want all this suffering to result in - freedom for the individual in Iraq.
The Iraqi also said, We have all this oil - the people should not be so poor.
As part of the democratic platform on Iraq, the US should work out economic treaties with Iraq that benefit our both countries. That see workers organized into unions which are independent and protected from government and criminal interferences.
We can use the oil revenue while creating a solar/wind society with economic opportunity for males and females . We can leave behind a good public secular school system for girls and boys.
The boys on the left in the democratic party want to do another Vietnam withdrawal throwing the people to their enemies. Because they are rich spoiled brats who feel no sense of obligation to those they use to get ahead. These are the Obama elites of the US. They live like kings and that is their mindset. Let's get out now, there is nothing in it for US.
Feminists should insist on the Japan/German model of reconstruction which led to friendly relations rather than the estrangement we have had from withdrawal without reconstruction in Viet Nam and Cuba all these years.
Feminists should Reject the male left's policies toward Iraq and Afghanistan. It is hard to do but we must speak out for women. You have seen the boys are not with us - now, before it is too late we must speak up for women.
This must become part of Hillary's Iraq program, not withdrawal but reconstruction training in democracy; with the end of gender apartheid as the primary goal.
Specifically, reconstruction with women trained by US soldiers, armed and functioning as protective associations for women's rights - guarding women's centers and shelters, enforcing sexual abuse and domestic violence complaints, working with male units.
The democracy - freedom guarding functions of such units could be praised all over the country as a teaching method.
The abuse shelters and women's villages are where women's economic development takes place. There carpentry, plumping, solar green jobs, sanitation can be taught. Women's home building companies can be formed and guarded.
We woman identified feminists must start to organize around this now or a great opportunity for democracy with equal rights will be lost in the world. See CNN report from Iraqi troops, Kira Phillips in Baghdad. This is film of Iraqis telling US media what they need -saying what is needed. The video may still be somewhere on the CNN website.
Iraqi want democracy training. Training from US troops, democracy training from western TV programs - - free fair election laws. Iraqi are watching this US election on their TV sets and trying to learn from it (that is why our voting booths and polling rooms should be on TV).
Most Iraqi seemed to want want Clinton to win -(Hillary's withdrawal plan showed a concern for Iraqi people's welfare whereas Obama just wants to get out).
Iraqi want one person, one vote, privacy in voting, separate men - women polling stations, simplified voting, to learn about federal, state relationships and responsibilities, Iraqi want jobs, green jobs for males and females.
See also,CNN, On Deadly Ground: Women of Iraq.
CNN Sat and Sun night, the 15th and 16th.
Let's all watch together.
Feminist must insist on a reconstruction that helps Iraq achieve secular society with all our individual personal freedom. We must insist, through the surge, on a secular system as the only way to freedom and peace between the religious factions and non Muslims in one society. The US has done this - we know what works.
We must teach separation of church and state -- we must make this position our feminist foreign policy for Iraq and Afghanistan. That is the Iraq reconstruction plan that can unite the country. Sharia law should be abolished in Iraq and Afghanistan and secular law taught in the schools. We Hillary women could demand feminist reconstruction be in the platform at the democratic convention. We want trade and economic development to result in economic advancement for all our people; US, Iraqi and Afghani.
Remember, let's all watch CNN this weekend and see Women of Iraq.
Posted by Virginia Ray at March 14, 2008 12:38 PMI don’t know how many more Body Blows our (The US) economy can take
Posted by rawdawgbuffalo at July 22, 2008 09:51 AM