This is a good article about the current economy. Despite the media hype the current downturn is fairly limited.

Full article here:

A Not-So-Widespread Downturn

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"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to
change it." -- Barack Obama

There is no mention of the retail chains closing thousands of stores, which shows an impact across the board. Nice cherry picked article. This is one of those glass-half-full articles. Where's the mention of the layoffs? Or the banking houses posting unheard of losses? Not to mention the pinch I'm personally feeling, and I'm sure many Americans are. Even the super rich have curtailed their spending. Is it 1929? No. But it's the worst it has been in my adult life.

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"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."

-Thomas Jefferson

It feels like a recession, though technically it hasn't hit the 2 quarter negative growth. What we have entered is the worst. Stagflation. Inflation over high energy costs with very low growth. It's not going to get better any time soon.

While you're reading all that rubbish. The rest of the world is reading articles about the severe downturn in the USA and how it is going to take a lot before it will even start to improve.

We're also getting coverage on the number of Americans in denial about the whole thing.

The World economy is in a whole lot of trouble and the American economy out of the developed nations is set to take the hardest hit of them all.

I disagree that the global economy is in trouble. The domestic economy is taking a whipping, but the global economy, especially rapidly-developing countries like China and India, is growing like wildfire.

well I'd be careful from what I understand china is beggining to see thier own issues. Thier stock market is subsidized and they also have strict withdrawal and control rules. The balancing act between entrepreneurism and gov. oversight still has a long way to go, plus the first generation of the big boom will be hitting midlife and beyond, their medical issues etc. due to poor environmental controls etc. will begin to really take a toll, in the next 5-10 years. Thier gov. works ala the Gorge etc. also leave a lot to be desired.

Premier Liu tackles economic woes - The China Post

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Obama-e fungis nati homines....

I'm with you on this one.
I have observed a simple rule that I have never seen violated, there is no such thing as a straight line in economics.
China and India are booming now, which puts the odds pretty high that they will be basket cases five years from now.
Go to a used book store, and check out the titles about the Japanese economy that was going to take over the world.
And since the US is pretty much a basket case now, in 4 or 5 years we should be booming.

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“The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine.”

Senator Thad Cochran, Mississippi (R)
on McCain

“I decided I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.”
Senator Pete Domenici, New Mexico (R)
on McCain

“My anger did not help my campaign ... People don’t like angry candidates very much.”

McCain on McCain

holy shit...

come here big guy, gimme a hug....

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Obama-e fungis nati homines....

I guess you were not an adult when Carter was prez. 18% interest on home loans... does that 5.8% seem so bad now ?

And now the Feds have just shut down IndyMac. Yeh, I never heard of them either but its the second largest to fail in US History.

I dunno, banks failing is usually a VERY bad sign, OTOH what do you expect when you're loaning people 125% of already very inflated home values without even checking whether they're employed?

McCain, of course, has a plan. He's willing to give anyone who's been foreclosed on a new home. It's in Iraq.

Well let's see...the stark market as a whole may top $3,000,000,000 (that's trillion) in losses this year, it is over $2.5 in the first 5 months.
The past largest company in the world is near bankrupt.
All but one German mass lending institution would have collapsed, ALL OF THEM - if not for the Fed 3 digit $billion bailout.
July may be the worse month yet in layoffs.
By the end of this year it is highly likely the layoff number will reach 1,000,000.
The real estate market has broken several records of all time, namely the highest number of houses for sale in history.
Steel, paper and plastics have ALL seen dramatic decrease in sales and up to 35% increase in prices.
Fuel is at a all time high
Bellwether industries such as shipping, advertising, printing, and small business spending are in significant deficits over PYTD.

Nah...everything is fine.

indy mac is just another example of am org. created by the gov. though ostensibly under civilian control that has been allowed to run amok. The "rumors" of fannie mae and freddy being in trouble have been long and loud for decades ( see below).

Allowing the FHA to get involved in this mess ala the real estate market equals savings and loans of the late 80's, and means they, the gov. is consciously folding the bad loans into FHA so as to be absorbed and paid for by us, the tax payer.

Every one of you that makes over 45K and pays taxes, are going to be paying for this, enjoy.





Critic of the Firms
Sadly Says 'Told You'
By JOHN D. MCKINNON
July 12, 2008; Page A8

WASHINGTON -- Peter Wallison saw Fannie Mae's troubles coming 25 years ago.

In the early 1980s, he was a top official in the Reagan Treasury Department. And Fannie Mae, at least by some measures, was insolvent, thanks to the economic storms that were then roaring through the savings-and-loan industry.


But getting anyone to do anything about the congressionally chartered mortgage company and its unusual vulnerabilities proved futile, even after Mr. Wallison began writing books warning that it and sister company Freddie Mac could take advantage of their government ties and relative lack of regulation to grow too large.

Now the two companies' struggles "in fact threaten not only the stability of the housing sector but the financial markets themselves," he says. Despite his concerns, he said, he thinks that pending legislation to strengthen regulation of the companies could help stabilize their financial situation.

Back in the 1980s, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seemed to rebound fine, even as many of the troubled S&L's eventually failed. The two mortgage companies kept right on going -- and growing. They either hold or guarantee $5.3 trillion of mortgage debt, covering about half the outstanding mortgages in the U.S.

The main reason was the government's implied backing for the mortgage companies' debt issuances. That allowed them to keep raising money for new investments, despite their financial problems, and eventually to escape the hole they were in.

Another reason was the political clout that came with their size and close ties to many lawmakers. That made even the conservative Reagan administration reluctant to take them on, Mr. Wallison said.

"I knew as we watched them grow that they would gradually become more central to the functioning of the housing markets," Mr. Wallison, 67 years old, said on Friday. "And if there was ever to be a problem in the housing markets they would...suffer the consequences. And that meant the taxpayers would have to step in."

Mr. Wallison, who went on to become White House counsel, decided to devote himself to exposing the potential risks posed by the mortgage giants after he retired from law practice and joined the conservative American Enterprise Institute in 1999.

Almost immediately, he said, he experienced political pressure of the sort that -- until now -- has made Fannie Mae largely invulnerable to new legislative oversight and left it under the supervision of a weak financial regulator.

At the time, he sat on the board of a mortgage-insurance company that did extensive business with Fannie Mae. When the company's officials noticed that they weren't being chosen to insure some mortgage pools, Fannie officials told them it was because of Mr. Wallison's new project at AEI, he said.Mr. Wallison went on to publish books about the mortgage companies with titles like, "Nationalizing Mortgage Risk," and "Serving Two Masters, Yet Out of Control."

So how does he feel to be proved correct about the possible risks of a huge government bailout? "Terrible," he said. "I would have preferred that Congress had listened when something could have been done."

Free Preview - WSJ.com


heres the journals take on the issues..

Crisis Deepens as Big Bank Fails - WSJ.com

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Obama-e fungis nati homines....

Government analysts have re-named our current economic position FROM "A DOWNTURN" TO "a somewhat weak starting BULL MARKET ADJUSTMENT" Investors rejoice !

If one had sheltered 400 thousand in each of 10 banks @ 5.5% (Govt. insured) had a paid up home, auto,no stocks and no other debt the only worry about a 3 trillion dollar loss in the market would be that the government collapsed.

Win a few lose a few !

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There is still a choice. The US economy can have many more allies or many less allies. The choice is in the hands of US voters and US presidents.