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Â¥
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2011 Apr 2, 12:35pm
here's a graph:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=3b
red line is household debt, green line is gov't debt, blue line is sum of two.
As can be seen, the consumer hit the wall entering 2008 and gov't has had to borrow in their place.
zzyzzx
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2011 Apr 4, 2:04am
under capitalism with business cycle crashes there is always a recovery, just it never recovers to the same level. Permanent unemployment will be higher than before this last cycle, I just don’t know where it will be.
A lot of unemployment is being fixed right now through insane government spending. They spent billions bailing out builders, real estate speculators, etc….. eventually that subsidy will run out and I don’t know what that will bring. But current prosperity is very fake. Can’t spend once way into prosperity.
I agree, and I also don't think much of the current "lower" numbers excpt maybe they will be revised some months from now to reflect reality.
terriDeaner
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2011 Apr 4, 5:26am
Can anyone else come up with great ideas that nothing to do with reality, but make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside?
How about making the publication of reports on the participation rate illegal?
And also, maybe, make illegal any upward revisions of the unemployment rate after the initial estimates have been published?
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http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/feb/05/jobless-rate-drop-fastest-in-50-years/
Despite adding virtually no jobs to the economy, the wizards that track the federal unemployment rate determined that unemployment fell from 9.8% to 9.0% in two months. This goes along the lines of exactly what I was saying, STOP extending unemployment benefits and the unemployed with magically cease to exist, at least officially. I wonder if this same exact logic can solve any of the other challenging problems facing this county, or even the world!
How about the Multi location smog test. First you test the smog level in New York or LA, then next year you test the smog level in Big Timber, Montana and compare the results. WOW, a 2,000% drop in pollution levels in 1 year. Looks like our Smog reduction program is working.
What about the budget defict reduction plan. First we create a budget that's way over what the country takes in taxes this year. Then we reduce it by 50%, despite still being more than what out income, we claim that we reduced spending by half and declare victory.
Can anyone else come up with great ideas that nothing to do with reality, but make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside?