Foist!!!!

I love the Yahoo news photo! GW looking heavenward as if THAT'S where he gets his economic info!

I think it's time to stockpile food, water and weapons, juuuust in case...Looks like the shit MIGHT be hittin the fan soon. Better to have it and not need it, than the opposite.

Ordinarily the naked body of an older man is not in and of itself repulsive. But when you stick chimpy's head on it.....EEWW!! Damn, that was nasty! Excuse me while I gouge my eyes out.

Their strategy for the past two years has been "deny, deny, deny, then blame it all on the next guy"

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we'd still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

His boobies are bigger than pickles.

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we'd still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

BTW Part of our failure is our success. As the dollar goes down internationally, it makes our export products more affordable globally. Remember this downturn is from a rate of growth that many thought was unsustainable. And all you people who are the least bit green should welcome any slowing of our economy. Any slowing means less natural resources consumed.

Marcus Aurelius @ 14:

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we'd still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

You are full of shit.

Nice. I pull up facts and you call me names. Do your own research.

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we'd still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

I beg your pardon, but how much money do you make a year? Most of my cash each month is going to gas, mortgage, energy, food and NOW HEALTHCARE. All are skyrocketing, so I can't afford any extras...and I'm solidly middle class (supposedly). Everyone I know is in the same boat.

The emperor not only has no clothes, but is a certifed moron as well. Only in Bush world can oil rise to $104+ a barrel today on its way to $115 within a couple of weeks. Only in Bush world is gold nearly at $1,000 an ounce with silver of $20 and as these two metals are the only true baromemter of inflation, you now know why our ever increasingly worthless dollars have any purchasing power. Only in Bush world can the entire housing industry crumble before your eyes while government regulators looked the other way. At the rate things are going, we should be in a full blown depression by 2009-10.

GB @ 22:

Strawberrybitch @ 19:

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we'd still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

I beg your pardon, but how much money do you make a year? Most of my cash each month is going to gas, mortgage, energy, food and NOW HEALTHCARE. All are skyrocketing, so I can't afford any extras...and I'm solidly middle class (supposedly). Everyone I know is in the same boat.

Like I said above. It is not the economy and the mortgage crisis that is causing this. It is the wealthy ripping us off.

Cause and effect. The economy is tanking. Sharper Image and the like are bell weather marks.

Bush's fictional "Ownership Society" meets the fitctional "Pottery Barn Rule" but with realistic resulsts:

"You didn't break it, but you own it and you have to fix it"

Jeebus. The economy cannot expand every year forever. It expands and shrinks in cycles. This HAD to happen. I mean think about it in layman's terms. You start a job at 16 earning $10/hr. Do you honestly think that after working 50 years, your wage would go up every year by a buck? It isn't realistic.

You shoulda had Condi giving him a reach around.

Strawberrybitch @ 19:

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we’d still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

I beg your pardon, but how much money do you make a year? Most of my cash each month is going to gas, mortgage, energy, food and NOW HEALTHCARE. All are skyrocketing, so I can’t afford any extras…and I’m solidly middle class (supposedly). Everyone I know is in the same boat.

Like I said above. It is not the economy and the mortgage crisis that is causing this. It is the wealthy ripping us off.

Total crap! The economy is heading down hill because we have a central bank known as the Federal Reserve that creates money out of thin air. The more you print, the higher inflation rises. That is just an simple economic fact. The mortgage crisis was caused by the banking industry that believed there was money to be made fleecing borrowers who were less than educated when it came to sub-prime and Alt-A mortagges and what they really ment. The bankers sold this junk world wide and now the law suites are piling up because those foreign entities that purchased these bonds can't prove in any US court of law, that they are the true holders of the notes. Further these notes were then underwritten by derivitives which as a market itself has no regulation what so ever.
As keneys stated many years ago. " Inflate or die". " In the end, we're all dead anyway". Helicopted Ben Bernanke will drop dollars from B-52's if necessary to keep things afloat a little longer, but ultimately the markets will crash as they did in 1929. This is a ponzi scheme of epic proportions and it will not end well.

c. atrox @ 29:

You shoulda had Condi giving him a reach around.

NO! c. atrox. NO! BAD atrox!

The economy is GREAT !
The surge is working !
War is Peace !
Up is Down !
Black is White !

Now, watch this drive.

GB @ 26:

There is a class war on, not an economic failure of our economy. Who gets these houses after foreclosure? They don't go away. The rich snap them out of foreclosure or the bank gets them. Oil is up and yet American oil barons are making record profits. There have been more billionaires created in America in the last 6 years than any time in our country's history. This is not good for the working class and terrible for the middle class, but the economy is not tanking, it is being handed over to the rich. the doomsayers and people calling me names are just creating a smoke screen -the guise of "recession" - so the robber barons can take over ownership of our country with no one the wiser.

I'll agree with you here, but to say that we are exaggerating the effects is wrong.

Two Dicks and a Bush.

Loans to homebuilders and other developers are the latest slice of the credit market under duress, and analysts say banks could face hundreds of millions of dollars in losses as a result.

As commercial and residential real-estate prices decline, banks of all sizes face a growing number of loan defaults from builders unable to sell houses, and from developers whose malls and other properties turned out to be less desirable than anticipated.

This is from MSNBC - business section today http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23480155/

Add this in to the "downturn" and I think we'll be in more than an "economic downturn" for a good length of time.

My husband and I both work - he's a "professional", have four kids who all hold jobs as well as attending school (three in college, one in high school) and we are paddling as fast as we can just to keep our little status quo going. Ol' Buck-nekkid in Chief is clueless, and karmically he's doomed. I just hope his karma comes around to settle up soon before things are irretrivably f*cked up for not only my kids, but their kids too. Oh wait... too late...

GB @ 17:

Marcus Aurelius @ 14:

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we'd still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

You are full of shit.

Nice. I pull up facts and you call me names. Do your own research.

I think it is just that, GB. The question is out of where are you are pulling the facts. (fill in the metaphor, please)

Numbers can be juggled to mean anything and support any preconceived conclusion. The bottom line is that the average American is in deep shit financially while the top income bracket and the corporations are doing fine.

If you by some amazing chance are not in the top income bracket and are still doing well financially, then I applaud you for your resourcefulness in not being affected by this recessive economy. Just don't assume everyone else is so fortunate.

JackMormon @ 32:

The NY Times reports that the corporations now have an unprecedented amount of cash on hand. They have no econom,ic problems thanks to W"s economic policy. Tax everyone except the rich, but give them huge tax cuts while we are fighting an expensive war. Corporations have the greatest ratio of cash on hand versus debt in recent history. They have so much money they can't find instruments to invest in to give a good return. The Carlyle Group is awash in cash and no place to put it. Shame on this adminstration.

Thank you.

Again, yell at the top of the mountain "The economy is tanking" The price of a house drops. The owner is upside down on the mortgage. He or she walks away. The bank gets it and needs to resell fast. A rich person swoops in and buys it for 5% below market price. These numbers are not being reported.

If oil, at $100+ a barrel is so bad, why are the oil companies still making huge profits? So, they can justify $3-4 a gallon and fleece the American people for more.

These guys will make it seem so bad that they will be getting our public commons - they will be buying our highways and putting tolls on them, buying our cities and running them like businesses, buying our national parks and turning them into franchises....hold it. That is already happening.

Motley Fool is not a British web site, but a DIY financial website and book system, run by some guys in Manhattan.

Its also worth noting that the use of the term stagflation is wrong because the numbers don't so any inflation. Staglation was no economic growth coupled with inflation, so you got hit doubly hard as a consumer. The neoliberal economy, which is now in place, was the counter to the inflation problem, but the major, and some would say intended, side effect was that the economy trended towards the greater inequality seen in the robber baron era of capitalism. So the numbers tell two stories. 1 is that the little people get hammered to death in downturns. The other story is that the aggregate numbers loook ok even when people are getting hammered. The aggregate numbers are the problem. We turn to over all GDP as the answer to what our economy is doing rathr than how are the people in the economy faring.

I want to be clear, because people here still aren't getting it:

The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting enslaved.

It is not the economy that is causing this.
It is not the collapse of the housing market.
It is not oil at $100+ a barrel.

It is the ruling class. Plain and simple.
There is a ton of money being made as pointed out by Jack.

Andrew @ 31:

Strawberrybitch @ 19:

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we’d still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

I beg your pardon, but how much money do you make a year? Most of my cash each month is going to gas, mortgage, energy, food and NOW HEALTHCARE. All are skyrocketing, so I can’t afford any extras…and I’m solidly middle class (supposedly). Everyone I know is in the same boat.

Like I said above. It is not the economy and the mortgage crisis that is causing this. It is the wealthy ripping us off.

Total crap! The economy is heading down hill because we have a central bank known as the Federal Reserve that creates money out of thin air. The more you print, the higher inflation rises. That is just an simple economic fact. The mortgage crisis was caused by the banking industry that believed there was money to be made fleecing borrowers who were less than educated when it came to sub-prime and Alt-A mortagges and what they really ment. The bankers sold this junk world wide and now the law suites are piling up because those foreign entities that purchased these bonds can't prove in any US court of law, that they are the true holders of the notes. Further these notes were then underwritten by derivitives which as a market itself has no regulation what so ever.
As keneys stated many years ago. " Inflate or die". " In the end, we're all dead anyway". Helicopted Ben Bernanke will drop dollars from B-52's if necessary to keep things afloat a little longer, but ultimately the markets will crash as they did in 1929. This is a ponzi scheme of epic proportions and it will not end well.

Agreed. I come at this from the Austrian School so I agree 100% with what you stated. The main problems in my opinion is the massive Government spending compounded with the Fed's own monetary policies. Everytime I see Ben Bernanke I just want to dump the dollar more and go into something else. For an advanced view of what things could look like just take a look at Zimbabwe because they use the exact same system just like everyone else.

L.A. Confidential @ 42:

BOGOTA (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush backed Colombia on Tuesday in an escalating Andean crisis as Venezuela moved troops to its border and Colombia accused President Hugo Chavez of genocide for supporting rebels.

Of course he does. Media reports from down there indicate US military involvement in the raids that just so happened to occur at night. Basically, they slaughtered people in their sleep. More news you won't read or see on the mainstream media.

Bangkok Bob @ 16:

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we'd still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

The economy your speaking of is the investment community, the Corporate part of America. Sure their alright, just the people are fucked, wages are down, people can't afford insurance, and now the cost of staples like bread have almost doubled as the price of fuel goes up. And why, look to the NeoCon and the PNACers and the bush crony's..

thank you, Bob.

GB, our imports are dwarfing our exports. and our exports aren't shrink-wrapped small goods representing big manufacturing/shipping/service positions. they're raw goods assembled (or harvested, slaughtered, etc) by low-wage "temps" and/or illegal immigrants. then shipped by wealthy executives. in other words, we're not exporting Levis jeans and Ford cars at record levels, we're exporting shit like beef and steel at record levels.

the "class war" comment doesn't even do justice to the situation. the upper classes are suffering too (boo hoo, I know) because they're over-invested - and international banks are demanding American banks/investment firms pay up.

the "economy" dropping, and the "dollar" dropping are incidental, not necessarily connected at the hip.

the majority of American jobs are low-paying service positions and/or temp/contractor positions. these people are usually not provided healthcare (or at the very least, affordable healthcare), so the burden rests on the state to provide them with healthcare. the state obtains the funding for this healthcare from... taxes... which it obtains from Americans with low-paying service positions and/or temp/contractor positions.

I would assert that every export we send is contributing to our diminishing dollar, which in turn, contributes to our diminishing economy. it would be smartest for us to cease importing, and focus solely on creating stronger (and diverse) exports-based full time positions.

chris @ 56:

Memo to libs: Bush does not control the economy, he does not decide who buys and house and who does not... We live in a MARKET BASED economy, not a planned economy, which I'm sure many of you on this site would like to see..

A market based economy would not have tax breaks for corporations because they would not need any. Memo to you: go read a book.

chris @ 56:

Memo to libs: Bush does not control the economy, he does not decide who buys and house and who does not... We live in a MARKET BASED economy, not a planned economy, which I'm sure many of you on this site would like to see..

Memo to Chris: Who said that he did? If you would like to dispute the assertion that his comments were correct, please do so. Making-up goofy comments to avoid doing so, does not make you look real bright, however.

The Magical Mysterious Market Hand!

ConcernedCanuck @ 55:

L.A. Confidential @ 42:

BOGOTA (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush backed Colombia on Tuesday in an escalating Andean crisis as Venezuela moved troops to its border and Colombia accused President Hugo Chavez of genocide for supporting rebels.

Of course he does. Media reports from down there indicate US military involvement in the raids that just so happened to occur at night. Basically, they slaughtered people in their sleep. More news you won't read or see on the mainstream media.

Geeeezus!! I heard on NPR last night, that they found alot of dead people in their pj's...and now OUR military may be involved in yet ANOTHER atrocity...great...just fuckin great. The hits just keep on coming.

"Beefed Up Brazil Firm Is Top U.S. Packer [,,,] Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD) has agreed to sell its beef-processing operations to Brazilian meatpacking company JBS SA (JBSS3.BR) for $565 million, part of a pair of deals JBS is making that will create the nation's largest beef processor. [...] The U.S. market is particularly attractive for foreign buyers at the moment. The Brazilian currency, the real, has appreciated by about 25% against the dollar in the past year."

So the Brazilian Co, is making this purchase at about a 25% discount for them.

BI BUSHIES!!!

ashton @ 61:

chris @ 56:

Memo to libs: Bush does not control the economy, he does not decide who buys and house and who does not... We live in a MARKET BASED economy, not a planned economy, which I'm sure many of you on this site would like to see..

Memo to Chris: Who said that he did? If you would like to dispute the assertion that his comments were correct, please do so. Making-up goofy comments to avoid doing so, does not make you look real bright, however.

Unemployment is at, what 5.2%, thats pretty good......

chris @ 69:

ashton @ 61:

chris @ 56:

Memo to libs: Bush does not control the economy, he does not decide who buys and house and who does not... We live in a MARKET BASED economy, not a planned economy, which I'm sure many of you on this site would like to see..

Memo to Chris: Who said that he did? If you would like to dispute the assertion that his comments were correct, please do so. Making-up goofy comments to avoid doing so, does not make you look real bright, however.

Unemployment is at, what 5.2%, thats pretty good......

Keep going. It would help if you could actually quote the figure, by the way, not ask a question in the process of supposedly making a point.

ashton @ 71:

chris @ 69:

ashton @ 61:

chris @ 56:

Memo to Chris: Who said that he did? If you would like to dispute the assertion that his comments were correct, please do so. Making-up goofy comments to avoid doing so, does not make you look real bright, however.

Unemployment is at, what 5.2%, thats pretty good......

Keep going. It would help if you could actually quote the figure, by the way, not ask a question in the process of supposedly making a point.

Chris,
I was unemployed for over 3 years. My UI ran out in less than one year. I am but one example of those unreported unemployed. After my UI ran out, I no longer was factored into your reality, but I still existed... unemployed. See, the system is set up to NOT count the least fortunate.

.

burnt @ 57:

Bangkok Bob @ 16:

GB @ 11:

Actually the doom and glooms are exaggerating the problem. Our export economy dwarfs the housing market failures and the annual trade deficit declined for the first time since 2001.
In 2007, U.S. exports of goods and services grew by 12.2% to $1,621.8 billion. All the mortgages involved in this total only a fifth of that gain. If every one of those houses suddenly were worth nothing at all we'd still have an overall gain in our economy.

We are definitely on a downturn, but not nearly as bad as you all are making it out to be. Most of the nay saying only drives down consumer confidence and discourages domestic investment in our economy.

The economy your speaking of is the investment community, the Corporate part of America. Sure their alright, just the people are fucked, wages are down, people can't afford insurance, and now the cost of staples like bread have almost doubled as the price of fuel goes up. And why, look to the NeoCon and the PNACers and the bush crony's..

thank you, Bob.

GB, our imports are dwarfing our exports. and our exports aren't shrink-wrapped small goods representing big manufacturing/shipping/service positions. they're raw goods assembled (or harvested, slaughtered, etc) by low-wage "temps" and/or illegal immigrants. then shipped by wealthy executives. in other words, we're not exporting Levis jeans and Ford cars at record levels, we're exporting shit like beef and steel at record levels.

the "class war" comment doesn't even do justice to the situation. the upper classes are suffering too (boo hoo, I know) because they're over-invested - and international banks are demanding American banks/investment firms pay up.

the "economy" dropping, and the "dollar" dropping are incidental, not necessarily connected at the hip.

the majority of American jobs are low-paying service positions and/or temp/contractor positions. these people are usually not provided healthcare (or at the very least, affordable healthcare), so the burden rests on the state to provide them with healthcare. the state obtains the funding for this healthcare from... taxes... which it obtains from Americans with low-paying service positions and/or temp/contractor positions.

I would assert that every export we send is contributing to our diminishing dollar, which in turn, contributes to our diminishing economy. it would be smartest for us to cease importing, and focus solely on creating stronger (and diverse) exports-based full time positions.

Actually, our imports are dropping as our exports are increasing ( . Your analysis is correct though. We should stop exporting our resources, but this is one way the rich are getting richer. They won't stop until the resources are gone. Also, where are you getting that the upper class are suffering too. Luxury Yacht and private jet sales are in double digit growth rates. To create this kind of consolidation of wealth from the poor to the rich, there must be hundreds of thousands of people driven into poverty for each billionaire created.