Somebody Needs to Make a Confession and Admit We're Hurtling Towards a Full Blown Depression

posted by Bill Arnett @ 12:50 PM Permalink

The sheer number of so-called "financial experts" the MSM and the bush maladministration keep putting on TV to assure us that we are not in a recession is depressing. Doubly so since all signs, to me, point toward a full blown depression that has been carefully crafted by the bush maladministration. We won't find out how horrific the damage done our financial state is until a year or two after bush leaves office. And I'm certain that the damage will surpass anything I can imagine.

I am encouraged by articles such as this from the NYT showing that finally, after enduring all the bush years of steady corruption, malfeasance, cronyism, waste, and outright fraud, some experts are starting to suspect that we have been in a "recession."since December:

[Title: 80,000 Jobs Cut in March; Unemployment Rate Rises]

The economy shed 80,000 jobs in March, the third consecutive month of rising unemployment, presenting a stark sign that the country may already be in a recession.

Sharp downturns in the manufacturing and construction sectors led the decline, the biggest in five years. The Labor Department also said employers cut far more jobs in January and February than originally estimated. [A person would be smart to NEVER accept the first number released by Bushco, as they are inevitably later revised. Bill]

The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent, its highest level since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. More Americans looked for work than in February, when many simply took themselves out of the job market. But employment opportunities remained sparse.

“Three months in a row of payroll job losses and a sizable negative revision: these are clear signs that the job market is in recession,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economics Policy Institute. “I’m hard-pressed to imagine anyone who would raise doubt to that at this point.”[…]

But economists were less optimistic. The drop in payrolls was worse than feared: many analysts had expected a decline of 50,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 5 percent.

“This report is telling us that the recession started awhile back, in December,” said Nigel Gault, the chief United States economist at Global Insight, a research firm. “It is not like we are starting this month. We’re in it; we’ve been in it.”[…]

The White House said on Friday that it was not surprised by the dour report and urged Americans to be patient…

Americans should be patient while runaway spending and the deliberate lowering of our tax income with tax breaks for the wealthy and mega-corporations?

Republicans will swear that the cure for all our ails will be even more tax cuts for the wealthy, those least in need of help.

It's not much but it is refreshing that at last the experts tracking unemployment are now using that "recession" word. Maybe soon it will dawn on them that they should be talking about the full blown depression headed our way.

Labels: Bushco, corruption, cronyism, democratic party, Economy, republican party