Economic Recovery : A Bumpy Road
Hold on to your hats, America, the recession’s not over yet. Although the economy grew at a healthy rate during the July to September time frame, causing many economists to announce the end of the recession, it seems that the “recovery party” is over; at least for the time being. The Labor Department said on Friday that the American economy lost about 263,000 additional jobs in September, which was worse than the 201,000 lost in August, and way above Wall Street’s expectations of losses amounting to 180,000. With the additional job losses, the September unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, the highest it has been since June 1983. Believe it or not, the 9.8% unemployment rate is actually the good news; the bad news is that the “real” unemployment rate (taking into consideration those individual whose unemployment comp has run out, and who have given up trying to find a job) is more like 17%. Given this sad scenario, Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, said the unemployment rate is very likely to remain above 9% throughout the entire 2010.
The main driving force behind the growing legion of the unemployed (about 15.4 million of them) is a continuing and unrelenting slump in retail sales. The lack of demand at the retail level, of course, directly impacted manufacturers, who saw a drop-off of almost 1.0% in September. Overall, the mood of the country can be summed up in one word, “uncertainty”. Americans have not seen any significant changes in the economy or in the political realm that has given them reason to become optimistic about the future. For example, the country is still engaged in a costly military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been little to no significant tax reform, the Congress is hopelessly split on the issue of health care reform, the country is running trillion dollar deficits, and the value of every one’s 401K is still in the tank, along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Combine all the negatives mentioned above with a nervousness concerning future employment possibilities, and it is not hard to see why a general feeling of malaise has fallen over our land.
One thing that most economists agree upon is that economic recovery in America will take a lot longer than originally anticipated, and that the path to recovery will be a bumpy road. As the fourth quarter of 2009 begins, we are all witnessing one of those “bumps”.
—Rich
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It just boggles my mind for any economist to proclaim the recession is over with a real unemployment rate of 17%..It verifies to me that our leaders, business and political have lost touch with what truly drives the economy and the stability of this country…The Average American worker..
That’s because recessions/depressions are not defined by unemployment.
Gold prices have risen considerably and so have notable commodities like oil since they are all a hedge against inflation.
It’s very possible that we can get 2 quarters of economic growth (end of a recession) with little job growth.
Without further government intervention the economy might turn around faster.
Here in California the recession is so far from over. The top state income tax rate is 11% and they have managed to find a way to tax pretty much anything you can think of. Just paid $900 dollars to register my Subaru Outback in this money sucking state, you’d think I was driving a top of the line Mercedes for that high of a registration fee.
The fact that they have managed to drive people out of a state where most people would want to live is a true testament to the notion that government needs to back off. If what they’ve done at a state level (and the California legislators seem to have a lot of clout in Congress) happens at a national level we’re all in big trouble.
When you let Democrats control the government they raise taxes and people and businesses leave. In this case Nevada, Arizona, and Texas have done very well with their attractive tax rates and pro-business rules.
It’s no surprise that the three states in the nation that are worst off are California, Michigan, and New York… all dominated in the legislature by Democrats.
Many Democrats already know their elected representatives within the Democratic Party have clearly set their own agendas over the members of the Democratic Party, our Nation, and the American people. Overall, many of them no longer think of themselves as being our elected representatives, and now refer to themselves as leaders in the true form of tyrants.
Most Democrats already know their pleas to their elected representatives within the Democratic Party are only being answered by repeated insult and injury. Despite this, we as Democrats can restore control of the Democratic Party back to the party members. All we need to do is cut off donations to the local, state, and national headquarters of the Democratic Party, and to make sure the donations are made directly to worthy and honorable Democratic Party candidates.
Web site: http://www.democraticreformparty.com