There has been a slow, quiet, drip of good numbers/news in the last quarter. Nothing huge, and all of it "tenuous". But if you look at a large number of common indicators they are all moving very slowly in the "right" direction. Dunno if it will last, or if "all" the numbers will move, but it is some of the best we've seen in 3 or more years.

Europe could ruin it all if they don't get their act together though.

there has to be at least 2000 jobs to break even for the last 6-7 yrs.

we have lost at least 20,000 good paying permanent union jobs in the last 30 yrs. we used to be one of the largest producers of nuts and bolts,stamped steel hardware,several other large manufacturing plants,and a steel mill with the largest melt furnaces in the usa. our steel and it`s products built this country and the only thing that is left is the melt furnaces and one rolling mill and the rest are empty buildings and level land.

Some wise man once said “Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” Add to that those persistent rumours that if you torture statistics long enough it will eventually confess to something, and you have a potent mix on your hands. Not for the first time, we have seen some innocuous set of numbers scoured and pored over in excruciating detail, until at least some crumbs of comfort could be rescued from the grim rubble. For the numbers this is an extremely frustrating ordeal. All they want is to be allowed to tell it like it is: you lot dunno what’ya doing. But then who cares about the unleavened truth when sheer romantic escapism presents a far more appealing picture? Without a doubt this economic crisis is the ultimate homage to St Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. I have closely followed these recovery tales- and I have the entire list of news stories to prove it - since May 2009, which means we're entering the third year of recovery! Some recovery this.

http://www.maverickonomics.com

from job losses beconing gains to consumer confidence to durable goods orders to inventories to profits to equity markets to tax revenues to retail sales - all slow but real improvements over the last 18 mos at least. Improving and wonderful are not synonyms.

Don't blow a blood vessel over it

And welcome to the forum!

analysis did seem a bit of an over-reaction to a few statistics!

And, I find it disheartening that so many of us lap up these 'economic recovery' red herrings.

The obscenely wealthy corporate megalomaniacs are scurrying around like cockroaches in the dawning light because their wealth is an illusion. Their hedonism has resulted in the massive Black Hole that the brave and erudite Brooksley Born called the Dark Market. With a current notional value of $680 TRILLION, the 'worth' of these worthless financial instruments exceeds the combined GNPs of EVERY NATION ON THIS PLANET by a factor of ten!

The entire system is broken! Our global economy is undergoing catastrophic change. I find it disheartening that our 'leaders' and 'economists' continue to discuss this issue as though there is a 'recovery' just around the corner.

We are witnessing a global cultural crisis, and some folks are just not ready to acknowledge that.

Time for change. I am ever more hopeful, now that #Occupy is spreading across the globe.

And my employer is a
Manufacturer!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our species' economic behavior continues unabated, even during times of extreme austerity. Your employer's 'record earnings' and your bonus do not insure that we are experiencing a 'recovery,' nor do the regular intimations of improved circumstances promulgated by various individuals with a vested interest in assuaging our fears.

Quite a number of corporatists will profit abundantly during the coming years of privation. However, the vast majority of us will not.

when responding to those who are being crushed by the greedy and self-interested who control our economic reins.

Clearly you cannot relate to them but bragging of your superior fortunes is in poor taste.

I decline your invitation to the malaise-fest.

I was wondering how I would update my ignore list in this new DU, without toggling back and forth to insure I didn't miss anyone. Luckily, those who've been long absent from my view have apparently continued their contentious, sarcastic, rude, sexist, patronizing and/or condescending comments, which makes it so much easier for me to add them.

I got two on this OP alone...

Poor wee mannie, your posts are far too insipid to warrant ignore.

Using the same math, if the Megamillions jackpot is $200mm and they sell 50mm tickets for Friday's drawing, the "notional value" is 10T, but that doesn't mean there is even a vague possibility of them needing to pay that. Almost ALL of that silly number is default swaps and options - essentially self-canceling bets for and against the same thing.

Do tell... Such erudition is most enlightening, particularly when unencumbered by references to the perspectives of such marginally gifted individuals as Brooksley Born. I genuflect in your general direction...

Where's the money? If this silly amount is a real debt, what happened to the principal?

But, Nooooo, everyone keeps listening to the media and their doomsday experts.


Really, this sounds like great news along with so many other signs, we need some optimism here!

We were in NYC over the weekend and they were not giving deep, deep discounts like they had in past years, my girls were disapointed they could not get $50 designers clothes.

Signs looks up!

...for the super rich.

American jobs? *chirp**chirp**chirp*

Not a workers' paradise by any means, but a better trend than the other direction.

That does not mean they are using American workers.

Be smarter than one.

For repetitive tasks, there is no way for a human to outperform a robot. It's just not possible. Robots never fatigue and never make a mistake. For everything else, robots are used because they are cheaper than people, not because they are better. Is an automated telephone answering system really better than a live operator? Of course not. But it is cheaper.

You seem to be suggesting that if humans can't compete with robots, then we are obsolete and ought to be replaced.

If you have no more value than a machine, well....

I'm really happy to see this, but I'm always wondering what we manufacture since other than foods, a few gardening items (but not hardware) and sports clothing, I mostly only find foreign-made products in the stores I can afford to shop in.

... such as commercial aircraft, construction equipment (Caterpillar - best in the world), agricultural equipment (Deere, Case), mining and oil equipment, machine tools, Um... cars, trucks, buses, appliances, railroad equipment, medical equipment, electrical equipment such as motors and turbines, plus chemicals, glass, concrete. The large item manufacterers do make things overseas, too, but for foreign markets mostly. I think it would be easier to get a job as a CNC (computer numerical control) machinist than it would as an MBA. Many companies are begging for skilled tradesmen. Engineers, too, of all disciplines. Far too many college students are not looking at degrees where the jobs are, or considering technical school for blue-collar type careers. How many jobs are there available in anthropology? Or, Literature? Or, history? If we are not willing to make things, then we have to buy them from elsewhere. That's not to say I don't recognize that US companies aren't shipping jobs elsewhere (thank you, NAFTA) or retailers bringing in inexpensive goods (Hello, Walmart etal). If our economy is to grow and thrive, we have to make things.

When we lived in Germany and Austria, I noticed that the children in those countries at that time learned things like knitting and playing little plastic recorders in our local, state-run three-year kindergarten.

In addition to abstract arithmetic and math, the children learned applied math of a very basic sort. If you can knit, you can count beyond ten, coordinate your hands and if you can play a little plastic recorder, you learn to think in abstract terms, you train your memory and again you have to work to coordinate your hands and your brain.

I don't know whether the German and Austrian kindergartens still teach these skills, but I'm pretty sure that we do not. Our children do crafts, but I don't know to what extent the crafts they do integrate pre-engineering or pre-math skills as do knitting and playing a simple musical instrument.

Also, it may be that our local kindergarten was unusual.

I think that these crafts help children learn to plan projects, focus and finish what they start. Kids have a lot of fun doing them. I don't see very many American kids doing these things. Of course, our kids used to play with Lego a lot. I don't know if children do that. Computer games can be good, but I don't see that they encourage children to integrate thinking and coordination of muscles that need to be used in making things. Computers seem relatively easy to use, not as challenging for children as skills like knitting or woodwork or playing a musical instrument.

The skills for designing assembly lines and information technology to support manufacturing is quite prominent in Ohio.

http://www.ohio.com/business/products-made-right-here-in-northeast-ohio-1.108630

South and Central America. It's pretty depressing.

Manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles County have continued to decline in recent years, as they have nationwide, yet the county retains its ranking as the leading U.S. manufacturing center, a new report says.

L.A. County had 389,300 people employed in manufacturing in 2009, ahead of traditional rival Chicago, which ranked No. 2 with 324,900 jobs in the sector, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., a business advocacy group for the local economy.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/03/los-angeles-la-county-top-manufacturing-center-us.html

Those products you see made in China? Chances are they were made with American machines in factories built with American construction equipment and operating American software by workers fed on American grains and legumes. Consumer products with country of origin stamps do not tell the whole story.

How else are the Republicans going to win?

I spent 32 years so far involved in the machine tool business, mostly as a CNC Applications Engineer. My last employer, Mazak USA, laid me off in a panic in Feb 2009, along with a lot of other people, experienced it's best sales year in U.S. history in 2011. The U.S.A. had been buying Mazak's, and presumably other machine tools, like hotcakes in 2011.

Big ticket capital equipment has enjoyed a lot of prosperity in the last two years. I don't have a good explanation as to why this business segment is prospering, while most of America is suffering, either laid off or in fear of losing their job. Some possible reasons are excellent capital equipment tax incentives, and perhaps a lot of military work out there?

Here's some industry graphs to study:

http://www.amtda.org/website/article.asp?id=492

I do currently have a job, but it's in direct labor now. Running Mazak's, of course.

-90% Jimmy

That is driving heavy equipment and plant construction.

Your amtda last graph shows machine tools up to 1990s levels--very good news.

Build it, declare it, and we will buy it! The true American people…