Economic News

I guess it makes me a bad person, but I hate it that it's all over the news that the economy is rebounding mightily. It makes it all that much harder to defeat President Junior next year.

Of course, the question is, is the economy REALLY turning around?

I had a friend, more left wing even than me, who used to say that the economic news that is reported in the mainstream media is faked up. He used to say that they reported that economy was bad when that worked to the Powers That Be's advantage, keeping working people tethered to their jobs through fear thus making them less likely to try to better their situation through job hopping, or organize to try to better their working conditions and pay. Then, my friend used to say, when things would get bad enough to where people were starting to get upset in big enough numbers to possibly cause the Powers That Be problems, a bunch of economic news would start to happen to paint the picture of the economy booming back. This, he used to say, would last till the crisis was over and till the Powers That Be were firmly re-entrenched, and then the bad economy news would start up again.

Current circumstances sure do seem to validate his point of view. Where do all these numbers that are used to prove their points come from? Who's in control of them? Who's independently auditing them for accuracy?

Because of the economic news, if it continues through the election (and check the record of past elections to see how often this takes place, particulary with Republican incumbants -- e.g., Nixon, Reagan; I know, it didn't work for Bush the First, but I think they thought they had it in the bag and didn't bother), President Junior will be able to say his tax cuts and economic package worked, and everything seen on the evening news will seem to bear that out. The Loyal Opposition, whoever it may be (and whoever it is has my vote) will have a hard time demonstrating how bad things are economically when stuff on the news touts good times for all, except for that pesky joblessness.

Bush reminds me of the robber barons from the other century. These guys haven't even gone after the Enron cronies or anyone else yet.

Look, all of this news may be good and all, but the debt is going to get us sooner or later. It is just CRAZY that we are spending this much and having tax cuts at the same time. I don't know what is going to happen, but it will not look pretty when things come down crashing.

. . .the election is sooner and the come down crashing get us will be later. I agree with you, but how can we persuade all those Americans who thing President Junior is a swell guy?

The people around here (as do many others) depend heavily on the state of the American economy. I believe we can win in '04 because we are better at what we do. It can be proven with or without a suffering America.

. . . I'm not seeing all that many signs of "us" being better at "what we do," but the election season is early yet and I suppose there could be pleasant surprises ahead from the Democratic candidate whoever it may be.

I could use an economic turnaround also. A major contributing member of my household has been looking for work for nearly a year.

not the imaginary pocketbooks being discussed on the news.

the economy is screwed. big time. media lies won't disguise it when push comes to shove.

. . . the not-so-silent majority's ability to distinguish between their own pocketbooks and the imaginary ones they see on the news. I happen to believe that the media will disguise it as much as they possibly can. I hope whoever the candidate is will be able to articulate this in a way that will make sense to those Americans who like President Junior.

1) Only when there is upward interest rate presssure will I believe that the economy has turned.

2) Our massive debt will bog the world down.

3) Housing is holding this toilet paper and ribbon economy together. With the slightest upward move rates will stifle the over-built market.

. . . can someone explain it to all the folks rushing to the shopping malls to up their indebtedness because they've been told the bad times are starting to be over.

If the toilet paper housing thing (I'm not economically sophisticated to know whether that's true or not, but you seem to know what you're talking about, so I'll believe you) manages to hold together until after the election, we're in deep shit creek. If the economic crack up that pessimists (including me) believe is coming, that will provide the opportunity for Them to suspend all democratic processes and values and turn our country into a technototalitarion nightmare.

. . . can someone explain it to all the folks rushing to the shopping malls to up their indebtedness because they've been told the bad times are starting to be over.

If the toilet paper housing thing (I'm not economically sophisticated to know whether that's true or not, but you seem to know what you're talking about, so I'll believe you) manages to hold together until after the election, we're in deep shit creek. If the economic crack up that pessimists (including me) believe is coming, that will provide the opportunity for Them to suspend all democratic processes and values and turn our country into a technototalitarion nightmare.

without connecting the whole. When one looks at the loss of foreign investment which has fled the US in recent months the overall picure is not good. The foreign investment is what has been making the interest payments on the ballooning debt and when it isn't there, interest rates need to go to attract it back. When interest rates go up, the ability to pay on the massive personal debt is reduced and when you couple that with the reduced value of the US dollar, the picture is NOT good.

. . . how can one present this predicament to your basic media dazzled hopeful to a fault middle Americans?

I feel like I wish I could scream: "Fools, can't you see it? You're cheering for folks who are selling you into slavery!" But that would not be an effective communication technique.

I don't even argue with those I disagree with any more. The more we argue, the more tightly they cling to thier positions -- I do that to.

I am looking for ways to tell people they're being duped without making them feel like fools.

"Higher productivity" means "less pay for the same work."

"More people working" even if it kept up with "more people" can mean nothing more than that an honest "family wage" is rarely achieved.

When one reads stats touting improvments in corporate earnings or outlook, remember that this also can mean a further deterioration in the living conditions of the average worker. A detailed look at the "new jobs" numbers shows that working people are being moved into lower and lower wage brackets. If Bill Gates and the Walton family join DU, then the stats will show the average DUer to be a multi-millionaire. Numbers on "the economy" are no less deceptive.