Who could have seen this coming? Uh...well, my DU journal says me, for one...

The BushCo Economy: Dueling Realities

Posted by Atman in General Discussion

Tue Aug 28th 2007, 11:51 AM

Of all the cynical, deceitful things BushCo has done during W's five year Reign of Error, I think the blatant manipulation of and lying about the economy ranks high on the "egregious" list. Not because politicians aren't prone to spin the brightest face on any given situation, that's a given. Rather, because of the disastrous consequences such machinations are setting us up for.

I'm concerned because too many people really believe BushCo's bullshit, especially if they're currently doing well themselves. Maybe they successfully flipped a couple of houses before houses started flipping back and crushing their mortgage holders. Maybe they made a few bucks in the market. Contrary to what the cable propaganda machine tells us nearly every day, most "average Joes" are not in the markets, and a couple of record highs on the Dow don't mean squat to them. Certainly not directly, anyway, as is the case with the players who've made a killing off of the administration policies which are breaking the backs of individual "average Joes" and, many will say, the very nation itself.

The dueling realities presented in the daily headlines just don't make sense to any thinking person: Another massive layoff at some iconic American manufacturer. Record bankruptcies (whew...they covered themselves on that one just in time, eh?). The tanking dollar. An unimaginable budget deficit and unsustainable trade imbalance. Employment numbers which aren't even keeping pace with natural attrition and population growth. And now, of course...the bursting bubble of the housing market. But hey...the economy is the best it's been in decades!

I don't get it. I'm no economist, and I've never even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but there is clearly something not right here. Even on the very Bush-friendly MSNBC, the morning economic report today spoke of more gloom and doom in the shadow of the worsening credit crunch and sub-prime mortgage implosion.

But hey...the economy is the best it's been in decades!

Keep repeating it. It seems to be the only real strategy the administration has. Just keep saying happy stuff...at least some people will buy into it, and those final 25% seem to be all the affirmation Bush needs. The fact is, BushCo has so bastardized the way the key economic figures are tallied and reported, no sane person could actually think this is the best America has seen in decades. Since when are record housing foreclosures, record backruptcies, record job layoffs and record deficits ever an indication of a GOOD, STRONG economy?

Since Bush took office, that's since when. If you're one of the 1%, the tax-cut-getters, the lay-offers, the war profiteers, well sure, everything appears to be doing great for you. But Bush's "Bill Gates in the room makes everyone's average salary rise" theory of economics is a complete farce. And the chickens appear to finally be coming home to roost. George just has to keep 'em waiting at the hen house door until after he leaves office and then the feathers can start flying.

Blaming the impending economic disaster on the new Democratic president is all the GOP has got, and they appear to be banking on that strategy for the 2010 mid-terms, and then of course, for installing yet another Walker's Pointy-head back into the White House in 2012, before the stench of George W. Bush will have even evaporated from the Oval Office carpets.

Hang on to your yarbles, that is if you've got any yarbles. Stuff your mattress with some fresh greenbacks and a maybe a brick or two of gold. Something you can trade for food or rent (no, that $120/mo iPhone won't be of much value in Bush's Armageddon Economy). Because if there is anything we should have learned from the Bush Administration since Usurption Day 2000, it's that when BushCo says things are great, that's when you should be most worried.


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BushCo sweeps bad economy under the rug once again...August just the beginning

Posted by Atman in General Discussion

Fri Sep 07th 2007, 09:19 AM

As I've written several times here, BushCo's New Improved method of calculating economic numbers -- essentially the dollar-version of his "Surge is Working" formula -- has been a charade all along. They pose in front of stacks of boxes with "Made In China" Sharpie'd out and tell us "There were 87,000 new jobs created this month!" while the Press Release Press dutifully parrots the wonderful News(TM) and tosses the peasants a shiny object, neglecting to report the part about the nation's economy requiring 150,000 new jobs a month just to tread water.

Like millions of Americans, Bush has his own housing woes. But he's not worryied about a burst, he's worried about a collapse. A collapse of his house of cards. It appears things have gotten so shitty in the Miracle Economy of George W. Bush that they can't even hide it anymore. It's even catching up with the 1-percenters, so now they want an interest rate cut. Again.

Here's the interesting footnote that got only one quick mention on MSNBC this morning, but I haven't heard it repeated since (to be fair, I haven't been paying rapt attention); BushCo also announced today that it has DOWNGRADED the June and July job numbers. Things were actually fairly bleak in those months, too, not the rosy scenerio they've been trumpeting all summer long, everywhere. It's all been a fucking sham.

Just as so many of us have been saying all along. Once again, love 'em or hate 'em, DUers are months ahead of the story.



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News media complicite in helping BushCo lie about economy, just as with Iraq

Posted by Atman in General Discussion

Tue Oct 16th 2007, 12:45 PM

The news media's failure to ask questions about the "great economy" will be utimately more devastating to the country than their failure to pursue serious questions about the invasion of Iraq.

Each network trots out its own smiling bubblehead in the morning to tell 'Murkins how great they're doing, how great the economy is doing, how there is virtually no unemployment in the United States under The Glorious Leader. Everything is fucking ROSY, oh, except for that your home is worth less (or worthless), the dollar is sinking to unimaginable levels, seven more factories sent another 30,000 jobs to China or India, tens of billions of dollars are being charged to your kids and grandkids and great grandkids off-the-books to pay for endless war, shocking deficit levels.

But everything is rosy, right?

Can anyone ever remember the last time the monthly jobs report indicated a net GAIN in jobs? That is, job growth above 155,000, the number every economist worth his pocket protector acknowledges is needed to simply tread water? Even the lovely Erin Burnett on MSNBC/CNBC acknowledged this last week when she reported the "great jobs picture," nearly 110,000 new jobs, 45,000 short of the break-even point. Since when is yet another month below break-even considered "great?" Why, when they tell you it is, of course. Burnett admitted that it was way short of the break-even point, but said it was considered "great" because they expected worse. Thus is logic in the land of BushCo ass-kissers.

The previous month was even worse. In fact, if each month is falling below the "break even" point, doesn't it stand to reason that we are in fact way, way behind in the employment picture? If it requires 1,860,000 new jobs annually just to tread water, and we're falling short by tens of thousands every month, why hasn't Erin Burnett or any one of these people asked "how is the unemployment rate so low?"

BushCo has lied about everything else, we already know that. Why does anyone accept their word on something as important as economic figures? We know that early on in his term, the Bush administration began tinkering with the way it reports economic figures, much the way it distorts casualty figures in Iraq (ie; shot in the back of the head isn't insurgent violence, but shot in the front is; car bombs don't count, etc). Somewhere common sense has to come into play. How are these so-called economists able to report numbers which simply fly in the face of all reason?

The mortgage/housing market is a total time bomb. Millions and millions of people losing their homes is not and never has been indicative of a "great economy." A housing market implosion coupled with a subterranean dollar, a stratospheric debt and endless war cannot possibly, ever, at any time, be indicative of a "great economy" with record unemployment. Yet they continue to tell us it is.

Where were/are the warnings to consumers? Where were/are the questions to administration officials and economists? It's no different than the media's complicity in the invasion of Iraq by virtue of incessant cheerleading with nary a question of doubt ever being posed. Doing this to America in regards to Iraq was reprehensible and irresponsible. But we see their willingness to hoodwink the American people in order to shore up their own political favors with the administration simply knows no bounds.

Somewhat ironically, they do it at their peril as well as ours, because it is advertising that pays their bills. And any marketing person will tell you, while it is ultimately suicidal to do so, every bean counter cuts back the advertising budget first when the economy tanks (though, outsourcing has been a good stop-gap under BushCo). But what the hell, right? As long as the CEO and BOD are making seven figure incomes, everything is rosy, right?

Right?

Yeah, right.


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All the average joes ARE in the market - because nobody carries pensions anymore, and everybody is getting their retirement plugged into stocks by their 401ks.

We are, truely, fucked.

Quite frankly, I'm more comfortable trusting the portion of my 401K that may be left to promises from
a corporation.

"But it could've been so much worse" never has, and never will cut it.

Your words speak the truth that no one wanted to hear back then.

When our family was looking for a house, two years ago--I realized that we were in for huge economic
problems. For-sale signs outside homes promised "This house for only $455 a month!" These were $400,000- $500,000
homes.

It's not just the bad "sub-prime" loans. It's the interest-only loans and the ARMS that have come due, or will
soon come due. I predict that we haven't seen 1/10th of the full damage.

I remember saying to my husband, "This is not sustainable. People can't afford these homes. What happens
when the real monthly cost of owning these homes, kicks in?" Our bank encouraged us, and practically tried
to push us into one of these unconventional loans. My husband said he wanted a standard 15-year mortgage, and
the broker looked at him like he had three heads.

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I see major, horrendous outcomes. It's not just the housing market falling through,
it's the credit card spending and the home-equity loans that people cant get anymore. Credit cards and people
using their homes at ATM machines propped up consumer spending. That's coming to an end as people have maxed
out their credit cards, and home-equity loans are hard to get. Plus, the price of groceries and gas is through
the roof. All of this seems like a perfect economic storm.

From my angle, it looks like spending will significantly slow--causing layoffs and high unemployment--which will
further decrease spending.

This looks really bad...not just recession bad, but close-to-Depression bad. I'm no economist, so I hope others
will provide information that suggests I'm smoking my socks.

:scared:

BTW, I just got the call today...my rent is going up $100 a month. I can afford it, but it got me thinking; how solvent is my landlord?

(Oddly, we own a weekend home but rent our primary residence).

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