They're lying to us about the economy

They're lying to us about the economy

Every time something big happens, I admit I wonder what all the turmoil is distracting our attention from this time! During the almost-past Bush administration, we learned to pay attention to what's going on, but to pay more attention to what isn't in the headlines.

Right now the headlines tell us it's recession! and possibly depression! with the market dropping! and high unemployment! The financial system in a crisis! Our economy (and the world's) is at serious risk! Statistics are brought out to show us where we've gotten to and it's going from bad to worse with every breath we take. Above all, we need to bail-out huge corporations and massive banking systems. Like we haven't been donating our blood to them for years.

David Cay Johnston, former business and economy reporter for the New York Times talks about the other economy we don't get information about. That's the real economy in which the government and corporate leadership collude in transferring money from the taxpayer to big business. Johnston has documented this scam over the years. We'd do well to demand more information from Congress about just how much the hidden handshake is costing us and costing us plenty.

Some excerpts from a new interview with Johnston on New York's "Leonard Lopate Show" the other day.



http://prairieweather.typepad.com/big_blue_stem/2009/01/theyre-lying-to-us-about-the-economy.html

economic problems.

then turn around and are in favor of government aid for big corps that don't pass the benefit on to normal working people, but pay out HUGE to the bigwigs.

Selfish evil... I'd much rather my taxes went to help poor and middle class Americans than for them to go into the coffers of the already rich - the already rich who then don't pass any wealth on to anyone else.

Any middle class people who still vote for the GOP and their "Trickle Down Economics" ideas are totally deluded if they think they are going to get any economic benefit from those selfish bastards. The only thing their ideas benefit are big businesses, which they all have a hand in.

In fact antonymous --

But we ignored "Yankee, go home" signs all over the world --

And "Capitalistic Pig" signs --

and they've now unleashed the full thrust of capitalism on America --

Capitalism ... also known as "organized crime" --!!!

We're seeing it more every day. That's one thing we have to thank dubya for....his criminality was so transparent that more & more people saw the mafia in operation than ever before.

as it depends on continued, perpetual growth.

I did the math that their site, it'll cost 6472 for a 2600 loan
:eyes:

If homeless and destitute is your desired lifestyle. :puke:

Question is: Will BO tell US the truth, then act to do something to neutralize these criminally corrupt corporations and the filthy stinking wealth mongers.

but we will know soon enough.

as the greatest evil ever perpetrated on the world?

Same odds...

Civilization(!) Is there a fair and equitable solution?

most of the 80's that new home ownership became impossible for the average couple/family? I was pretty young at the time, but I remember a lot of talk about the outrageous interest rates that prevented purchases to those who would otherwise be buying at the time.

"The Supreme Court in 1978 effectively undid these laws in a decision."

I was surprised when we qualified for, and bought our first home in 1993. I hadn't really followed RE all that much, so I guess I expected prices and interest to have continued up. The RE market seemed to stabilize for a while during the 1990's.

seems like that is where we are going.

Just imagine the quality rail cars Boeing could make with the idled 737 assembly line.

Nope, we only build warplanes, not gonna do it.

Just think how many home mortgages could be paid off with one less 3,000,000,000 dollar fast attack sub, with the weapons made for armageddon that if ever they were used, would probably altar the planet for thousands of years.

Or How about the decision to replace the so called again fleet of P-3 Orions with bigger airplanes. Tehres a catch, the new planes, being bigger, demand all new tooling, hangars and support systems.

Cha Ching for the Military boys.

We're paying mega-tax dollars to supply a war machine that's doing nothing but killing women and children in two separate countries that had NOTHING to do with the 9/11 attacks. It's CRIPPLING us.

Power plays with other people's money like it plays with other people's lives.

You cause that by scaring everyone into not spending. You stop people spending by drying up credit.

The question is, are they dropping the interest rates on purpose so that there's no point in loaning money, because no one can make any money by loaning it?

Are they deliberately slowing the economy? Will it be easier to buy up everything and re-arrange the market if only the uber-rich can buy stocks?

I'm no economist, but I wonder about these things.

This is just the beginning of the fire sale. When the rest of us are applying for unemployment and the state's coffers are drying up, the uber-rich will enter the picture with their "representatives" buying up the goodies for pennies on the dollar.

Then, when the economy "rebounds" we'll be buying back everything we sold--that they don't want to keep for themselves.

They aren't the only ones that can afford to buy stuff at a fire sale.

you're unemployed or underemployed and trying to make ends meet, it's hard to take advantage of those fire sales.

in this country. The stock market didn't erase all of them, and many of us moved it all to cash (money market or t-bills) when dubya became president, or shortly thereafter... along about the time we saw what Ken Lay & his buddies were up to in California.

Besides....where has all the money GONE to? Did it evaporate? Where are the trillions that have ended up in the rich people's pockets as a result of raiding our treasury and all of these republican "government contracts" that the Blackwaters and Halliburtons got away with. Well....some of it went to Dubai. In case nobody has noticed, they are building a city made out of gold in the middle of the ocean. Tiger Woods new golf course in Dubai is only $60 BILLION. For a fucking GOLF COURSE!!!! Why do you think Halliburton moved it's headquarters to Dubai? That's where all the money in the world is going.

Our tax dollars, for one.

Now lets talk about how come I pay $4.99 for the same block of cheese that I formerly paid $1.75 for. Remember the excuse that everything went up because gas was $4.00 per gallon at the pump? Well....has ANYBODY noticed that food hasn't come down one cent? Where does most of our household money go every week? To the grocery store. And what are we buying? Kraft cheese with Chinese poison in it. For 3 times the price we formerly paid for American made cheese. And Chinese goods are saving us money....HOW again?

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to have a revolution. The two justice systems we have in this country are part of the two economic systems we have in this country. The riots in Oakland were NOT just random acts of violence, like the news wanted you to believe. It was because people are tired of the people in "authority" having one set of laws, and the rest of us peasants having another set of laws. That cop MURDERED that young man. And the masses were told to "let justice work", and let the cop be tried fairly. Well.....how 'bout if the cop had FIRST let the young man be tried fairly???

Two Americas...one for the "authorities" and one for the peasants.

the Corps and wealthy. If anything at all is done it will be done by OTHER governments. It's only a matter of time before the
dollar is rejected. I would be interested in knowing a source that documents the dollars being transferred out of our economy
and into other currencies. From what I've read Cheney has transferred much of his wealth into foreign currencies.

Bye Bye United States of America, Bye Bye Constitution, Bye Bye all those rights no one seems to give a damn about.


Oh and don't forget that Obama is going to Canada right after the inauguration which seems pointless at face value.

But as I've said for a long time around here...connect the dots, ya'll.

Soylent Green is rich people! Eat the rich!

K & R

Recently in Mother Jones:

By David Cay Johnston

Over and over for the past decade, our leaders argued that the fundamentals holding up our economy were strong. Now we know that this floor of shiny statistics merely concealed the rot below. But there is an upside to this realization: The economic crisis can help us clear away the rot and build a more solid foundation—one that elevates people over capital, kick-starts commerce, and removes some of the costliest barriers to individual success and national progress.

Change will not be easy, and the cost of cleaning up the current mess will be a huge drag on the economy in the near term. But we are, at last, at a turning point; we have a chance to end the socialism for the rich that put us into this hole. How? By, in effect, reverse engineering the debacle. Rewriting tax laws and financial regulations has been the principal vehicle for turning government into a subsidy system for the deep-pocketed and well motivated. It can work in reverse as well. President-elect Obama has offered some interesting ideas to make the tax code more fair—but by and large, his proposals amount to tinkering around the edges, not the kind of serious restructuring previous presidents, most notably Reagan, undertook.

Here’s another way to go. We can start by eliminating some of the most spectacular tax giveaways and move on to doable, efficient steps toward shoring up our biggest asset—not stocks, bonds, or houses, but people. Best of all, much of this won’t cost a penny; in fact, it will raise billions for the big tasks ahead.

long but well worth reading the whole piece:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2009/01/fiscal-therapy.html

People like Johnston, Michael Lewis, William Greider, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman have laid out the essential steps for a new economy.
Yet not one of these guys has a voice in the official establishment.

Rather than the bold steps outlined by these no-nonsense economists, I fear we will get some Congressional mishmash of Wall Street welfare and a $300 check for us.

to lower manpower by letting go their employees. I have seen this in the Healthcare sector.

I have seen nurses (while there is a national shortage of nurses) for the first time in years complaining of needing more hours because no one is hiring, while at the same time one can see more and bigger facilities being built. The number of patients going to Emergency rooms have not gone down (at least in my area) and I heard this morning in the news that the only companies making profits are in the Healthcare sector and some in financial institutions (sorry cannot provide a link since it was something I heard this morning in one of the news networks).

I think companies will trying to make a profit no matter what and this time they could do so by callously letting go of their employees.

In the old days, companies usually were very aware of the consumer tipping point, since the consumers drove their growth potential.

This all changed somehow in the 70's and 80's when labor got equated with migrant labor, and Americans demanded better. Unfortunately, the lack of respect for hard labor, skilled craftsmen, and honest work has perveded to this day -- There's no money it it, if you are after money.

In the past, many companies were just a way to finance the boss's passion for investigating the unknown, like electronics, which was new not lest that 80 years ago. Now, nobody seems to have that spark and are all driven by quarterly results. At some point, the public says, What the hell am I paying $7000 a year for insurance, when my medication is on a $4000 deductible? Why should I pay for this when they won't even answer a call, and nobody affiliated with the policy can answer any questions because it's not their job? If productivity is up 10% then why is a box of Insulin Syringes up %400 in one year?

Then, throw in well meaning Government regulation that are interpretted to mean, you can't have your medical records until we get an affidavit, then you have a system thats expensive, broken, and serves no purpose.

I really think that the high costs of medical care are caused by poor education on the part of the citizens. Stress caused by debt slavery, and an unhelthy diet provided by the Corporations and sanctioned by the Government itself.

At this point, I'd be happy with a witch doctor than American Medicine. At least they take into account the mental and physical realms of health, as well as the allopathic use of herbs.

Also, since I discovered the therapeutic effects of Ozone, Hydrogen Peroxide, U.S.P Salt (If you can find it), and clean water, doctors are a thing of the past.

Lets light the reality torch and read the writing on the walls.

...all of the Internet and MSM\fringe outlets - if you are paying attention, you cannot be fooled.

Never trust a single source. Always verify.

Problem solved. Sort of...you will still be getting screwed, but you will be aware and in a better position to recover.

Yes the Rich get golden parachutes and everyone else gets a golden shower!

that caused this 2nd Republicon Great Depression. Those minorities, who are all experts in real estate law and complex borrowing instruments, who take out loans too huge for a normal middle class citizen to pay back caused the housing bubble. Now its the consumer, trying to pay off usury interest rates, buying things they can't afford on credit who caused it. They will just have to learn to live without food and medicine. :sarcasm:

we'll never get ahead.......

and to brainwash little people into thinking that low taxes on the rich benefit little people most.

Obama may cover a couple more numbers, but the betting is almost done... we are just waiting for the wheel to stop.

The scary part is even the economists can't give us the odds on the bets we have made!

http://www.wimp.com/videobanned/


and we are all the suckers left holding the bag...........

Prepayment penalties used to be illegal too. There used to be all kinds of restrictions on taking advantage of consumers... and THAT'S why we had very stable home ownership, which is GOOD for society.

People forget something. It should've been IMPOSSIBLE for people to buy homes they couldn't pay for. It is the JOB of the professionals to qualify them, which is a very easy thing to do and has always been done. But instead of doing that at all, everything was based on credit scores which has nothing to do with it. They are arbitrary numbers, which measure only how little challenge a person has had in their lives.

When do we hear the statistics about the privileged first-time buyers who walked away from a mortgage given on their great scores after living in McMansions with mommy and daddy... with no track record of making mortgage payments?

Our "crisis" now is that we're overpaying interest. All markets and values have deflated but not debts. Why is that, I wonder? Institute the usury laws today, at say one point over 4% which is the going rate, and you'll see a major turnabout by next month. It would be like putting thousands of stolen dollars back in the pockets of consumers. Do you think they wouldn't feel more optimisc about their future then? Of course they would.

Add to that restoring our bankruptcy law to how it used be too, and a mandatory law to put any missed payments at the end of all loans and wipe out penalities and legal fees, and most people would be back on their feet... and the unemployed would be looking for jobs with new hope, and finding them within a few months due to the pickup in spending.

This isn't rocket science. It's common sense.

And don't even bother telling me it can't be done. Of course it can. Besides, this is a national crisis, so it's national security. It could be done with the stroke of a pen on day one.

For Numerous References:
Google: ADP Places December Unemployment at 693,000

Phssst:
A revised December unemployment figure is expected
to be "quietly" released,
sometime next month....

In December, the number of unemployed persons increased by a seasonally adjusted 632,000 to 11.1 million and the unemployment rate rose to 7.2%. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.3% and is now at 7.2%.

I happened to be watching CNBC at the time of the release of the data, and several commentators remarked how much better the number was than they thought it would be. I wish they were right, but again, the actual numbers showed a loss of 954,000 jobs, over 50% more than the headline number reported in the press release. And that assumes that new businesses created 72,000 jobs from the birth/death model that I so frequently write about. It is possible that almost 1 million jobs were lost in December. I doubt the market would have liked that number.

http://clusterstock.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/jobs-numbers-much-worse-than-you-think

For those interested in the economy, lots of info in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=415035&mesg_id=415035

I think the wealthy interests of this world did this to our economy on purpose, because they knew Obama was going to win, and it was the only way to stop our progress. When they want it to get better, it will.
We are all clear that they control the economy, right?

Or, another alternative: they allowed him to become president only when he signed onto the plan. That would certainly also explain the gap between his rhetoric and his backing away from his promises.
We are all clear that they control our governments, right?

Either Obama will not be able to do any of the lofty things he promised because of the economy, or he will not be inclined to, because if he really intended to change the world order, he could not have been elected. He needed the votes of the powerful to even get onto our silly little ballots.

Just my opinion.

I agree with the post about "The Game" yesterday.

We discuss quite a bit, and oh so passionately, on this site. But it is quite naive of us to suppose that our opinions amount to anything. We argue as if we were part of a democratic process. IMHO a closer examination does not support that thesis.

I don't care if you call me a conspiracy nut. That term was created by the conspirators to be hurled at people who suspect the truth, by people who really, really can't stand to believe it. We can kick the ball around all day. And so can Obama. But, if he doesn't do what they say, they will snuff him right out. Doesn't have to be a bullet. They can "Carterize" him any time they want. A strangely nonsensical "war" has emerged this very week. To keep his hands full? I don't know, but I don't doubt it. There will be more odd things that make no sense.

I personally don't give a f*** what their game is. I hope they get over whatever is bothering them and let us have our little lives back again. I am sorry for all of us, the world over.

The good news is: Change will certainly come, because this whole civilization is certainly unsustainable. Completely unsustainable on every level. It doesn't matter if you and I wish for it to continue. It doesn't matter if we wish for it to end. And this long view of the nature of change really levels the playing field between us and the wealthy who think they are in control of everything. That is their part of the delusion. They actually control...very little. It will end whether or not they wish it, as well.

Democracy in action.
Change you can believe in.

Limited government. Social Justice Unions that watchdog and review these stats and report to working people so they can demand redress, and know who to vote for and who to vote out of office. large worker owned companies or worker collectives running the means of production. Accountability. Transparency. There are more of us, working people, then there are of them, wage stranglers.


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