Have we hit the nadir?

Between the economy crapping itself again and the BP gusher, this has been a rough few months for Democrats.

But for all the problems, we've finally had a few bits of good news - the oil flow from the BP gusher has been stopped (at least for now,) the financial reform bill has been passed and will be signed into law, and it looks like this Tuesday, there will finally be 60 votes in the Senate to extend unemployment.

We're still gonna have rough patches, but am I the only one who thinks things will start getting better?

...that's what I like about the place, its consistency.

You sure called that.

We need to start to see some positive momentum heading toward the fall.

meanwhile the GOpers have topped out and dropping.. maybe very good timing for November!

It feels like we're turning a corner. I cannot believe what a constant stressor that oil disaster has been and continues to be for me and many people. The most recent capping has been a huge relief. When the Dems extend unemployment benefits next week I think that will strengthen the signal that we are trending toward better times.

If hiring improves over the fall, we may not be in as sad a shape in November as I suspected a month ago. However, if there's the double-dip recession that some stock 'experts' are predicting, then it's going to be a tough winter for a lot of us.

It won't suddenly boom, but there's still some positive signs, so I don't think we'll see a double-dip either.

That's not a good thing - we're essentially in 90's Lost Decade Japan right now, but I don't think things will get worse.

if the European debt crisis overwhelms the world. I still think there's a significant possibility of that happening, even though Greece does not dominate the nightly news. Who knows, if the BP disaster hadn't happened, it might still be leading news.

If that doesn't happen, I do see that any recovery will be matched by inflation. Just this last week, my favorite Sunoco station on the way to work was selling regular for $2.49.9 a gallon. That seems quite low, and clearly reflects the fact that the economy of the world is still in the dumps. If we got back down to a 5 percent unemployment rate (without tricks and gimmicks), we'd easily see $5-6 gasoline. Since fossil fuels make up an essential cost element of just about everything that has to be physically delivered, I think the inflationary effect would ripple throughout the economy.

We've been here before in the 1970's, we called it 'stagflation'.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_15532952?nclick_check=1

10,300 jobs gone In June

"The Bay Area lost more than 10,000 jobs in June, crushing hopes that the private sector could spur a quick recovery for the region's wobbly economy, a state labor report showed.

The loss of 10,300 payroll jobs in the Bay Area marked the nine-county region's worst one-month performance since September, according to the report by the state's Employment Development Department.

Every part of the Bay Area shed jobs during June, according to the Employment Development Department. The worst losses battered the East Bay.

Statewide, employers jettisoned 26,700 jobs.

The employment setbacks in California and the Bay Area appeared to be largely due to a lack of hiring in the private sector and the disappearance of temporary census jobs.

"The private sector is flat," said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center. "We have yet to see the private sector pick up. That's disappointing."

Statewide, private employers added 1,000 jobs in June, analysts estimated.

"That's terrible," Michael said. "We need 30,000 jobs a month from the private sector to start to get us out of this recession."

more at link

They've got a lot of their own special problems right now. California is Greece, I think I heard a pundit say on the McLaughlin Group today.

and what's that old addage - "as California goes, so does the nation"? I hope that's not true.

But I hope it's outdated. California has some special problems that don't make as significant of an impact on other states. They're still living with the legacy of Prop 13, they have a governmental system that makes it tough to raise revenues in the legislature, while keeping it easy to mandate spending with initiatives. They also seem to have had a fascination with celebrities as governor, and clearly they bear some significant burdens from illegal immigration.

what you actually mean by "better".

The machine needs lots of consumption to continue turning. In lieu of that, it needs a lot of virtual slaves to keep those floating at the very top of the tank in lucre and goods.

The rich are increasing their financial obesity while the middle class are grains of sand falling to the bottom of the hourglass. The poor are becoming roaming dust-balls, (with about the same value to the rest of the culture) struggling to subsist while being pushed out of site.

The expertly disguised and sublimated Class War is reaching its climactic Blitzkrieg, with its generals knowing full-well that their livestock are largely penned-in by the modern lifestyle inculcated into them as normal -- they are co-conspirators in that respect. The elite of the culture own and control and provide almost everything we need to survive and they are now finalizing the Fascist wet-dream having co-opted what we used to think of as citizen-oriented government.

The process has come to the point that our old, romantic notions are obsolete because the results are more obvious. To be comfortable, some of us rest in the illusions still and are suffering some major distress, disconnects and can be called victims of the great cognitive dissonance that is ringing so loud that it deafens the imagination.

So, what is it that will get better?

"So, what is it that will get better?"

It looks to me that "better" for many people would be that conditions are sufficiently ameliorated to the point at which illusions can be more comfortably maintained.

sw

still aren't able to find work. That's not a good sign IMHO.

Not enough, but unemployment benefits do usually get immediately spent and propagate through the economy, which has a decent positive effect.

Just like at A.A., only instead of steps, we have a sliding board.

--d!

If I have to read one more thread about Ralph Nader and whether he cost us the election in 2000, I'll just...

What's that?

Nevermind.

Not a chance.

We can sink lower...

Actually I don't mean that as Dems, but as homo sapiens.

Just my world view tonight.