A good week for the U.S.

[PastaJoe]

We end this week on a high note, with Sonya Sotomayor being sworn in as a Supreme Court justice.

 

In addition:

- The release of the Americans from North Korea through the diplomatic work of Bill Clinton and the behind the scenes work of the Obama administration with other countries

- The victory for our military, who finally have the resources to go on the offense in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who killed the Taliban leader Mehsud

- The continued funding of the Cash for Clunkers program which is jump starting car sales

- The drop in the unemployment numbers, the first since April 2008, and compared to January, when 741,000 jobs disappeared, the most in any month since 1949

- The steady rise in the stock market as investors show increased confidence in the economy

[blzrul]

Joe, don't rain on their parade.

 

You forgot the crowning glory which is of course Ralph's enshrinement today. And tomorrow? We'll see what TO's made of for real - of course tomorrow is the start of NEXT week.

[Magox]

relatively speaking, I'd say it was a good week.

 

However, I don't quite understand how we lost 247,000 jobs and the unemployment rate went down

 

I suppose we must have had a population explosion over the last 30 days to justify those numbers

[IDBillzFan]

relatively speaking, I'd say it was a good week.

 

However, I don't quite understand how we lost 247,000 jobs and the unemployment rate went down

 

I suppose we must have had a population explosion over the last 30 days to justify those numbers

This is the conversation trail so far:

 

Conservatives: The stimulus isn't working!!!

 

Liberals: We've barely even SPENT that money yet. It's not supposed to work for two years.

 

News: Unemployment dipped 1/1Oth of 1% last month.

 

Liberals: You see? We TOLD you the stimulus is working!!!

 

Conservatives :

[Kelly the Dog]

Today the Taliban leaders were meeting to decide which of two crackpots would succeed the recently slain crackpot. Well, the two crackpots started shouting at each other and then started shooting at each other and at least one of the two crackpots is dead. That's just good stuff.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSISL458689

[billsfan89]

relatively speaking, I'd say it was a good week.

 

However, I don't quite understand how we lost 247,000 jobs and the unemployment rate went down

 

I suppose we must have had a population explosion over the last 30 days to justify those numbers

 

Its really based off of the people claiming benefits for unemployment so while we lost 247,000 jobs less people are claiming benefits which means either the benefits expired or they for whatever reason (found other employment or money source) stopped collecting. Both sides are going to have fun with this the left will say the recession is slowing while the right will say we are bleeding jobs.

[DC Tom]

We end this week on a high note, with Sonya Sotomayor being sworn in as a Supreme Court justice.

 

In addition:

- The release of the Americans from North Korea through the diplomatic work of Bill Clinton and the behind the scenes work of the Obama administration with other countries

- The victory for our military, who finally have the resources to go on the offense in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who killed the Taliban leader Mehsud

- The continued funding of the Cash for Clunkers program which is jump starting car sales

- The drop in the unemployment numbers, the first since April 2008, and compared to January, when 741,000 jobs disappeared, the most in any month since 1949

- The steady rise in the stock market as investors show increased confidence in the economy

 

That is a shallow definition of "succes" that is, sadly, entirely typical and expected of you.

[IDBillzFan]

Today the Taliban leaders were meeting to decide which of two crackpots would succeed the recently slain crackpot. Well, the two crackpots started shouting at each other and then started shooting at each other and at least one of the two crackpots is dead. That's just good stuff.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSISL458689

I think our parties should consider the same protocol when it's time to decide who should be speaker.

[Magox]

Its really based off of the people claiming benefits for unemployment so while we lost 247,000 jobs less people are claiming benefits which means either the benefits expired or they for whatever reason (found other employment or money source) stopped collecting. Both sides are going to have fun with this the left will say the recession is slowing while the right will say we are bleeding jobs.

not to be disagreeable with you, but that is not completely true, the jobless claims numbers is a different set of data that come out on a weekly basis, based on first time initial filings for state jobless claims nationwide. The Payroll jobs numbers, which was released on Friday are based on (believe it or not) news paper clippings , household and establishment survey's.

[Dante]

We end this week on a high note, with Sonya Sotomayor being sworn in as a Supreme Court justice. It's window dressing. Hot necessarily good for the country. Good for PC enthusiasts

 

In addition:

- The release of the Americans from North Korea through the diplomatic work of Bill Clinton and the behind the scenes work of the Obama administration with other countries. Can't be bad. Just don't give Bill credit

 

 

- The victory for our military, who finally have the resources to go on the offense in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who killed the Taliban leader Mehsud. Cool. But we shouldn't even be there. Russians couldn't give em a ass kickin either can we

 

 

- The continued funding of the Cash for Clunkers program which is jump starting car sales Gov give aways never a good thing. Fail

- The drop in the unemployment numbers, the first since April 2008, and compared to January, when 741,000 jobs disappeared, the most in any month since 1949 Always good

- The steady rise in the stock market as investors show increased confidence in the economy Always good

[/dev/null]

IRT the jobless claims...

Yay, we're no longer hemoraging jobs. We're just bleeding them

 

IRT military success in Afghanistan/Pakistan

Great news. So now what about those Russian subs?

 

IRT the Stock Market

If the Stock Market is the definitive gauge of the economy, and the Stock Market is booming...I guess we don't need the rest of the stimulus money

[PastaJoe]

IRT the jobless claims...

Yay, we're no longer hemoraging jobs. We're just bleeding them

 

You have to stabilize the patient before you can get them better.

 

IRT military success in Afghanistan/Pakistan

Great news. So now what about those Russian subs?

 

You mean the two non-ballistic attack subs off the East Coast? It's the 10th anniversary of Putin's rise to power. This and his running around with his shirt off is for domestic consumption to counter the perception that Russia has become weak given the West's plans to put anti-missile sites in Eastern Europe and expand NATO to the Ukraine and Georgia.

 

IRT the Stock Market

If the Stock Market is the definitive gauge of the economy, and the Stock Market is booming...I guess we don't need the rest of the stimulus money

 

Nobody said it's booming, but it has shown steady positive growth which could lead to economic recovery if we continue the recovery policies that has instilled new confidence that that worst is behind us.

[Magox]

Nobody said it's booming, but it has shown steady positive growth which could lead to economic recovery if we continue the recovery policies that has instilled new confidence that that worst is behind us.

I don't believe the stock market is a good barometer that measures the health of the economy, I see it as more of an emotional gauge.

 

There is no doubt that the economic news that is coming out is less bad than it was before, and that the rate of decline has lessened considerably, but I am curious to hear why you believe that to be the case, which "policies" are the one's that you attribute that to?

 

I've made this argument for about 3-6 months now to my clients, that I believed that we are near a bottom, in regards to property values declining, job unemployment peaking out and etc. but where I believe people are failing to realize is how life will look like after the bottom. Which is continued high unemployment, stagnant growth in property values, a muted consumer, more stringent regulation and an enormous national debt that will most likely saddle this economy with higher taxes and elevated inflation due to dollar weakness for quite some time.

[blzrul]

The stock market is not an indicator of what's happening today. It's a predictor of what is coming. The continued improvement indicates an increased confidence and optimism.

 

As to the jobless claims - 300k job losses on top of what was already lost between the start of this recession in December, 2007 and early 2009, ain't good. But the fact that we're not seeing 600k at a time is a good sign, and that's all. It's no consolation to the people looking for work. Don't I know it - took me almost 2 years to land a decent job when I lost mine in 2002. I survived but I sure wouldn't wish it on anyone and I sure wouldn't want to go thru it again.

[Wacka]

Doesn't reflect that business property owners are now getting foreclosure notices. I do environmental due diligence and our business went down in November 2007. It has stayed down since. The jobs were refinancing of loans. They dried up in February and since then, a lot of the jobs we have had are pre-foreclosures. We only handle businesses and apartment complexes, no private residential properties.

It's making my job harder because I have to talk to the owner/manager of the property and they don't even want me there. In addition, we are a subcontractor of the due diligence company the bank hires and almost all the time, I have no idea what bank it is for (except the WaMu building I did).

Luckily, taking photos from the street is not illegal, and I haven't had anyone threaten me, although I did have one person tell me to pound sand.

[KD in CA]

- The drop in the unemployment numbers, the first since April 2008

 

That sucks. I made a bet with a co-worker last fall that it would hit 10% this year. (and yes I know it's a rigged # and it's really already over 10%).

[pBills]

We end this week on a high note, with Sonya Sotomayor being sworn in as a Supreme Court justice.

 

In addition:

- The release of the Americans from North Korea through the diplomatic work of Bill Clinton and the behind the scenes work of the Obama administration with other countries

- The victory for our military, who finally have the resources to go on the offense in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who killed the Taliban leader Mehsud

- The continued funding of the Cash for Clunkers program which is jump starting car sales

- The drop in the unemployment numbers, the first since April 2008, and compared to January, when 741,000 jobs disappeared, the most in any month since 1949

- The steady rise in the stock market as investors show increased confidence in the economy

 

 

[StupidNation]

We end this week on a high note, with Sonya Sotomayor being sworn in as a Supreme Court justice.

Low note... don't like racists. Maybe my wisdom as a white male tells me this hispanic can't make good decisions. Sound racist? It is, so is she... the difference is I don't mean it.

 

In addition:

- The release of the Americans from North Korea through the diplomatic work of Bill Clinton and the behind the scenes work of the Obama administration with other countries

 

To the credit of liberals, they have been better on diplomacy.

 

- The victory for our military, who finally have the resources to go on the offense in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who killed the Taliban leader Mehsud

 

Should I find quotes by you and others on how this war has gone on too long?

 

- The continued funding of the Cash for Clunkers program which is jump starting car sales

Creating the same repo rate for cars as there were for houses. You cannot inflate a market without repercussions. Shocking I know... Maybe you think bloating the housing market was a good idea too? Didn't think so hypocrite.

 

- The drop in the unemployment numbers, the first since April 2008, and compared to January, when 741,000 jobs disappeared, the most in any month since 1949

Should I stick this in my signature when this blows up in the economy's face? The recession is going strong.

 

- The steady rise in the stock market as investors show increased confidence in the economy

 

Let's see... I don't buy it. I also find the stock market in value in absolute terms to inflation not to be impressive at all.

[PastaJoe]

There is no doubt that the economic news that is coming out is less bad than it was before, and that the rate of decline has lessened considerably, but I am curious to hear why you believe that to be the case, which "policies" are the one's that you attribute that to?

 

First the stablization of the banking industry prevented a free-fall into a depression. Then the recovery act immediately prevented the further loss of city/state jobs (police, firemen), as many mayors have given it credit for. And policies like the Cash for Clunkers incentive prime the pump for people to start spending again, which reduces inventories and creates a need for new production. And as people perceive that the economy is starting to recover, they will spend more and the economic engine will speed up.

 

 

Low note... don't like racists. Maybe my wisdom as a white male tells me this hispanic can't make good decisions. Sound racist? It is, so is she... the difference is I don't mean it.

 

She's a racist, check.

 

 

Should I find quotes by you and others on how this war has gone on too long?

 

Please do, you'll find I've always supported an offensive in Afghanistan. My issue was we should have never invaded Iraq, and instead should have focused on the Afghan/Pakistan region.

 

 

Creating the same repo rate for cars as there were for houses. You cannot inflate a market without repercussions. Shocking I know... Maybe you think bloating the housing market was a good idea too? Didn't think so hypocrite.

 

Creditors aren't making the mistake of handing out car loans like candy like they did with home loans.

[Magox]

First the stablization of the banking industry prevented a free-fall into a depression. Then the recovery act immediately prevented the further loss of city/state jobs (police, firemen), as many mayors have given it credit for. And policies like the Cash for Clunkers incentive prime the pump for people to start spending again, which reduces inventories and creates a need for new production. And as people perceive that the economy is starting to recover, they will spend more and the economic engine will speed up.

 

You mean the TARP program that was initiatied under the Bush administration? That did help, but did not nearly play as an important of a role as the CPFF that was installed from the Federal Reserve late last year. The CPFF is what provided liquidity for short term lending to the banks which is what caused the run on banks last year like Lehman. The Stimulus Bill has basically done very little, so let's not go there. Cash for Clunkers is a good program, but is not playing a significant role to the optimism in the stock market.

 

Basically the main positive thing that has occured in this economy is that the rate of decline in our economy has slown down markedly and that the stock market has gained value from an extremely depressed level. In regards to consumers spending more, not signifcantly and not any time soon! Unemployment and spending are very strongly correlated, and the unemployment situation will have to get better before that happens, and I don't mean better in the sense of losing only 200,000 jobs, but actually gaining them.

 

Where do you think our unemployment rate will be at the beginning of 2011? 9%, 8% 7%? just curious