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Originally Posted by Rich_CD
I talked to a long time wall street vetern two days ago who said they don't see any signs of a recovery yet either.
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Doesn't matter what he says. His view is biased, and his degree is probably in Marketing/Finance, not Economics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bchris02
I agree. We are not in an economic recovery. We are in an extended depression.
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No, you are and have been in recovery for quite sometime.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bchris02
For comparison the "recession" ended in 1933 yet 1934-1937, even though they were years of technical expansion, were still considered depression years. I think the second half of 2011 is going to bring the darkest days in America's economic history.
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Okay, well, that explains the source of your misunderstanding.
In January of 1927 US GDP was $106.2 Billion.
That is your Benchmark.
January 1928 US GDP is $105.4 Billion. Was there economic growth or economic contraction? The economy contracted. Is that a recession? I don't see any evidence that the cause of contraction is the shifting of capital to other sectors of the economy, and because I don't, that is a recession.
The recession continues through 1933 when the GDP contracts to $56.4 Billion. We can eyeball that and see that the GDP dropped 50%, or we can just say output in the US dropped 50%, from the Benchmark.
When does recovery occur? Recovery occurs when the GDP returns to the Benchmark, and it did that in the 2nd/3rd Quarter 1940.
We consider the Depression to have lasted through 1945 for several reasons, chief among them is that even though the US economy showed positive growth for the year, it was a quarterly roller-coaster ride, with the economy growing 28% one quarter and then contracting 16% the next quarter, and then growing again in the following quarter.
We also had a major contraction in 1938, thanks largely to FDR's tax policies and the economy contracted 9% (ie the GDP declined 9%).
Since the US economy is entirely a war economy geared toward the production of war materiel, we have to wonder if the economy will continue to grow, flat-line, or decline 10%, 15% or 30%. As it stands, the economy contracted 0.5% in 1946 as the US made the transition from a war-time economy to an industrial-consumer economy (which is not bad).
The Benchmark was $14.3 Trillion. Your economy contracted to $14.1 Trillion. As of January 2011, your GDP is $14.6 Trillion. You have surpassed the Benchmark (and set a new Benchmark).
Your economy has recovered. Absolutely no doubt about it.
So the unemployment rate as per Clinton (post-1994), Bush and Obama is 10.3% and per Carter (post-1978), Reagan, Bush and Clinton (pre-1994) is 19.4%.
Who cares?
Employment/unemployment is not related to economic growth, expansion, contraction, recession or depression.
There is no Law of Economics that states that if your GDP is $14 Trillion you must have 99.9% of the labor pool employed.
You can have perennial 10% unemployment for the next 20 years and the economy can still grow and expand. For those who doubt that, go look at any number of European countries (and even Muslim countries).
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Originally Posted by killer2021
Yes, believe it or not we do have an economic recovery.
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But not for the reasons you claim. The stock market has nothing to do with the economy.
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Originally Posted by Spam-Master Spamwad CD Resident Spam Artist
And the beat goes on..........
"It just seems inconceivable that anyone can claim that the economy is improving when the number of Americans on food stamps continues to set a brand new record every single month. But the food stamp program is not the only indicator that the economy is still having massive problems. The following are 10 more reasons why the U.S. economy is simply not getting any better..
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The number of people on food stamps isn't relevant. There are quite a few countries that had perennial 10% unemployment
and social service programs that far and above exceeded what the US offers and they also had perennially consistent positive economic growth
Those who are having problems, well, I'd say that is Indicator #1 your life-style is excessive. Get on CraigsList, put up an ad: "Family of 4 seeks Family of 4 to share 3-bedroom rental home."
Problem solved. No one is entitled to housing, certain not their own personal private housing and their children are most certainly not entitled to their own personal private bedroom with personal private bath. This is reality, not Fantasy Island.