"The most economically incompetent administration since the Great Depression"

[Jeremy Roenick]

On this issue we're in complete agreement AV...      

I can only think that sitting in a open air cafe in Denmark, watching these lovelies walk by, that is an ENHANCEMENT to the quality of life.   

[plumbervol]

OMG
You and your ilk gave America George W Bush and anything you say about the incompetence of Obama is a damn joke in comparison to what the Dubyah did to America.

[One Man Gang]

... aaaannnnndddd STILL waiting.

[Just Win]

Intresting video below. Krauthammer lays out the in a succinct fashion the class warfare the Democrats must fall back on to energize their base come November election time. The presidents and his house and senate handmaidens have a disastrous tract record of no accomplishments to run on this past 20 months. The legislation they have managed to pass will further erode the nation's economic might and the Obama/Pelosi/Reid China-Debt Jobs Stimulus Bill accomplished neither stimulus or jobs. The American people instinctively know the nation is going down a dangerous path with the policy implementation of this president and current congressional leadership.



Notice the worn out play they are employing from the same old Democrat playbook for the fall mid-term elections. First, they must create a boogie man, division disunity and then strife amongst Americans to garner votes.  In this particular context it is the nebulous rich v. the humble and noble non-rich. In order for the Democrat lie to work you must first contrive someone to hate and target them for ridicule, divide the nation, and then demonize the contrived enemy. Folks it does not get much more disgusting.

Class warfare to energize the Democrat base link = http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/08/28/krauthammer_stimulus_created_not_real_jobs_that_will_disappear.html

[plumbervol]

Fewer Jobs, Larger Deficits if Republicans Were in Charge
Newsweek notes that nothing is apparently more important to Republican politicians these days than jobs and the budget deficit, but there's a problem with their message: "So far, the things that Republicans have said they want to do won't actually boost employment or reduce deficits. In fact, much the opposite. By combing through a variety of studies and projections from nonpartisan economic sources, we here at Gaggle headquarters have found that if Republicans were in charge from January 2009 onward -- and if they were now given carte blanche to enact the proposals they want to -- the projected 2010-2020 deficits would be larger than they are under Obama, and fewer people would probably be employed."
http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/08/26/on-jobs-and-deficits-republicans-are-worse-than-obama.html

[Just Win]

[size=15t]US News and World Report Notes

There is an instinctive conclusion among the American public that President Obama's stimulus package has failed to create a sustained recovery. Unemployment has increased, not declined; consumers have retrenched; housing starts have crashed along with mortgage applications; and there is a fear that a double-dip recession may very well be in the pipeline. The public perception, reflected in Pew Research/National Journal polls, is that the measures to combat the Great Recession have mostly helped large banks and financial institutions, and that's a view common to Republicans (75 percent) and Democrats (73 percent). Only one third of either political leaning thinks government policies have done a great deal or a fair amount for the poor.
[/size]

 



The Obama unemployment numbers from his Department of Labor

[plumbervol]

Just Win, I don't disagree with the US News & WR
My point is what the Republicans have proposed didn't work in the first place and actually caused much of the problems we now face

[One Man Gang]

[Just Win]

Just when you thought things could not get worse this news come in about auto sales. They are the WOST numbers in 27 years. Is this the hope and change they were talking about?

The nation's top automakers reported disappointing sales Wednesday, resulting in the worst August for industrywide auto sales in 27 years.

According to sales tracker Autodata, U.S. new vehicle sales fell just short of 1 million vehicles, a drop of 21% from a year ago, which included Cash for Clunkers. That federal program created a sugar rush of sales by dangling an incentive of up to $4,500 in cash for buyers who traded in older gas guzzlers for more efficient models.

0diggEmail Print CommentIndustry sales also fell 5% from July levels. August sales typically outpace July, as deals become available on older models ahead of the fall introduction of new model year cars. August sales would equate to an annual sales pace of about 11.5 million vehicles.

"Car buying is far from repaired, and consumers hesitate before they make a big ticket purchase," said Jesse Toprak, an analyst with the auto pricing Web site Truecar.com. "It shows that the recovery is going to be much slower and more painful than expected."

This year was the weakest August sales total since the 993,100 sold in 1983. Analysts had been forecasting a weak month, with expected sales of about 1.03 million. Most of the major automakers fell short of estimates. The soft demand for autos is seen by economists as another sign of growing weakness among nervous consumers.

GM sales toppled 25% from a year ago, partly because of comparisons to the Cash for Clunkers program of last summer. The federal program created a sugar rush of sales by dangling an incentive of up to $4,500 in cash for buyers who traded in older gas guzzlers for more efficient models.

But it wasn't all Clunkers. August's sales also dropped 7% from July and fell short of forecasts from sales trackers Edmunds.com and TrueCar.

GM officials echoed that they are seeing a tougher environment for car sales.



We are realistic. We do think that consumers will continue to be cautious in their spending," said Don Johnson, GM's vice president of U.S. sales.

GM did not get as much of a lift from Cash for Clunkers as some of its rivals. But its sales comparisons were hurt by the nearly 40,000 vehicles it sold a year ago at four brands it has since discontinued or sold -- Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab. Sales at its four continuing brands -- Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac -- fell only 11% from a year ago.

Ford (F, Fortune 500) reported an 11% drop from year-ago sales levels and a 5% decline from July. It also missed forecasts from Edmunds and TrueCar.

Most of the decline in sales were concentrated in its Focus compact sedan and its Escape small SUV, which were the company's best two sellers in the Cash for Clunkers program a year ago.

Ford announced that it made a slight trim in its fourth quarter production target, to 570,000 vehicles from 574,000 a year ago -- a sign that Ford's strong sales gains may be starting to level off in the face of softening demand for automobiles.

"Sales were weaker than expected. Right now auto sales seem to be moving horizontally," said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service.

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor (TM), which had been the biggest winner in Cash for Clunkers sales a year ago, suffered the hardest hit to sales among the largest automakers -- sales plunged 34% from a year ago, and 12% from July.

"This month's [Toyota] results are even worse than expected," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst with Edmunds. "Toyota still is suffering a hangover from its numerous recalls this year. It is taking a long time for Toyota to get back to 'business as usual.'"

Sales at Honda Motor (HMC) plunged 33% from a year ago, and 3% from July falling short of forecasts. Nissan sales tumbled 27% from a year ago and 7% from July.

Chrysler Group, which includes the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands, was the only one to report a modest gain in August sales, posting a 7% gain compared to both a year ago and July. But the year-over-year bar wasn't terribly high, as Chrysler got the smallest sales lift of any major automaker from the Clunkers program.  

The Obama unemployment numbers from his Department of Labor

[NCVol]

I'm not exactly sure what the point is.  We have no industry, the middle class had been decimated, the "recovery" during the 2000s was the first in American history where wages at the end were LOWER than they were at the beginning, for about three decades, all our growth has come from increasing the debt loads of the middle class, since the last time median wages increased was 1973, and now the debt accumulation phase has ended, and we're in the debt payoff phase, and in depression.

I'm curious, OMG and JW, what do you all suggest as a way to bring back this economy?  More tax cuts for the wealthy, who've seen their wages triple (+300%) over the last 30 years while the middle class saw about a 10% gain?  More free trade agreements?  Should we offshore all our production?  Should we cut taxes on corporate america, already at their lowest levels in generations?  Do CEOs need to get more pay, after having seen their salaries go from maybe 30 times the lowest paid worker to 300 times, 1000 times for many of the largest corporations?  Should we funnel more money to Wall Street, which already claims about a third of U.S. corporate profits?  Completely kill off unions?  Maybe we should slash SS benefits, increase the retirement age, so oldsters will keep working longer and longer?  Elect more republicans, and if so, what is their economic plan?  Completely bankrupt the country and complete the transformation to a two class society of wage slaves and the CEO class? 

Just curious, you guys are great at pointing out economic weakness (we'll forget that the right wingers didn't realize we were in recession until it was a year in) but what do you suggest to get this economy moving again? 

Anything?

One proposal? 

Anything?

Talk about crickets chirping....

[Jeremy Roenick]

Just curious, you guys are great at pointing out economic weakness (we'll forget that the right wingers didn't realize we were in recession until it was a year in) but what do you suggest to get this economy moving again?

Yeah a lot of the talking heads in 2007-08 we're pointing to record high home ownership, low unemployment, good GDP numbers, strong retail sales etc.  Saying we weren't entering a recession.  These are mouthpieces like Cramer, Stein, Limbaugh, Hannity etc.  I bought into that horse-pucky and was burned.  Had I moved my investments and been more correctly positioned for the start of the downturn, I would have not lost 10's of thousands of dollars.

I guess you can say politics start with your pocket book, and my politics began to change greatly between the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2008.  I got off the koolaide and have been trying to reform fellow conservatives ever since.

[NCVol]

It happened with me in the tech bubble.  I was managing money at the time, and kept reading about the tech miracle, that the rules didn't apply, that valuation didn't matter, it was a new era, etc.  The end came around the time the WSJ printed an editorial about Cisco that just dismissed valuation entirely.  The company was priced for a growth rate that would have it basically owning the entire WORLD in 10 years, and the author still said it was a good buy.  It was insanity, peddled by CNBC and the talking heads and the WSJ editorial page.  Millions of people were destroyed financially because of it, and at that point, it was clear, the country was being run by crooks and liars who either knew better and did it anyway, or were actually incredible idiots.  And I didn't believe anyone in those positions was that stupid.  So the only other answer was they were crooks and liars. 

And once you begin to question the news and the very basis of everything you're being told, things start making sense.  The good part is the internet allows people interested in the reality based world to find objective news from people who HAVE been right for quite a while and continue to give their best effort at information, instead of what I regard as the propaganda that we see from all our major news outlets, from "conservative" Fox to "liberal" MSNBC.  Except for local morning news, and national updates on major events like election results, floods and hurricanes, I haven't watched "news" for a decade.  It's DISinformation, IMO.