Grr!

[altivo]

Air conditioning is out. Probably a wire chewed by rodents again. They get into the housing of the outdoor compressor and wreak havoc. Everything we've tried for keeping them out has achieved nothing.

It becomes clear that the repeated claims that "the recession is over" have been wishful thinking. Looking at the figures for the past two years, things look just flat. Consumer prices are creeping upward, with the exception of real estate, of course. Median incomes are declining. Unemployment is at the highest it has been since the 1960s, with only 58% of US adults employed full time. The weekly and monthly dithering about unemployment claims is misleading, both because it is based on a lot of conjecture about "who is looking for work" and the reporting methods are dubious. However, looking at those figures for the past two years, the "growth" in jobs has failed to keep up the the growth in population. This is not real growth, but just wishful thinking.

The rosiest pictures are being painted by the folks who stand to gain the most if Americans start risking their money in the stock markets again: the financial bankers and the brokers. Talk about letting a fox guard the henhouse!

Comments

[avon_deer]

I fail to understand why we keep on trusting these people.

[altivo]

I quit trusting them back when Jimmy Carter was in office. It has become abundantly clear since then that I was correct in doing so.

I worked briefly for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in the mid-80s. I met a number of people in passing there who convinced me that the entire system is probably controlled by snake oil salesmen and self-interested entrepreneurs.

[baphnedia]

We may have hit the era where bankers have their own groupies. Though, the banks are not seeming at all happy about the US's downgrade, nor the S&P's announcement that if significant changes aren't made soon, the US will face another credit downgrade within two years. This tells me that they probably delayed the current downgrade as long as they could possibly justify it, such that we're already well on our way to AA or A+ by the time they got around to dropping us to AA+.

Where did you get the number for 58% of fully employed members of the working population from? I'd like to use it as a reference. :)

[hrrunka]

The interesting aspect of the S&P announcement, as it was reported over this side of the Atlantic, was that the US political process seemed to have a lot more to do with the downgrade than any of the actual figures.

[baphnedia]

Well, the political process in Washington is breaking down and has been for a long time. It is a very real possibility for the US to default on its debts from here on out - because everyone was grandstanding all the way into the final hours. The government proved itself with that standoff that it can and may fail to reach an agreement when it comes to repaying debts.

The Great Debate wasn't what S&P was looking for. S&P was looking for an end to the government operating on 'unlimited' debt.

[altivo]

Right. In fact I just heard someone higher up at S&P saying on the radio that the downgrade "reflects the fact that the US political system has become dysfunctional," something with which I must agree. Our so-called representatives no longer represent us, but rather are members of a "party" and vote the "party line" regardless of what their constituents think or want. This is because they see it as being advantageous to their future careers, and certainly not because of any deep consideration of the implications or long term effects. The "two-party" system is broken and I don't know how we can fix it at this point. The best way would be to introduce a new party or parties, but US voters are so deeply brainwashed to believe that voting for a third party is "wasting" their vote that such a solution is hardly viable. The only third parties that materialize are always even more extreme to the left or right than the two powerful ones, when in fact what is needed is a centrist voice to bring reason back into the picture.

[altivo]

Unfortunately the 58% figure came from a commentator on NPR yesterday between 5:30 and 6:00 pm Chicago time. It was a woman, but I don't recall her name. She did cite some sources in a general sort of way.

Oh, and the affiliate station was WNIJ-FM out of Dekalb, Illinois. That might be enough so you can track it down. They have a website with their broadcast schedule.