Have we turned the corner?

[Archbob]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45766361

Unemployment is down, indicators are pointing up. Have the fatcats saved us from certain doom despite the foolish protests from the little mice or is this just all fake and its because Unemployment has run out for lots of people and that why unemployment is down.

 

[Cutlass]

We are essentially just muddling through. No one is doing anything right. But no one's screwed it up again recently, despite all the efforts to do so in Congress and the EU. So we are very gradually working past the credit crunch and returning towards normal.

 

[Perfection]

factcats

factcats?

 

[Archbob]

factcats?

Fixed by Ninja Edit.

 

[GenMarshall]

The Fatcats did nothing but protect their own greed and screwing the poor and the middle class. The lowering of the unemployment is also due to the long tern unemployment drooping out after being discouraged by the poor employment market. There's also the unemployment recipients who have ran out their benefits.

 

[Pangur Bán]

EU crisis is still to be resolved, the US also has something like 70 trillion in private debt, the financial sector is running on what is essentially imaginary wealth, while the little that exists of any real pie is being troughed up by a smaller and smaller number. The world economy is like a cartoon character running through the air but still hasn't looked down. Add to that global warming, look forward to growth in income inequality, civil unrest, violence, starvation, disease, genocide and war.

If you are in the business of luxury goods, sports cars, if you are involved in a private security business, if you make barbed wire, water canons, gas irritants, guns ... it will be a good future for you. Otherwise, few have much to hope for, I fear.

 

[JohnRM]

That is, until oil prices begin to rise again and we go back into recession.

 

[Quackers]

EU crisis is still to be resolved, the US also has something like 70 trillion in private debt, the financial sector is running on what is essentially imaginary wealth, while the little that exists of any real pie is being troughed up by a smaller and smaller number. The world economy is like a cartoon character running through the air but still hasn't looked down. Add to that global warming, look forward to growth in income inequality, civil unrest, violence, starvation, disease, genocide and war.

If you are in the business of luxury goods, sports cars, if you are involved in a private security business, if you make barbed wire, water canons, gas irritants, guns ... it will be a good future for you. Otherwise, few have much to hope for I fear.

wat..

 

[Perfection]

Have the fatcats saved us from certain doom despite the foolish protests from the little mice or is this just all fake and its because Unemployment has run out for lots of people and that why unemployment is down.

Did you intentionally make a false dichotomy because you want thrust your disgusting views on others or did you do it unintentionally while being completely unaware of how foolish you sound?

 

[GoodGame]

IDK, how are key sectors of the US economy doing?

I'm reading that a lot of American companies are looking to contract overseas, which doesn't necessarily mean a zero sum deal for American jobs, but also doesn't encourage me on the strengths of the American economy.

A break down of sectors would be of interest, not just aggregate unemployment stats. Not the cited article in the OP suggests some of the downturn is temporary (seasonal hiring).

 

[Pangur Bán]

wat..

English, next time.
But, yeah, if I'm right, that is guaranteed to be the reaction of the millions of people brought up on soaps, talk shows and disney ... one of incomprehension

Nice short film by Adam Curtis explains such reactions well:

Link to video.

 

[Quackers]

It's a pretty dishonourable for a Scot to ask for "english next time" surely..

Anyway $70 trillion is 5 times the size of the US economy. I wanna see some figures. Its all news to me.

 

[Archbob]

Did you intentionally make a false dichotomy because you want thrust your disgusting views on others or did you do it unintentionally while being completely unaware of how foolish you sound?

I did it because I thought "man, I bet I could get a reaction from perfection from this" and I was right.

 

[Angst]

I wouldn't trust it, things go back and forth and every once in a while a good statistic/positive article shows up. This doesn't outweight the discourse that is still being undertaken by the general journalists - frightened fanfares against the wealthiest of the private sector, which I still am not convinced are undeserved.

 

[Pangur Bán]

It's a pretty dishonourable for a Scot to ask for "english next time" surely..

Anyway $70 trillion is 5 times the size of the US economy. I wanna see some figures. Its all news to me.

Haha. I guess we Scotch just don't use "wat".

Estimates on total US debt (including private) vary enormously, because of the amount of hidden figures, book-cooking by corrupt accounting firms, and various ways of calculating it, from around 50 to 150 trillion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_position_of_the_United_States#Debt
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=u515NZjrFuMC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false
I've heard it say that there is about $200 trillion in debt in the world but only $150 trillion in "assets". Something like that is likely to be true as far as I know, which means we all have 3/4 as much as we think we have; but actually the powerful will make sure they don't take the losses, so for most it is less.

The problem for western countries is that they've been taken for a ride on the next generation's back for so long, and all meaningful growth may very well be prevented for a generation as everyone pays back. With declining income and rising burdens, the masses are going to get poorer. The people near the edge of the bed will be driven closer to falling off.

 

[Quackers]

Are you reading what your citing?

First link: $50 trillion - which includes public debt! So only a part of that is private..no where near $70 trillion...
Second link: $16 trillion - ofc no where near your $70 trillion claim earlier. I see a pattern here..
Third link: $39.4 trillion in private debts.

So you literally put your hand up your arse and got this mystic $70 trillion figure out, right?

 

[Pangur Bán]

Are you reading what your citing?

First link: $50 trillion - which includes public debt! So only a part of that is private..no where near $70 trillion...
Second link: $16 trillion - ofc no where near your $70 trillion claim earlier. I see a pattern here..
Third link: $39.4 trillion in private debts.

So you literally put your hand up your arse and got this mystic $70 trillion figure out, right?

I'm at fault for being unclear. I meant to say something like "debt including private debt", because that is so often discounted. But, no, 70 was not taken from anyone's posterior. It was drawn from memory (actually something in the high sixties that I can't remember, rounded up for that reason) ... the sources I listed were simply to give an idea about the variety of estimates.

PS, I'll report any more incivility like that, since with all the over-modding in this forum I don't want to get drawn into that sort of garbage.

 

[History_Buff]

Nope. Unless middle class wages start rising with productivity again, it's all going to happen again 5-6 years down the road. Without them to provide demand, the internal economy cannot find stability.

 

[Crezth]

Unemployment is down, indicators are pointing up. Have the fatcats saved us from certain doom despite the foolish protests from the little mice or is this just all fake and its because Unemployment has run out for lots of people and that why unemployment is down.

So... by this analogy... does the 1% eat the 99%, or...?

 

[Perfection]

I did it because I thought "man, I bet I could get a reaction from perfection from this" and I was right.

I'm touched that you thought of me.