The Republican Depression Rolls On
We may have finally seen our tormentor get on a helicopter and get the hell out of Washington, but he’s left us plenty of hell to remind us of what an unqualified disaster his Reign of Error really is.
The dogmas of the ‘tards never change; slash taxes for the ultrarich and do away with regulations, and the economy will make everybody fat and happy. There is a slight problem with the dogmas, however; whenever they’re actually applied, the RESULTS are inevitably the same. No matter how many times the ‘tard “thinkers” figure out a way to get their idiocy enshrined in policy, economic depression is the surefire end result. Depression HAS to be the end result, which just about anybody with a rudimentary knowledge of economics would have to know, but it simply does not matter to the ‘tards. If you close your eyes, tap your heels together, and repeat over and over “there’s no economic program better than mine…..” guess what? A stupid program will still produce ruin.
The ugly truth of conservotard economics is all over the place, as we see from the latest figures. Joe the Dumber may not understand how this happened, but I’m pretty sure you do.
The number of workers lining up for jobless benefits surged last week, while new housing starts and permits hit record lows in December, pointing at an acceleration in the economy’s downward spiral.
First time applications for state unemployment insurance benefits increased to a seasonally adjusted 589,000 in the week ended January 17 from a revised 527,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
It was the highest level of initial claims since a matching reading in the week of December 20 and beat analysts’ forecasts for a rise to 540,000 new claims versus a previously reported count of 524,000 the week before.
The last time claims were higher was in 1982, when they notched a weekly rise of 612,000.
“The jobs outlook has not improved since the fourth quarter,” said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York.
U.S. equity index futures extended losses after the data, while government bond prices, which tend to benefit from any signs of further weakness in the economy, rose. The U.S. dollar extended losses versus the yen after data.
Further indicating that the year-long recession was worsening, housing starts fell 15.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 550,000 units, the lowest on record, from an upwardly revised rate of 651,000 units in November, Commerce Department data showed.
That was the biggest percentage drop since January 2007, when housing starts fell 16.2 percent and was sharply below analysts’ expectations for an annual rate of 610,000 units for December.
New building permits, which give a sense of future home construction, dropped 10.7 percent to 549,000 units, also a historic low, from 615,000 units in November. That was also sharply below analysts’ estimates of 610,000.
For the whole of 2008, housing starts plunged 33.3 percent, the biggest decline since 1974, while permits plummeted 36.2 percent, also the largest fall since 1974.
“They suggest we haven’t seen the bottom in housing starts and builders will continue to pare construction in hopes of bringing the market back to equilibrium,” said Michelle Meyer, economist at Barclays Capital in New York.
“We should see a bottom in housing starts some time this summer.”
The collapse of the U.S. housing market fractured the global financial system and pushed the U.S. economy into a recession that many analysts fear could the longest and deepest since the end of World War II.
Analysts reckon that the economy might not emerge from a year-long slump unless the housing market starts stabilizing.
I reckon they just might be right about this one. The problem with housing is real easy to understand, though; nobody’s got any money anymore. We spent it all at the grocery store and the gas station. And our wages have been in decline for YEARS now, so the folks running our companies into the ground and offshoring all our jobs could collect those huge salaries and bonuses. How in the hell would anyone save the ‘tards NOT see this one coming?
Tags: bush, economy, failure, financial crisis, housing crisis, republicans
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
The housing crisis is not going away anytime soon especially not in states like California and Florida. I know half a dozen decent, hard working people who are going through the foreclosure process as a result of high pressure sales tactics from their own lending institutions. Many are quick to call these folk irresponsible for engaging in such loans to begin with and should not be given any quarter. I disagree. These people trusted their banks and would not have dreamed that they were in fact being scammed. The other downside is that once the foreclosure process begins credit scores crash about 150 points. Where these same people could once borrow money based on scores of 750+ now are losing their credit cards, lines of credit, insurance and etc. So how can the economy be stimulated when millions and millions of taxpayers are finding themselves in financial distress and unable to borrow or spend. This is the ultimate Catch 22 and I blame it squarely on the Bush administration and their \help the rich get richer\ and \who cares about the poor\ and \middle class be damned\ slogans of governing.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Whether the powers that be want ot admit it or not, we are in a Modern Day Depression and it has only just begun.
Gone from the scene may be the Chimp and his little man ego, but here to stay are the devastation of millions of lives unlike the extremely wealthy who make fortunes in good times as well as in bad.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:16 am
Very true, Larry. This game was rigged in favor of the ultrawealthy, and they have raked it in. The rest of us, of course, have been raked over.
“Conservative” economics at work.