U.S. Industrial Output Falls (Yes that word again)

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 15, 2012 | Tom Barkley and Ian Talley

[C19fan]

U.S. industrial production unexpectedly fell in May, with a slump in manufacturing activity providing another sign of concern for the economic recovery.

Industrial production last month slipped 0.1%, the Federal Reserve said Friday. April's output figures were revised down slightly to a 1.0% gain, versus an initial estimate of a 1.1% jump.

[ichabod1]

Uh, we choose to look at it as we have unexpectedly entered a negative phase of our recovery. We have to be clear that there may be a resumption of the Bush recession before the green shoots appear for good.

[nobamanomore]

The voters of the US are unexpectedly finding out that Obammy is a half-white communist elitist incompetent affirmative action president.

These are things I knew all along.

[DaxtonBrown]

[it is easy to see the significant pressure on margins (as a business owner, I am feeling it daily). ]

I am an engineer/entrepreneur, always looking for products to make to supplement our return on equities in the market. Every time I get down to calculating margins I can’t find any. Very depressing.

[upchuck]

Perfect! Wish that would fit in a tag line :)

[Flint]

But....but.....but --- The Messiah said the private sector was doing just fine.

I am devastated that he has mislead me.

[dead]

[RipSawyer]

I expected you to say that.

[phillyfanatic]

It was unexpected. It was W’s fault. It was the Teas fault. There are lots of words libs use to forget any of their responsibility.

[Eleutheria5]

Those post-report downward adjustments seem to happen a lot.

[Hamilcar_Barca]

Someone forgot to add “unexpectedly.”

[kearnyirish2]

“No, any economic improvements under Romney will also be touted as “unexpected.”

Any economic improvements under Romney will be ignored, and replaced with stories of violence in the Arab world and the condition of black America.

[juno67]

““Romney’s controversial tax cuts were not the reason for the unexpected rise in GDP.”

I just wonder if those Romney tax cuts will ever materialize. Was just looking at the maximum tax rates during the last great financial crisis-the Great Depression. Starting in 1925 the maximum tax rate was 25%, which lasted until 1932, when it went to 63%, where it remained until 1936 when it went to 79%, then to 81% in 1941, to 88% in 1942, then to an astounding 94% in 1944 until dropping to 91% in 1946. It rose again briefly during the first couple of years of the Eisenhower administration to 92% before dropping to 91% where it remained until 1964 when it dropped to 77%.

I’m not sure what happened to cause the income tax to get so sky high a few years into the Depression, but I suspect that resentment towards the rich had something to do with it. If things continue to get worse, popular resentment towards the rich could lead to the same kind of tax raises once again.

That said, I’m not sure what pulled us out of the Great Depression, but it wasn’t reducing taxes, obviously.

And apparently it wasn’t balancing the budget either. Consider the deficits run by the government during WW2, which began with the US still mired in the Depression:

“But it was in World War II that the US really entered new debt territory. Starting at 45 percent of GDP in 1941 federal debt zoomed, reaching almost 122 percent of GDP in 1946 after the end of the war...”

To show how big that 122% of GDP was, the Obama deficit of $1.4 trillion in 2009 amounted to 13% of GDP.