Posted on 01/30/2008 9:41:54 PM PST by thankfultobefree
As you’ve probably heard, the Fed slashed interest rates by half a percentage point today in order to try to stimulate the U.S. economy and avoid entering into a recession. While we’ve all heard media scare reports indicating that a recession is imminent, the just-published backgrounder, “Recession and the U.S. Economy” gives a bigger picture – and outlines which indicators are truly important in deciding whether we’re in a recession or just a temporary economic downturn.
The article also looks skeptically at the fiscal stimulus package currently before Congress. According to Hoover fellow Russell Roberts, “stimulus schemes based on giving people money have a poor track record of energizing the economy. Usually, the only thing that gets stimulated is a politician’s approval rating.”
http://www.hoover.org/research/focusonissues/focus/14776626.html
We are always headed for a recession.
Well, now all the economists can be “surprised” at the economy’s “unexpected” improvement.
Unless it’s a Democrat in the White House.
My only point was, that despite the efforts of politicians and central bankers, recessions are a natural consequence of free market business cycles. There is always one in our future, sooner or later. I am amazed by the number of stories from the MSM that (oh, my God) a RECESSION is coming. I’m not crazy about recessions either, but they happen all the time, and, in truth, they are necessary. I don’t know if we will have one this year, but we WILL have one. No way around it.
Those that understand that fact and are able to use it (such as Liberal editors and publishers) are able to work a great deal of harm for their own ideological purposes.
They can,for instance, provoke a recession by predicting one and repeating the prediction often enough.
According to the DBM, we’ve been in a ‘recession’ for the past seven years...
No! No! No! Unemployement is still at an all time low. We’re in a phase of correction due to the housing sub-prime mess, not a recession.
I think it’s worse. I think we’re headed for retardation.
The voice of reason. Recessions occur at roughly the frequency of once every decade, and that trend won’t change any time in the forseable future; what I fear more than recession are politician’s who use a down economy as a pretext to throw sound fiscal policy to the wind.
We’re headed for the dollar being weaker, inflation roaring back, but the economy will be great on election day....
only if the dems get in.
We are currently on course to follow the ongoing, everlasting, overinflated, much hyped. MEDIACESSION. This is similar to a recession. But differs in that it only exists in the main stream media and in the minds of the weak those who are easily swayed. You see when the msm beat the drum reminding America hundreds of times daily of all the doom, despair, and agony which they have created. Many Americans respond by believing their crap and panic. Slowing spending which hurts retail sales. Others who are looking for jobs believe and stop looking increasing the number of unemployed. The truth about unemployment is that at a rate of five percent we have full employment. There are more than five percent of the people who don’t ever want to work. What percentage of welfare recipients are happily not working. Understandably there are some folks who cant find jobs in their specific field. I for one am tired of the msm. President Bush could add two million high paying jobs a month for the next year and the msm would say this was less than expected. Fifty Eight weeks of growth is unprecedented by any standard. Retail sales drop by one fourth of one percent and the msm expect us to believe the end is near. The stock market drops a hundred points and the msm call it a plunge, or a steep decline, or act as if the sky were falling. If thats so bad why don’t they leap out of tall buildings like they want us to. Maybe I’ll leap. If they promise to go first.
A liberal neighbor kept sending me NYT articles in 2004 on how the economy is doomed (Krugman). After two years, that stopped.
No kidding. You know what they say, the experts have predicted 10 of the last 2 recessions.
Much worse than that; we’re headed for a Hillary Presidency.
bmp
And we’re ALL going to die!
Not even that if you are Gerald R. Ford.
Ford's Risky Plan Against Slumpflation could be the 20th-century prototype of how not to save energy, boost the economy, keep prices down.
Of course, Bush has the luxury of being a lame duck and doesn't have to face the voters.
But lotsa incumbent Republicans do.
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