Federal Reserve report on economy shows signs of a slowdown

Los Angeles Times ^ | 07/29/10 | Tom Petruno

[BobP]

The Federal Reserve's latest report on regional economic activity shows that the U.S. recovery continued in June and early July, but that signs of a slowdown were evident.

[BobP]

...The Fed's "beige book" report, issued Wednesday, said two of the central bank's 12 districts — Atlanta and Chicago — said that "the pace of economic activity had slowed recently," while the Cleveland and Kansas City districts said that "activity generally held steady."

The Obama administration's massive stimulus spending and the Fed's near zero interest rates have had little impact.

When the economy realizes some growth again, those waiting to get rehired as managers and engineers start to find they have to work two jobs as cashiers and janitors.

These liberals are going to friggin' sing and dance along, all the way, as they dance off a cliff.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

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[2ndDivisionVet]

RECOVERY?!!! Hahahahaha!

[AlexW]

The loony tunes in the media and elsewhere keep yapping about a “double dip”.
These morons need to understand that the USSA never got out of the first dip.

[Gene Eric]

>> When the economy realizes some growth again, those waiting to get rehired as managers and engineers start to find they have to work two jobs as cashiers and janitors.

The sickening reality of what you described is thoroughly neglected on the front pages.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

I have access to a program that tracks actual home sales in Georgia did a quick tally the other day of the number of sales that occurred in the City of Atlanta proper (not the entire metro area, just the incorporated City of Atlanta--which though not all inclusive still provides a good bellwether) on a month by month basis for all of 2009 and 2010 through June.

On a month by month basis, sales were DOWN 14% in volume. On a year over year basis, average monthly sales were down 20% (of course, 2010 has the rest of the year to improve that).

And keep in mind that 2009 was a BAD year.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Injecting stimulus money into an economy is somewhat similar to venture capital investing.

If stimulus were to go to those projects that were the most promising (i.e. like to create the most wealth), the overall effects on the economy would be positive (i.e. there would be a positive return on invested capital).

Unfortunately, while a few venture capital projects perform beautifully, most either struggle or fail completely.

As a retired investment banker with a goodly amount of experience in venture capital, I can say that finding successful ventures is a beatch even for highly trained and experienced professionals. It would be impossible for untrained government people heavily influenced by politics.

Obviously, the best way to get stimulus funds to those business most likely to generate the greatest wealth is to return taxes to those businesses who presently are generating great wealth, such wealth generation being what caused those taxes to be paid in the first place.