Posted on 08/22/2012 5:05:42 AM PDT by LucianOfSamasota
The odds the United States will slip back into recession next year have risen, ratings agency Standard & Poor's said, citing risks from the European debt crisis and budget tightening at year-end.
The US ratings firm raised the chance of the US falling into recession to 25 percent, up from a 20 percent chance estimated in February, as the world's largest economy struggles to recover from a severe 2008-2009 slump.
It also pointed to the looming possibility of the government being forced by existing law to severely cut spending and increase taxes on January 1, the so-called fiscal cliff that would crunch the economy.
"Economic activity has downshifted sharply from earlier this year," S&P said in a report on North American credit conditions amid global uncertainty, dated August 20.
"At the same time, possible contagion from the European debt crisis, the potential so-called 'fiscal cliff', and the risk of a hard landing for China's economy have added greater uncertainty to US economic prospects," it said.
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
But at least the 0ne is not to blame...
(Of course its satire).
How can there be a double dip when the majority of us aren’t even out of the first dip?
During the Great Depression in the 1930s there were quarters and even years where there was growth in the Gross National Product. It was called a Depression because there was a double and triple dip.
The point is that a Second Great Depression will only be verifiable in retrospect.
Imho we are right in the middle of one. All during the 1930s the media blabbered on about the “recovery”.
There never has been a recovery, except in the imagination of Obama and the NYT.
LLS
If you fall on the floor and lift a finger that is improvement.
It’s tough to dip back into something we never left.
0bama must be furious to the point of needing some sort of relaxation just to maintain after what GWB left him.
It's terrible, just terrible...
This will go from "Bush's fault" to "Romney's fault" in the blink of the MSM's eye.
Like the first Depression, gov tried spending to alleviate the hardship. Problem is the gov will run out of money and cannot stop deflation. Atleast limits on currency printing was set by a system based on gold. Since we are no longer on the gold system, bankers and US gov were able to print and leverage but after nearly a trillion spent on bailout and stimulus, the economy just grew 2 or less percent annually. US is out of money and more printing may not jump start anything except commodity inflation as the US dollar gets devalued by all the currency printing and borrowing. Two things are saving status of US dollar. One the EU and other nations are in worst shape then US and the dollar is widely used in many global transactions. All this can change if our debt rises and supply of dollars increases from Fed printing. If Fed refrains from printing, deflation will occur and most US banks will become insolvent because the mortgage notes they hold are no longer backed by the real estate it represents as prices may go below the mortgage amounts as well as decline in prices and the profits businesses can make as prices drop. If this happens, the people who have jobs and savings will be King. Since the US Treasury and Fed Reserve caters to bankers and not main street, they will do anything to prevent deflation, by more borrowing, leveraging and currency printing to inflate our debt away and keep the bankers afloat. I predict the gov and Fed Reserve has made their decision to inflate and avoid deflation at all costs. It means in the next ten years, the middle class will shrink as the buying power of the dollar declines.
This “recovery” talk is not just coming from the White House and the boot-licking media.
The Realtors, stock brokers, car dealers and other salespeople have been offering doses of the kool-aid as well.
Believe any of them at your peril.
If you look at the unemployment numbers using the methodology used in the past, the unemployment is at depression levels.
The real question is are we in a recession or a depression and will it get worse?
Experts are going to say neither. Having served some time in the service of my country, I would say SNAFU and FUBAR apply to the current situation..
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