Category: Recession 2008 - 2010

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Fed Actions Will Delay Real Economic Recovery From Recession / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Money_and_Markets

Claus Vogt writes: More than six years ago, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke — then still Fed Governor — gave a laudation for Milton Friedman, one of America’s leading economists.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report, UK GDP Revised Lower / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Nadeem_Walayat

The Bank of England in its quarterly inflation report to be published later today is expected to revise its UK GDP forecast lower following the first quarter crash of -1.9%. The Banks forecast of barely 3 months ago is for UK GDP to fall by -3.4% for 2009, this is expected to be revised to -4.1% which would bring the Bank of England inline with the IMF's forecast for GDP contraction which itself is a revision of just a few weeks ago from -3%, against my own forecast for UK GDP contraction for 2009 of -4.75% (see below). The BoE will also revise growth lower for next year which will probably be in the region of +1.5%.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Labor Department Manipulation Minimized April Unemployment Data / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Money_Morning

Don Miller writes: Employers cut 539,000 jobs in April, the lowest total in six months, but the Labor Department said the unemployment rate still soared to 8.9%, from 8.5% in March. While some analysts viewed the latest report as a sign of a nascent economic recovery, the unemployment numbers are almost certain to head higher before the recession is declared over.

Monday, May 11, 2009

NO Economic Recovery, Multiple Raging Economic Storms / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Money_and_Markets

Martin Weiss writes: Any economist fixated on so-called “signs of a recovery” needs to have his head examined.

As I’ll prove to you in a moment, the hard-nosed reality is that five major economic cyclones are in progress at this very moment.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Fed Economic Roller Coaster, What's Ahead? / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: LewRockwell

Gerald Celente writes: Green Shoots or Greatest Depression? - The financial fields replete with sprouting "green shoots" should be viewed with suspicion, if not alarm. They are not a mirage, but they are ephemeral.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Chinese Economic Recovery a Mirage as Deflation Accelerates / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Mike_Shedlock

Consumer prices are falling year over year in China. Bear in mind that falling prices do not constitute deflation which is a monetary phenomenon (a reduction in money supply and credit) not a price phenomenon. In this case we see both.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

How to Fix the Economy: The Retirement Plan Solution / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Submissions

The St. Petersburg Times Newspaper, Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"

This guy nailed it!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Did Bernanke Pull the U.S. Economy Back From the Brink of Depression? / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Mike_Whitney

Fed chief Ben Bernanke's understanding of financial crises may have kept the country from sliding into another Great Depression. That doesn't mean that he's fixed the credit system, removed the non-performing loans from the banks, or stopped housing prices from crashing. It simply means that pumping liquidity into the system--via huge increases in the money supply, zero-percent interest rates, and multi-trillion dollar lending facilities--has either slowed or reversed the rate of decline in many sectors of the economy.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Recession Ending?, Green Shoots of Economic Recovery? / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: John_Mauldin

A Few Thoughts on Recessions
Are the Green Shoots Really Dandelion Weeds?
Is That a Leaky Bucket?
Frugality Is Back in Vogue
Where Will the Jobs Come From?

Go to Google. Type in "green shoots." In about a 10th of a second you will find 28,900,000 references. Scrolling through a few pages, you find a lot of references to the beginning of the end of the recession. Today we look at some data to see if we can indeed see the end. Most readers will be surprised to know that the number of people employed in the US went up (!) in April. Yet so did the unemployment rate. Is that green shoot just another dandelion weed in our economic garden?

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Global Financial & Economic Crisis: How Much Time do We Have? / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Global_Research

Adrian Salbuchi writes: A good doctor is one who will tell his patient what ails him, no matter how bad the news...  A good doctor begins by making a correct diagnosis of his patient's condition.  A bad doctor, however, either cannot make a proper diagnosis (because he lacks expertise) or, worst still, he hides the truth afrom his patient...  

Friday, May 08, 2009

U.S. Unemployment Rate Soars to 8.9%, Jobs Contract for 16th Straight Month / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Mike_Shedlock

This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the April Employment Report. Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in April (-539,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.5 to 8.9 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. In April, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major private-sector industries. Overall, private sector employment fell by 611,000.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

United States to Recovery from Recession by the End of 2009 / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Pravda

The head of the United States Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke addressing the Joint Economic Committee of the Congress said that the American economy may recover from the nosedive and start to grow again as early as this year. Even in this case the business activity will remain restrained: companies will be careful with creating new working places. The level of unemployment will be high still and may get even higher in the next months.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Urgency of the American Monetary Act / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Richard_C_Cook

On Thursday, April 23, 2009, Stephen Zarlenga, director of the American Monetary Institute (AMI), delivered two briefings on Capitol Hill on the American Monetary Act that AMI drafted and that may be introduced as legislation during the current congressional session. This single measure has the potential of bringing together the tens of millions of people who have realized it’s our bank-run debt-based monetary system that lies at the center of the financial rot that is destroying our republic and its values.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Getting on the Socialist Bandwagon: Let’s All Take a Ride! / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: LewRockwell

On Friday, January 30, as an unwelcome surprise to both of us, my husband, Mr. Comic Mom, was laid off. Three weeks and over 100 résumés later, he had two job offers. Although he has not yet found a so-called permanent job – although, really, all jobs are temporary – he is making more money than he did, at a job that’s been promised to him through the end of September. The weekend after his layoff, he was already polishing his résumé.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Stock Markets See Patches of Blue Sky in Economic Recovery / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: PaddyPowerTrader

So much for the great recession. The improvement in risk appetite has continued unabated into this week. Firmer US housing data, construction spend and Chinese PMI numbers (which rose for the first time in 9 months), combined with declining bank worries and easing swine flu concerns boosted risk appetite. To top that off, Research In Motion and Intel were upgraded and Sprint Nextel earnings beat estimates. But it appears to this writer that euphoria has got the better of common sense.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Wages Contract in US, UK, Japan / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Mike_Shedlock

Inquiring minds are investigating trends in wages, disposable income, and ability to service debt.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Privatise the NHS and Save the UK Economy from Bankruptcy / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Nadeem_Walayat

The UK economy is on the fast track towards bankruptcy in that the level of borrowings is mushrooming out of control and those are the figures that the government is showing on its official balance sheet that has hidden the true extent of liabilities through accounting tricks that the government conjures to hide the truth of the dire state of the countries finances as the below graphs illustrate.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

U.S. Economic Recovery Lies Hidden in a Zipper / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Pravda

Many people prefer not to spend their money on new clothes. Purchasing new clothes is not considered essential these days, especially for those who have to spend several minutes or even hours thinking what they are going to wear today. However, the current state of affairs in the jeans-making industry shows that better times for fancy clothes are just around the corner.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

When Will the Economy Recover from Recession? / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: Prieur_du_Plessis

Standard & Poor’s: S&P/Case-Shiller - home prices still declining “Data through February 2009, released today [Tuesday] by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices shows continued broad based declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States, with 10 of the 20 metro areas showing record rates of annual decline, and 15 reporting declines in excess of 10% versus February 2008. For the first time in 16 months, however, the annual decline of the 10-City and 20-City composites did not set a new record.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Recession Ending and Stocks Sell in May and Go Away? / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010

By: John_Mauldin

Sell in May and Go Away?
The End of the Recession?
Is the US Consumer Back?
A Dangerous End Game

The old adage that one should "sell in May and walk away" has been around for years. I mentioned that bromide about this time last year, urging readers to head for the sidelines if they had not already done so. I was also suggesting a strategic retreat in August of 2006 (after which the markets went up 20% before plummeting). In this week's letter we look at the actual data and offer up a fresh viewpoint. Then we turn our eyes to the recent GDP numbers, which were awful, though many took comfort in the apparent rise in consumer spending. Are Americans back to their old ways? It will make for an interesting letter.