And let's face it, it has not been a pretty trip through our economic lives over the past five years or so. High unemployment, discouraged workers, lose of household wealth, a useless and burdensome tax code, a national debt fast approaching a mind boggling $16 TRILLION dollars, millions of homes in foreclosure, etc.
It seems the bad economic news just keeps on coming with a political class unable to determine how to fix the problems. They have spent well over a TRILLION dollars and given us nothing but failure, from the expensive economic stimulus fiasco to the Cash For Clunkers disaster to where we are today, which leads us to the following bad news about the economy:
- According to an Associated Press report from July 6, 2012:
- The economy added only 80,000 jobs in the month of June.
- It has averaged only 75,000 new jobs a month for the past five months, far below what is necessary to reduce the current 8.2% unemployment rate.
- This 8.2% rate translates into 12.7 million Americans being unemployed.
- While the usual unemployment rate was unchanged, in June, 14.9% of Americans either were unemployed, had been forced to settle for part-time employment, or had given up looking for work and were not counted as unemployed. The rate was 14.8% in May and 14.5% in April, obviously a deteriorating trend.
- In order for the unemployment rate to get below the recession-like 8% mark before the November elections, monthly job creation would have to average over 220,000 per month for the next four months. This is probably not going to happen.
- Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time last week dropped slightly to 374,000, down only 6,000 from 380,000 the week before. Thus, we are still getting about 1.5 million Americans who likely lost their job every month and who are filing for benefits for the first time. Thus, generating 80,000 jobs a month, as outlined in the AP article is not nearly enough to overcome the 380,000 or so first time unemployment filers every week.
- The Institute for Supply Management reported that its index of manufacturing activity fell to 49.7 in June from 53.5 in May, the lowest reading since July of 2009.
- Bloomberg News reported on July 3, 2012 that the International Monetary Fund reduced its estimate of U.S. economic growth, now forecasting that the country's economic growth will only be 2% in 2012 and only up slightly above 2% in 2013. Both estimates, if true, would be far below the traditional growth rate of the nation's economy in non-recession times.
- A Money News Article from July 3, 2012 contained a a stock market forecast from Todd Schoenberger, managing principal of money manager BlackBay Group. He sees the stock market losing 40% of its value in the near future due to the following economic situations:
- Much of Europe is already in a recession with some parts of it being in a depression-like state.
- China’s GDP growth has shrunk to 8.1% in the first quarter or 2012, from 8.9% in last year’s final quarter.
- The U.S. is facing the so-called "fiscal cliff" of expiring tax breaks and government spending cuts, a major issue that will likely be ignored by the political class until after the November elections.
- Corporate earnings growth has decreased to 3% annually from 12% a year ago.
- And finally, he does not think the Federal Reserve will act again before the election.
- Speaking of China, according to a July 8, 2012 Associated Press report, China's premier Wen Jiabao stated that his economy faces "huge pressure" to slow further despite government stimulus measures. Specifically, Jiabao asserted that "The economy is running at a generally stable pace, but there is still huge pressure for it to go downward."
This downward push on economic growth is occurring despite the Chinese government's reduction in interest rates the , reducing of gas prices, and financing public work projects.The article goes onto explain that this slowdown will not only affect the world's economy and China's economy but also the political situation in the country.
- In a Money News interview from June 28, 2012, famous Yale economist and author Robert Shiller said while it was good that home prices in his benchmark monthly study of home prices rose about 1.3% in April, he would not be surprised if home prices continued to decrease due to soft economic conditions. The rise in April prices may be due just to seasonal fluctuations and not an improving housing industry trend.
- A recent Rasmussen poll found that only 33% of consumers thought that their own personal finances were in good or excellent condition. The finding is down from 37% four years ago and from 41% on July 1, 2008. On the day President Obama took office, Rasmussen Reports adds, 35% rated their finances as good or excellent. Looks like that whole "hope and change" promise has not kicked in yet.
- Another survey of consumer sentiment, which is important since consumer spending accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's survey reported that its final reading on its overall index on consumer sentiment fell to 73.2 in June from 79.3 in May. This reading was the lowest level since December and fell short of economists' expectations for the index to hold at the same level as June's preliminary reading of 74.1.
The indicator echoes the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, which fell to 62.0 in June from 64.4 in May, the lowest since January.
- On June 26, 2012, Standard and Poors announced that they are now forecasting a 20% chance that the U.S. economy will fall back into recession and unless our political class gets our fiscal house in order, another downgrade of our nation's creditworthiness is likely in the near future.
- In an article from June 25, 2012 that appeared on the CNN/Money website, 20 economists were asked in a survey how they would grade Obama and Congress on their performance relative to economic matters. None of the 20 gave either Obama or Congress a grade of "A" and the overall average of grades came out to a "D" for both Obama and Congress. I personally think that the economists were being generous with their grading.
Given how poorly our politicians have managed our economy, escalating sky high debt, high unemployment, high underemployment, failed economic programs, downgrade credit worthiness, etc., wouldn't November be a great time to replace all of them and start over? Honestly, how much worse could it get?
We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/
The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.
The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
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