U.S. Fed: Economy perked up from depressed levels

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economic conditions stabilized or improved modestly in most parts of the country, according to a Federal Reserve report on Wednesday that suggested the economy was slowly clawing out of a recession.

In its "Beige Book" of anecdotal reports on the economy, which was prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond based on information collected before October 13, the central bank noted improvement in two of the hardest hit areas -- residential real estate and manufacturing.

"Reports of gains in economic activity generally outnumber declines, but virtually every reference to improvement was qualified as either small or scattered," the Fed said.

The central bank gave a grim assessment of commercial real estate, which is widely seen as one of the big remaining trouble spots for the still-struggling financial sector.

"The weakest sector was commercial real estate, with conditions described as either weak or deteriorating across all districts," the Fed said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE59K4WF20091021

[Crowman1979]

1. Well the only thing perking up is my middle finger to the Federal Reserve!

[Demeter]

2. Are You Advising The Fed to Talk to The Hand?

[Rozlee]

3. The Fed with Alan Greenspan at it's helm helped get us in this mess to begin with

with a little help from the crooks and liars that deregulated the banking and investment industry (I'm looking at you, Phil Gramm) by rolling back the Glass Steagall Act. Unfortunately, Bill Clinton's hands aren't entirely clean in that he signed off on the whole Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and for that matter, Prez Obama, why aren't you re-instating Glass-Steagall? Without strictly re-regulating the banking industry, all this shite is just guaranteed to happen again, this time with Obama holding the stinking crap bag instead of Bush and the Retardicans. Oh, hell, why do I even bother? I thought the guy I voted for would come in like a hurricane, and he's hardly even coming in as a dust devil.